While the central idea of the show was the dysfunctional relationship between a mother and a daughter, CBS’s “Mom” was much more than that. Not everyone might enjoy this sitcom, but those who did, won’t be seeing the journey of their favorite alcoholics anymore because the show ended after 8 seasons of runtime.
The show’s central character was Christy Plunkett (Anna Faris), a recovering alcoholic and drug addict in her late 30s who is a single mom to 17 years old Violet (Sadie Calvano) and 8 years old Roscoe (Blake Garrett Rosenthal). Christy shares a highly dysfunctional relationship with her estranged mother Bonnie (Allison Janney), who comes back in her life in the show’s pilot. Bonnie is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict herself.
She is cynical, self-centered, and condescending but undergoes a lot of change during the course of the show which is reflected in the finale episode, and eventually marries Adam Janikowski (William Fitchner). The mother-daughter duo regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings (A.A.) and is joined by several other recovering alcoholics like Marjorie Armstrong-Perugian (Mimi Kennedy), Jill Kendall (Jamie Pressly), Wendy Harris (Beth Hall), and Tammy Diffendorf (Kristen Johnson).
CBS’s “Mom” sitcom covers various issues like alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling addiction, smoking addiction, teenage pregnancies, prison, miscarriage, infertility, disabilities, cancer, and death. While going through all the above issues, this group of middle-aged women manages to be funny making us laugh and cry. Every character gave us something to love about, something to think about, and something to sympathize about.
In the final season, we didn’t see Christy because Anna Faris decided to quit the show. The depart of her character from the show seemed abrupt but they created a fitting storyline of her having to move as she got into Georgetown Law School on full scholarship. However, her relationship with her daughter didn’t seem to improve.
Christy had a lot of potential storylines ahead of her but in “Mom” season 6-7, those storylines weren’t explored and the character was given random, insignificant plots. Regardless, she was the backbone of the show, the glue of her group. If Anna had continued the show, maybe it wouldn’t have ended.
One of the very wholesome endings was given to Jill, who had a lifelong dream of becoming a mother. She had suffered a miscarriage, was going towards early menopause, and had discovered that her eggs were not viable. Towards the end of the show, Jill found out she was pregnant and got married to her boyfriend, the father of her child, Andy Pepper (Will Sasso). Although the wedding was the exact opposite of what was expected from her character, it was a sign of her growth.
Even though the title “Mom” is a reference to Christy and Bonnie, Marjorie sure was the mother of the group. She helped people in every way she could. Everyone relied on her for every kind of advice or support. Her relationship with her estranged son Jerry (Wallace Langham) had improved and was at its was evident when he nominated her for Napa Valley “community hero” award (which she won).
Adam and Bonnie discover that Adam has cancer in the Mom’s finale episode. While Bonnie initially freaks out, she is relieved because of the fact that they detected it at an early stage and is treatable. Bonnie also takes in another newcomer alcoholic, Shannon (Melanie Lynskey) who has a meth addict mother, Jolene (Rondi Reed) (Reflecting Bonnie – Christy relationship at the start of the show). Bonnie helps them and induces them to come to a meeting. All this gives Bonnie a fresh perspective on her sobriety from all this and refers to herself as “a grateful alcoholic”.
One of the most underrated characters of the show “Mom” is Wendy Harris who was always given the most underwhelming storylines. While her character could have explored and developed in every way possible, she is also the character who has her life together and has it all figured out (well, more figured out than the rest).
She stays away from drama herself but is always there for her friends to help her get through it. Wendy beautifully ends the show by saying “Who else would like to share?”.