‘Good Grief’ Recap: ‘Play Nice’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 202 of ‘Good Grief’. To revisit the season two premiere, click here.
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Perhaps one of the hardest aspects of dealing with the death of a loved one, is the aftermath of their passing. Because not only are we forced to sift through their lives and figure out what goes and what stays from decades of collections and proclivities we knew little about, but there’s the clinical and costly matter of laying them to rest. Which means we have to take the time to take bids on who can offer up an affordable funeral and of course, we have to pay that bill and bring everyone together to say goodbye. Which can be exhausting and as heartbreaking as the passing of a loved one… which is why compassion for those mourning is such a big deal.

For they really are going through it and when a funeral parlor or anyone can cut them some slack, it is a wonderful and beautiful thing and well, that kind of compassion is top of mind today… simply because it was put on full display in the next episode of Good Grief. For when we catch up with the crew of the Loving Tributes Funeral home in ‘Play Nice’, they are mired in quite the ugly farewell. Because the deceased and how despised they were, brought forth conflict from some clients. Wherein one party’s desire to have a super deluxe farewell clashed hard with her brother and his husband’s desire to keep costs down. To the point where the whole thing appeared to be falling apart before Ellie and Dean’s eyes, meaning they would likely lose the client over business matters.

Which prompted Dean to just step up and step into the heart of the matter. Wherein he came to learn that the real concern here was that paying top dollar for a jerk's funeral would create long term strife within the home for this newlywed couple. Which in turn prompted Dean to go the extra mile, and ease some of those financial worries and end the conflict that was brewing within the family by offering up some steep discounts. The kind that did raise Ellie’s ire, but in the end, it was the right call. Because compassion matters most above all things, especially when someone is hurting, and it was just wonderful to see this slice of kindness take place and be reminded of that message and to find some humor in the mix of such a choice as well.

Because the revamped deluxe burial package, also motivated Dean to uh… become the entertainment at the wake, one that featured a soup, and let’s be honest, it isn’t every day that you get to see the man who paid the final respects to your loved one, bust out some serious karaoke in their honor and oddly enough, the humor didn’t end there. For this episode also caught up with Gwen in between those lovely moments and wow, was she a freakin’ hot mess over having her DJ business basically fail. Because she spent her days just trashing the house and playing games and walking about on stilts and well, this was just hilarious through and through and thankfully, it would seem that Gwen won’t be feeling this lost for that much longer.

For Ellie did offer Gwen a shot at managing and revamping the social media presence of the parlor. An act that should give her purpose and direction at last, and hey… maybe she can DJ a few of the Deluxe Funeral musical numbers to help Dean out. But all kidding aside, this really was quite the lovely episode. One that genuinely spoke to all of us and reminded us that grieving is hard, and compassion is a big key to helping people through it, and we should provide that to others when death arrives and well… you simply cannot go wrong with a show that offers up that kind of message. Especially when the show revolves around what comes next after death and well, all this episode does is compel us to continue the journey, so we can see what other unique stories await us in season two of this wondrous series. Until next time.

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