Before I do the synopsis, there's a couple of notes worth making: First, the child actress that previously played Chuck and Kelly's daughter-Laura Marano-has been replaced with Lily Jackson. Also, Ayda Field, who played weather-girl Montana, is no longer in the cast though I understand there's one more appearance in the season finale where she gets fired by a new boss. With that out of the way, let's get on with the episode: Chuck accepts Marsh's invitation for dinner with his wife Peggy (Stephanie Faracy) before getting another one from his latest girlfriend for a party for a friend who had a boob job. He also gets a phone call from Gracie who just made the Honor roll. With Kelly in tow, Chuck reluctantly goes to Marsh and Peggy's house where he gets a surprise birthday party in his honor. It's a real surprise for Chuck since his actual one isn't for five months, but then he remembers how boring Marsh's parties usually are and one time made up an excuse about his birthday to get out. Turns out this one was a little more exciting since Ryan and Gary discover a mural of the McGinleys having sex on the way to the upstairs bathroom and Kelly finds a picture of her and Chuck kissing from his original farewell party. So many of the episode's highlights continually depicts Ryan and Gary's trying to avoid seeing-and failing-the various positions of Marsh and Peg while Kelly keeps trying to hide and/or get rid of the evidence of Gracie's birth. Which makes Chuck indignant that he can't even mention how proud of his daughter he is publicly without the truth coming out. So by the time he and Kelly search the garbage dump for the stolen picture, which happens to have $600 or more inside, they also decide to let Gracie know about her father...Okay, first about Lily Jackson. I'm sure she's a nice girl but seeing her here, she comes off as bland whereas Laura was more lively and seemed like an actual child of Chuck and Kelly with her attitude. And with Ms. Field gone, is there even going to be a weather person on a show that takes place in a newsroom? Now, what's good about this episode: everything with Ms. Faracy whether "inadvertantly" showing her cleavage or just teasing Ryan and Gary about her sexuality. Also, nice touching scene with Kelsey and Patricia discussing how Gracie should or shouldn't know about her father. Reminds me how good director James Burrows is with mixing the hilarious with the dramatic having done this for the last 30 years with "Taxi" and "Cheers", among others. So, despite the cast changes, "Back to You" is still worth watching.
2 Reviews
Changes afoot
studioAT7 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This episode is the first after some cast changes have been made, both in my opinion to the detriment of the show. Lilly Jackson has replaced Laura Marano as Gracie (with her age being lowered to 10) and Ayda Field being dropped from the opening credits, though I think she oddly appears in a later episode.
It's a really funny episode, with all the characters being given lots to do. There's some nice emotional moments in the Chuck/Kelly story, as they decide whether to tell Gracie or not, and this is well balanced by the Gary/Ryan/Marsh story, which is just all out funny.
It's a shame about the cast changes, but this is a very strong episode.
It's a really funny episode, with all the characters being given lots to do. There's some nice emotional moments in the Chuck/Kelly story, as they decide whether to tell Gracie or not, and this is well balanced by the Gary/Ryan/Marsh story, which is just all out funny.
It's a shame about the cast changes, but this is a very strong episode.
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