Heartwarming / The Baby-Sitters Club (2020)

Heartwarming Moments from The Babysitters Club 2020. As usual, spoilers are off.

Season One

• Although Kristy has her suspicions about Stacey for avoiding Claudia's snacks and lying about her schedule, she decides to not confront her about it so that Stacey can be comfortable first and not be pressured into anything. Kristy even gets her a salad along with the pizza she got for everyone else, even though Stacey hasn't said anything about any special diets at this point and wouldn't confess about her diabetes until a few episodes later.
  • Best of all, it's that she took Mary Anne's advice to give her a chance.
• Bailey is a trans girl, and not only does the series treat her with respect but the topic of transgender people is handled tastefully:
  • Bailey's mother is incredibly understanding about her situation. She ensures that her daughter has lots of pretty dresses to wear and even makes sure that she has an understanding babysitter to look after her. Mary Anne is a little confused to start with but doesn't judge her and even stands up for her to the doctor and nurse who accidentally misgender Bailey while she's in the hospital.
    • Her father's reaction to Mary Anne doing this is a CMOH all by itself - he tells her that he's impressed by both her maturity and compassion, especially because she inherited her mother's trait as a lawyer and it's the first time in the show we see him open up emotionally at all.
  • Dawn explains the situation beautifully to Mary Anne, stating that Bailey being a girl assigned male at birth would be like someone telling the right-handed Mary Anne that she's actually left-handed.
  • Other than Dawn's explanation, nothing is made of Bailey being trans. However, a big deal is made about how Bailey is being mistreated when the doctor and nurse misgender her.
  • The doctor and nurse being appropriately chastened and making steps to fix their mistake after Mary Anne confronts them is this to some extent as well. Given how many transgender people struggle with other people, including medical professionals, intentionally misgendering them and refusing to respect their gender identity even after being called on it, it's still significant that their response is "oh, we didn't realize, we're so sorry" and immediately making a course correction rather than challenging the concept or insisting that Bailey is a boy, because it shows that they do understand and respect transgender people, even if they didn't immediately recognize Bailey as belonging to that category.
• While the other girls are quick to get snappy at Mary Anne after she fumbles on the phone with Bailey's mother, Dawn is completely patient with her shy and timid side. She notes Mary Anne's quiet in their first meeting but doesn't make a big deal out of it, and after Mary Anne runs off from Aunt Esme's session, Dawn reassures her that she isn't bothered by her outburst and is happy to keep her company somewhere more comfortable.
  • This interaction also shows the selfless side of Dawn – she was excited to go to the share-emony and was happy to be there, but her friend's comfort is also important enough to her that she stays with her.
• Speaking of Dawn, when Kristy is giving her a hard time during her trial for the club, Dawn instead reaches out to her and appeals to her best traits, offering Kristy a chance to teach her some of her skills and knowledge.
  • Dawn's being open-minded and open-hearted about Natalie Barrett's situation (although Natalie is a problem) because she knows, from her mother's example, it's hard to be divorced and a mom being on her own with her kids.
  • Also Dawn being able to calm Kristy down from her tantrum and letting her vent about her pain regarding being abandoned by her father and seeing that her peers and the kids she babysits all have fathers who care about their kids and want to spend time with them. Dawn reminds her that she still has lots of people who care about her: her Mom, the Club (even pointing out Mary Anne, who Kristy is concerned about replacing her with Dawn), and the kids she babysits.
• Sharon taking the time to stand up for her daughter to Natalie Barrett, when Dawn protests she can handle it, Sharon says she knows Dawn is capable but sometimes as a mother she wants to take care of her. They then have fondue.
  • In a similar note, after Sharon gets an allergic reaction to a Nutella filling in a cake and Dawn tries to take charge trying to get up from her table with the club to get the Epi-Pen, Richard stops her and tells her that he will take her mother to the hospital quickly but she needs to be able to have fun with the girls. It's nice that while the adults appreciate Dawn's emotional maturity and natural responsibility, they encourage her to rely on them as any child should be able to.
• When Mimi has a stroke, the rest of the Babysitter's Club take on Claudia's jobs for her over the next couple of weeks and give her the money earned on top of that. The parents of the other girls come by to check on Claudia and Janine, and bring pizza with them too. On top of that, everyone ends up making 'get well' cards for Mimi.
• After Dawn tries to get Richard to come over to see Sharon again (and reminds him of her nickname for him "Turtle"), Richard sends a note and a pet turtle to Sharon as a way of making amends and getting their former relationship back on track.
• When Morbidda Destiny/Aunt Esme uses Karen's freak out to educate the wedding guests about witches and says that adults should listen to what children say, Karen lights up at an adult, even one she was previously terrified of, validating her.
  • This is shown earlier when Mary Anne has a freak out and runs away from her session, where Esme comments that Mary Anne is merely a "true Scorpio" rather than lament her as misbehaving or crazy.
• While Watson buying expensive things for his soon-to-be-stepchildren does cause some problems, it's clearly rooted, at least in part, by him wanting to share the good fortune his money has always afforded him, Karen and Andrew.
• When Kristy gets her period during the wedding reception, the rest of the BSC follow her to make sure she's okay and Mary Anne walks her through how to put on a pad. Then while Kristy and her mother are reconciling after their argument over Kristy's $800 dress, Kristy mentions that she got her period and that nothing got on the dress; her mother immediately says "I don't care about the dress; are you okay?", to which Kristy explains she's fine because her friends took care of her, to her mother's clear approval.
• The art classes that Dawn and Claudia set up at camp after seeing that so many kids are being left out of field trips and tie-dye lessons due to their families not being able to pay more or provide commissary money, especially since Claudia feels that everyone has a right to express themselves through art just like she was able to.
• Dawn's comforting words to Kristy after her breakdown – she barely knows her, but she lets her know that she has so many people – friends, brothers, her mother, her sitting charges – who love her and will be there for her no matter what. It's just what she needs.
• Janine seems harsh to Claudia in most of their interactions, possibly due to an ambiguous disorder that makes it difficult for her to interact based on emotions rather than facts. After an entire episode at each other's throats and misinterpreting one another, Janine is able to bond with Claudia in her own way – by sharing facts that she knows about Mimi's life. Even though Janine is not as outwardly emotional about it as Claudia, she still is able to convey that Mimi's past is deeply upsetting to her and that she thinks it's wrong. Just because she and Claudia don't connect all the time doesn't mean she doesn't care about her little sister and grandmother.
  • Before that, Janine assures Claudia that Mimi's memories of Manzanar, though painful to witness, are a sign that she is improving from her stroke.
  • Later on, it's implied that Claudia is learning Japanese, or at least about Japanese culture, when she explains to Kristy about the kind of sushi that Elizabeth and Watson are serving at their wedding reception, likely to connect more to Mimi who is slowly regaining her handle on the English language. She also knows a few basic terms and phrases and uses them later on in the show.

Season Two

• Watson chewing out Liz's ex-husband for, once again, breaking his promise to see his kids again. Even though they're "just" his stepkids, he makes it clear he views these kids as his own and he's angry at seeing them hurt by a man they should be able to trust. He wants them to know how wrong their father's actions are and that they deserve better than a Disappeared Dad who breaks his promises to them.
  • The girls gently confronting Kristy to accept that her biological dad isn't coming back to her life nor a good father worth waiting for. Mary Anne says her mother died when she was 18 months old and, while never knowing her, she knows her mother loved her enough to have given anything to have even 5 more minutes with her. Dawn also says that, while her father lives in another state, he does his best to see her as much as he can and she loves him for it. He doesn't do it "because he's a saint" but because he's a parent who wants to see his kid however he can.
  • The above makes it clear to Kristy that simply being there for your child and being active in their day-to-day life is the bare minimum for a parent; she shouldn't wait for her father to show up for her when he clearly isn't going to. This makes her finally let go of waiting on her father just as Watson has an idea; he wants to adopt the kids as being legally his own, much to Liz's joy. When Watson asks Kristy what she thinks of the idea, she replies with her first-ever "I love you" to Watson. She's finally accepted him as being her real dad and Watson is thrilled at finally earning his stepdaughter's love.

---