Why Mom Fans Feel The Writers Did Christy Wrong In Season 7
In the CBS sitcom "Mom," which aired on the network from 2013-2021, Anna Faris plays working mother Christy Plunkett. Christy struggles to support her two children and repair her estranged relationship with her mother, both of whom are battling addiction. COVID-19 concerns cut Season 7 short, leaving the network unable to film the final two episodes of the season. Things continued to go downhill from there. The show was canceled after Season 8 aired, mainly due to the sudden and unexpected departure of one of the show's principal actors.
That actor was Faris. Not much was known at the time about why Anna Faris left "Mom," which led to much speculation and rumor. Many fans were understanding of Faris' stance, especially considering how the writers treated her for those final episodes. Let's take a closer look at why fans think they could — and should — have done better by Christy.
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They neglected her story and made sad jokes at her expense
The writers and showrunners of "Mom" had seven seasons to explore and flesh out Anna Faris' character. Still, instead of breaking ground and transforming Christy into a well-rounded, dynamic figure, they stuck with the typical sitcom formula and let her fizzle out. Fans noticed and were especially vocal about how bad the writing for Christy was in Season 7.
Original poster u/Revolutionresolve lamented how "she practically had no storyline. She was just there," and how it was "quite sad [that] the writers were making jokes about how lonely and desperate Christy was" given the fact that the episodes were filmed while Faris' real-life divorce from Chris Pratt was so fresh. And this isn't just fans projecting. More than a few storylines that season featured her doing outlandish things to find love, like tracking down a man who did nothing more than smile at her.
U/NYColette was of a similar mind in this Reddit thread which dissected Faris' discussion of her departure from "Mom" on a February 2021 episode of the "Empty Inside" podcast. "Her character did become less focal to the series as time went on, and season 7's only joke about [Christy] was that she was so loooonely," the user explained. In the podcast, Faris touched on how sad she was that the writers were modeling Christy too much after her real-life persona and how the sitcom format rarely provides fertile ground for real character growth.