Poppa’s House: Season 1 Episode 13 – Recap/ Review

“Poppa’s House” steps away from its usual formula to spotlight Ivy temporarily by introducing her mom and her ex.

ByAmari Allah Hours Posted on

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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Episode Details

Episode Title: Graduation
Air Date: March 3, 2025
Network: CBS
Director(s): Robert Townsend
Writer(s): Phil Beauman, Shawn Wayans

Recap

The Best Party Ever: Nina, Trey, Junior, Joey

With Trey getting good grades, Nina and Junior throw him a party, and he really wants to impress Joey. He is a rich kid who throws the best parties, and impressing him would be the icing on the cake of a rather good year. The thing is, Nina and Junior aren’t rich, and when they try to get someone who could play Goku, that falls through.

This leads to Junior and Nina creating a urban version of Goku and Chi-chi names Broku and Cha-cha. The combination flops, at first, but with Junior breaking things as Broku, and Nina joining in as Cha-cha, this saves the party and Joey, who reviews his classmates’ parties, gives Trey a good one.

A Case Of The Ex: Poppa, Felicia, Ivy, David

With Ivy’s mom, Felicia, getting her Master’s degree, she decides to have a party and being that Poppa is a bit nosy, and Felicia is flirtatious, he invites himself to DJ at her party and she accepts. Now, for Ivy, things are awkward enough with Felicia talking about Poppa’s old school DJ name, Sweet D, and making jokes.

However, then her ex-husband David walks in and she finds herself trying to hide. Mind you, it isn’t out of embarrassment, since Ivy did dress up nice – maybe not in a way her mother would have wanted for this setup, but she does look put together as she always does. But, there is something about David, a NFL champion, that still get to Ivy and she doesn’t want to end up back in his orbit.

Unfortunately for her, though, David says everything she needs to hear about investing in her, this time things not being all about him, and she gets snagged. But, while drunk, David reveals to Poppa he is plans to use Ivy, which Poppa tells Ivy after he gets the full details. She isn’t happy about hearing this at first, even accuses Poppa of being mad she could be happy and not join in his misery, but with a woman on his lap, and them making out, Ivy sees the truth first hand.

This leads to an apology the next day and the show moving back to hinting something could be there between Poppa and Ivy.

New Characters

Felicia (Ella Joyce)

Ivy’s mother who is very critical of Ivy and seems to want her daughter to get back with David.

David (Coby Bell)

David is a famous NFL Champ whose reputation has repeatedly taken a hit and he is trying to make a comeback.

Joey (Max Woods)

Joey is a popular kid in Trey’s grade who has enough influence to make someone popular or deemed a loser.

Predictions

  1. With the way things are going, Ivy and Poppa are likely going to get together.

Review

Highlights

  • Meeting Ivy’s Mom and Ex [81/100]
  • Breaking The Routine of Poppa’s House [84/100]

Trajectory

Trajectory (82/100): Climbing

What made this episode better than the rest is that it didn’t feel tired. It wasn’t about Junior and Poppa facing their childhood traumas in a way that wasn’t productive, to suddenly resolve it with a long overdue conversation. We didn’t get Junior being a 30+ year old man acting like a child and making you question how Nina puts up with it. Instead, she got to join in the fun and while you can tell she was more so trying to save the party than was having fun with Junior, at the very least, you got the sense that family means more to her than being temporarily uncomfortable.

I would even say, in terms of putting up with Junior’s nonsense, it is because, as we’ve seen, her mom isn’t around, and she doesn’t want her kids to miss out on having both parents in their lives. Now, would divorcing make for an excellent storyline for Nina, and trying to make it work despite these feelings? Yes. But let’s not pretend she can go out on her own and leave Junior behind.

I mean, look at Ivy. In an episode that could have largely been about her, things begin and end with it being about Poppa. Poppa inserts himself into Felicia’s party, gets involved in David’s business, and while no one wants to see Ivy hurt, at the same time, all this did was keep her on the hook and back into crushing on Poppa. So while the episode did break the cycle, it still didn’t really solve the issue of giving these women lives that stand on their own.

“Poppa’s House” Guide

Links

TV Shows We’re Covering This Season

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Amari is the founder and head writer of Wherever-I-Look.com and has been reviewing media since 2010. He approaches each production with hope, rooting for every story to succeed, and believes criticism should come from unmet potential, while praise is reserved for work that meets or exceeds expectations.