'Mom' Season 3, Episode 1: 'Terrorists and Gingerbread' Recap

Bonnie comes in from a jog to find news from Christy - Bonnie's mother Shirley had hired a P.I. to track Bonnie down. She lives in California and wants to meet her daughter.

Bonnie is resistant to the idea. She convinced herself when she was younger that her mother died stopping terrorists from blowing up Disneyland.

However her friends encourage Bonnie to meet the woman who gave her up when she was four. They think it will be healing for her. Still, she refuses, and so Christy goes instead.

She confuses her for another elderly woman, however, and when everything is straightened out, she is moderately disappointed. Shirley thinks that Christy has turned out well, and Christy has to explain how she turned her life around.

Shirley tells her story: After she turned 20, Bonnie's father was killed in a motorcycle accident. She had no family to help out, and worked cleaning houses. She was fired a lot for bringing Bonnie with her. FInally, when they were living in a car, she decided to put Bonnie into foster care to give her a chance.

Christy relates the story to Bonnie and drops the topper... Bonnie's mother is dying, and that is why she has finally reached out. She only has a few months left. Bonnie ignores the situation and goes jogging.

Bonnie goes to the coffee shop and confronts her "mother," but it is yet again the older woman Christy mistook for her grandmother. They reunite with her actual mother, and she relates the story again... only this time she adds a part about a "complicated" relationship with a man who didn't want Bonnie. Christy realizes her mistake - Shirley is not as long-suffering and innocent as she seems.

Bonnie comes back from a long run to find Marjorie ready to offer advice regarding the situation...

Bonnie takes this advice and goes to find her mother. She wants to find out about her father, Henry, who she is surprised to find out was a good guy who loved her. Bonnie tells her mother she forgives her, hoping it will free her from all her anger. Shirley wants to start over, but Bonnie refuses, even admitting that Marjorie is the mother she never had. She wants time. She leaves Shirley without a hug, and hears her crying through the door as she walks off.

They invite the other woman from the coffee shop over and treat her like a grandmother, convinced that you CAN choose your family.