“Plant Parenthood” is where Grosse Pointe Garden Society really hits its chaotic suburban Big Little Lies-meets-Desperate Housewives stride. The stakes are higher, the secrets are deeper, and the passive-aggression is served with actual aggression now.
Let’s start with that killer (maybe literally?) cold open: we’re six months in the future at the fancy garden gala, where Marilyn is playing gracious hostess with the warmth of a rattlesnake in a cashmere cardigan. She’s mid-auction when a motion alert on her phone sends her running home—where she finds something, or someone, in her bedroom. “How could you do this to me?” she screams. The drama is already in full force, and that was just the cold open.
Then we flash back five months to the present and the domestic drama is sizzling. Marilyn and Mayor Buzz are having an icy breakfast. He casually mentions he’s working late with someone named Tara, which sends Marilyn spiralling. But the episode isn’t just about Marilyn’s spirals—it’s also a meditation on motherhood, and not-so-subtly, the other kind of parenthood: being responsible for the fragile, high-maintenance lives of both plants and people.
| “Plant Parenthood” – GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY. Pictured: AnnaSophia Robb as Alice and Nancy Travis as Patty. Photo: Daniel Delgado/NBC ©2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. |
The voiceover gives us an ironic throughline, with Marilyn comparing child-rearing to gardening—expensive, exhausting, and, just when you think you’re done, you have to start all over again. Same could be said for Alice’s emotional rollercoaster: between Doug’s oblivious painting highs and his mom Patty’s wildly manipulative plot to bribe Alice into motherhood via an art-buying Ponzi scheme, she’s flailing. The hot dog scene with Patty is a standout—funny, raw, and layered. (Note: Patty calling Marilyn a “phony bitch” gets bonus points.)
Meanwhile, Catherine’s juggling being the best mom to her kids with real estate dreams and gets a tempting offer from charming Pierce Goldman, only to be yanked back into mom-mode when puke strikes at home. Her “5 magical minutes of joy in a day of hell” monologue about parenting hits hard.
Speaking of Brett: his arc is quietly devastating. At his son’s birthday party—an overproduced nightmare courtesy of Melissa and Connor—he’s trying to show up, but it’s Cricket who helps him save face when Connor’s cringe-dancing threatens to emotionally scar the birthday boy. Melissa’s feelings for Brett are bubbling up again, which is a problem considering Connor’s already hiring private investigators to rip his kids away and flee to Chicago. (Also: who brings a PI to a custody battle and makes breakdance entrances at birthday parties? Connor, that’s who.)
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| “Plant Parenthood” – GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY. Pictured: Melissa Fumero as Birdie, Daniella Alonso as Misty and Felix Wolfe as Ford. Photo: Daniel Delgado/NBC ©2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. |
And then there’s Birdie. Oh, Birdie. Her desperate attempt to save Ford from expulsion spirals into rich-lady theatrics in the principal’s office and a morally murky bargain that proves she will buy justice if she has to. But the most gutting moment? Ford calling her out for dating his dad and confessing he cheated because it was easier to be the screw-up everyone assumes he is. The heartbreak is real and so is the shared pie metaphor, apparently.
The episode’s central theme, what are we willing to do to nurture the things (and people) we love? builds to a fever pitch in its many mini-climaxes: Alice not telling Doug the truth about his art career, Melissa choosing her kids over her husband’s career dreams, Catherine choosing her sick daughter over a career comeback, and Brett making a literal deal with the devil (Connor) just to stay relevant in his son’s life even though Connor is scheming behind his back to get full custody of the kids so that he can take a job at a high-power law firm in Chicago. This won’t end well,
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| “Plant Parenthood” – GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY. Pictured: Aja Naomi King as Catherine and AnnaSophia Robb as Alice. Photo: Tina Rowden/NBC ©2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. |
Oh, and in case you forgot, someone might be dead. Marilyn might have stabbed someone. Back in the future, Marilyn, panicked and bloodied, washes a knife in her sink. She grabs clean bedding and flees. In the last scene of the episode, we catch her in a vet’s office, blood on her chest. She claims she saved her cat from coyotes. Alice comes to support Marilyn, who tells her that someone stole the quilt. Marilyn says she saw it in the trunk of a black Cadillac, which just happens to be the same kind of car smarmy Gary drives. Alice plays dumb. Marilyn swears she’ll get the quilt back. Alice hugs her and whispers “It’s going to be okay. It’s all going to be fine.” She is trying to convince both of them.
“Plant Parenthood” juggles mystery, messy emotions, and realness like a pro. It’s funny, poignant, and bursting with quiet bombs that go off long after the credits roll. Secrets are sprouting faster than tulips in spring, and by now, the soil is soaked with drama and maybe blood.
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