Review: The Casagrandes“15 Candles; Rook, Line and Sinker”

Overview

“15 Candles”

Already planning Ronnie Anne’s quinceañera, Rosa decides to train Ronnie Anne for the next “three and a half” years…


“Rook, Line and Sinker”

Carlos gets his mischievous son Carl into chess to keep him out of trouble, but Carl takes his rule of the kingdom literally…


Our Take

The first half of the episode delves into the topic of family pressure which is mostly reflected in Ronnie Anne having to face the pressures of Rosa planning out her quinceañera which in a nutshell is the Hispanic equivalent to a “Sweet 16” party but for 15-year-olds. Every parental figure tends to put extreme amounts of pressure on making sure the next generation doesn’t make the same mistakes they made or to live a better life than they did compared to how crappy theirs was in their youth. And in this case, we not only learn a bit about Rosa’s past, but we also learn that Ronnie is actually 12 years old.

As for the 2nd half, the episode was a very Carl-focused episode. And in typical Carl fashion, he often behaves like an opportunist and a con-man in training. You’d think learning chess would make Carl an upstanding individual, but hilariously, he begins to apply his chess skills on a strategic level to get whatever he wants. At least until his own family learns how to counter this…

Overall, both were fun & passable episodes. The 2nd episode did get a chuckle out of me for the fact that chess ironically made an otherwise underhanded character like Carl even more devious and cunning. but I did also like how his father found a unique way to make him sort of stop even if not completely. (This is Carl after all…) However, I think the first episode stood out to me the most for how relatable it got with its meaningful message. Ronnie’s unique solution to put Rosa’s worries to rest continues to prove that while Ronnie maybe just a kid who has a long way to go before her eventual quinceañera, she’s still wise beyond her years.