Season two of gave us a pair of standout episodes that trained the spotlight on two of its best supporting characters: Marcus (in the carefully observed “Honeydew”) and Richie (in the transformative “ ”). So I’ve been hungry for another solo episode to pop up; and the show delivers with “Napkins,” which tells the tale of how Tina Marrero went from mild-mannered office drone to shit-talking line-cook extraordinaire. Not only is “Napkins” a much-deserved showcase for the fantastic Liza Colón-Zayas, it also marks the directorial debut of Ayo Edebiri, who began her screen career as a writer before stepping in front of the camera.
Unsurprisingly, she’s just as adept in the director’s chair as she is everywhere else: As “Napkins” traces our heroine’s progress through a bleak Chicago winter, Edebiri paints a precisely observed portrait of a middle-aged woman of color fighting tooth and nail to be seen in a world that would just as soon look straight through her. We’re introduced to a very different (but still recognizable) Tina in 2018—one who works behind a desk instead of a stove. Though she and her husband, David (David Zayas), are both steadily employed, they’re struggling to make ends meet.
Their landlord has just raised the rent, and T is worried about what will happen if they have to move. She’s all realism and practicality, but David is unrelentingly positive; he just knows he’s gonna get that promotion any day now. (The irony of a doo.
