Summary: Two guys are helping Julie, Elena, and Meghan arrange furniture in their new apartment. The ladies are ogling them, and not subtly, either. Felicity joins them and starts ogling, too. She asks if something happened to Tracy and Sean. Nah, they’re just looking. Sean arrives, wanting to capture their reactions to some big news for his docuventary series. The news is that Noel and Natalie got married.
Felicity asks Javier for anything she can tell Noel that will make him want to dump Natalie. Javier advises her to have Noel check Natalie’s skull for three little 6s. She’s a risk-taker and sees adventure as a drug. Javier feels bad for not stopping Noel and Natalie from getting married.
Felicity, Ben Elena, Julie, Meghan, Tracy, and Richard gather at Epstein Bar to try to figure out their options. Tracy points out that Natalie and Noel are already married, so there’s not much they can do. Richard thinks they should treat Noel like an addict – he needs an intervention. Meghan says they’re overreacting, but Richard says Natalie has sucked the life out of their friend, and they need to “suck him back.” Phrasing!
Ben agrees with Meghan – they should mind their own business. He doesn’t know why the others care so much anyway. Julie and Elena think Noel’s grown-out hair is a cry for help in itself. In a docuventary clip, Meghan tells Sean that Noel reminds her of a guy from her high school. He was really conservative, a Hasidic Jew, but went wild when he started hanging out with another crowd. Back at the bar, she gets this flash of memory and tells the others that they’re right about needing to do something.
Elena and Tracy make out in her bed, but he puts the brakes on before they can get further than that. Elena asks him to tell her about God – why does He want them to be celibate? What if Tracy is abstaining when God doesn’t care, or even exist? Tracy thinks the fact that he’s fighting temptation is enough of a sign that God is real. Elena tells Sean that she can’t break up with Tracy because of this. He asks if she would ever cheat on him.
Sean then talks to Julie about living with Elena. Julie says Elena keeps asking her questions about her biological father, like she’s trying to get Julie to admit something. She repeats that she was tested to see if she could donate a kidney to him, but she wasn’t a match. She’s just grateful that she got to know him before he died. Sean asks if there’s anything else, because there obviously is.
At Dean & DeLuca, Ben tells Felicity that his father called last night. He’s in town and wants to see Ben. They haven’t talked for months, and Ben knows they’re just going to fight about the same stuff as usual. Felicity wants him to be optimistic that this is something good. Ben says she always sees the good in every situation, but he doesn’t think his father applies. Julie and Elena run into one of the moving guys, Finn, who invites them to hang out that night. They tell him they’re busy. Finn asks if Elena has a boyfriend…and she says she doesn’t. Elena, no!
Everyone who’s not Noel gathers at the dorm apartment for their anti-Natalie intervention, led by Richard. He has some sort of handouts. Sean is filming, which seems like a bad idea. Noel quickly guesses why they’re there, and for some reason he doesn’t immediately turn around and leave. He tells them that getting married was his idea, not Natalie’s. He knows that Natalie has an arrest record, but it’s for protesting with Greenpeace.
Noel has only known her for a few months, but he loves her adventurous spirit. Richard asks if Natalie is pregnant and this is just “Ruby redux.” Noel announces that they’re going to Germany for Oktoberfest in a few days. When he gets back, he’s not sure he wants to see any of his friends again. He leaves, and the friends agree that this was a disaster.
Felicity follows Noel to his apartment for a private conversation. She apologizes for the ambush and for letting him down today. She knows they were immature and insulted Noel and Natalie’s relationship. But Felicity remembers Noel as someone with long-term plans. The group has agreed to congratulate Noel and celebrate the relationship. They want to have dinner together and get to know Natalie better.
Someone else who wants to have a meal: Ben’s father. Ben hesitantly meets him at a restaurant. Elena and Tracy are studying together at the dorm apartment when Finn comes over. He asks Elena out to dinner, but she chases him off, though she agrees to get lunch the next day. Ben’s father announces that he’s in recovery for alcoholism. He’s also back in touch with Ben’s mother, hoping to make amends as part of the 12-step program. Ben objects to Mr. Covington reaching out to him just because of the program, not because he wants to. But Ben admits that he’s glad his father reached out.
Noel finds the notebook where he used to keep track of his work for his four-year plan. Natalie teases that he used to be a geek. At the loft, where everyone’s getting ready for dinner, Ben tells Felicity that seeing his father went better than he expected. When the Cranes arrive, they tell everyone about their recent trip to Cuba and their upcoming vacation in Germany. They don’t have plans after that. They don’t even know if they’ll stay in New York. Natalie doesn’t want to live in the same place for longer than two years.
Sean asks how she plans to keep a job with that attitude. Natalie says she has a theory that money always works itself out. Richard scoffs at that. Noel is obviously starting to realize that he made a big, impulsive mistake, so he runs to the bathroom to splash water on his face. Meanwhile, Javier arrives with a gift, a suitcase holding a first-aid kit and defibrillator. Natalie takes a phone call and grabs a notebook to take notes. Richard realizes it’s his notebook – the one that holds the intervention handouts. Understandably, Natalie wants to leave immediately. She doesn’t even wait for Noel.
Javier calls a family member to try to track Natalie down. Meghan says she always thought Natalie was kind of cool. Richard questions her judgment, since she chose to get her nose pierced. Noel has gone looking for his wife, but with no success. Tracy offers him support, but he just wants to talk to Felicity alone. He tells her that at the beginning of the previous year, he was mad at her and needed a way to escape. Ruby came into his life at the perfect time. She helped the year speed by. But that was his junior year, and all of a sudden, he’s a senior.
Noel was feeling like time was running out when Natalie appeared. With her, he feels like he can ignore everything else. But now he needs to get his life back on track. Noel doesn’t want to move around every two years and go on vacations all the time. He wants to be in New York with his friends. He needs to end things with Natalie. Felicity tells him just to do what he thinks is best.
At the dorm apartment, Julie clarifies that Elena is having lunch with Finn to test God. Elena thinks that if there’s a sign that she should be with Tracy, God will show her. Julie tells her she’s not testing God; she’s turning something mundane into a virtue. Elena asks her to come along and be a buffer so she doesn’t lose control. Julie points out that she’s already lost control, since she lied about not having a boyfriend. Elena’s hoping that Finn will turn out to be an idiot so she can easily reject him.
Ben meets his father for coffee, and Mr. Covington gives him a CD. Ben invites Mr. C. to visit more often, but when Mr. C. says he will, Ben accuses him of once again making promises he won’t keep. Mr. C. says he can’t remember anything about Ben’s childhood, since he was never around. What was he doing that was so important it made him miss out on his son’s life? People say that kids’ childhoods go by fast, and Mr. C. can confirm that firsthand.
Julie tags along to lunch with Elena and Finn, the latter of whom is definitely not an idiot. He’s pre-law and wants to abolish capital punishment. Elena wants a sign from God more than ever. Julie’s tired of being the fifth wheel and wants to ditch, but Elena needs a buffer more than ever.
Noel calls around looking for Natalie, since she hasn’t come home. She arrives just then and won’t talk to him. He tries to argue that his friends’ actions were kind of sweet, or at least well-intentioned. They’re just worried that he’s being impulsive and throwing his life away. Ooh, not the right thing to say. Natalie packs a bag and continues to ignore her husband as he says that they may have made a mistake. He loved their time together over the summer, but they need to be realistic. They shouldn’t be married. Natalie decks him and leaves.
At the dorm apartment, Ben tells Felicity that his dad’s firm gave him Yankees tickets for that night. Felicity’s thrilled to go with them. She talks to Sean about Noel’s situation, and luckily, Elena knows someone who’s pre-law and can help Noel out. Finn meets with him and mentions an annulment, but Noel knows Natalie will never agree to that. That means a divorce, since Noel won’t do mediation. Their accumulated assets consist of one expensive plate, and Noel will not mediate the plate.
Felicity tries to calm Noel down, encouraging him to avoid getting revenge. Julie looks on suspiciously as Elena barely keeps her lust for Finn to herself. Sean invites Noel to crash at the loft. Julie, Elena, and Finn wind up in Elena’s room, planning to listen to music, but Julie has to go to class. Elena is desperate to keep her as a buffer, but Julie ignores her. Finn and Elena sit on her bed, holding hands, and he leans in for a kiss. Just then, Elena gets a sign from God: Her picture of Tracy falls off her bedside table and breaks. She runs to Tracy’s class and tells him she believes in God.
Natalie brings Noel a pizza peace offering, and he tells her he’s staying at the loft. He’ll take care of all the annulment paperwork. She flirts with him, trying to remind him of how cool and fun she’s made him. They make out and vow to always remember each other. Guess who hooked up at the dorm apartment? Julie and Finn! Elena jokes that Julie was a great buffer, but Julie says she doesn’t need Elena’s attitude.
Ben and Felicity wait for Mr. C. at Epstein Bar, but he’s a no-show. I assume he has the tickets, so that means they can’t go to the game without him. They leave when it becomes clear that he isn’t coming. Ben remembers all the other times his father didn’t show up; he always lets himself get optimistic, but he’s always let down. Felicity says this time she’s there to comfort him.
Thoughts: Mr. C. is played by the late John Ritter.
I really hated the old credit sequence and song, but I might had the new ones even more.
If this is how Natalie has been living for years, I have to wonder how many times she’s gotten married impulsively. I wouldn’t be surprised if her marriage to Noel isn’t valid because she’s still married to someone else.
'90s Flashback 
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