[Movie] This Fool – Season 1 Episode 4 “Y Tu Julio También” Recap & Review

Y Tu Julio También

Episode 4 of This Fool begins with Julio slipping his nephews some fireworks, instructing them to cause a distraction, and bolting from the house. All because he doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday.

The rest of the family has cake without him, discussing why Julio doesn’t want to celebrate. Ana says he hates himself and where he is in life. He thinks he deserves to suffer on his birthday. But Luis is determined to make him have a good time today.

Julio scrolls through his messages, looking at all the well-wishes for his birthday. He sees none from Maggie, so he texts her at the dentist’s office, where he apparently prefers to spend his birthday.

His plans change when Payne calls him into work for an emergency. But it turns out to be a trick by Luis and everyone at Hugs Not Thugs to throw Julio a party.

He books it again, this time to go lie in bed at home, where he dreams about Maggie. Luis and the others won’t let him off easy, however. They drag him to a bowling alley for a proper party.

Julio nearly sneaks off from there as well–until he runs into Maggie and her date (another Julio) at the bowling alley.

Julio then decides to stay, and he seems to thrive off the pain of seeing her with another man. He makes a point to beat other Julio’s score at bowling–even though they’re not playing each other. He seems to be having fun, almost, but he ruins the party for everyone when he smashes his face into his cake.

Maggie confronts him in the bathroom about how he’s been acting. He says she could have texted him back. She just wants him to admit he misses her. She says she knows what he wants–to kiss her.

He confesses he does want to kiss her, and that he misses her. Maggie congratulates him for admitting what he wants, then leaves.

---

The Episode Review

Maggie may tease Julio in what looks to be an unfair manner, but if anything, I think this episode reveals how much she does know Julio better than anyone. There certainly are some self-worth issues that Julio needs to work through. But it’s not just that Julio thinks he deserves to feel pain; he has kind of a kink for it–and Maggie gets that.

Comedy-wise, this episode was a little bland (apart from that amazing opener). But it does well to dig into Maggie and Julio’s non-traditional relationship, which gets more interesting as it’s unpacked more. At this point, it’s hard to tell if they’re toxic for each other, or if they may just be what the other needs.