Mulligan – Season 1 Episode 6 “Opening Day” Recap and Review

Opening Day

Dr Braun mischievously tries and fails to convince President Mulligan to commission a project for creating photovoltaic cells. That could have further provided them with more energy to use as electricity and other things.

Matty throws the Order she drafted up in the bin as LaMarr “poison pilled” it. It is Saturday and Braun spends time with her kids. Matty is nearby and suggests they compete in a baseball game. They already have a team and Matty goes around the city to round up a team made up of movie stereotypes – foul-mouthed wisecrack, the fat guy, the little guy, etc.

Simon retrieves the unsigned Order and recognizes what LaMarr did with Braun’s plan. He shows Lucy how LaMarr purposely sabotaged Braun’s sensible plan and the two decide to do something about it. He confronts LaMarr about the order and the politician’s reaction is that of calm. He has definitely dealt with such situations before and it shows in his reaction. LaMarr shows a yearning for how things were done in the old times. He wants “lobbying” to convince him to lend them this political favour.

It is old-fashioned and delusional, but also charming how he has stuck to the traditions. Since the electricity is gone, LaMarr’s LVAD machine is about to stop, which will cause his heart to stop. Simon understands the urgency of the situation and goes to Lucy with his findings. Braun’s team decimates Matty’s at baseball.  He wants to keep playing until “the underdogs make a dramatic comeback and win.” Lucy and Simon decide to give LaMarr the appearance of the lobbying process to get the Order signed.

Matty struggles to cope with the fact that movie tropes about sports don’t often work in real life. He does everything possible, including getting Axatrax to play for his team, to stage a comeback. LaMarr is first taken to dinner and then to a theatre show – the only one running in the city. They watch the baseball game together as Simon pushes LaMarr to stop being stubborn and get the Order signed. LaMarr laments the days gone by. He wants them to blackmail him next in order to force Matty’s signature.

They do exactly that as Simon digs up a photo of the 1980 election day. Even though LaMarr was a stout Republican, he voted for Jimmy Carter and not Ronald Reagan, whom he professes to idolize. LaMarr is impressed and he gives them the old packed-up solar panels to finally light up the city once again. Matty goes away crying from the field and Braun pursues him. She learns that Matty is heartbroken since he cannot win at the only thing he knows how to do in life. Braun opens up about her life problems with her husband.

They come to a compromise when they see the park lights coming up. Matty realizes his fantasy of pretending to be a girl and winning the game, only to reveal himself as a boy afterwards. Braun supports him and everyone is happy.

The Episode Review

This episode was a cringe-fest. The storyline about the baseball match was a complete waste of time. The attempt to form an emotional connection with the characters was facetious at best. It kept us at an arm’s distance because of its incredulity. The writers’ room has to put in more effort to pitch these characters to us, otherwise, they will continue to remain derivative caricatures. There needn’t be an American-ness to everything they do and how they appeal to you.

The viewer base is larger than America and most of the time, these non-target demographics become the decider for a show. LaMarr’s arc is possibly the only one that has a unique twist on conventional characterizations. His staunch and passionate preservation of lobbying, partying, and traditional political revelry makes him more believable. But on a granular level, Mulligan has not used its wits optimally until now.