The Cleveland Show, S03E21
Donna was upset about not knowing her mother, so Cleveland tried to look for her. He settled on paying an actress to pretend to be her long-lost mother, but it backfired on him twice when the actress wouldn't leave and suddenly died during Donna's recorder dedication to her. Cleveland came clean and Donna kicked him out of the house. When Donna's real mother came to see him at work, Cleveland got the idea to put them both in the hospital so that Donna would have a chance to talk to her mother without her knowing. Donna wasn't immediately pleased when she discovered what he had done, but eventually she was happy to finally know her mother.
I think the best thing about Cleveland hiring someone to play Donna's mother was that the woman he picked was voiced by Loretta Devine. She's just such a pleasant, motherly-sounding woman that I could buy that even with her terrible acting (Cleveland really should have selected better) that someone would at least want to believe she was their mother. I'm glad that Cleveland's plan didn't develop into a drawn-out blackmail and eventual breakdown of all the lies the actress made up and the woman just suddenly died instead. Who would think that would ever happen? But if it had never happened that way, I doubt with Cleveland's "expert" finding skills that he would have gotten any closer to locating Didi.
I didn't understand at first what the hell crashing Cleveland's car into a tree was going to do to help Donna and Didi meet. There could have been a million other ways to get them together secretly without Donna having a clue she was speaking to her own mother. I was hoping that the reason Didi abandoned Donna was something more sorted and shameful, but it was a fairly tame reason. She didn't want to give up her fame to raise a child--pretty simple. We have no idea what happened to her father and all, but I guess he doesn't really matter in the story. Anyway, Donna did grow up with Auntie-Mama, who probably did a better job raising her than Didi ever could. So no matter what reason she left, it didn't feel like it really screwed up Donna's life all that much. The most interesting thing about her story was that Didi had no idea that her brother Kevin was a cross-dresser. She could spill the beans about Auntie-Mama's true identity (or I suppose she did after the episode ended).
None of the jokes particularly worked for me this time, but I did slightly like when Junior was talking to Donna's fake mother and tried to find out what kind of candy she had in her purse. He got frustrated quickly and told her to just give it to him, and he just grabbed the first thing closest to a sweet he could find. I don't know why he needs to be so desperate for a snack (especially from someone he just met), but damn. I like when Junior has these random explosions over insignificant things.
If they had to do a Mother's Day type story, I'm glad it wasn't about Cleveland's mother and they took the time to explain a little more about Donna's past. I can't say that her past was incredibly interesting, but at least no one has to wonder why Donna's mother never comes to visit. I don't know why that thought would cross anyone's mind, but at least it doesn't have to now. I would have liked to see Rallo do something special for his mother in the episode, but they all can't focus heavily on him. I wish they would, but I know they won't.
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