#1
Posted: 9/26/18 at 3:16pm
1. Jenna is fundamentally a liar.
When in the bathroom during her morning sickness episode early in act one, her friend Dawn questions “I thought you don’t sleep with your husband” to which she responds, “He got me drunk, I do stupid things when I drink”.
Later in her appointment with her gynecologist, so unsure is she about ‘when’ the pregnancy began that she asks “How pregnant am I?”
This means one of two things: Jenna enjoys sexual congress with her husband regularly and lies about it to her friends, or, she has been engaging in sexual exploits outside of her marriage.
2. There is no timeline in which Jenna has the time to be both Waitress and Pie Maker.
She says to Pomatter in Act 1 “oh I make the pies FRESH every day”, and that there are 27 different varieties of pie. The pie prep and baking time would consume over 6 hours of her day at least, and that’s with a commercial oven. The diner is open for breakfast and presumably lunch as well, let’s say it closes at 3. And since we know that she doesn’t bake before opening, as she arrives with the rest of the waitresses before the song ‘When he sees me’ this means she is baking from 3-9 or after daily. She repeatedly says how her husband Earl drives her to and from work.
No wonder he, very understandably says, “I’m not sure it’s worth you working at this diner” If she waited tables and baked it would add up to a 14 hour day every day. This would push her into 30 hours of overtime a week. This arrangement seems highly improbable.
3. Although the show takes place over 7&1/2 months, the costuming if the show never changes with seasons. Summer dresses and light jackets trap the characters in a perpetually nebulous season that tells no story of the passing of time.
4. Earl Hunterson is half owner of LuLu’s Pies. At the time of the bequest of the Pie Shop from Old Joe to Jenna, Earl and Jenna, while perhaps having begun the divorce proceedings, would not have had time to complete them. This would entitle Earl to a half ownership stake in Lulu’s Pie Shop.
5. We know that Jenna gives birth in a hospital. Old Joe says, “I bought you this card in the gift shop downstairs”. If Jenna is in a hospital, why is Norma, a private practice OB GYN nurse helping with the delivery at the hospital? It would be highly irregular to find a private practice nurse in a hospital setting. It’s a logical incongruity.
6. The play severely fails the reverse Bechdel test. It paints its male characters as one dimensional props that only exist in relationship to the women around them. At no point in the show do two men talk to each other about something other than a woman.
7. The Revolutionary War re-enactment community is a rather small one. This means one of two things: Dawn is lying about her participation, Ogie is lying about his. Both claim to have participated in the re-enactment community for well over a decade. If Dawn played the pivotal role of a Betsy Ross re-enactor, it’s highly unlikely that Ogie wouldn’t be familiar with her work. Additionally, a re-enactment injury such as Ogie’s spleen removal would hardly go unmentioned in the insular local re-enacting community. Also if both attended such events as local readings of the federalist papers, it’s highly unlikely that they would be complete strangers.
8. Dawn ended the close relationship Ogie shares with his mother. In every scene before the wedding, Ogie mentions his mother with glowing admiration. By the time the wedding occurs, she is not even present at the ceremony.
When in the bathroom during her morning sickness episode early in act one, her friend Dawn questions “I thought you don’t sleep with your husband” to which she responds, “He got me drunk, I do stupid things when I drink”.
Later in her appointment with her gynecologist, so unsure is she about ‘when’ the pregnancy began that she asks “How pregnant am I?”
This means one of two things: Jenna enjoys sexual congress with her husband regularly and lies about it to her friends, or, she has been engaging in sexual exploits outside of her marriage.
2. There is no timeline in which Jenna has the time to be both Waitress and Pie Maker.
She says to Pomatter in Act 1 “oh I make the pies FRESH every day”, and that there are 27 different varieties of pie. The pie prep and baking time would consume over 6 hours of her day at least, and that’s with a commercial oven. The diner is open for breakfast and presumably lunch as well, let’s say it closes at 3. And since we know that she doesn’t bake before opening, as she arrives with the rest of the waitresses before the song ‘When he sees me’ this means she is baking from 3-9 or after daily. She repeatedly says how her husband Earl drives her to and from work.
No wonder he, very understandably says, “I’m not sure it’s worth you working at this diner” If she waited tables and baked it would add up to a 14 hour day every day. This would push her into 30 hours of overtime a week. This arrangement seems highly improbable.
3. Although the show takes place over 7&1/2 months, the costuming if the show never changes with seasons. Summer dresses and light jackets trap the characters in a perpetually nebulous season that tells no story of the passing of time.
4. Earl Hunterson is half owner of LuLu’s Pies. At the time of the bequest of the Pie Shop from Old Joe to Jenna, Earl and Jenna, while perhaps having begun the divorce proceedings, would not have had time to complete them. This would entitle Earl to a half ownership stake in Lulu’s Pie Shop.
5. We know that Jenna gives birth in a hospital. Old Joe says, “I bought you this card in the gift shop downstairs”. If Jenna is in a hospital, why is Norma, a private practice OB GYN nurse helping with the delivery at the hospital? It would be highly irregular to find a private practice nurse in a hospital setting. It’s a logical incongruity.
6. The play severely fails the reverse Bechdel test. It paints its male characters as one dimensional props that only exist in relationship to the women around them. At no point in the show do two men talk to each other about something other than a woman.
7. The Revolutionary War re-enactment community is a rather small one. This means one of two things: Dawn is lying about her participation, Ogie is lying about his. Both claim to have participated in the re-enactment community for well over a decade. If Dawn played the pivotal role of a Betsy Ross re-enactor, it’s highly unlikely that Ogie wouldn’t be familiar with her work. Additionally, a re-enactment injury such as Ogie’s spleen removal would hardly go unmentioned in the insular local re-enacting community. Also if both attended such events as local readings of the federalist papers, it’s highly unlikely that they would be complete strangers.
8. Dawn ended the close relationship Ogie shares with his mother. In every scene before the wedding, Ogie mentions his mother with glowing admiration. By the time the wedding occurs, she is not even present at the ceremony.
. 
