“Cherish The Day” ends its second season in what feels like a misfire due to pacing that makes its ending feel unearned.
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“Cherish The Day” ends its second season in what feels like a misfire due to pacing that makes its ending feel unearned.
| Aired (OWN) | 11/22/2022 |
| Episode Title | That Makes Me Yours |
| Director(s) | Angel Kristi Williams |
| Writer(s) | Teri Schaffer, Raynelle Swilling |
| Introduced This Episode | |
| Mr. Moran | Lance E. Nichols |
| Mrs. Moran | Renee Ford Clark |
| Donna | Kim Baptiste |
Recap
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Gaining Ground – Donna, MV, Sunday
Finally, Sunday is able to get a nurse for her father, Donna, who he not only gets along with, but when he doesn’t, she doesn’t quit. Add in she got someone new at the restaurant to manage while she is away, and it creates ample opportunity for her to begin to think about herself and her relationship.
Love The One You’re With – Mr. Moran, Mrs. Moran, Sunday, Everly, Bree, Anastasia, Ellis, Danny
It isn’t clear how much time has passed since Danny proposed to Anastasia, but the big day is here, and alongside it exposing some lingering issues Everly has, it is a reunion of sorts. Mr. Moran and Mrs. Moran, Ellis’ parents, come to the wedding, and upon spotting Sunday, it’s like a family reunion. You see, we’re told before Ellis cheated, their families integrated to the point that all that was missing was a marriage certificate.
Yet, even with it being decades since Mrs. Moran saw Sunday, she is still as much in love with her as she was when she first met her and became close with Sunday’s own mother, Yvonne. As for Mr. Moran? All he says and reaffirms with his son is to not screw this up. Which is what ends up happening, for as Anastasia gets cold feet, she starts apologizing to Ellis about the dissolution of their relationship, via him not fighting and him feeling there wasn’t a place for him as she got into the music industry. This, of course, led to a kiss that was seen by Sunday with Ellis, again, not creating any boundary, pushing Anastasia off, nothing.
Oh, and to make this all more awkward, Danny apologizes to Ellis before the kiss about the affair and how all this came to be. Then, to add icing to this cake, Everly, the moody teenager, opens up to Sunday. She talks about thinking her boyfriend cheated on her, fearing she’ll be or end up like her parents, and this is likely the conversation that no one has engaged with her enough to have. This makes Sunday feeling the need to leave potentially devastating for Everly, who just opened up to her, but something Ellis takes note of. And with Sunday leaving abruptly and his inability to contact her, he is tempted to break his sobriety. Luckily his father stops him, but it seems the stress of Anastasia and Sunday, and trying to make both happy, is starting to wear him down.
Do You Follow You Heart, Your Mind, Or Your Gut? – Donna, MV, Sunday, Ellis
At the end of Donna’s day, MV accuses her of stealing his wallet, but thanks to techniques Donna taught Sunday, she is able to defuse the situation and is reassured that this isn’t a quittable offense. Donna has the capacity for the work and didn’t just get into nursing since people said it was lucrative or there were a lot of jobs. She can take on a lot, and she even volunteers to take on some of the weight Sunday is dealing with regarding Ellis.
Sunday explains what happened and makes it clear Ellis isn’t a saint, but Donna counters by talking about how Ellis looks at Sunday, how Ellis checks in on MV when Sunday isn’t there and spends genuine time with him, and all of this leads to Sunday going to the restaurant she and Ellis were to open, at that place he was fixing up and has now bought. There they get into another row about how Sunday feels vs. how Ellis acts, and it seems, for a hot minute, they are done.
That is until Sunday sees a glass art piece Ellis did of her mom. With that, she is pushed by Donna’s words, which come from two failed marriages, and comes to believe love will conquer every doubt and every insecurity. Then with Ellis proposing, it seems Sunday decides to intertwine her fate with Ellis for as long as he’ll have her.
Review
Highlights
Understanding Why Everly Doesn’t Like Her Mom
The impression given by this episode is that Anastasia doesn’t understand Everly and perhaps never made an effort to. I think this is made the clearest by Ellis picking sneakers that work well for the event, versus Everly’s usual basketball sneakers, compared to Anastasia expecting Everly to wear a flower crown like Bree. To me, Ellis has come to the point of knowing how to compromise with Everly for the sake of their relationship. With Anastasia, whether she is a do-as-I-say parent or more worried about appearances than the actual relationship, it seems clear that Everly is a bit of a stranger to her.
Never mind, anytime a parent calls in the other one to deal with a child, it becomes clear that they are operating under an obligation. And yes, it is Anastasia’s wedding, and she was clearly stressed, but I would take the way she treated Everly as another example of her putting everything before her daughter.
Heck, let’s take note, Everly, who has barely warmed up to Sunday, talked about Jesse cheating on her with Sunday before her mom. She expressed wounded feelings over her parents’ relationship dissolving with her, and though this is perhaps a key example of why Everly could have used therapy, it also shows the lack of communication between Everly and Anastasia. If not, better said, Anastasia’s lack of accountability in her relationships.
Donna
Back in our days of “Getting Ignorant With It” the word “Capacity” became constant in terms of what people could take on, handle, or even give. With Donna, we’re reminded of why that word has become part of our lexicon because caring for someone like MV, adapting to them, and rolling with the accusations and all that comes from someone struggling with Alzheimer’s is a lot. Sunday can barely handle it, and Lynette does in ways we don’t see, so we can’t really talk about it.
But Donna is different. She has the will, the tools to navigate MV’s highs and lows, and even the ability to teach. Her capacity is beyond the average person, as she notes, and it is hard not to be in awe of her willingness to return to a job where a man locks her in a room, assuming she stole his wallet. That kind of patience, that kind of care, is incomparable. It’s what we all long for in aspects of our life beyond when we need a medical professional.
Which is why I found myself drawn to her when she said she had two ex-husbands. The story lost will be one of the many things this season of “Cherish The Day” dropped the ball on.
Low Points
Ellis and Sunday Ending Up Together
I’m sorry. Maybe I’m a pessimist, but I just don’t see or understand Ellis and Sunday ending up together. Sunday has raised so many red flags, but none have been properly addressed. From Sunday not being comfortable with Ellis and Anastasia’s relationship, and lack of boundaries, to not addressing his past cheating and a slew of other issues, it all seems too soon for them to become engaged and potentially married.
Heck, even if you want to be fair with Ellis, it isn’t like he still doesn’t have stuff about Sunday he is dealing with. Hosea isn’t going anywhere soon, and it isn’t like Sunday checked him to his face. So on both sides, it seems neither has really made room for the other person but rather stuffed them in.
Ellis’ Parents Showing Up, And We Barely Know Them
Because of how Ellis talked about his upbringing, it made me want to know what his childhood was like. But because this season was only eight episodes, we didn’t get a flashback or anything like that. Instead, we meet Ellis’ parents and are given very little to gain our own impression of them; beyond that, they love Sunday. It feels like such a disservice to these two characters, but then again, it isn’t like MV has been pushed to be more than Sunday’s father, who we’re told repeatedly, was a judge and we know has Alzheimer’s.
Pretty much all parents don’t compare to Cicely Tyson’s role in the first season or any of the parents or parental figures we got in season 1.
Just So Much Rushed Through
What has long been an issue for us with season two is that we didn’t get the first’s season’s sense of time. It isn’t made explicitly clear whether it has been days, months, or weeks between episodes. So whether enough time has passed between an issue can’t be judged. You’re just left with the idea love should conquer all, as if Ellis and Sunday aren’t dealing with notable baggage from each other and other people. As if Ellis’ lack of boundaries with Anastasia isn’t a problem, and that we should believe because Sunday and Ellis have a past, it means their future should be smoother since they dated already.
It all really coerces the idea these two are meant to be without addressing how potentially toxic they are for one another. Not in the grandiose way we’re used to, in people cheating or being abusive, though Ellis has cheated in the past, and you could consider him allowing Anastasia to kiss him as cheating. But, for this topic, our focus is on there not being time to heal from old wounds and having both rush into something seemingly based on comfort, familiarity, and maybe even ego rather than due to long-term growth potential.
And outside of Ellis and Sunday, because this season was so rushed, it made everyone and everything around them seem secondary or an obligation. Introducing their friend from high school, who had a notable look and personality? Obligation. Seeing Ellis’ parents in the friggin finale?! Obligation. Addressing Everly’s feelings about her parents’ divorce and even finding new people, obligation. Everything with season 2 feels so rushed, and generally speaking, we try to give grace since we don’t know the politics which went into getting a show greenlit and produced. So with that in mind, we could assume with the Warner Brothers and Discovery merger, maybe that was a factor since Discovery owns OWN. But, even with that in mind, it seems undeniable the quality suffered in comparison to season 1, and while there are likely multiple factors to blame, all viewers have is the final product to look at. Which, story-wise, is rushed to the point of suspending disbelief is hard, and even if you are into the romance genre, I feel you’d be hard-pressed to say the second season of “Cherish The Day” ended with you having butterflies.
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