The Death of Mrs. Resnick

The Death of Mrs. Resnick
Season	1
Episode	6
Air date	January 6, 2017
Writer	Andy Roth
Director	Victor Gonzalez
Episode guide
Previous	Strays
Next	Hold, Please

The Death of Mrs. Resnick is the sixth episode of season one of One Day at a Time.

Plot

When Penelope's faithful car finally breaks down for good and she's forced to trade it in, she meets a kindred spirit in the unlikeliest of places.

Recap

On their way to Alex's baseball practice, Mrs. Resnick, their car, breaks down. They come home after having towed the car to the mechanics and find Lydia and Schneider wearing face masks.

Penelope gets a call from Hector the mechanic and learns that Mrs. Resnick is dead. Penelope is upset because their dad took her on their first date in that car.

Schneider says the good news is that she gets a new car. Penelope says yeah right. Elena says that they can start taking public transportation but Lydia says that a family needs a car. Penelope says that salesmen are scary and that she is a total stereotype "because women don't know about cars."

Elena says she can do this and Schneider offers to take Alex to baseball practice for her.

Penelope tells Doctor Berkowitz about how her car broke down and how she spent last night learning about cars. She asks him to go with her to the dealership tomorrow but he says he can't because his daughter is coming to visit and he hasn't seen her in ages. Elena arrives home after having taken public transportation. Alex arrives home after Schneider having taken him to practice.

He is ecstatic because everyone saw him in Schneider's car and thought he was a badass. Penelope asks Schneider to go with her to the car dealership and pretend to be her husband. He says sure and that he has tricks to get people on his side and what does she have. They go to the car dealership and she is dressed in army gear. She's ready to talk to the salesman but hesitates when she learns that the salesman is actually a saleswoman. She confesses to the woman that this is her first big purchase without her husband. The lady says that they can figure it out, just the two of them.

Elena arrives home and Lydia asks how public transportation was today. Lydia catches her in a lie and Elena reveals that she hates the bus and that she's been lying these past two days. Lydia tells her how she used public transportation to go to the farmers market and recycle. Elena confesses that Lydia is greener than her and that she's her new hero.

Alex asks about the flyers Lydia has been putting up to advertise her dance class. It turns out that she's been using provocative wording and that she's been getting calls from men who want her to do things to them. She says that needs a new phone number. Penelope goes to clean out her old car when she finds an old five-dollar bill with her and her ex-husband Victor's initials on it.

She tells the saleswoman that she can't get rid of the car and reminisces about everything that's happened in it. She also tells her about her ex-husband and how things got worse when he came back from war. Penelope says that it's hard to say goodbye. The saleswoman tells her that its time to let go of the past and invites her to join her lady soldier group where they talk about their problems.

Penelope shows the family the new car and plays for them her favorite song. They all start to lip-sync with it.

Transcript

Click here for The Death of Mrs. Resnick/Transcript.

Cast

Main

• Justina Machado as Penelope Alvarez
• Todd Grinnell as Schneider
• Isabella Gomez as Elena Alvarez
• Marcel Ruiz as Alex Alvarez
• Stephen Tobolowsky as Leslie Berkowitz
• Rita Moreno as Lydia Riera

Guests

• Haneefah Wood as Jill Riley

References/Trivia

• Penelope's car was named Mrs. Resnick after one of Victor's hot former teachers.
• The song that Penelope keeps singing throughout the episode is "Unbreak My Heart" by Toni Braxton. It also plays during the credits.