‘Night Court’ Recap: ‘Hold the Pickles, Keep the Change’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

NIGHT COURT -- "Hold the Pickles, Keep the Change" Episode 204 -- Pictured: (l-r) Melissa Rauch as Abby Stone, Nyambi Nyambi as Wyatt -- (Photo by: Nicole Weingart/NBC/Warner Bros.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 204 of ‘Night Court’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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One particular aspect about life that each of us will agree is unsettling, is that we simply do not ever have a clue if we’ve made the right decision. Because there is no way of going back and looking at what the other path decision wise might have produced for us. So, we stick with the call we made, and hope for the best and sometimes… let that haunt us. Because now and again, little moments come up that leave us wondering, and sadly… there is simply no way to overcome this permanently. Because we make a lot of big decision in our lives, the kind that weigh upon us heavy. If anything, the only we can do to cope, is to surround ourselves with people who are wise enough to inform us that what’s done and done and to recognize the good in what we decided.

If anything, that particular aspect of life is top of mind today, simply because it popped up in this week’s episode of Night Court on NBC. For ‘Hold the Pickles, Keep the Change’ saw Abby begin to doubt her decision to break up with Rand. Courtesy of the fact that he was dating back home again, and seemed happy, despite the fact that his expression of this was handled poorly on Insta. But that really did get to Abby deeply and truly left her wondering if she made the wrong call, if sticking with Rand and his love could have done something more for her. Which in turn, put her on a strange path in this tale. One where she used the power of the pickle to find perfection and solace in her decision, but sadly… that didn’t work. Because let’s be honest, there’s nothing to be found within the wonder of the pickle outside of the taste.

But Abby’s attempts to reconcile this failed further because… Olivia only exacerbated her worries. Because as Abby struggled to settle in her mind which call was the right call, Olivia dragged her out to a double date with a pair of lawyers so greasy and so unethical, that they would have made Saul Goodman cringe with disgust. But Olivia was feeling saucy in this tale and wanted the love of one of these ambulance chasers badly. To the point where she cared little when Abby ran back to her office to do more pickle work and self-loathing over her decision. All because going on a date made her further doubt what she had done. Making it clear that Olivia was not the right person to support such matters. Heck, she didn’t even get what she wanted in the end. Because the lawyer she wanted so badly, was more in love with his earnings than he would ever be with her. 

Which meant, there was only one hope to save Abby from her mind… Dan Fielding. Who didn’t quite get there to help her until late in the tale. Mainly because he and Flobert came to discover they loved unhealthy food, and felt they should in fact, embrace their awful tastes. Despite what Gurgs told them about the dangers to their health. But eventually, they came to regarding such matters and found new ways to eat a balanced and weird diet and that allowed for Dan, to have a great talk with Abby. One that informed her that yes, while we can never know if the decisions we have made, were in fact the right ones, there’s no point in regretting what we have done. For we made our call, and we must move on and find the positive in our decision and live life to the fullest.

Which… might be the weirdest way ever to get to the lesson at hand, but that should come as no surprise. After all, this is Night Court we are talking about here. A show where zany rules the day and where the characters relish in wacky and fun. So that makes this, the perfect episode. For this was indeed the proper balance of zany and heartfelt, and the zany worked well. Since Olivia’s quest was foolhardy and perfect for her ambitions and well… it’s shocking that Dan and Flobert didn’t catch Type Three Diabetes with the junk they ate. And it was indeed nice to see Abby find advice and solace from her mentor and confidante and well, there’s not much else to say about this episode. Outside of the fact that the Wyatt gag, regarding his sage advice was quite genius and will hopefully continue to come into play as season two of this show continues to balance the goofy and the sweet. Until next time.

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