User blog comment:JKC14/What were your thoughts on "Rita Her Rights"?/@comment-31022739-20180407004010

Third best episode of the third season, so far.

Man, I really enjoyed this one. Rita finally gets to play a major part of an episode where she stands on her own merits instead of playing buddy cop with her husband. And man, what a delightful episode.

While Rita’s not someone I’d call “interesting” any time soon, I feel like this was a plot that delivered that played to her strengths and her role in the family. And yes, while Rita did do the wrong thing by avoiding taking care of her family for as long as she did, she comes around to assuming responsibility without being forced to do so. It makes it come off as more of her just needing a break from the chaos instead of downright hating her family.

I’ve always lobbied for the notion that Rita and Lynn Sr. shoukd be overly strict, boring stick-in-the-muds who are only around to enforce rules and put a stop to entertaining antics for the sake of brushing aside criticisms about their parenting. But the thing that I hadn’t realized was that all of those “negiligent” appearances I defended in the past weren’t the point of those episodes. Take “Fool’s Paradise”, for example. While Lynn Sr. and Rita were enablers for not putting a stop to Luan, their incompetence is only served to allow the plot to exist and all the ensuing hijinks. If anything, it’s *required* that they’re not good parents in this instance, but I can give it a pass when the point of the episode isn’t to call them out on that fact (even *if* Lynn Sr. does realize the error of his ways).

That’s not the case here, though. Rita’s responsibilities *are* the focus, and I’m happy to say that this episode was something that could placate some of her (whether individually or as a unit with Lynn Sr.) biggest dissenters in terms of her questionable parenting. While she walks that familiar line of not being the mother of the year by trying to avoid handling her family, not only do the opening minutes show what a trooper she is for enduring so many different tasks practically each morning but that, again, she understands that her fantasy of perpetual escapism via community service is dead last to bearing her cross at home.

In short, there’s room for both responsibility *and* laughter.

And that’s not even going into all the cute and funny moments; Lana’s armpit flea, the hair dye/spray mix-up, practically all of Rita’s breaking the law tactics, Lisa’s cake, and every scene with the squirrel. Add to the sweet as anything, heartwarming resolution to wrap everything up and you have an episode that, by all means, was not something I expected to be *this* good.