The second episode of Primos this week reminds us that one of the best characters in the series has been sitting on the sidelines while Nacho meets his longtime penpal, at last.
Summer of Imi-Tater
You may have forgotten about Nellie, Tater’s bigger little sister. While a big part of the first episode or two of the series, she has been mostly neither seen nor heard since the outset of the show. So of course we open this episode, mostly about her, we need a bit of retrospective.
As we are re-introduced to Nellie, who was explained away as going to meditate when things got too chaotic, we also learn that Nellie is a bit jealous that all the Primos seem to favor her.
As they are all together watching TV, Nellie’s lack of knowledge about her cousins is quite evident, not just hobbies and passions, but even their names.
While Nellie might be speaking truths, the cousins all think of this as more of Nellie’s comedy routines, which consist of funny quips and great impressions.
All is interrupted when Tater comes in with a full presentation about how to make some money for their activities, which Nellie interrupts and without all the foofarah just says “why not build a lemonade stand.”
Nellie normally tunes at these kinds of meetings, so her contribution is a big deal – but is grossly overshadowed by Tater presenting the idea of…a lemonade stand.
And the Primos love the idea.
Nellie is trying to meditate and forget the whole thing, but while she is making tea, that loud whistle is also Nellie boiling over as she sets out to take Tater down a peg, opening her own lemonade stand in the driveway, next to Tater’s and taking on the role of Tater 2.0 with her own business.
Nellie is also doing substantially better business, and Tater has a bit of a breakdown saying that she can’t do that. That’s when Nellie breaks in to song about why she in fact, can do that.
Not to fangirl too hard here, this song (arguably one of the best in the series thus far) shows how the series is sleeping on Nellie and her voice performer, SNL alum Melissa Villasenor. If this character had more storylines, moments, or even just musical numbers, this show (already drowning in over two dozen characters) would be a bigger hitter, in my opinion.
Back to this episode, again, the cousins think Nelle is just joking and playing around again, but alas she is not and Nellie needs to prove it. After taking over the original lemonade stand, Nellie discovers that Tater’s diary is right there, ready to be revealed to the world. To make this business work, Nellie decides to offer up some Juicy Tater secrets with every purchase and starts reading lines from the diary. But to really prove that she isn’t messing around, Nellie is ready to drop the diary into the highly acidic lemon extract for the lemonade. Then, the diary will be destroyed forever.
Finally, after another eruption caused by the constant meditating (suppressing her actual emotions) Nellie erupts with Tater, who in turn shows her pages in her diary that show off how much Tater actually loves her younger sister.
Surprised, Nellie relents and realizes that its not all about Tater all the time, she is cared for too. A sweet moment sure, but ultimately proves why we need more of this important character in the series.
Summer of Ignacio
Nacho is finally ready to meet his long time pen pal, Carmela. However, his letters have always presented him as some ultra-fit hero of a man, and he is feeling the pressure living up to this version of himself that he has created before he meets her.
Immediately we jump into this episode’s song, and easily enough for the advancement of the plot, Tater has heard the whole thing, ultimately deciding that she can help and maybe, just maybe, her final form will take over as a matchmaker.
She concocts a number of schemes that will pove that Ignacio (Nacho) is the big brawny hero he has made himself out to be. So at the nearby mall in Fresadena, Nacho is already infatuated with Carmela at their first glance. But, he still has Tater and her schemes to contend with, the first of which allows him to show off his strength as a runway bronze statue comes tumbling down a hill at them. He saves the day, and Carmela is impressed since she too likes to lift weights.
However, as Tater describes plans with Nachito and Nacho, we can tell that Nacho’s attention is on this girl, and hers is on him.
As we go on, we can tell that Nacho is more comfortable being himself, and that Carmela likes the non-scripted version more.
Finally, it is leaked that Tater is his cousin, and the ruse is over. However, Tater is laser-focused on making sure her plan goes, well, to plan. Carmela and Nacho are happy being themselves and getting ice cream with each other, but Tater hijacks the kiddie train and is driving right at them. While angrily driving, she is flashing back to why Nacho needed her help in the first place, and we realize that he wasn’t comfortable being himself, but now he is – so does he need her help at all anymore?
No. He does not. Just shy of the ice cream place, Tater stops the “runaway” train, and takes Nachito home so that Nacho and Carmela can be alone on their date. Which – sadly – becomes a fart fest filled moment that reminds us of the target demographic of this series.
This episode of Primos is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app and website. You can also catch up with earlier episodes streaming now on Disney+.
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