‘One Day At A Time’ Season 2 Has An Early Frontrunner For The Best TV Episode Of 2018

We’re only a month into 2018 and I don’t care. I’m calling it. One Day at a Time just dropped one of the finest episodes of TV we are going to see all year, and you need to make time on your schedule to get to it ASAP.

The episode in question is the just released Season 2 finale of One Day at a Time, titled “Not Yet,” an emotional tour de force presented with an earnest confidence that puts it ahead of all of Netflix’s comedies (and a lot of their dramas). It’s a must watch, as is the entire season that precedes it (check out Decider’s own glowing review from Joe Reid).

I’m not going to get deep into the plot because this is an episode that begs to be experienced, free of spoilers and second screens. But in order to even generally get into why this episode made me laugh and cry with nearly equal force (the crying won, BTW), I have to touch on something that may be a light spoiler. So before I go any further, I gotta throw up a mild spoiler warning. If you want to watch this episode’s genius make itself known in realtime, go and watch it right now. And then come back.

You back?

So, “Not Yet” is entirely set in a hospital room, as the Alvarez family waits for their grandmatriarch Lydia (Rita Moreno) to wake up from a coma. While they wait, each member of the main cast gets solo time with the there-but-not-there Lydia, performing monologues that underline each character’s relationship with the vivacious octogenarian. There are also laughs to be had, as the script’s jokes pop like fireworks against a black sky, briefly lighting up the darkest episode of ODaaT so far.

As a celebration of Lydia, the show’s thunderous beating heart, the episode excels. But the way the show uses this focus on Lydia to unearth deep, secret truths of every single character is masterful. The confessions the characters make to Lydia are each profound, from Alex’s (Marcel Ruiz) doting to Elena’s (Isabella Gomez) regret. The real surprises, though, are how Dr. Berkowitz (Stephen Tobolowsky) and Schneider (Todd Grinnell) deal with their peripheral (but integral) roles in the Alvarez family. Each character’s core is strengthened and their emotional depth explored. Also, there are solid jokes.

And then there’s Justina Machado as Lydia’s daughter Penelope. If you have ever had feelings towards a parent, Machado’s Emmy-worthy, six-minute long monologue (notably the longest of the episode) will wreck you in the best, most cathartic ways. It’s impossible to sum up, and I wouldn’t want to rob you of watching it unfold in real time, but those six minutes run the gamut of parent/child feels.

Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce’s script should be studied. The rhythm is flawless, as the episode conducts your emotions like a symphony. And that’s a good thing. None of the moments feel forced or cheap, and every callback (which includes a champion straight man performance by Timm Sharp as a put-upon nurse) is earned and welcome. The episode reminds you just how good it feels to be completely swept away by a story.

Director Pamela Fryman executes “Not Yet’s” structure marvelously, as it mixes two tried-and-true sitcom formats: the bottle episode and the monologue episode. The bottle episode, an episode that takes place in one location, is way more common. Most of Cheers Season 1 is a bottle episode, and Friends had a couple single locale standouts. The monologue episode, however, is rarer. Maude famously did it in the 1975 episode “Maude Bares Her Soul.” And Maude, of course, is a classic Norman Lear sitcom of the ’70s… just like the original One Day at a Time. That right there, that callback to ODaaT‘s Norman Lear roots makes this episode feel even more special, like it’s acknowledging its own place in TV history.

And after watching this season, and this specific episode, it’s clear that TV history is clearing a place at the table for Netflix’s One Day at a Time.

Stream One Day at a Time's "Not Yet" on Netflix