Schitt’s Creek S6 E12 Recap: Johnny Rose and the No Good Very Bad Really Great Business Meeting

by Ian Carlos Crawford

Previously on Schitt’s Creek: The Rose family completed an Escape the Room for David and Patrick’s bachelor party. Johnny, Stevie, and Roland booked a business meeting with an investor in NYC.

How’re we all doing? Is everyone washing their hands? Is everyone drinking water? Is everyone also feeling incredibly unhinged while stuck at home?

Are we still keeping up with Schitt’s Creek? There are only two freakin’ episodes left after this one. And don’t forget there are also only 2 episodes left of The Magicians. So yes, that means I will be stuck in quarantine longer than my two favorite shows have left on the air. Sigh. At least One Day At a Time premiered after this new Schitt’s Creek. It’s nice to have things to look forward to when you feel like you’ve been stuck inside for years and it’s only been a week or two.

How long has it actually been? What day is it? Who could know!

This episode opens with the gang cheering on Johnny, Stevie, and Roland as they leave for their business meeting in NYC. It’s cute how supportive their all being — and I love the moment Alexis says, “Okay, we’re cheering them on” to Moira who is desperately yelling about how they’re counting on this deal going through. And Johnny’s suit looks so good! Also, Stevie looks slammin’ with her soft goth makeup in that power suit.

Moira’s desperation is one of two big issues I have with this episode. And I’m stuck in quarantine so I’m going to allow myself to be a big freakin’ grump about it and just come out and say it:

Moira and David both feel like characters who have been circling the drain all season. Johnny is moving on to this new business endeavors, along with Stevie — and Alexis has arguably skyrocketed by David in the character development department. But both Moira and David keep getting moments of development and maturity, only to hurdle back towards near unlikability immediately after. David’s marriage plot has been the side plot of the entire season (and I mean, yes, I know the season is going to most likely end in him deciding to finally take one of Patrick’s hints and realize they don’t need a big wedding and I will cry no matter how I feel about this season) but David has been such a nightmare about his wedding all season while Patrick quietly sighed in the corner. It almost feels like Patrick would be justified if he did break up with David (but please don’t do that). And maybe I’m projecting because I know I can be a bratty nightmare just like David — but in this final season he has felt more like the Season 1 cartoony bratty David Rose than the Season 5 well-developed, ambitious David Rose. It’s frustrating to say the least. He started his own business yet makes outrageous demands for expensive wedding things there’s no way any of them could afford. It feels incredibly not in line with the David we watched grow over the last two seasons.

And Moira. I know Moira’s character is mostly funny lines and zany outfits — but her really stellar moment with Stevie from last season, and even her standing up for herself to her former co-stars all add up to a character who has grown yet, not unlike David, she seems to have regressed to early seasons Moira. This episode, she panicked and assumed they were leaving to live in NYC before she even got any word from Johnny. Her moment with the council and Jocelyn, where she assumed the cake was for her, felt more cringe than funny. And I’ll say it — if I worked with Moira I would absolutely hate her. She’s self-centered, mean, and did I mention self-centered? I need her dickhead-ness to get slightly more toned down for these last few episodes. I appreciate a Moira who is self-centered, yet oddly perceptive. SO far this season we’ve gotten more of the first and almost none of the later.

Don’t get me wrong, I still absolutely love this show — I just think this season hasn’t been doing David or Moira any favors. And I do love them! I just want them to be better and less selfish. I love their moments of insight that we’ve seen in previous seasons. I love their moments where they surprise everyone with their knowledge of something. I need that all mixed in with their outlandish eccentricities.

Grumpiness aside, how weird was it to see Johnny, Stevie and Roland leave Schitt’s Creek? Aside from showing them in the Rose’s former mansion, we haven’t really seen anyone outside of the town but Ted in his small bedroom abroad. But yet they flew to NYC (and seemingly did it all in one day). So, this all led me to Google where the hell Schitt’s Creek is supposed to take place — the answer is nowhere. As in, they purposefully don’t give you a specific setting for the town. So, hey, there’s a fun fact.

The corporate bros in the meeting in NYC are so mean to Johnny and Stevie I wanted to scream. Also, Roland continued to be useless but at least stuck up for Johnny in the end. I truly felt upset when they didn’t get this win…but then!

When they arrive back at Schitt’s Creek, I was so happy for them I’d almost forgotten that David just assumed Patrick would also want to move to NYC along with all of his other overly optimistic family members. It was an unfair move on David’s part and the glare Patrick gave him at the very end left me feeling not so great.

Best Outfit: Stevie in her power suit!
Best Moment: Moira making Alexis and David join hands to “not pray” about the NYC meeting.

About the Author:

Ian Carlos Crawford grew up in southern New Jersey and, like most people from NJ, he graduated from Rutgers University. He then graduated from New School with an MFA in nonfiction writing. His writing has appeared on sites like Geeks Out, BuzzFeed, NewNowNext, and other random corners of the internet. He currently co-hosts a podcast about his favorite thing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, called Slayerfest 98 and is shopping around his fiction manuscript. Follow him on Twitter @ianxcarlos