Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Mom Season 8 premiere episode "Sex Bucket And The Grammar Police." Read at your own risk!
Mom premiered Season 8 on CBS, but the show returned without one of its biggest stars. News broke earlier this year that Anna Faris was leaving Mom before her contract was fulfilled, which was not expected given a recent contract renewal alongside co-star Allison Janney. CBS ended up letting Faris walk, but Mom still had to explain why Christy just suddenly wasn't around anymore.
The episode opened up with Bonnie and Adam driving home on their way from the airport. After a brief exchange between the two, it was revealed they had taken Christy there, and she was on her way to Georgetown to attend college on a full-ride scholarship. The two tried to put on a brave face about being too proud to be upset, but the two broke down soon after and turned around to watch Christy's plane take off.
From that point on, the episode was fairly light on mentioning Christy or Bonnie missing her daughter. Instead, the ladies put together a slumber party for Tammy's birthday, mostly because everyone but Jill had never been invited to one. Tammy was happy for the distraction, as she was worried about a call from her father who she had not spoken to since she was 14.
After that, the episode switched to an argument between Marjorie and Bonnie, which ended up being due to Marjorie getting concerning news about her heart. I had expected Bonnie to open up about fears relating to Christy leaving, but surprisingly, Mom didn't hammer on that (or other topics) too much. It almost seemed like an effort was made to show the series could still be itself without Christy in the mix, and in my opinion, it largely succeeded.
And while the show was light on Christy references outside of the opening scene, there was a pretty funny moment at the end that called back to the explanation behind her leaving. Bonnie mentioned earlier in the episode the only downside to Christy leaving was her misunderstanding of time zones, and frequently calling her mother at 7 a.m. her time, not realizing it's 4 a.m. for Bonnie.
The episode's end showed the women all tucked into their sleeping bags, looking to get some shut-eye after a night of drama, only for Bonnie's phone to ring and immediately wake her up. It was Christy of course, though we didn't hear Anna Faris' voice. It appears the show will continue to use the character, even if Faris has no plans to return.
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