Sophie (Kim Cattrall) starts the episode telling her son that she and her friends spent too much time on their phones when they were younger. At the bar, Sophie, Charlie, Val, Jesse, Sid, and Ellen (Hilary Duff, Tom Ainsley, Francia Raisa, Christopher Lowell, Suraj Sharma, and Tien Tran) are all engrossed in their phones.
Ellen interrupts the group when she learns that her ex-girlfriend Rachel is wishing everyone a happy international daughter’s day. Thinking her ex had moved on quickly, the friends try to interrupt a paranoid Ellen.
Sophie calls for a break from their phones and collects all the phones to be locked in the bar safe. Jesse has a date with his colleague Parker (Meaghan Rath), and while Sophie is concerned, she moves on quickly with her task.
Back at the apartment, Val is upset that she can’t post a selfie, while Sophie is excited about getting her first paycheck. Since they are phoneless, Sophie and Val head to GNB (I wish this bank was real.) to deposit the check the old-fashioned way. Sophie is excited about her phone free day, but Val is having trouble adjusting. They both notice that Lance Bass and Joey Fatone are in the bank and the girls are beside themselves.
The girls compete for who is the biggest fan, and as the two approach them, Val and Sophie start talking to the two singers which sparks a song from Bass and Fatone. The four hit it off, and Sophie and Val are invited to a party with the two singers.
Sophie and Val are excited about the invite, but they have no idea where the location is. Heading to the library the two are in search of directions. At Charlie and Ellen’s apartment, while he is trying to help Ellen take her mind off Rachel, Ellen is obsessively checking the peep hole to spy on Rachel.
Jesse is having a great date, but he finds he can’t keep up with the conversation. Struggling to make an impression, Jesse orders all the specials, but realizes he left his credit card in his phone case. While Parker is distracted, he leaves the restaurant in hopes of getting his credit card back.
At the library Sophie and Val dive through the history of meat factories in New York, only to learn that there are dozens of old baloney factories in New York. Angry about not having her phone, Val leaves the library with Sophie chasing after her.
Ellen is not enjoying the spa day with Charlie and looks for a way to distract Charlie so she can spy on Rachel. With Charlie distracted Ellen makes a break for the fire escape and damages a gas line on her way out.
At the bar, Ellen and Val demand their phone back. Sid refuses Ellen and then tells Sophie and Val where the old baloney factory is. Leaving the bar, Sid joins them because he is an NSYNC superfan.
Jesse arrives at the bar too late and must now rush back to the restaurant. At the baloney factory, Sophie and Val think they see Lance Bass and Joey Fatone, but it turns out they were just a couple of random guys. Commiserating about the loss of their phones, Val points out to Sophie that Ian, (Daniel Augustin) is across the club.
Back at the restaurant, Jessie’s date is about to leave, when he stops her and explains what happened. Parker plants a hair in the meal and gets the meal comped by the restaurant. What started as a disaster ends in success for Jesse.
Sophie and Ian strike up a conversation at the party and seem to hit it off. Sadly, Ian introduces his girlfriend, which upsets Sophie and ends the discussion.
Ellen arrives back at the apartment to learn that she has caused a gas leak when she climbed down the fire escape. The fire fighter assures her that Charlie is not in the building, but Ellen knows that he is in a sensory deprivation set up and is most definitely still in the building. Running past the fire fighter, Ellen storms into the building (with ‘I Will Always Love You’ playing in the background) and finds Charlie and carries him out of the building.
Back at the baloney factory, Val is trying to cheer up Sophie about Ian, but learns that Sophie is aware of how all her exes are in new relationships. Sophie tells her friend that she needed one day off to escape from the reminders of how she feels stuck in one place while everyone else seems to be moving on.
Val tells her that while Sophie was trying to escape from the reminders she got from her phone, Val used her phone to escape from the constant reminder about how much she likes Charlie. Sophie claims that her no phone day was a success because she was able to reconnect with her friend.
At the end of the night, all the friends get their phones back, and while Sophie wants to do another no phone day, the friends are busily catching up on what they have missed. Jesse learns that Parker has texted him saying she misses him, and Sophie sees on social media that Lance Bass and Joey Fatone are partying at the factory and wondering where the girls are that they met at the bank.
Episode Verdict: B+
A good episode that allows us to see inside Sophie’s mind, and how she is dealing with the changing world around her. It’s a shame that she is standing still while everyone else is moving on, but this episode is setting up the last few episodes in this season. I suspect we will see Sophie try to set things right with Jessie.
Having NSYNC and a callback to Goliath National Bank were perfect.