The Chicken Sisters

Although Amanda wants Food Wars to explore her family’s restaurants, she did not actually think they would respond to her email. She is anxious about how the experience will turn out, but she is hopeful that it will allow everything to be “different, and better” (7). Arriving at Frannie’s, Amanda tells her mother-in-law, Nancy, about Food Wars, and they both get excited about the prospect of expanding their business, just as Amanda’s husband’s father and grandfather wanted. Amanda’s husband, Frank, and his father—also Frank—both died in a car accident, and Amanda and Nancy have been running the restaurant ever since. Although Amanda notes the differences in Frannie’s and Mimi’s due to Frannie’s more expansive menu and Mimi’s limited hours, she worries that her mother, Barbara, will not want Mimi’s to be part of the show. However, Nancy remarks that Barbara will most likely be persuaded at the prospect of winning money because Mimi’s needs more money to stay open.

Rather than going to Barbara’s house, where she spends more time than at the restaurant, Amanda decides to go straight to Mimi’s, where she is not only surprised to see her mother but also a new fry cook, Andy. Barbara introduces Andy to Amanda, who remarks that Amanda is not allowed inside the restaurant since she married Frank. When Amanda asks Barbara about Food Wars, her mother considers it, and Andy believes it will be a good opportunity for them. Amanda and Andy both seem apprehensive about Mimi’s chances of actually winning the prize money, but Amanda hopes it will bring her mother more business. Barbara, though, says she is willing to do the show if her other daughter, Mae, comes to help her during the experience. Mae, who has moved away and wrote a book about decluttering, works on her own reality show, Sparkling, about decluttering people’s spaces. Amanda is apprehensive about her sister coming to town, but she agrees to call her with the hopes that she will help Barbara at Mimi’s. 

Arriving at work in New York, Mae focuses on how her business has allowed her to appeal to working mothers and people struggling with too much clutter in their lives. While going into a meeting about her expanding brand, Mae gets a text from Amanda asking her to come help their mother with Food Wars because Mimi’s desperately needs the money. However, Mae responds that having cameras near Barbara’s house will be a disaster and that they will work out the money situation later.

In her meeting, Mae learns that one of her sponsors, a flower company, is upset about a post on Mae’s Instagram about getting rid of flower vases, especially the ones that come with premade floral arrangements. Although Mae feels as though she is doing her viewers a service, she is told that keeping sponsors happy is a priority and that “many viewers feel that [she] is lecturing them” on how to live (29). Due to this feedback, Mae is not returning to Sparkling as a cohost with her coworker and friend, Lolly. Trying to appear unbothered, Mae tells Lolly that Food Wars has asked her to be part of a feature and will be busy working with them on a project.

Once she gets home, Mae cleans her apartment and waits for her husband, Jay, to get home. She realizes that Food Wars could open up her own business in reality television to expand to a series about helping people organize their kitchens and convinces herself that being taken off Sparkling is an opportunity to expand. Before Mae can tell Jay about going home to Kansas, he tries to convince her that losing her job will be an opportunity for them to visit his mother in India with their children, Madison and Ryder. Knowing that Jay wants to travel and take a break from work, she worries that she will upset him with the news about Food Wars. He is upset that she decides to go see her family after several years due to the prospect of expanding her brand, and they get into an argument.

Mae attempts to get rid of Ryder’s stuffed animal, Chicken, that Amanda got him when he was a baby. Jay gets even angrier at her for trying to control what their family keeps inside their house, which reminds Mae of the time she got rid of Jay’s childhood baseball glove, which he was hoping to pass down to their children. The next morning at the airport, Mae gives Ryder a hug, and he tells her that Jay told him to hold tight to his stuffed chicken, which has been renamed “Rawlings” after Jay’s baseball glove.

Amanda, both disappointed yet relieved that Mae has not come home for Food Wars, is anxious when Sabrina and the camera crew arrive at Frannie’s. She has been sketching chickens since she received the news that they were coming, which is a nervous habit she picked up in high school despite the negative critiques from others. When Sabrina introduces herself, Amanda learns that they are shooting for several days and will have their own episode rather than just a short test run like she thought. However, she knows that she is ready, and so is Frannie’s. While the staff at Frannie’s discuss their relationships with each other, Amanda thinks back to the first time her mother would not let her into Mimi’s after her honeymoon with Frank. This also reminds her of getting pregnant at 19 with her first child, Gus.

As they set up a space for a one-on-one interview, Amanda and Sabrina discuss their personal lives, such as their children and their interests. Amanda reveals that she loves to draw, but she also realizes that most, if not all, of her life revolves around Frannie’s. Amanda expresses her frustration about Mae supposedly coming to help her mom, and she almost reveals that her mother and Mae argue about the state of Barbara’s messy house. However, she stops herself, and Sabrina makes the connection that Mae is known for her book and show on decluttering. Amanda also reveals that Mae worked as a stripper before she wrote her book. Amanda realizes that the cameraman, Gordo, has been recording her the entire time, and she feels guilty for everything she revealed about her family. However, Sabrina tries to reassure her that it will not all be used for the show, and then she asks Amanda what she thinks about having them cut her hair.

When her plane lands, Mae reflects on how this experience will give her an opportunity to connect with her social media followers on a different level now that she is in her hometown in Kansas rather than in New York City. Once she and her children get into the rental car, Mae has to navigate their restlessness and clean up Ryder, who has soiled his pants. When they get to Mimi’s, Mae goes through the kitchen, where she meets Andy, who tells her that Barbara has already left after waiting on Mae to get there. As she tries to clean up Ryder and find her mother, Sabrina walks into the kitchen. She tells Sabrina that she is excited to get back to work at Mimi’s to “spruce it up a bit” and work on expanding the menu, but Andy begins to argue with her about the menu (70). Sabrina also points out how Amanda’s chickens still are part of the design at Mimi’s, and Mae worries about talking about her sister before she can see her.

At the end of the day, she puts her sleeping kids into the rental car, and she watches as Amanda comes to the back door to talk to Andy about how filming went. Mae realizes her sister is flirting with Andy and how warmly he treats her compared to her own welcome earlier that day. Jay texts Mae to see how her day went and asks to call her, but Mae decides that she needs to see her mother instead.

As she goes to Barbara’s house, which is close to Mimi’s, Mae remembers a time that she broke one of Barbara’s only rules—not letting anyone come inside the house—when her father knocked on their door. Mae and Amanda were not raised by their father because he was, as Barbara describes him, a “fool and weakling” (78). In Mae’s memory, he sees inside the house and calls out to a man named Frank, who was waiting for him in the car. When Barbara returned, the man, known as Gary, argued with her over the state of the house, which was so cluttered the front door would barely open. Once he left, Barbara took the girls to her friend Patti’s house, and they decided to clean up their home. Mae remarks that Barbara was upset that Gary and his friend, Frank—the owner of Frannie’s and Amanda’s future father-in-law—were trying to buy her home. Mae and Amanda attempted to keep their home clean, but Barbara’s hoarding always causes it to get cluttered and dirty again.

Deciding to go back to Mimi’s, Mae realizes how much the restaurant needs to keep going, and she heads back to the rental car while texting Amanda that they need to come up with a plan for Food Wars.

The next day, Amanda finds her daughter, Frankie, going through her closet, while she fixates on Mae’s arrival to Merinac and Sabrina’s commentary on her hair. Amanda reflects on how she decided to get a “stupid impromptu haircut” the day before but doesn’t like how short it is (87). Frankie tells her that her hair is “awesome,” but also that she cannot wear her Frannie’s t-shirt into the restaurant. Frankie wants it to look like her mother has a life outside of the restaurant. Amanda worries about Mae being in town, and she thinks about how successful her sister is. When Amanda and Mae meet up, Amanda meets Ryder and Madison for the first time. Mae gushes over Amanda’s new hair, while Amanda notices that Ryder is carrying the stuffed chicken she gifted him as a newborn.

Amanda ridicules Mae for not keeping in touch with her childhood best friend, Kenneth, and Mae reveals that she is focused on Food Wars reviving the food industry in the town. Amanda also looks down upon Mae for bringing her kids’ nanny, Jessa. Amanda worries that Mae will look like a stuck-up mother who does not raise her own children, unlike her kids, who are spending time in Frannie’s during the filming of the show. Mae reveals that she is mostly concerned with keeping Food Wars out of Barbara’s house, and she tells Amanda that Frannie’s will most likely win. Mae tells Amanda that it is important for them to keep the show about the businesses rather than their personal relationships with each other. Mae also suggests that Amanda could have them film Mae organizing Amanda’s kitchen, which angers Amanda. They get into an argument about Amanda flirting with Andy as they walk down a path behind Barbara’s house to a tree they used to play on as kids, where they find only a stump. Mae tries to make light of the situation, even though Amanda is upset that Barbara did not tell her about the missing tree.