Kate Foster (Catherine Reitman) is set to go to work. She wears a ponytail and a sleeveless, turtle-necked powder blue jumpsuit, and picks up a white purse to head out. Her husband kisses her goodbye and right when she is about to open the entrance door, her toddlers stop her, asking if they could have ‘french toast and pancakes’.
This is the closing scene of the Canadian series Workin’ Moms’ finale. Her response to that question quite perfectly sums up the Canadian sitcom, which ran for a total of seven seasons.
The 13-episode-long final season, which premiered on Netflix on April 26 is pretty much like the ones that came before. It is witty, relatable and pretty binge-worthy. It also lays the message loud and clear — being a parent is no piece of cake, especially for a woman.
The show’s title is self-explanatory. It showcases the lives of five older millennial women who struggle to strike a balance between careers, relationships, and (obviously) parenthood. While the struggles are quite real, they are packaged into tight almost half an hour long episodes that most of the time, promise a good laugh.
The story is told from the perspectives of Kate, her best friend Dr Anne Carlson (Dani Kind), Val Szalinsky (Sarah McVie), who runs a group for new mothers, book publicist Sloane Mitchell (Enuka Okuma) and recently-fired techie Jenny Mathews (Jessalyn Wanlim).
Times have changed in the seventh season, and the babies of Kate, Anne and Jenny from the first season are no longer babies; they are school-goers now.
Sloane, on the other hand, has a newborn but thinks it’s unnecessary for her to opt for maternity leave. Even though Val does not have a baby, she ends up creating a weirdly close bond with her newborn granddaughter, whose mother has now run away.
Reitman herself created the show and produced it along with her husband Philip Sternberg (who plays her on-screen husband, Nathan) — and it is truly her baby. She has incorporated some of her personal struggles as a new mother into the show. One such instance is when in Season 1, Kate tears up when her colleague remarks that her son “will call the nanny mom”. These moments truly make the show stand out.
The character arc of Sloane was wonderful and wholesome to watch. Val too got a love story that she deserved. That being said, many parts of the show appeared quite forced in this season. It was painful to watch Jenny struggle through her transformation. There could be moments on screen when you would want to hit fast forward on her scenes. Similarly, Anne’s character has gotten insufferable over the seasons.
While Reitman and the other writers tried to deliver a perfect ending, the finale is not without its imperfections and missing sub-plots. In addition, Raymond Ablack’s much-awaited recurring role couldn’t add a lot of value to this season.
However, on the whole, Workin’ Moms is a quite likable breezy watch, that puts some real issues on the table. It works for you, especially if you are a millennial who most likely has at least one friend with a baby and a career. Or are you that friend?
