Betrayal! Danger! Remorse! A relationship rekindled! “Parent Trap” shenanigans! Last night on Preachers’ Daughters, the Koloff, Coleman, and Perry families—with the help, presumably, of post-production staff—ran the emotional gamut. Some highlights:
LOLumwhut?: Victoria and Nikita Koloff, divorced parents, were sent on a date by their four daughters. Nikita was in on the scheme, but it was a complete surprise for Victoria. What the audience saw of the date actually involved no rekindled romance, just awkward conversation. At one point Victoria asked Nikita what his priorities are now, and he replied, “I can give you an acronym for it.” (So many possibilities: LOL? ATM? YOLO? YMMV? DKNY? Ooh ooh! No no no, I know: WWF!)
Eventually Nikita elaborated that his priorities were: “…God first, others second, and myself last.” Which, erm, strictly speaking, would be GOM. But I gather he meant JOY. In any case, the only rekindled romance for a Koloff was teenage daughter Kolby’s getting back together with her boyfriend Micah.
You can’t make me fall, but you can make me unreachable: Taylor Coleman said she was going to the store. Really, though, she went with her friends to have their pictures taken by her romantic interest, Demotius, and his pals. (Settle down. The pictures were perfectly modest and were for his mix tape. Incidentally, how wonderful is it that kids today still use the term “mix tape”?)
While she’s out and completely unreachable by phone, her dad, Ken, goes into the hospital with breathing difficulties and is admitted to intensive care. Taylor finally gets the message, is stricken with remorse and concern, prays for her dad’s healing, and resolves to be more responsible.
My Dinner with Frankie: Mark and Cheryl Perry invited their teenage daughter Olivia’s friend Frankie over for dinner. Since Olivia has a history of drugs and partying, and since she now wants to be a responsible mom to her infant daughter Eden, Mark and Cheryl want to make sure they know her friends. Particularly Frankie, who is a friend from Olivia’s party days. (I confess I tensed my jaw a bit during the scene when Frankie and Mark discuss their concern for Olivia’s welfare, referring to her in the third person when she’s sitting right there.)
After the dinner, Frankie leaves Olivia a sweet voicemail, leading her to wonder whether maybe she’s ready to date again. But then she discovers that he actually has a girlfriend, and, bizarrely, had tried to hide this fact from her.
If last week’s episode highlighted the pressure upon daughters to reflect well on their parents’ ministries, this week’s focused more on the parents and their vulnerability. Nikita fumbles for an answer to Victoria’s question. Victoria struggles to contain her frustration. Marie Coleman frantically tries to get hold of Taylor, while Ken (whom we hardly see this episode) is in intensive care. And for all that Mark and Cheryl have tried to protect Olivia by scoping out Frankie, in the end Olivia is hurt. (That’s when Mark asks if Olivia would like him to pray for her. She replies that really she just wants a hug, and gets one.)
There are moments in this episode where cast members express confidence in God’s control. And those moments are all the more poignant in light of the fact that, this episode, we’re see some of them not quite knowing what’s going to happen, or not quite getting what they had hoped for.
Well, anyway. Here’s hoping Ken Coleman has recovered by now, and that he and Marie spent last evening watching the show and reminiscing about the hospital trip that proved to be less serious than they thought.
