The New Boss – The second episode opens with Todd Stool (Robb Wells) officially declaring Audrey Stool’s (Anastasia Phillips) van dead. He not only gives her a ride to work, but he’s got her lunch, toolbelt, and one of his old hard hats ready for her as well. He continues to instill workplace knowledge as they arrive at the Conch Plant and make their way inside.

Chelsea Nakamura (Jennifer Spence) has an entirely different experience as she also makes her first daytime appearance at the plant. A quick encounter with Backwoods (Dan Petronijevic) and Homer (Jesse Camacho) only make her feel even more out of pace.

Todd is right in the middle of hastily cleaning Randy Bennett’s (Tom Green) office when he meets Chelsea. Although he has no idea who she is and she doesn’t further elucidate, she knows all about him and his German robot.

Jimi (Enrico Colantoni) introduces Audrey, Tanner (Jordan Poole), and Meat (Lance Paradis) to the Conch Plant with a quick introduction video created by the founding father himself, Charles Conch (Alan C. Peterson). This is later followed up by a quick tour around the plant.

Todd and several coworkers spend the morning in Mehdi’s (Raoul Bhaneja) office debating the purpose behind Chelsea’s arrival. The anticipation builds when Backwoods mentions that Steph (Susan Kent) saw someone dragging the podium out of storage. This soon leads to a spirited discussion about a makeover to make Todd look more like management. When Mehdi finally shows up, he confirms that corporate doesn’t drag the podium out of storage or send in a representative unless they plan on promoting someone.

While touring the plant, Audrey learns about Todd’s possible promotion from an old high school associate, Dewey (Jason Daley). Elsewhere, Todd endures several minutes of makeover pain until it comes to cutting his ponytail. This is when he takes the scissors and demands everyone leave.

The new hires are back in the conference room watching more videos when Chelsea shows up. After a quick compliment on her hard hat, Chelsea unveils herself as the new site manager. In her confusion, Audrey asks if there are two site managers. After Chelsea’s negative response, Audrey realizes that everyone had wrongly assumed that Todd was going to be named site manager. With Jimi asleep at his desk and Chelsea’s departure, Audrey is in the clear to make a call to Todd. Although he answers, the plant’s ‘no phone policy’ leads to him hanging up before she can deliver the bad news.

After choosing to leave the training, Audrey runs into Steph. After a quick explanation, Audrey learns that most meetings take place in the heavy machinery section of the plant. Audrey soon finds herself running to warn Todd when security officer Marcus (Jonni Shreve) shows up and notices her visitor’s badge. Apparently, visitors are restricted to that area of the plant. Given that she was Todd’s sister, he was simply going to upgrade her badge, but she apparently felt that she didn’t have the time.

The entire plant, including the mascot Conchie, appears to have turned out of the meeting. Todd is congratulated by several of his coworkers when he shows up. With Backwood’s encouragement, he finds himself at the podium at about the time Chelsea shows up.

Elsewhere, Marcus has caught up to Audrey, but she convinces him to let her warn Todd about the oversight. Chelsea is right in the middle of introducing herself as the new site manager when they arrive. Although visually stunned, Todd takes the news much better than expected.

Audrey receives equally dispiriting news when Jimi explains that she automatically failed the entrance exam for leaving. Even with Marcus at her defense, he refuses to let her take the test. It isn’t until her father’s name Rod Stool (Patrick McKenna) gets mentioned that he gives her 20 minutes.

At the end of the workday, Chelsea attempts to make amends with Todd by apologizing and offering him a foreman position. A call from Jimi asking for Todd’s permission to hire Audrey reveals that she passed the exam.

Audrey and Todd return home to find Rod waiting for them with pizza. Despite Todd asking Audrey to keep the failed promotion to herself, he shares the news himself later that evening. Rod admits to having already heard from Jimi. Todd doesn’t appear all that shocked. The episode ends with Todd adding his ponytail to the family album.

The Trades Review

To start, I’d give the episode a 5 out of 10. It had some ‘not-so-great moments,’ but I enjoyed it. The one thing I can appreciate more than anything is the camaraderie. Yes, there is obviously a competitive nature, but even things between Todd and Chelsea appear natural and free-flowing. I also liked that most of the focus of this episode seemed to be on the Stool Family. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the other characters, but Robb is the driving force behind the series. Although I could be wrong, It nearly seems obvious that the plant will likely end up facing a shutdown. Rod even mentions near the end of this episode that Todd has plenty of time to make management. It’s not like the plants going anywhere.

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