May 12, 2012
SVH Magna Edition, Return of the Evil Twin: The Girl With the Gemini Tattoo
Insert evil laughter here
Summary: It’s Christmas! But first we have to be reminded of the events of “last year,” when Margo terrorized the twins and supposedly died. “Supposedly” because she somehow survived a huge piece of glass to the jugular, overpowered the paramedics in the ambulance carting her off, killed them, and escaped. Oh, and it turns out she has her own identical twin, Nora. Margo was evil even as a child, and the twins’ stepmother made their father give Margo away. Now their father is dead, and the stepmother is kicking Nora out. Nora finds out about Margo and sets off to reunite with her. And yes, Nora is also crazy (girl can see smells).
In Sweet Valley, school’s out, and the twins and their friends are having a caroling party at Secca Lake. Todd and Jessica are both late, and Todd winds up crashing his car, which almost falls off a cliff. Jessica saves him and goes to the hospital with him. He’s not badly injured, but he’s definitely enough in shock to suddenly consider Jessica the greatest person on the planet, since she saved his life. Elizabeth isn’t happy about it, especially when the newspaper does an article on the story and calls Jessica Todd’s girlfriend.
Elizabeth is already on edge from dreams she’s having that are similar to the ones she had last year, about seeing a girl who looks like the twins but seems to want to kill them. Also, New Year’s Eve is approaching, which means the anniversary of Margo’s attempts on Liz’s life are, too. Todd keeps fawning all over Jessica, which just gets Elizabeth more and more frustrated. However, she doesn’t want to be fighting with Jessica on Christmas like she was last year, so the girls make up on Christmas Eve.
Nora traces Margo’s journey to Sweet Valley, learning about the twins along the way. She decides to finish what Margo started and take them out. On Christmas Eve, she visits Margo’s grave but instead finds Margo herself. The girls decide to kill both twins and take their place. It would be easier if they get Liz and Jess mad at each other first, so they can’t tell each other about any suspicions they might have, so Nora poses as Jessica posing as Elizabeth (got that?), goes on a date with Todd to a movie Liz is seeing with Enid, and makes sure Elizabeth sees them making out. It works, and Liz is furious with Jessica, who’s incredibly confused, since she was with Ken the whole time.
Elizabeth is mad at Jessica all week, but on New Year’s Eve, the twins are helping put on a fundraising carnival, so they have to be at the same place. Jessica winds up going to the House of Mirrors by herself and isn’t seen for a little while. Nora and Margo have been fighting over which of them gets to be Jessica once the twins are dead, with Margo showing herself to be alpha twin. She was Elizabeth last year, and now she wants to be Jessica. Plus, Nora has a tattoo on her arm of the Gemini sign, which Ned and Alice would be more likely to buy as something Jessica would get.
Nora is growing crazier and crazier, now hearing Margo talking to her in her head. She decides to make a move herself. In the early hours of New Year’s Day, she sneaks into the Wakefields’ house to stab Jessica, remove her body, and take her place. But Elizabeth wakes up and catches Nora going out the window, then sees Jessica dead in the bed.
Liz is traumatized, understandably (and it’s actually genuinely sad, sort of), and keeps telling people that Margo killed Jessica. Of course, everyone thinks Margo is dead, even though her body was never recovered, so they write off Elizabeth’s accusations as crazy talk. She has dreams about Jessica telling her she’s still alive and Liz has to save her, which doesn’t help her try to convince people she’s sane. Speaking of insanity, Margo has disappeared, and Nora is paranoid that she’s going to get revenge for Nora’s botched plan. She decides to kill Margo, then Elizabeth, and live out the rest of her life as Liz.
The Wakefields hold a memorial service for Jessica at the school, and Elizabeth thinks she can feel Jessica’s presence there. She figures out that Todd wasn’t with Jessica at the movies, but Margo (close, but no cigar), which just adds to her theory that Margo isn’t dead. Then Elizabeth has a dream about two Margos and starts to think Margo had her own twin. She’s pretty sure Jessica is still alive. When the police come by to ask her more about the night of Jessica’s murder, Elizabeth excuses herself, steals a cop’s gun, and heads to the school.
Nora’s also on her way there, thinking that’s where Margo’s lying in wait to finish her off. Also there? Jessica, who Margo kidnapped in the House of Mirrors. Nora tries to stab Jessica, who grabs the knife from her and fights her off. When Elizabeth arrives, she sees two girls who look exactly alike and can’t figure out which is the real Jessica. She decides which one is the fake, turns the gun on her, and gets her to spill that she’s Nora. That means she killed Margo, not Jessica, in Jess’ bed. So Nora is taken away and the Wakefields get Jessica back. She asks Liz how she decided which girl was which, and Elizabeth explains that, on top of her “twin’s intuition,” she knew Jessica didn’t have a Gemini tattoo.
Thoughts: So Margo was presumed dead and her body was never found, but someone made a headstone for her, dug a grave, and buried an empty coffin? Seems like overkill. Um, so to speak.
The twins have had some pretty terrible ideas, but renting out a carnival for a New Year’s Eve benefit is pretty awesome.
First he breaks his ankle, then he breaks his wrist. The ghostwriter must really hate Todd.
Trivia: Ned drives an LTD.
It’s pretty bad that Todd can’t tell the difference between Elizabeth and Nora when he kisses them.
If I were a cop investigating the murder of a girl who’d just had a huge fight with her sister, and that sister was trying to blame someone presumed to be dead, I’d probably suspect the sister. But when has anyone in Sweet Valley used logic?
May 6, 2012
BH90210 3.22, The Child Is the Father to the Man: Here a Dylan, There a Dylan, Everywhere a Dylan
How is Real Dylan hotter than Other Dylan if they’re actually the same person?
Summary: Dylan has a black-and-white dream about Jack’s car exploding, then imagines another version of himself saying he’ll remember this for the rest of his life. David is supposed to have a meeting at Icon Records, but now he wants to skip it. Steve doesn’t care about his problems. The car bombing is all over the news, and Dylan’s friends don’t know what to say to him about it. Dylan tries to get in touch with his mother while another version of himself mocks him and tells him to take off for Baja.
Jim comes over to Dylan’s, where Kelly’s trying to take care of him. The Walshes – even Brenda – want Dylan to move back in with them for a while. They have to pass a bunch of reporters when they leave the house, but no one talks to them. Someone’s watching and berates someone else for screwing things up. Brenda admits to Brandon that she’s scared about having Dylan stay there, but it’s too late for her to change her mind.
Brandon finds Dylan in the Walshes’ backyard, which Dylan notes always looks the same. Brenda and Brandon talk to him about going to Jack’s funeral, but Dylan doesn’t see the point, since Jack will still be gone. Brenda tells her that he’s still around in spirit. She apologizes for taking so long to agree to let him move in. Kelly laments to Donna that she doesn’t really know how to help Dylan. Donna notes that Kelly’s never experienced this, so it’s not a surprise.
David gets a call from his producer, Serge, who still wants to meet with him at the same time as Jack’s funeral. Donna thinks he should skip the meeting. Kelly decides to pass on dinner, because she’s still not eating. Speaking of things people are still doing, Brandon remains obsessed with sports betting. That night, Other Dylan raids the Walshes’ liquor cabinet and convinces Real Dylan to have a drink.
The front page of the paper the next day features a picture of Dylan and bad stuff about Jack. The Walshes decide not to let Dylan see it. Kelly wants to skip the funeral, but Donna won’t let her. David’s meeting is after the funeral but during the reception. He’s on Kelly’s side, noting that it’ll be awkward for Kelly to go to Brenda’s. Donna asks Kelly and David what Dylan will think about them abandoning him. David doesn’t think Dylan cares about him (probably true), but Kelly is properly shamed.
Dylan gets ready for the funeral, barely keeping it together. He notices that Brenda has gotten rid of all of the things he gave her while they were dating. She says that he and Kelly hurt her, but it’s nothing compared to what Dylan’s going through now. Other Dylan makes an appearance at the church, asking Real Dylan how they know those are really Jack’s ashes in the urn. “Dad, where are you?” he asks. Real Dylan doesn’t respond.
The funeral begins, and the guy watching Dylan earlier is in attendance. So is Other Dylan, who asks if Real Dylan is going to tell everyone that Jack was a good guy who didn’t deserve to be killed. Real Dylan decides not to speak at all. After the service, Donna makes David wait around to say goodbye to Dylan as Kelly tells Christine that she’s skipping the reception. Brenda, however, lets Kelly know that she’s welcome.
Dylan’s watcher approaches and says he used to work for Terry Wilson, the captain of Jack’s yacht. He warns that Dylan’s going to get a phone call at the Walshes’. He needs to do what the callers tell him. David tells Dylan he has to skip the reception, and, as expected, Dylan doesn’t care. There are still a bunch of reporters outside the Walshes’, where Brandon and Steve try to distract Dylan with basketball. Brenda’s worried that Dylan’s a target and might already know it.
Kelly finally eats something, telling Donna she’s nervous about Brenda and Dylan living under the same roof. She doesn’t know what to say to Dylan, who’s ignoring her anyway. Other Dylan tempts Real Dylan with another drink. David has to wait for a studio to open up, and Serge and Curtis Bray don’t really care that he’s missing a funeral reception to sit around with them. Everyone hangs out by the Walshes’ basketball hoop as Other Dylan taunts Real Dylan that his friends aren’t his friends and Kelly will leave him soon enough.
Kelly tries to make small talk with Dylan, commenting that being at the Walshes’ is weird. He replies that his whole life is weird. She mentions the front-page article, apologizing for the things it said about Jack. David returns just as Other Dylan is about to get Real Dylan to take another drink. He thinks he’s closer to Dylan now than anyone because he was in the room when Scott died, and he understands how Dylan feels. He gets that Dylan can’t escape what’s in his head.
Dylan’s “Uncle Frank” calls, and Kelly overhears Dylan agreeing to a meeting. She’s frustrated and wants to leave, but Dylan can’t go with her. He gets Brandon to drive his car around the corner, away from the reporters, then let Dylan borrow it. Other Dylan thinks Real Dylan is an idiot for meeting with the people who killed Jack. Real Dylan finally tells him to shut up. The meeting occurs in a Mexican market, and Dylan’s contact is a federal agent. Oh, and Christine is there, because she’s also with the FBI.
The agents tell Dylan that Jack was cooperating with them, and asked them to tell Dylan he was on the right side if anything happened to him. Dylan summarizes that Jack was bait to lure a crime boss to his yacht. He’s rightfully angry that the agents weren’t able to stop someone from putting a bomb under Jack’s car. He asks to speak to Christine alone and asks if she was just playing along when Jack proposed. She admits that she did fall in love and was going to leave the FBI to be with Jack. Now they both have to move on.
Back in his car, Real Dylan tries to ignore Other Dylan, finally yelling that he’s going to get through this without a drink. When he looks back at Other Dylan, he’s turned into 13-year-old Dylan. Real Dylan heads back to the Walshes’, where a reporter asks what kind of man Jack was. Jim looks on as Dylan says that Jack is survived by his son, who loved him and will miss him. Apparently that’s good enough for the press.
Dylan tells Jim that he spent his time away from the house thinking about when he was younger and his father taught him to body-surf. Jim’s glad that Dylan got to hear Jack say how much he loved him. Later that night, Dylan calls Kelly just to hear her voice. He walks past all of the Walshes’ liquor, then sees his 13-year-old self crying and comforts him.
Thoughts: Dylan appears to sleep in jeans. So much for my hopes of seeing Luke Perry in pajama pants.
Ordinarily I would actually like Brandon’s mint-green shirt, but it’s not exactly right for a funeral.
Nice twist with Christine being a federal agent. Though her falling in love with Jack was a little contrived.
April 15, 2012
Dawson’s Creek 5.4, The Long Goodbye: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Just start crying now. It's okay
Summary: A couple goes to Leery’s Fresh Fish for dinner, but it’s closed due to a death in the family. At home, Dawson washes dishes and takes care of Lily. Later, he picks out a coffin for his father. Joey visits Pacey on his boat to tell him that Mitch is dead. Pacey is stunned and asks how Dawson is. She invites him to come to Capeside with her so they can attend the funeral and be there for Dawson.
At the B&B, Jen and Jack help Grams and Bessie prepare food, and Jen admits to Jack that she’s nervous about seeing Dawson and trying to figure out what to say to him. Jack (who reminds us for the first time in three years that he lost a brother) tells her that Dawson is alone in his grief. Jen will have to figure out her own way to be there for him. Dawson tends to his mother and sister, then reimagines a conversation he and Mitch had on his 12th birthday. It’s when he got his first video camera. “Let the things you love be your escape,” Mitch says.
Joey arrives and Dawson asks her to watch Lily while he goes to the funeral home. She can tell something is off with him. Sometime later, the funeral is held, followed by a reception at the Leerys’. Grams offers to take care of Lily, but Dawson wants to keep her as a buffer for people’s condolences. Gail has sequestered herself upstairs. Dawson waits for Grams to tell him that God “works in mysterious ways,” but Grams admits that she and God aren’t talking right now.
Outside, Joey looks up at Dawson’s window and remembers the first time Mitch set up the ladder for her. In her memory, Mitch tells her that Dawson will eventually figure out how he feels about her. Jen admits to Dawson that she doesn’t know what to say to him; relationship advice is more her speed. Instead, she’s going to give him a big hug, tell him she loves him, and hope it all helps.
Joey goes up to Gail’s room, and Gail tells her she’s worried about Dawson. Joey says that Mitch isn’t really gone since Dawson is so much like him. Even when she was young, she knew Mitch and Gail had something special. Dawson thanks Pacey for coming and they make small talk about their lives. The two reminisce about Mitch catching them smoking when they were in middle school.
A friend of Gail’s asks Dawson how he’s dealing with his grief, pushing him to take the time to channel his feelings. Dawson politely tries to end the conversation as he gets more and more anxious. Suddenly the answering machine clicks on, and it’s Mitch’s voice on the outgoing message. Dawson rips the machine out of the wall, insists he’s fine, and leaves the house.
Joey finds Dawson on a pier and tells him about coming across something of her mother’s a few months after her death, and how much it saddened her. She wants him to let himself be a wreck. Dawson thinks he needs to keep things together so he can take care of Gail. Joey says he can do that and she’ll take care of him.
Dawson says he felt bad for Joey when her mother died, but he never understood what she was going through until now. Everything feels surreal. Dawson also thinks Mitch’s death was his fault. He went to the store to replace the milk Gail used to make Dawson breakfast that morning. Joey tries to convince him that he’s wrong. Dawson remembers that the last thing Mitch said to him was that he was disappointed in him for making a big mistake.
Joey reminds him that Mitch also said he loved him. Dawson knows Mitch loved him, but he hates that his father was disappointed in him the day he died. Dawson agrees that he was acting like a brat. If he’d listened to Mitch, Mitch would have been taking him to the airport instead of going to the store, and he would still be alive.
Grams finds Gail outside the house and tells her she prayed that she would die before her husband; she didn’t think she could live without him. It’s difficult, but she gets by. Until then, there’s a reason for antidepressants. The two women talk about the insanity of loving someone but risking the possibility of being destroyed after losing that person. Grams offers to stick around for a while, but Gail thinks she and Dawson will have to get through their grief on their own.
After the reception, Joey also offers to stay in Capeside, but Dawson wants her to go back to school. Later, Joey and Pacey hang out at the B&B, talking about how he wants to die in a funny way. (Possibility: being run over by a car full of clowns.) Joey tells him how Dawson blames himself for Mitch’s death. Pacey doesn’t get why Dawson wants to drop out of film school, though he quickly figures out the reason. He thinks the two of them should get their shot.
Gail remembers Mitch putting together Dawson’s crib and talking about what he hopes their son will be like. She tells Dawson that she hates that Lily will never know her father. Dawson promises to tell her all about him. Gail breaks down, then assures Dawson that he’ll be able to go back to his life soon. He tells her he doesn’t plan to go anywhere for a while. Gail replies that he doesn’t have to keep himself together; he’s allowed to fall apart. Dawson admits that he doesn’t feel anything.
The next day, Pacey comes back to the Leerys’, remembering getting a driving lesson from Mitch. (He told Mitch his father couldn’t teach him because he had to work.) Pacey wishes his father were around more, and Mitch says he can come to him if he wants to practice some more. Pacey invites Dawson to go for a drive, and they go to the spot where Mitch was killed. Pacey walks Dawson through the accident, which was caused by the other driver, who fell asleep.
Pacey continues that Dawson can grieve, but he shouldn’t blame himself because the accident wasn’t his fault. He should be glad that he got his father for 18 years, which is more than some people get. Mitch made him into a wonderful person who people care about and respect. Pacey’s doing this because he and Dawson used to be best friends. That means Pacey will always be there for him. Dawson almost cries but hides it.
At Worthington, Joey tells Audrey a little about Mitch. She wishes Dawson had let her help, since she understands what he’s going through. She thinks Dawson just wanted her to go away. She cries and Audrey tries to comfort her. Back in Capeside, Dawson and Gail have a silent dinner together, though neither of them eats much. She sees that they’re out of milk and starts to ask Dawson to go get some, then breaks down.
Dawson goes to the market, where the owner gives his condolences. He chatted with Mitch right before his death, and tells Dawson that his father was clearly proud of him. He said Dawson was brave and had a romantic streak, and Mitch was proud to know him. Dawson tries not to react, but once he’s in his car, he starts to sob.
In Boston, Audrey makes Joey leave the dorm, Jen and Jack try to get on with their lives, and Grams looks at old photos. In Capeside, Gail plays with Lily. Joey, Jen, Jack, Pacey, and Audrey have dinner at Pacey’s restaurant, and Joey notes the empty chair at the table. Dawson’s still in the market parking lot, crying, but he pulls himself together and heads home.
There’s one last memory: Mitch taking a family photo before everyone separates for the evening. He’s left alone for a minute, and he takes in everything around him, smiles with satisfaction, and goes inside to be with his family.
Thoughts: I know James Van Der Beek gets a lot of flak for this show and this role, but he’s excellent in this episode. So is Mary-Margaret Humes (Gail), but JVDB is even more impressive since he can only let the feelings show on his face.
If someone came up to me at a funeral, let alone one for a parent, and asked how I was handling my grief, I’d be a lot less polite than Dawson was.
It would have been nice if they’d brought Gretchen back for this episode. I mean nice for Dawson. I couldn’t care less about her.
April 14, 2012
BSC Super Special #13, Aloha, Baby-sitters!: The BSC, Hawaiian Style
I want to wear a grass skirt and hula on a beach in Hawaii like a dork, too!
Summary: The BSC girls (minus Kristy, Mallory, and Shannon; plus Logan and Robert) have raised all the money they need to go to Hawaii, so off they go. Jessi makes them all keep a journal of the trip for poor, unloved Mallory, which is why everyone gets a chapter:
- Jessi spends the whole trip taking way too many pictures and writing down every little detail of the trip for Mallory. If I’d been with her, I would have hidden her camera and notebook.
- Stacey and Robert aren’t getting along since he had the nerve to talk to another girl on the trip and Stacey’s uncharacteristically jealous. They go with a small group on a side trip that involves helicopter tours over a crater, and Stacey’s helicopter crashes. She and her group have to walk back to civilization, but the lack of food takes a toll on Stacey and she ends up passing out from low blood sugar. However, when she’s back with Robert, she sees how worried he was and they make up.
- Mary Anne and Logan have decided to spend the trip TBI, together but independent, since their friends have been teasing that they spend too much time together. They avoid each other a lot but admit at the end of the trip that they wish they hadn’t, and they won’t try that again. Mary Anne also accepts a job sitting for a real Hawaiian family, who – shocking! – turn out to be like any other American family. Mary Ann is asked to sit again the next day, but instead she sends…
- Claudia, who has been depressed for a lot of the trip. She’s just learned about the attack on Pearl Harbor and is uncomfortable with her Japanese heritage. She also wonders how Mimi, who was living in Japan during World War II, viewed the whole situation. When she sits for the Hawaiian family, she meets their grandfather, who’s Caucasian and served in the war. He tells her that he doesn’t have any animosity toward the Japanese, and in fact has Japanese-American friends. He also points out that the U.S. hurt Japan worse with the atomic bombs. After that, Claudia feels a lot better.
- Dawn finds a little beach and enlists some local kids to clean it up.
- Abby talks her way into a commercial for sunscreen by saying she’s on her school’s volleyball team (not true) and is 18 (SO not true). Karma gives her a sunburn.
- Mallory and Kristy run a farm daycamp back in Stoneybrook, but Kristy’s barely in the book, other than to make everyone wear shirts advertising the club (yes, even in Hawaii). While at the park with a tantrum-throwing Jenny Prezzioso, Mallory encounters a woman who thinks she’s a horrible sitter and neglects her charges. The woman, Mrs. Wellfleet, even calls Kristy during a meeting to bash Mallory. Later on, Mallory takes her sisters to the park and catches Mrs. Wellfleet’s own son throwing a much bigger tantrum. Mal manages to be the bigger person and not rub it in the woman’s face.
Thoughts: Logan’s disappointed that they don’t get leis at the airport. I would be, too.
I think I’ve figured out why Abby’s so weird: She’s high from all of her allergy meds.
Trivia: Mary Anne is part Norwegian.
Before seeing sugarcane, Robert thought sugar was dug out of mines. What?
In the scene where Mrs. Wellfleet’s son is a terror, Margo Pike proves to be a wonderful kid. The boy steals the shovel she’s using, and at first she tries to be polite and tell him to return it. When he doesn’t, she finds something else to do. Then when he moves on to something else, Margo takes the shovel back. The kid gets mad, so she invites him to play with her. So out of eight kids, at least a couple Pikes are turning out all right.
I actually liked Claudia’s plotline. We don’t hear about her heritage a lot.
January 9, 2012
BSC #93, Mary Anne and the Memory Garden: Grab Some Kleenex
Yeah, I can't snark on this
Summary: Mary Anne is doing a group project on Shakespeare, and she and the other group members are really excited. They also get along really well, so they have fun working together. Mary Anne’s friends with one of the other girls, Amelia, and is happy to get to know her better. But the day after the group gets together to work, everyone learns that Amelia’s family was in a car accident and she didn’t survive.
SMS is hit hard by the tragedy, with Kristy taking it especially badly. Mary Anne’s surprised and a little scared that the tough girl is so broken; Kristy didn’t even know Amelia that well. She’s mostly mad that the driver who killed Amelia was drunk and this wasn’t his first driving offense. Kristy gets the idea to start a chapter of Students Against Drunk Driving at SMS, and suddenly she bounces back, now that she has a way to give Amelia’s death some meaning.
Mary Anne, on the other hand, sinks into depression and anxiety. It’s especially bad the day of Amelia’s funeral, when she worries about how to act. She goes to see a grief counselor who’s been brought to the school and learns that her feelings are normal and she should let herself grieve. The students at SMS keep coming up with ways to honor Amelia’s memory, but Mary Anne wants to do more. After learning of the garden Dawn is helping to plant in a vacant lot in California, Mary Anne comes up with the idea to create a memory garden for Amelia. She finally feels like she’s making sure no one will ever forget her.
Thoughts: This book always hit home for me. When I was in the fifth grade, two girls I knew (one a year older than me, the other a couple years younger) were killed in a car accident, along with their father. I’d spent an evening with them just a few weeks earlier and had felt like I was getting to be friends with them. The next year, another girl I’d spent some time with recently was killed in a bus crash. Even though I didn’t know any of the girls all that well, they were semi-friends. So I could always relate to how Mary Anne felt in this book.
Specifically, I could relate to Mary Anne in the scene where the SMS students hear that a 13-year-old girl has died but they don’t know who it is. Mary Anne realizes that she hasn’t seen Kristy in school that day and she starts worrying that she’s the one who died. My senior year of high school, one of my classmates died suddenly; I hadn’t known him well, but he was a really nice guy and everyone was shocked and saddened by his death. A good friend of mine was out sick that day, and when the seniors were called to the auditorium to hear the news and the principal announced that one of our classmates had died, I was sure it was her. The horror of those few moments before hearing the real news made me feel sick.
I’ve mentioned before that I feel like the series handles death well for the age group it’s targeted towards. The same applies here. And the events of the day when everyone finds out about Amelia’s death are realistic – and eerily similar to what happened when my high school classmate died. Classes were canceled, students were allowed to go home if they felt they needed to, grief counselors were brought in, and we spent most of the day talking and comforting each other.
Mary Anne and her group’s project actually sounds pretty cool. They’re supposed to do something about the world Shakespeare lived in, so they decide to publish a newspaper with theater reviews, world news, and even a classified section. They call their project William Tells All.
Speaking of school projects, Claudia gets to make a Rube Goldberg decive for a class. I want to go to SMS.
December 29, 2011
BH90210 2.26, Things to Do On a Rainy Day: Color Me Shocked
Look how pretty and irrelevant we are!
Summary: Remember Color Me Badd? Donna, Kelly, Brenda, and David are watching one of their videos at the Peach Pit. Donna’s obsessed with the group and wants to try to win free passes to their concert on the radio. David offers to call the club and ask for comped tickets; he thinks that will work since he’s a DJ. Instead, the girls go to Donna’s house and try to win the tickets. Donna’s mother Felice tells her she’ll be home late because of a meeting, but Donna isn’t paying attention. Felice doesn’t want Donna going to the Sunset Strip that night, but it doesn’t matter since the girls don’t win.
Brandon, Steve, and Dylan are at the Walshes’, bored because it’s raining and they can’t think of anything to do. Steve sees an ad for strippers and is very interested in hiring one. David shows up at Donna’s house with the news that he knows where Color Me Badd is staying (their manager is a friend of Mel’s). The girls decide to go stake out the hotel and try to see the band. They’re not the only people with this idea, as there are a ton of fans there with umbrellas.
When the group arrives in a limo, there’s a bit of a stampede, and the kids try to use it as a cover to sneak into the hotel. However, they can’t get in since they’re not guests there. David is determined to get the girls inside, noting that he was already able to figure out where Color Me Badd was. At the Walshes’, Dylan pretends he’s not interested in seeing the stripper; he’s just staying because Steve and Brandon seem to think he should. Brandon is a little grossed out by the idea of letting a half-dressed woman into his parents’ house.
Andrea arrives rather than the stripper, wanting to brainstorm with Brandon for the newspaper. No one is amused. David returns to the girls with room keys, so now they have to be admitted to the hotel. As the kids head upstairs to a suite, they run into Felice. Donna tells him David and Mel are staying at the hotel while their house is being fumigated. Felice says her charity meeting is at the hotel and they’re on a lunch break. The kids pretend they’re just there to get something of David’s and will leave right after. Felice believes them, but Donna’s suspicious of her mother.
The guys try to cancel the stripper, Brandy, but it’s too late. Then Brandon tries to talk Andrea into going to a museum to get her out of the house. She doesn’t get the hint. Dylan tells Steve to tell Andrea the truth, and Brandon jokes that she’d probably write a series of articles about Brandy. When Brandy arrives, the guys pretend that she’s Cindy’s niece, there to help Brandon with a genealogy report.
Donna’s worried about Felice finding out what she’s really up to, saying Felice will kill her. Kelly notes that she says that a lot and she should just let Felice kill her, then see what happens. David calls Color Me Badd’s manager, but the guy hangs up on him. The kids decide to search the hotel for the group, though Donna’s worried about Felice catching them. After some spying and somewhat casual standing around, the kids find someone traveling with the band and figure out that they’re staying in the penthouse. However, they can’t take the elevator up there since it’s locked.
David and Brenda head for the back stairs while Kelly snags a maid’s key and uses it to get her and Donna up to the penthouse via the elevator. The doors in the staircase are all locked except one, and Brenda and David wind up on the roof in the pouring rain. Meanwhile, Donna sees Felice making out with a guy who definitely isn’t Donna’s father. She’s really upset and tries to call her dad but can’t reach him.
Andrea chats with Brandy, learning that she’s getting her master’s in social work at UCLA and has a five-year-old. Kelly wanders around the penthouse floor, running into a groupie looking to party. The groupie doesn’t get why Kelly and her friends would want to meet Color Me Badd and not hook up with them or something. As they split up, Kelly runs into one of the group members at a soda machine and he offers her a pass to the show. She talks him into giving her four.
David and Brenda make it to the suite, fighting about which of them is dumber. Donna’s ready to leave, but Brenda notes that they’ve already been through a lot, so they might as well keep going. David tells Donna not to give up so easily. Kelly hangs out with Color Me Badd, admitting that she’s not a huge fan, though she does like them. Donna tells David and Brenda again that she wants to leave, then gets a call back from her father. She chickens out on telling him about Felice. Afterward, she tells her friends that Felice is having an affair.
At the Walshes’, Brandy’s still talking, now about the Peace Corps, where she met her husband. He’s writing a book about surfing, so now Dylan’s interested. Andrea decides it’s time for her to go, so the guys are finally alone with Brandy. She starts to do her thing, but the guys see her as kind of a friend now, so they can’t get into it. Jim and Cindy return home just as Brandy’s leaving. “I’m Cindy’s cousin,” she introduces herself. (Ha!) Dylan and Steve run off, leaving Brandon to explain himself to his parents. (He tells them Steve has a cousin named Cindy.)
Brenda and David urge Donna to talk to Felice and find out what’s really going on. Donna’s worried that her whole life will change. David notes that her father might already know; he and Felice might have some sort of “arrangement.” As the kids check out of the hotel, Kelly calls Brenda to tell her she got passes to the concert. Brenda gives her the news about Donna, who she’s taking to the Walshes’. She tells Kelly to go to the concert so she can tell Donna all about it.
Felice finds Donna in the lobby and blasts her for not leaving earlier. Donna reveals that she saw Felice with another man and asks if she’s having an affair. Felice won’t answer the question, but Donna’s clear on the answer. She goes home with Brenda and tells Jim and Cindy what happened. She feels like she doesn’t have a family anymore. Donna admires the Walshes because their family never changes, though Jim tells her that isn’t true.
Felice arrives but Donna refuses to leave with her. She reminds Felice that she was a huge proponent of abstinence while she was having an affair. She cares more about appearances than feelings, and Donna won’t hide her feelings to make herself look okay. While Brenda comforts her, Cindy tells Felice that Donna can stay with the Walshes until things calm down. After Felice leaves, Cindy assures Donna that her mother loves her, and no matter what she does, it has nothing to do with how she feels about Donna.
Cindy continues that marriage and family are difficult. Donna points out that Cindy always keeps things together. Cindy admits the events of “The 17-Year Itch” to her. She assures Donna that parents never stop loving their children, adding that Donna doesn’t want to turn her back on her mother’s love. Later, the other Walshes discuss the situation and how Donna has suddenly changed. Jim thinks the twins can help Donna keep her life simple. Oh, and “Steve’s cousin” left her business card behind.
Donna heads home after all and asks Felice if she still loves Donna’s father. Felice says she does. She feels like she’s asking Donna to grow up quickly now that she knows about the affair. She apologizes for how her actions have hurt her daughter. Donna asks what will happen to their family, and Felice promises that she’ll tell her husband. She assures Donna that whatever happens between them, they still love Donna. Donna begs her to try to work things out in her marriage.
David stops by to see if Donna wants to hang out with him and Brenda at the Peach Pit. Donna wants to stay home, but Felice urges her to go. As they leave, Donna tells David that she’s never known what it’s like to have problems. They meet up with Brenda at the Peach Pit, and Kelly arrives a few minutes later to talk about the concert. She met some guys and brought them along to get some food. Of course, the guys are Color Me Badd. Kelly makes them sing before they can eat, so they give the kids their own private concert.
Thoughts: I’m not that familiar with Color Me Badd (I was more a New Kids on the Block girl), so I have no idea if their fame here is overblown or not. Probably.
David: “Plan B is to think of a plan B.” Heh.
Tori Spelling kind of breaks my heart in this episode (in a good way). She does the sad scenes really well.
Is it bad that I think the stripper’s dress is cute? To be fair, it’s not the kind of dress you would associate with a stripper. And it covers more of her body than you’d think.
If Felice is so concerned with appearances, she should really talk to Donna about the super-short argyle shorts she wears in this episode.
November 28, 2011
BSC #90, Welcome to the BSC, Abby: Thanks for Depressing Us All
If Abby's Jewish, why is she dressed like Santa?
Summary: Abby, who joined the club in the last book, jumps right into club activities, going on sitting jobs and helping out with the cause of the month, a carnival to raise money so school arts and music programs don’t have to be cut. While sitting for the Papadakises, Abby has an asthma attack that gets worse when Hannie runs into the street and almost gets hit by a car. She winds up going to the ER, but she’s fine after that. Kristy, however, thinks she’s a liability as a sitter.
Abby has bigger problems to deal with, as she feels like her family is disjointed. Her mom is working a lot, Anna doesn’t really have any friends in Stoneybrook yet, and they don’t spend a lot of time together. It all stems from Abby’s father’s death three years ago. Abby and Anna find a box of their father’s things while they’re unpacking, and they think their mother put it aside and forgot about it, which makes them mad.
During the carnival, which the Stevensons planned to work at together (selling cake and cupcakes with arts and music themes), Abby hears about a train that derailed in New York. She’s pretty sure her mom was on it, and when she and Anna don’t hear from her for hours, they think something horrible has happened to her. Fortunately, their mom was on a different train, but the experience gets them all to talk about their sadness over losing their father/husband and how they don’t want to forget him. But it’s all bittersweet because, you know…he’s still dead.
By the end of the book, Abby feels more at home in the club, Kristy has calmed down about her asthma, the Stevensons are making more of an effort to spend time together, and Anna has become friends with Shannon. So at least things are looking up there. And I guess they saved the arts and music programs because no one mentions that again.
Thoughts: Abby really is a bit of a tragic character. Her father’s dead, her mother’s not around much, and she feels like a seventh wheel, I guess you’d say, in the club because the other six girls are three pairs of best friends. Her humor is obviously a defense mechanism because she’s rarely serious. …Okay, I’ll stop psychoanalyzing.
What is with the series’ obsession with Elvira the goat?
Carnivals are fun. Reading about people getting ready to put on a carnival? Not so much. But now I really want a cupcake.
Mrs. Stevenson has a cell phone in 1995. I hope it’s Zack Morris-sized.
October 27, 2011
BSC #88, Farewell, Dawn: West Coast Represent
"This time it's for good." Promise?
Summary: After hearing in the last book that Sunny’s mom has cancer, Dawn decides she really wants to move back to California – for good. School is about to start up, so she has to go quickly, which means she only has a couple of weeks left in Stoneybrook. While she’s trying to figure out how to break the news to Mary Anne, Dawn tells Kristy, in case she needs to get a move on replacing her in the BSC. Kristy tells Claudia, Claudia tells Stacey, Stacey tells Robert, Robert tells Logan, and Logan tells Mary Anne, who’s understandably ticked about not hearing the news straight from Dawn.
Mary Anne turns into a big baby, acting like a jerk to Dawn and refusing to help the other BSC girls plan her goodbye party. Of course, it’s just because she’s so upset, but talk about handling it badly. Though, to be fair, everyone else handles the news of Dawn moving across the country a little too well. Maybe they’re as sick of her as I am. Anyway, long story short, Dawn goes back to California, rarely to be heard from again.
In the B plot, James Hobart breaks his leg, so the BSC girls and a bunch of kids decide to put on Christmas in the summer to make him feel better. It’s sweet but boring.
Thoughts: There are actually some nice moments in this book, and Dawn is much less annoying than usual. Jessi writes her a nice letter saying how much she looks up to Dawn and admires her for standing up for what she believes in. There’s also a scene where Dawn and Stacey talk about changes and how it can be hard to make people understand what you want when they’re not ready for a change. And while I’m not a Dawn fan, I did feel a little bad for her, feeling torn between her two homes, and her friends who want her to stay but also want her to be happy.
Interesting that, despite being on probation, Stacey has been reinstated as treasurer. Maybe Shannon just really sucks with money.
Jessi tells the kids not to buy James a gun that shoots sparks because Dawn doesn’t like guns. Who gives a crap what Dawn doesn’t like if the present isn’t for her? If I were the kids wanting to buy it, I’d say, “Dawn’s moving across the country. I can buy whatever the heck I want.”
Why does Dawn write Sunny a letter when she’s going to see her in two days?
August 9, 2011
BH90210 1.19, April Is the Cruelest Month: Could I BE Any More Homicidal?
Yes. That is exactly who you think it is
Summary: Brandon watches a guy named Roger (Matthew Perry, hee hee hee) play tennis, then talks to him about all his extracurricular activities. Roger doesn’t want to do an interview at first, but Brandon notes that he can’t be famous without press. He wonders who Roger pictures when he slams the ball. Brenda’s stressed about her SAT scores, apparently having taken the test sometime since the last episode, but Kelly and Donna aren’t. Brandon tells Andrea that he got an interview with Roger for the paper’s senior spotlight. She’s thrilled.
Brandon asks Steve for background info on the guy, and Steve tells him Roger’s father, George, is really rich. His mother once dated George, who’s rumored to have built a library at Stanford so Roger can go there. Brenda’s excited to get her test scores at home, and is way too happy to get an 1190. She also wants to see Brandon’s scores to find out which twin scored higher. Brandon hangs around Roger’s house waiting for their interview and spots a cabinet full of guns. Roger shows him one and tells him his father started teaching him to shoot when he was six.
The writers seem to think we’ll be interested in a tax-related conversation between Jim and Cindy. The writers are wrong. Jim wonders which of their children did better on the SAT, trying to make a $5 bet (though he doesn’t say which one he thinks scored higher). Roger asks Brandon not to record their interview, which is interrupted when George comes home. George mentions that he had lunch with someone from Stanford admissions, which makes Roger uncomfortable. George also tells Brandon that Roger wrote a screenplay, and George is trying to get him an agent.
Once Brandon gets home, the other Walshes ambush him, excited to see his SAT scores. He also got an 1190. Brenda notices that Brandon’s doing an interview with Roger, and Jim talks about how awesome George is. Brandon’s borrowed Roger’s screenplay, and Brenda wants the two of them to read it out loud. It strikes them as a little autobiographical. As they read, we see imaginings of the characters, “Robert” and “Janine,” doing the characters’ actions. Robert wants to kill his father.
Kelly got a 1050 on her SAT (which Brenda also thinks is great), but Donna won’t spill her scares. Brenda tells Kelly about Roger’s screenplay, and Kelly tells her they used to date. George made Roger dump her because she wasn’t good enough for him. Brandon reads on in the screenplay, coming across a scene where Robert plans to use the same gun he showed Brandon to kill his father.
Brandon tries to get Andrea to ditch Roger’s interview because he doesn’’ think Roger is the great guy everyone thinks he is. He asks for any advice she can give from her experiences at the teen hotline. She tells him to listen to whoever it is who’s having a problem, and tell the person that he or she isn’t the only person who’s ever felt that way. She asks what kind of trouble Roger’s in, and Brandon tells her about the screenplay and how he thinks Roger really wants to kill his father. Andrea thinks he’s overreacting.
Brenda and Kelly look through a book of colleges and try to get Donna to talk about her future plans. Donna doesn’t want to discuss college. The girls then take a history test, but Donna doesn’t write anything on her sheet. She then fakes a contact emergency so she can leave. Roger asks Brandon what he thinks of the screenplay, telling him that truth is stranger than fiction. Brandon says the screenplay is “riveting.” Roger offers him box seats to a Dodgers game, saying he won’t be around for it.
Brandon awkwardly asks Dylan if he ever wanted to kill his father, and what stopped him from following through. Dylan says it was Brandon and Brenda. (Awwww.) Brenda, Dylan, and Kelly spot Donna smoking with someone in the parking lot and wonder what’s going on with her. Roger goes to a session with a therapist and complains about how controlling George is. He admits that he wishes George were dead. That night, he goes home and shoots his father. Or at least he does in the screenplay.
Brenda and Brandon commiserate over being unable to read Donna and Roger, respectively. She suggests that they fix them up. Steve tries to make small talk with Roger about Stanford and George, but Roger gets edgy. Brenda and Kelly learn that they did well on their history test, but that Donna missed a meeting with their teacher. They note that she’s not even at school today. Brandon gets a ride with Roger, wanting to ask him some questions. Roger wants to drag race with Dylan, who isn’t game, then speeds off like a maniac.
Donna’s spent her day shopping, which Brenda discovers when they run into each other in a store. After some hounding by Brenda, Donna admits that she only got a 620 on the SAT. She guesses her mom is right that she should find a rich guy to marry since she’s too dumb to take care of herself. (Okay, that’s actually sad.) Brandon asks Roger if “Robert” is supposed to be him, but Roger won’t answer the question. They go to Roger’s house and find out that he got a rejection letter from Stanford.
As father and son start fighting, Brandon slips out of the room. George accuses Roger of throwing his love back in his face. Roger sends Brandon home, but on his way out, Brandon finds a gun in Roger’s car. He calls Andrea at the hotline and tells him Roger’s been driving around with a weapon. He’s already called the police, but they can’t do anything. (Um, what?) Andrea isn’t sure that Brandon’s right about Roger wanting to kill George, but Brandon is still suspicious.
Brandon tells Jim about the situation, and Jim advises him to talk to Roger. “Maybe he needs a friend,” Jim says. Great advice, Mr. Walsh. I hope you don’t get called to testify at Roger’s murder trial. That night, Brandon goes back to Roger’s house, finds a key (which he knew the location of from the screenplay), and lets himself in. It’s a waste, though, since he doesn’t find any dead bodies or anything.
Brenda asks her history teacher to help Donna rather than just writing her off. The teacher says she’s meeting with Donna that afternoon to talk about her future. Brenda thinks the teacher is only looking at Donna’s test scores, but the teacher truly wants to help her. Brandon looks all over the school for Roger but no one’s seen him. George is also MIA. Andrea tells Brandon again that he’s overreacting, but he thinks he can use the screenplay to figure out what’s going on. He borrows Dylan’s car to go find Roger.
Donna meets with the teacher, saying she understands what they talk about in class, she just can’t concentrate on tests. The teacher suspects that she has a learning disability. Donna thinks she’s just calling her stupid in a different way. She admits that she has trouble processing visual information and operating within time limits. The teacher promises that they can work on both things.
Brandon goes to Roger’s and finds him drinking in the poolhouse. He has a loaded gun and uses it to shoot one of George’s numerous awards. He tells Brandon the screenplay is just a screenplay and he’s not going to kill his father – he’s going to kill himself. He turns the gun towards himself and tells Brandon to leave. Brandon offers to be his friend, apparently thinking that will solve everything. However, he does manage to convince Roger to give him the gun.
Donna tells Brenda and Kelly that her future’s looking a lot better. She’s going to be allowed to take an oral SAT without time limits. Brandon offers Steve his Dodgers tickets, then goes to see Roger in the hospital, where he’s being treated by psychiatrists. George thanks him and reports that they’re both getting help. Brandon promises Roger that he won’t write about his near-suicide in the paper, but Roger thinks he should. He notes that Brandon’s not at the Dodgers game, and Brandon tells him he wanted to watch the game with him.
Thoughts: When I play tennis, I also wear turquoise shorts and a belt!
1190? Not exactly Harvard-quality, there, Bren. Simmer down.
I’m sorry, seeing Matthew Perry with a gun is not at all intimidating.
Sneaking into the home of people who have a lot of guns is Brandon’s dumbest move yet. But it’s only the first season, so I have no doubt he’ll top himself many, many times over.
Roger: “I’m going to kill myself!” Brandon: “Naw, man, let’s be friends.” Great work, Brandon.
July 12, 2011
Dawson’s Creek 2.19, Abby Morgan, Rest in Peace: I Hope They Serve Tequila in Hell
You don't get Oscar nominations by crying prettily
Summary: Dawson takes Joey to his house after the wedding, both of them agreeing that talking about what they’re doing is a bad idea. When they get to his room, they find Jen there, crying. She tells them what happened to Abby. Dawson doesn’t seem to know what to do, but Joey tries to comfort Jen. On Monday, Joey looks through a photo album and tells Mike that Abby’s death has her thinking about her mother. He notes that they never really talked about her death, but Joey doesn’t want to start now.
Jen shows up at school, where everyone stares at her. A grief counselor is brought in to help the students, some of whom wear yellow armbands in Abby’s memory. Jen won’t open up to the counselor, while Andie says clichéd things and doesn’t show any sadness.
Joey tries to talk to Dawson about their makeout session(s) the other night, but he says there’s too much other stuff going on right now. Joey admits that she never liked Abby. She also doesn’t want to go to her funeral because it might bring up feelings about her mother. Dawson tells her she needs to deal with them sometime. Joey confides that she almost feels like her mother’s death was a joke and eventually she’ll get to come back, like Mike did. Dawson says it’s not strange for her to feel that way, but she’ll have to let go of her “child’s false hope.” Joey tells him he doesn’t know what it feels like. (Foreshadowing?)
Andie finds Jen crying in a bathroom, and Jen complains that everyone’s acting like they were close to Abby. She calls Andie out for not being honest about how she felt about Abby. “She was mean, and the least that we can do is acknowledge who she really was,” Jen says. She also hates that everyone seems to see her as a celebrity just because she was there when Abby died. Andie notes that she tried to reach out to Abby, but Abby always rejected her. Jen shoots back that they went to the docks because Andie kicked them out of the wedding.
Gail tells Dawson that her news piece featuring Joey, Jen, Andie, and Abby has won her an award. She’s also been offered a great job in Philadelphia. She expects that if she took the job, Mitch would move back into the house with Dawson. Gail is frustrated that Mitch isn’t interested in working things out. If she passes up the job and still doesn’t have her marriage, she’s not sure what she will have. Dawson notes that she has him. (That’s not sweetening the deal, dude.)
Grams tells Jen that she never really liked Abby, who she always thought was mocking her, but she feels for Jen since they were friends. She assures Jen that God has a plan. This is, of course, not at all comforting to Jen. Pacey tells Andie that Abby’s death was no one’s fault, especially not Andie’s. Andie feels guilty for being mean to her, though Pacey points out that she tried to be nice. Andie says that she has the right to feel however she feels.
Abby’s mom shows up at the coffee shop where Pacey and Andie are hanging out and tells Andie that Abby talked a lot about her. Mrs. Morgan asks her to say something at the funeral, since Abby liked her so much. This is news to Andie, but she agrees. Later, Pacey tells Andie she can bow out, but Andie thinks the Morgans deserve to have someone say something nice about Abby. They go to Abby’s house to give Mrs. Morgan some flowers; Andie also wants to see where Abby lived. Meanwhile, Jen drinks on the pier Abby fell from.
Pacey and Andie sneak up to Abby’s bedroom and find her diary. Andie wants to read it to find out who Abby really was so she can use that part of her character in her eulogy. It turns out Abby wrote pretty much exactly what she would say. At school, Dawson tracks down Mitch, who gets all cherish-every-moment about Abby’s death. Dawson asks if his father is just going to let Gail take the new job and move away.
At the Icehouse, Jack asks Joey for dirt on her and Dawson, but she says they’re putting things on hold for now. He remembers kissing Abby at Dawson’s birthday party and says he was probably the last person she kissed. “She went out with a bang,” Joey notes. Pacey finds Dawson watching one of Abby’s scenes from Creek Daze and tells him that Andie’s supposed to give a eulogy. He hates that Andie accepted and that he can’t have control over what’s happening.
Jen comes home drunk, and Grams tells her not to mask her feelings. She needs to focus on the good times she had with Abby. Jen notes that Abby’s most likely in Hell, “doing tequila shooters and laughing at all of us.” Grams encourages her to believe that God has a special plan for everyone. Jen replies that God doesn’t exist; neither do peace or hope. The only thing she knows is pain. Grams says she’s trying to be understanding, but Jen keeps disobeying and spewing blasphemy. Jen spits out that Grams’ patience has finally run out. If she can’t speak her mind, maybe she should move out.
Joey finally talks to Mike about her mother, saying that she can’t get a clear picture of her, which scares her. Mike says that when he looks at Joey, he sees that her mother is still there, because Joey’s so much like her. Andie tells Pacey that she still has no idea what to say just hours before the funeral. He tells her to make up nice stuff. Then he says he’ll do the eulogy if it’ll keep Andie from having a nervous breakdown. She doesn’t want to be the burden to Pacey that her mother is to her. She also doesn’t want him to set his role as caretaker in stone.
Joey comes to the funeral after all, asking Dawson to hold her hand. Grams shows up to support Jen, saying she forgives her. Jen says she wants understanding, not forgiveness, but Grams has never been able to give her that. Jen tells everyone that Abby was a mean person; if God made people in His image, what does that say about Him? She doesn’t understand how He could create a world full of tragedy and suffering.
Jen continues that Abby taught her to do tequila shooters and live her life on her own terms, not worry about what other people think of her. Abby also taught her that God is sadistic. Jen appreciates that honesty in a world full of lies and phoniness. Grams walks out. Andie takes her turn, saying that she has people in her life who comfort her and support her, as well as people who challenge her and force her to be courageous. Abby was one of those people, and by telling the truth all the time, she gave Andie strength.
After the funeral, Dawson tells Joey that Abby’s death made him realize that he wants to live life without any regrets. He’s happy about what happened between them at the wedding. Joey kisses him and asks him to walk her somewhere. Pacey tells Andie that he’s been worried about her emotional state, but she’s handled things well. She says the experience has made her feel closer to Tim.
Jen apologizes to Andie for blaming her for Abby’s death; she blames herself since she invited Abby out and got her drunk. She thinks she could have saved Abby from drowning. Jen feels horrible for deflecting her guilt onto everyone else. Andie says that Abby put her truth above everything, just as Jen did at the funeral. Jen replies that sometimes it’s better to keep quiet. Andie tells her about the diary. Joey and Dawson go to her mother’s grave, where Joey says she hopes her mother is happy, wherever she is. Dawson assures her that she is.
Jen goes home to find Grams packing all of her things. She went to the funeral to support Jen and try to repair their relationship; what she got was disrespect. Jen says it wasn’t disrespect for Grams but for God. She apologizes, but Grams says Jen tried to hurt her and take all of her pain out on her. She wants Jen to have compassion for her. Since Jen can’t respect her, she has to live somewhere else. Andie returns to the Morgans’ house, letting herself in and going back up to Abby’s room. She picks up the diary and sees Abby in the mirror. When she turns around, Abby’s not there.
Thoughts: Wait, Joey waited two days to tell Mike that Abby died? Don’t they live in the same house? Did he not notice that she was upset all weekend?
I’m surprised Jen doesn’t do the clichéd TV funeral thing where a character refuses to wear black because the deceased wouldn’t want her to.
I find Grams kicking Jen out a little out of character for her. Wouldn’t she rather have Jen in the house so she can try to steer her in the right direction? This is like she’s completely giving up on her.
I’d totally forgotten about the ending. Bleh.
