REVIEW: ‘One Day at a Time,’ Season 4, Episode 4 – “One Halloween at a Time”

The fourth episode of One Day at a Time‘s fourth season, titled “One Halloween at a Time,” premiered on Tuesday night. In the previous episode, everyone but Penelope (Justina Machado) decides to go out for the night. Alex (Marcel Ruiz) comes back home early because he forgot his phone and accidentally catches his mom in a compromising position. Penelope talks about what happened in her support group and hopes to get advice on what to say to Alex. Unable to find the advice she’s looking for, Penelope decides to just have a conversation about what happened with her son. She tries to talk with Alex about healthy human sexuality but he’s too embarrassed to be talking about this and demands boundaries. Meanwhile, Lydia (Rita Moreno) scolds Penelope about what happened with Alex.

In “One Halloween at a Time,” the Alvarez family gets ready to celebrate Halloween. Elena (Isabella Gomez) and Syd (Sheridan Pierce), who decided to go with a couple’s costume, plan on going door to door and asking people to support a social cause. Alex spends time with his girlfriend, Nora (Raquel Justice), at a party that her parents are throwing. Schneider (Todd Grinnell) and Avery (India de Beaufort) try to decide what costumes to wear for a contest at a country club. Penelope and Max (Ed Quinn), having reunited in last week’s episode, decide to spend the night handing out candy. Meanwhile, Lydia finds a pregnancy test in the trash and tries to find out who the test belongs to.

Ever since I can remember, Halloween has been my favorite holiday of the entire year and I love finding new ways to celebrate every year. Seeing the Alvarez family making preparations to celebrate was something I could relate to. However, I wish the show would’ve touched more on Alex outgrowing the tradition of going trick-or-treating. He spends the night with his girlfriend and her family instead of going out for candy with his mom. That’s something that should have at least impacted Penelope in a bigger way rather than just accepting it. Going out on Halloween is something that they did together, and for it to be gone without any sort of emotional response was the wrong way to go.

Elena and Syd’s motivation on how to celebrate Halloween was entertaining to watch. Making a stand for a social issue and asking for support while trick-or-treating is a unique way of ensuring people listen. Even though they struggle through the night, you can’t help but admire their dedication to the social issue. They’re aware that their night might not turn out as expected, but they’re just focused on advocating. Their entire plotline for this episode corresponds perfectly with who Elena and Syd are. I’m glad being a couple didn’t change their passion for social change, even after being together for so long.

Given that it’s the second week of April, it’s a bit strange to watch an episode of television focused on a holiday that doesn’t take place until October. After watching the episode, I was in the mood to go to my local grocery store and buy pumpkins to carve them. I understand that “One Halloween at a Time” aired in April because of when the season was released, but I can’t help but think that the episode would’ve made a bigger impact had it released closer to Halloween. However, I’m still glad that One Day at a Time made a Halloween episode since they haven’t done too many of those.

“One Halloween at a Time” puts Alex at the forefront of the show, but I wish that he and his mom would’ve gotten a scene to discuss the impact of his outgrowing trick-or-treating. Elena and Syd continue to be the show’s power couple, and it’s great to see their relationship not affect who they are as people. But once again, it’s strange to see a Halloween episode in April, but that just means the episode will be available to watch on Halloween day should fans choose to do so. Major news is dropped during the final moments of the show, which will surely bring up interesting storylines, especially for Schneider.

The fourth season of One Day at a Time is available on iTunes.