One Day at a Time Wiki

Nikki Maxwell is Finn Maxwell's mother and Penelope's rival.

Physical Appearance[]

Nikki is a woman with shoulder-length wavy blonde hair who is roughly around the same age as Penelope. She wears more natural-looking makeup.

She's usually well-dressed.

Personality[]

Nikki is vain, selfish, and clearly not a good person. It is hinted in Season 1 that she wants to cheat on her husband with Schneider. In Season 2, it's mentioned she got recently divorced, which is likely has to do with her cheating. She often tries to take credit and wants to appear like she does a lot. An example of this is when it's mentioned she takes credit for Mateo and Penelope's work at the auction and eats an aution item in "Benefit with Friends."

However, she is very lazy and doesn't care about who she steps on, or hurts to make herself seem like a better person. She is also immature as she does things such as draws inappropriate pictures on the school's auction sheet. She does not seem to be very intelligent, either, as she miscounted the amount of time it took to finish helping Penelope and Mateo and did not recognize Spanish as a language, referring to it as Penelope and Mateo’s “secret language.” This may also be interpreted as she is slightly racist.

Her personality seems to reflect on herself as a mother, which shows that she is clearly the reason why Finn gets away with most of his crimes. She also shows that she doesn’t really seem to notice nor care about Finn’s path down delinquency. The fact that the mother and son are never seen together in the same scenes may be a symbol for this as well.

Bio[]

Nikki first appears once in Season 1, in the episode "Pride & Prejudice," when Schneider takes Alex to an overnight baseball game. Schneider calls Penelope to let her know about Alex, then mentions how Finn's mom is "out of town single" and was flirting with her. Later they talk in the hotel's lobby.

In Season 2, she appears in "To Zir, With Love," when Penelope is asking Schneider for advice on how she slept with Max at work, it's revealed that Schneider and Nikki are hooking up with each other as a "junk buddy." Penelope doesn't agree with it.

In "Homecoming," Nikki appears making out with Schneider at the front door, then tells Penelope that she has to fill her volunteer hours for the PTA at the homecoming dance or she will have to pay a fee of $1000. She also announces that she is running for PTA President, but Penelope says she isn't voting for her.

Later, Nikki tells Sister Barbara that she is getting married to Schneider to impress her, and Schneider thinks she's being serious at first. However, later Schneider realizes she is only using him to impress Sister Barbara and leaves her. He also embarrasses Nikki in front of Sister Barbara when she is caught holding a cigarette in the school hallway and he says that they "knew each biblically" and that she "said the lord's name in vain a lot" while they were "doing it."

In Season 3, she appears in "Benefit with Friends," as Penelope and Mateo set up for the school auction, Nikki and the other PTA moms are sitting, talking, and doing nothing, Nikki even eating one of the auction items which were some cookies.

Schneider is afraid that Nikki will buy his "Handyman For A Day" service that he offers at the auction, and they will end up sleeping with each other like previous years. When Schneider meets Avery, Avery tries to outbid her, then it becomes a competition to see who can bid the most money, finally, Nikki outbids her. Schneider tries telling her that he prefers Avery and that she makes him feel things he has never felt before. Nikki suggests he brings her along, but he says no, and eventually, Nikki leaves.

Storyline[]

Season 3[]

Nikkieatscookies

Nikki eats the cookies that were supposed to be for the auction.

In "Benefit with Friends," at St. Bibiana Academy, in the gym, Penelope and her friend and fellow PTA member Mateo are helping set up for the fundraiser. Penelope then says it would be great if they could get help from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Implants gesturing towards a group of well-dressed PTA moms at a different table. Penelope then walks up to the mothers with Mateo behind her she then tells them she and Mateo are almost done setting up and asks if they want to help. The group refuses to do so.

Penelope then questions Nikki, one of the moms if the cookies she's eating are an auction item. Nikki then tells her they are gluten-free. Nikki then says she wishes they could help but they are on their way to the gym. Mateo points out they are in a gym at the moment. Penelope then says lifting baskets could be their workout. Nikki then tells them it's not an arms day.

Penelope then starts to say something else but Mateo restrains her from doing so and steers her away from the group and back to their table. In Spanish, Mateo tells Penelope it's good she didn't send a maid. Penelope responds in Spanish by saying the maid is at the house with the body and the woman is crazy. Mateo then chuckles at this.

Nikki then comments that they are so cute with their secret language. Penelope then looks at Mateo and says he should sign her up for the pervy dog and she will put her down for the vag tune-up. The two then exchange a fist bump.

At the auction, Nikki comes up to Schneider and he asks her not to bid on him this year. She flirtatiously tells him she loves their yearly tradition of her winning the auction, leading to them having sex. She then draws an inappropriate picture on the bidding sheet and leaves. Schneider then says this is a school and tries to cover it. Schneider then hears the ding of a typewriter behind him. He then meets a woman named Avery who is writing poetry for the auction.

At Schneider's table, Nikki realizes she's been outbid. Avery tells her it was by her. Nikki then says she has a tradition to maintain and outbids Avery. The two women then proceed to continue going back and forth with outbidding each other. Finally, Avery says she can't compete with Nikki's bid. Schneider then tells Avery to excuse him and Nikki for a second. Avery leaves them alone and tries to kiss Schneider who restrains her saying he has feelings for Avery even though they just met. Nikki suggests Avery come with them but Schneider makes it clear he's only interested in Avery now. Nikki finally walks away.

Trivia[]

  • Although she is Finn's mom, they strangely enough never appear in any scenes together. It's only her or other characters that mention she is Finn's mom.
  • She is often referred to as "Nikki, Finn's Mom."
  • Mateo's impression of Nikki sounds like, according to Penelope, "Hi, I'm Nikki. I'm terrible."