So after that Holocracy trip, let’s catch up with the pod as they pursue another client.  And contend with a certain Monica at the same time.  That’s always fun.

The episode begins with Marty asking Jeremiah to take Roscoe to school since Marty has a plane to catch.  Rita likes that Marty is getting in practice with his golf swing, but she doesn’t want an invite.  She plays on the public courts, though she’d gladly make an exception.  Black people are allowed.  Roscoe strolls in with his selfie stick- I now hate him- as a way of starting off his vlog.

Roscoe’s real life job aspirations haven’t gone so well.  Businesses aren’t hiring because they’re more concerned with the slow rate of economic growth.  Rather than doing the fatherly thing of talking to his son, Marty heads off to have his breakfast.

Tess finds and reads Doug’s bucket list.  She finds it great and likes that Doug is a confident, ambitious person with tangible goals, like going through a car wash with the windows open and act out an episode of Bones.  Tess offers to help him cross off a few things like receive oral sex in a revolving restaurant and get him a TED Talk because the Executive Curator is a friend of Tess.  Doug is more excited about the TED Talk.

Clyde dines with an old friend, Bronwyn, played by Jolene Kay, to tell her that he had a thing for her back in college, but that’s not why she called.  Bronwyn works as campaign manager for Seth Buckley’s mayoral run and Buckley is unhappy about the economic advice he’s getting.  She offers Clyde to attend a meet-and-greet fundraiser on Thursday, but Clyde is busy.  But hey, there will be free food and wine.  Hard to turn that down.

Jeannie and the baby that came from her vagina meet with a realtor, played by Emily Kosloski, who is also thinking of adopting a Black baby.

Following this, the pod talks about Daniel Hathaway, who is in the middle of a battle with his board.  See, the board wants him to embrace digitalization, but Hathaway finds the Internet too commonplace. The pod will make sure that a risky strategy could put Hathaway’s personal fortune in great jeopardy.  But they’ll rest easy knowing that they fucked over a man who murdered his own wife.  Wait, what?

Well, to be fair, Hathaway was acquitted.  The fights were epic and the wife stood to gain a lot from the divorce.  Doug wonders how amazing it would be to be so rich that you could get away with killing your wife.  There’s no clear way to explain that.  To bring it back, Marty reminds the pod that Hathaway has a market cap of $3 million, so for now, go murder.

Doug asks Marty if the pod has business on the 18^th of next month since he has a gig in Los Angeles, but Marty isn’t sure as of now.  Doug tries to get Marty to ask, but he doesn’t, so he eventually says that he’ll be giving a TED Talk on being the Dungeon Master of your own destiny.

On the plane, surprise Monica, who is competing for Hathaway’s position.  She went to Skip, turns out, and will be meeting Hathaway this afternoon while the pod has to wait until tomorrow.  Jeannie is a tad upset that Marty didn’t tell her about Skip offering to buy K&A- a huge decision on the financials of the company and the baby, but Jeannie was still working for Davis/Dexter at the time.

Doug tries to remind the two that they could give the baby to him and Sarah, but that’s not something to say, so he shuts the fuck up and sits back down.

The pod finally meets with Daniel Hathaway, played by Ed Weeks, who talks about art embracing mortality to so we come to a closer understanding of earthly endeavors.  Time shouldn’t be wasted on trifles, but appreciating beauty that appears before us every single day.  Marty couldn’t agree more.  The pod says Hathaway’s strategy is go big or go home.

Jeannie, though, says that such an idea sounds appealing, but it’s also business suicide.  The art market is overinflated and the bubble could burst at any time.  Hathaway has been through enough as it is with him losing his wife and then being accused of being involved.  The last thing Hathaway needs is to be fed a mountain of bullshit.  The pod will baseline the numbers and do a SWOT analysis to take care of the company.

Hathaway wants to speak privately with Jeannie while Clyde and Marty explain to Doug that Monica clearly pitched their strategy.  If they go in with something similar, things will go badly.  Turns out that Hathaway asked Jeannie to dinner.  She says that she’s just trying to win the client.

Marty, Clyde, and Doug work.  If Hathaway stays the course, it will indeed be a bad financial move.  Staying the course means no afterwork.  Doug talks about being a Dungeon Master and how his journey became one of seeking out his essence.  He points out that Clyde, despite being pushed down when Jeannie returned, is still ahead of Doug.

The answers, though, are in the heart.  Clyde needs to realize who he is and be the Dungeon Master of his destiny.  Clyde, though, believes that Doug landing Tess was just dumb luck.  Jeannie then arrives in a fancy-ass dress that Daniel had sent over for their date.  Until then, have fun with O.J. Clyde’s words, not mine.

Hathaway and Jeannie will be heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is closed to the public, but not for them since Hathaway has a key.  How and why would someone have a key?

The guys discuss whether Hathaway really killed his wife.  As Clyde reveals, Hathaway did have a first wife who died in a car accident, but in light of later events, it’s unclear whether it was an accident.  Nah.  Jeannie will be fine.  But if she dies, Clyde wants her office.  He even bought stuff for it.

Monica orders some Jose Cuervo for Marty- that’s a $2000 bottle- and offers to throw Marty a pity fuck on her private jet.  Doug tells Marty to cheer up- he’ll have his own fuck jet one day.

Jeannie and Hathaway dine at the museum while Hathaway talks about neoclassicism.  Dull as it may sound, Jeannie listens.  She always wanted to learn about art, as there wasn’t much of it in her life.  Not so much love in the past, too.  That’s why Jeannie wanted to have a child, so they’d do better than she did.  When asked how that’s going, Jeannie has no answer.  Then Jeannie gets back to work.

The business should create a separate online brand- purely as a VIP experience- while the brick and mortar of the company remain strong.  Hathaway likes the idea.  He invites Jeannie up to the roof to see the moon.  When Jeannie declines, Hathaway wonders whether it’s because she doesn’t like the moon or that Hathaway’s been accused of pushing someone from a high balcony.  It’s a bit of both, but luckily, Hathaway only kills his wives.

Next day, Jeannie briefs the pod on her night.  Jeannie then put on her clothes and left.  In other news, Hathaway has chosen to go with another consulting firm.  So Jeannie talks to him in his office.  She’s angry, but Hathaway tells Jeannie that she doesn’t get to take the moral high ground.  They used each other: he wanted to have sex with her and she wanted the business.

Jeannie says that she didn’t fuck him for the business.  But even if she did, she claims that she can stake out the moral high ground.  Jeannie takes her anger out on a piece of art.

So Clyde ends up attending the fancy gala after all while Marty returns home to learn that Roscoe got a lead on several jobs.  He even got himself a modeling agent.  Fine, but Marty still wants Roscoe to get a real job.  Yes, Roscoe has to be miserable like everyone else.  Both want Jeremiah to intervene, but Jeremiah won’t be able to drive him around. He’ll be in San Diego for a few days to attend Rita’s niece’s confirmation.

However, Phoebe will be around this weekend.  Jeremiah asks Roscoe to buzz off for a second so he can talk to Marty.  He tells his son that he’s done him a disservice.  He was there for Roscoe, physically and emotionally, but Marty has been skating by so far.  It’s not good for the kids or Marty.  Jeremiah was ready to enjoy retirement, and he wants to be grandfather, but Marty has to do the parenting.  Jeremiah knows that he can.

Back at the meet-and-greet, Clyde speaks with Seth Buckley, played by Glenn Howerton, about how he roughed out some numbers to find a feasible path forward on a government-private sector partnership.  Cost will be controlled since most of it will be defrayed by the businesses.  Seth notes Clyde’s interest in Bronwyn and figures that’s why he’s really here.

Seth is certain, though, that Bronwyn is a lesbian because he officiated her wedding to her wife, Katie, who is also a woman.  Well, shit.  However, she got Clyde, so he’s here.  Seth still wants Clyde to advise the campaign.  He gets that Clyde is kicking ass, but he can get in on the ground floor of something great.  He’ll take no for answer, but that would make him sad.

Jeannie brings Phoebe to Marty’s and he literally accepts her with open arms.  They lay the screeching toddler down to swaddle, swing, shush, side, and stick the pacifier into the baby’s mouth.  Phoebe falls asleep.  Marty learns that Jeannie was outbid on the house she wanted.  Well, that’s unfortunate.  She’s not sure if she even wants to move, or what she wants.

Marty admits he should have told her about the offer.  Also, Monica says that Skip is prepared to shell out seven times her firm’s revenue.  It’s not guaranteed for Monica, though, as Skip is eying a number of firms.  Most can’t compete, but some can.  It’s so much money to walk away from and Marty doesn’t know what to decide on right now.  It would be nice to step off the hamster wheel for awhile, Jeannie says.

There will be a need to reflect on what comes next.  The two of them could be there for Phoebe, who wouldn’t see the stressed out versions of themselves from work.  Travel would only be for good trips.  Jeannie, for example, always wanted to go to Barcelona.  They could even travel as a family.  If they take this from Monica, maybe she’d kill herself.  Dark, but good.  Plus, Monica is still Roscoe’s mother.

Sounds like Marty and Jeannie are jumping right into this.  Well, fuck yeah.

Good episode.  I’ll give Doug this: his words about being the Dungeon Master of your destiny, while not the best advice for the pod members, did seem to resonate.  Okay, not that Doug had an impact on Marty, Clyde, and Jeannie, but they’re doing some serious reevaluations of their current plans

In fact, let’s start off with Doug.  He’s not the most outgoing, abrasive, or even outspoken guy and definitely the least outspoken of the pod.  And yet, he took a risk by encouraging Tess to take Marty’s advice and then later worked up the courage to ask Tess on a date.

The fact that they wake up together at the start of the episode shows how things have progressed for Doug in a short amount of time, but here, we see his future aspirations.  I’ve never written up a bucket list, so I can’t say whether some of Doug’s ideas are a bit out there, but there’s some real passion in his voice when he talks about giving a TED Talk.  Instead of staying the course, Doug takes Tess’ advice to live out his dreams.

This being Doug, though, of course he can’t help but get the pod in on his activities, even if they’re not at all interested.  As per usual, they screw around with him when he talks about being the Dungeon Master of your destiny, but it’s still important nonetheless.  Where’s the fun and risk if you just stay the course and don’t draw outside of the lines once in a while?

So Doug has already stepped out of his comfort zone by courting Tess, but now he’s on the verge of making another big step with his upcoming TED Talk.  Now, this also has the potential to go 100 percent wrong for Doug, and if I were a betting man, I’d say this could end up as a disaster, but given how this is on his bucket list, I do hope he succeeds in achieving some items on this list.

Clyde, meanwhile, might think little of Doug’s Dungeon Master talk, but as the pod discussed, staying the course could put you and your work at risk.  Even more so when the odds are against you.  But now, Clyde has the potential to be part of a political campaign that could springboard him into something greater.  It helps that Clyde is good with numbers and Buckley is in need of economic advice.

As of now, not that I see Clyde leaving the pod to pursue a career in politics, but like Doug wanting to do a TED Talk, this could be a new experience for Clyde.  I’m also curious what kind of politician Buckley is, but I think I’m more just happy to see Glenn Howerton.

Continuing something Jeannie has struggled with since the previous season, she worries that she’s not a good mother.  She wants to be the role model and inspiration that she never had, but there’s a constant struggle of balancing her home and work life.  We don’t see Jeannie spend a lot of time with her baby, and I think that’s telling.  Her home life is next to nonexistent because work takes priority.

It’s not intentional.  And it’s similar to Marty’s situation.  Yes, we’ve seen Marty be a parent to Roscoe, but a lot of times, Jeremiah plays the mediator.  But Jeremiah is getting up there in age and can’t always play babysitter, even though he wants to be there for his grandchildren.  Even still, he knows that Marty has what it takes to be a confident parent, even if Marty himself doesn’t realize that yet.

So like Doug and Clyde, both Marty and Jeannie are ready to make a change in their lives by not always showing their stressed out sides to their daughter.  Even though they aren’t living together, they can still show some semblance of being a family.  More so considering Jeannie’s relationship with Roscoe, which has remained consistent since the series began.

And while Marty turned down Skip’s initial offer, it appears that he’s now more open to it than when he shut down Skip at their first meeting.  It would put more money in their pockets and help alleviate some stress.  And the biggest win would come from beating Monica, who I’m glad is back because Dawn Olivieri sells the performance and makes you dislike Monica so much.

Plus, in a nice nod to continuity, we got Clyde referencing Christy stabbing Monica two seasons ago.  I still flinch while thinking about that.

Even with the humor throughout, “End State Vision” was a very reflective episode with the pod taking chances and risks to change their current situations, even though they didn’t land Hathaway.  Regardless, a lot set up with the characters making moves to become the Dungeon Masters of their destinies.  And then they become the masters of their domains.