In the first story, Joan is heading to a "thing," and John is scared he's gonna die without her. So John heads to see Matt and Colleen so he can tell them what he found: a poster for Joan's erotic book reading. Obviously they don't want to go because it's gross, but John makes them go anyways, along with the rest of the family. Joan's shocked to see them, but she's seemingly happy to see them nonetheless. It's time for the reading, and the family is super excited for Joan. Joan freaks out though, hiding behind a book and running out. John goes after her to find out what's wrong, and she tells him that she didn't want the family to be there. She wants them gone, and John helps out by telling the Shorts to beat it. Joan's able to do her reading now, but the kids are still watching (horrified) from a distance.
In the second story, Colleen and Matt are reading their book to the kids, and Sophiastarts talking to them about them having a baby. She tells them it's so easy, so they tell her another story. It's obviously (heavily) inspired by them, with the family members all appearing as farm animals. They're having difficulties with their baby, despite trying. The doctor tells them that some couples just can't have kids, and they pretend to be okay with it. They decide to continue trying anyways.
In the third story, Tim is reviewing candidates for a nurse, but Heather isn't able to keep her opinions to herself. He picks Mindy, but Heather accidentally hires Cindy, who he hates but she loves. Cindy does magic during, which drives Tim crazy while also ruining his love of magic. Cindy is doing wonders around the office, and Tim is ahead of schedule. Later on, she shows off her magic skills to a patient, and Tim seems to have come around on her at this point. Heather shows up, and Tim wants to take her out to dinner to apologize to her. Before they go though, Heather tells Cindy that Tim hired her accidentally and she quits.
In the fourth story, Lark calls for Jen after a dog wakes them all up. They decide to go talk to the new neighbors, who tell them they don't have a dog, even though they feel like they do due to the barking dog. The new neighbors ask them to come over for dinner, which they accept. At dinner, they find out where the dog lives. Greg decides to handle it by going over with the neighbor. The dog's owner, an elderly woman, answers and the new neighbor freaks out on her and threatens to kill her (seizure alert) dog. Later, Greg tells Jen that he's crazy, but Jen still wants to go skiing with them. Later, Greg goes to apologize to the woman and she throws the flowers at him and slams the door. The crazy neighbor notices and Greg gets scared and runs home.
This was a mostly strong episode of Life in Pieces, and I really loved all of the first three stories. The fourth, however, wasn't very good at all. I just didn't find anything about threatening a dog very funny and the neighbor was just really annoying. The first story was definitely my favorite story, as I loved just about all of it. Also, 2018 has just begun and Mindy Sterling has already appeared in two shows I love. More of this please!
My Score: 9/10
My Grade: A-
