Wendy being raised by two moms came out of nowhere. In an earlier episode, she tried to impress Jeanine by mentioning an ex-boyfriend who came out, as if that was her only experience with queer people. Even the excuse that the other girls ignore her stories contradicts the few times she openly talked about her parents and family.note Especially a previous joke that she doesn't like to talk about her family.
The very quickly put together explanation for Christy's absence in Season 8 (thanks to Anna Faris's decision to depart the series after Season 7) had shades of this, since Christy had previously been established as struggling to get accepted into even the most bottom-of-the-barrel law schools she could find, meaning suddenly getting a full scholarship to study at Georgetown University (one of the most prestigious and selective law schools in America,) as stretching the suspension of disbelief just a little too far. That said, just as many appreciated it, since Christy had spent so long struggling to put her life back together, so they enjoyed it as a cathartic Earn Your Happy Ending, regardless of how much of a stretch it seemed.
Christy's genuinely impressive speech about why she wants to be a lawyer in "Atticus Finch and Downtrodden". After a boring, generic speech, she decides to be 100% honest about everything she went through growing up and how it made her appreciate the opportunity she's been granted. It's little wonder it earned her the scholarship.
When facing losing her job in "Teenage Vampires and a White Russian", Christy threatens to post the restaurant's health code violations online, which scares the regional manager into letting her stay. It's one of the few times when the mousy Christy oozes confidence. It also comes off as long overdue payback for being unfairly demoted back in Season 3 because of nepotism.
Base-Breaking Character: Violet seems to be the most controversial character in the series. Plenty see her as a sympathetic Jerkass Woobie who is justifiably upset at the compounded trauma she's endured at the hands of an alcoholic mother and grandmother. Others, however, see her as a flat and badly-written stereotypical Bratty Teenage Daughter character who unfairly blames everything wrong in her life on Christy without acknowledging her own role in it, such as her teenage pregnancy, and whose interactions with Christy cross a line from "understandably frustrated" into "excessively petty," (especially considering the show has something of a running theme about the importance of acceptance and forgiveness; with both Christy and Bonnie having episodes devoted to learning they need to let go of the past and stop harboring resentment toward their own mothers.) especially as she frequently holds the possibility of forgiveness over Christy's to manipulate her into giving her what she wants. Her final appearance in "Jell-O Shots and the Truth About Santa" only threw more fuel on the fire. Many agree with her decision to cut Christy out of her life entirely, while others felt like her countering everything Christy said with some kind of sneering put-down was overly cruel.
Catharsis Factor: "Atticus Finch and Downtrodden" ends with Christy getting something great with no strings attached. She earns herself a 20,000 dollar scholarship for college, gets back a good chunk of the money from Violet's wedding dress, and Bonnie of all people chews out Violet for her behavior while Christy is in earshot.
In "Estrogen and a Hearty Breakfast," Bonnie, fearing she might be pregnant, goes to a clinic and gets an unflattering diagnosis.
Bonnie:ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! You are a lying SON OF A BITCH! You shouldn't even be allowed to practice in this country! [storms out of the clinic] "Menopause" my ass!!
Bonnie and Christy getting lost in Violet's maze-like apartment building in "Blow and a Free McMuffin".
The look into Christy's train of thought when she tries meditation in "Big Floor Pillows and a Ball of Fire."
Christy:[thinking] Alright, here we go. Quiet the mind. Yepper-dee-doo. Why did I say that? That's not a quiet mind. Okay, here we go. Oh! Can't forget that eye appointment on Thursday. Grr, stop it! [beat]I come from a land down under! Where the hell did that come from?
Bonnie's existential crisis rant from the opening of "Dammit Sandra and Viking Ancestors". In particular:
Bonnie: Global warming! Sure, we're having great weather, but you know it's only happening 'cause the Earth's slowly spinning towards the Sun 'til we're all bacon! Trevor:(perplexed) I don't…What channels do you watch?
As heartbreaking as the episode "A Cricket and A Hedge Made Of Gold" was, Bonnie trying fill in as a sponsor was a gold mine. Especially the part where she learns Mary has a lot of issues.
Bonnie: Your sister is your mother, and your brother's your uncle? Oh, he's just your brother. Okay, got it. So, which one needs the kidney?
In "Forged Resumes and the Recommended Dosage", during which time the family is temporarily lodging with Marjorie and her eight cats, Violet returns late at night, drunk. She doesn't make it to the bathroom in time and hurls on the kitchen floor; Marjorie's cats immediately run to the unseen mess and start devouring it. This causes Christy to barf in the trash can and Bonnie the kitchen sink.
Bonnie: When did I eat corn?! [points to sink] CORN! [Violet, Christy, and Bonnie resume throwing up]
The season 1 episode "Nietzsche and a Beer Run" has Christy dating a pothead firefighter, David, who refers to himself as "The Professor" in reference to the Gilligan's Island character. Russell Johnson, who played The Professor on Gilligan's Island died shortly before the episode aired. Chuck Lorre even acknowledges the poor timing in his vanity card and apologizes.
In the season 1 episode "Six Thousand Bootleg T-Shirts And A Prada Handbag", Bonnie jokes about relapsing and that it was surely going to happen. Not only does she relapse, but it happens to her twice.
Similarly, Bonnie's arrogant attitude toward her recovery while talking down to Christy for her bad decisions in "Pilot" becomes this when "Zombies and Cobb Salad" reveals that Bonnie actually relapsed months ago and had been faking sobriety.
The season 1 episode "Cotton Candy and Blended Fish" could be the pinnacle of this trope in the series. Christy managing to reconcile Marjorie and her son while using the experience to try to fix her own relationship with her kids hits a lot harder in "Jell-O Shots and the Truth About Santa", where it's revealed Marjorie and her son's reconciliation didn't last and Christy and Violet's relationship meets the same fate.
A season 4 episode saw Christy date Marjorie's nephew Nick, who is played by Chris Pratt, Anna Faris' real-life husband. Christy and Nick broke up at the episode's end, and several months later after the episode aired, Anna and Chris separated.
Any interaction between Christy and Violet in earlier seasons would end up being this after the Season 6 episode "Jell-O Shots and the Truth About Santa", with Violet's podcast tarnishing any hope for them to repair their relationship.
The second half of the season 4 episode "Cornbread and a Cashmere Onesie" has Christy trying to talk Jill out of having a child (which the latter got the idea from Marjorie earlier in the same episode) inadvertently hurting Jill's feeling and not wanting to talk to Christy again, but sadly just 3 episodes later in "A Safe Word and a Rib Eye", Jill has a miscarriage on Christy's birthday!
When Luke tells his parents about Violet's pregnancy, his father says that they aren't getting married and wants a paternity test to confirm Luke is the father. He's portrayed as heartless and judgmental, but the fact is teen marriage is a bad idea, even the kids realized that eventually. The Plunkett women are outraged that he demanded a paternity test because Violet had never had sex with anyone else. But how was Luke's father supposed to know that, and why would he take their word for it?
Christy has to apologize to Jill for telling her she wasn't ready to be a mother. While Jill is a good person, as Christy pointed out, Jill was in a dark place when she got pregnant, so she had good reason to be concerned for the baby's safety. Also, Jill is one of the more unstable members of the group, frequently relapsing, and Christy knows all too well what that upbringing is like.
Bonnie was abandoned by her mother, abused in foster care, went undiagnosed with ADD, abandoned by her daughter's father, got back together with him only to have him die almost immediately, and she relapsed because of prescription pain pills (which really were for pain).
Never Live It Down: Some fans refuse to forgive Christy for getting her family evicted in Season 2 despite the mitigating factors:
She admits that the only reason they were risking eviction is because she missed shifts at work due to things outside of her control: Alvin's heart attack, Violet's pregnancy, and the adoption.
While gambling with the rent money was not the best idea, especially since Bonnie reminded her she sucked at it, Christy points out at no point did she win enough to pay the rent to make cutting her losses seem rational. She also admits that her logic going into it was that she thought she sucked at it because she was drunk or high when she did it before.
Christy does gamble again when she has enough for a token payment, her landlord is quite intimidating and might only accept it as back rent, but not enough to avoid eviction. This allows her to be tempted into gambling it after Chef Rudy promises her a sure bet. It works, giving her enough to pay all the back rent, avoid eviction, and even pay back Marjorie with interest. Before she can even get to her car, she gets mugged losing all the money.
Squick: Christy and Patrick's whole relationship given that he's her future stepfather's brother and is now her uncle thanks to Bonnie and Adam tying the knot. On Patrick's part, it's also a little creepy that he's interested in someone literally introduced to him as his future sister-in-law's daughter.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: In recent episodes, Marjorie has taken to treating Tammy like an unwanted stepchild, criticizing her in public and ordering her about at home. This once leads into a fight with Marjorie going so far as to lord it over her that she owns the house they share. Except previous episodes made clear that Tammy pays rent and Marjorie would be on the streets without her, to the point where Tammy gave up a chance to move out to help her. Added to that, when Bonnie, Christie, Violet, and Rosco stayed with her after briefly losing their house, Marjorie barely asked them to lift a finger in return.
Christy. She grew up with an alcoholic and drug-using mother in Bonnie and ends up following in her footsteps. At one point she was raped after taking too many drugs and has an emotional breakdown when she sees the rapist again. She was abused by Violet's father to the point that she ended up in the hospital. Her relationship with her children isn't the best, no matter how hard she tries.
Jill during the anniversary of her mother's passing. She ends up getting depressed over the fact she's at the same age her mother was when she committed suicide and has nobody in her life to love. While it was never said outright, her behavior implied she was suicidal. She then attempts to fill the void by getting pregnant and was told she wouldn't be a good mother by Christy, which upsets her to the point of not speaking to Christy for weeks. And when she does get pregnant, she has a miscarriage.
Tammy was unfairly kicked out of her foster home as a kid thanks to Bonnie, her father murdered her mother, and her Evil Aunt finally reunited with her only to take her kidney, wanting nothing else to do with her. She also has the worst luck: helping out a homeless guy cost her her job at a fast-food restaurant.
Travis, Jodi's ex-boyfriend, once we get his side of the story. Unlike Jodi's previous boyfriend, there is no indication he abused her, and it's implied he was fully supportive of her getting clean. Unfortunately, thinking getting high once in a while would be harmless, he convinced her the same too, and he is absolutely guilt-stricken that his idea caused her death. The worst part is that even though she could've said no, no one can really tell him it wasn't his fault.
