What the hell was that Lisa Kudrow storyline on Grace and Frankie?

As a longtime activist for vibrators for the geriatric population and distant admirer of Sam Waterston's eyebrows, I was naturally attracted to the Netflix show Grace and Frankie. It's a not-so-guilty-if-someone-else-admits-to-liking-it guilty pleasure show for me. (I also just enjoy hearing Lily Tomlin's voice.) I proudly spent all of last Wednesday avoiding my readings for Nitin's 510 class and binge watching Season 4 in my bed. Season 3 ended on a nerve-wracking note: Grace and Frankie may split up so Frankie can move to Santa Fe with her Ghostbuster boyfriend, Jacob (Ernie Hudson). Right on the cusp of some major competition from the evil dynamic duo of Peter Gallagher's eyebrows! (Good lord this show is a treasure trove of powerhouse eyebrows!) Where do the ladies go from here?!

Enter: ... Lisa Kudrow??

As Season 4 opens, Frankie hates Santa Fe and Grace has a new roommate, her nail technician, Sheree, who has recently fallen on rough times with the passing of her husband. Essentially, Sheree's stepchildren took control of the house, changed the locks, and have left Sheree homeless. As Frankie returns to San Diego to attend the gender reveal party for her in-utero grandchild, Frankie begins to feel threatened by the relationship between Grace and Sheree because Grace will eat cheesy potatoes rather than her usual habit of sheer photosynthesis for energy. As Frankie snoops around her old studio, which is now Sheree's, she finds suspicious depositions which call Sheree's story into question. Grace and Frankie confront Sheree at first with doubt, then accept her story and enlist themselves to get Sheree's house back from her dastardly stepchildren. Appealing to their lawyer ex-husbands, Grace and Frankie learn that written proof must exist that stipulates that Sheree's husband wants her to have the house upon his death.

Good and narratively contrived news! Such a thing exists!!! In a love letter in a box in the old house!!!

EXT - Sheree's House - DAY
GRACE and FRANKIE perform a B&E. Grace crawls into a doggy door that 5-year-old me wouldn't even have been able to fit into, screws up her knee, manages to unlock the door, and she and Frankie go on the hunt. Sheree's very anxiously looking stepson comes in, G&F pretend to be a realtor and prospective buyer, they finangle Sheree in, Sheree finds the letter and at some point the son runs out of the house and all is restored for Sheree.

Then we literally never hear about Sheree for the rest of the season and the only remainder from that entire two episode arc is Grace's injured knee which propels her into an existential crisis about dating a younger man. Both episodes could have been removed from the season and nothing would have been lost. If I wanted Sheree as a character, I'd have watched an episode of Friends, since Sheree is what I imagine Phoebe transformed into after nearly 15 years of being off the airwaves. The entire narrative dissonance bothered me, especially for a show made for streaming whereby futile narrative arcs are easily pinpointed and, in my personal view, "fluff" episodes are less tolerated because there are less restrictions for network seasons, etc.

WOW! That was a weird episode of Law and Order.

In short, if you have yet to start season 4 of Grace and Frankie, you can start at episode 3.