Stacey and Claudia redo Mary Anne's bedroom with approval from Richard. Claudia is invited to an upcoming art show. She invites Trevor over to help her prepare but their moment is interrupted by Janine. Claudia and Janine argue, but are forced to put it past them after Mimi suffers a stroke. Stacey, Dawn, the Spiers, and the Thomases come over to keep the Kishis company. Mimi is distressed when she wakes up, which upsets Claudia.
At the art fair, the judges question Claudia about the motivation of her art. Mary Anne awkwardly tries to flirt with Logan and admits to Kristy and Dawn that the room doesn't feel like home yet. Later, the girls put the Humpty Dumpty artwork back up alongside photos of Mary Anne's mother.
While visiting Mimi, Janine encourages Claudia to draw something. Janine realizes that Mimi is remembering her time at the Manzanar internment camp and speaks to her about it in Japanese. Claudia is hurt because she can't speak the language. In the waiting room Janine and Claudia have a real conversation about their grandmother's memories there.
Mimi returns home, less mobile and with more limited speech. The BSC is invited on a week-long babysitting gig for the Pikes as Claudia looks upon a drawing she's done of Mimi.
Tropes:
- Bad Liar: Mary Anne is quite clearly not fully happy with the extensive redesign of her room at first, but doesn't admit it until Kristy and Dawn corner her and ask flat-out.
- Call-Back: Claudia & Stacey apologize to Richard for beginning to remodel Mary Anne's room without his permission, and he apologizes to them for being so rude about it.
- Chekhov's Classroom: Played with; Claudia already knew about the Japanese internment, but she does more research after learning Mimi was part of it, and uses that as inspiration for a new painting.
- Foreshadowing: During their game night, Mimi is shown massaging her right temple several times. A sudden headache can be a percursor symptom of a stroke.
- Hulk Speak: After her stroke, Mimi has difficulty speaking in full sentences.
- My God, You Are Serious!: Janine has this reaction when Claudia doesn't know Mimi was part of the Japanese internment in World War 2.
- Nightmare Sequence: After her stroke, Mimi keeps repeating what everyone thinks are random words: "horse", "house", "peach". Janine eventually guesses that Mimi is remembering her time at the Manzanar internment camp, where she and her family had to sleep in stalls (horse houses) and eat canned fruit (peaches).
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Right before her stroke, Mimi actually yells at Claudia for insulting Janine, which surprises both girls.
- Scooby Stack: Kristy and Dawn do this to spy on Mary Anne and Logan at the art show.
- Security Cling: Claudia and Janine embrace (probably for the first time in a long time) when they realize they're both worried about Mimi.
- Shout-Out:
- Stacey and Claudia giving Mary Anne's room a (Richard-approved) makeover is likened to Queer Eye. The show's theme song, "All Things (Just Keep Getting Better)", even plays over the makeover montage.
- Mary Anne jokes that maybe the Humpty Dumpty painting is on her mind because it's a horcrux.
- Tragic Keepsake: The Humpty Dumpty painting receives another layer of meaning after it's revealed that it hung in Mary Anne's mother's room when she was a little girl. Mary Anne decides to hang it over the bed next to two pictures of her mom: as a baby, and as a mother-to-be hanging it in Mary Anne's room.
