Summary: Felicity is dyeing Noel’s blond-streaked hair back to normal and trying to help him figure out an explanation for why he needs an annulment. At least Sean is renting him a room at the loft, so he has a place to live. He criticizes Felicity’s treatment of his hair, noting that she doesn’t have a great track record with hair. Ouch. Elena looks over the list of possible annulment reasons and suggests that he blame impotence. Felicity agrees – it’s not like anyone will know for sure. Noel practices saying that he’s impotent. Cue the arrival of Felicity, Julie, Meghan, and Elena’s new roommate, Molly. Noel wants to take back his declaration.
Julie uses Sean’s camera to film herself in her room. She’s supposed to talk about her summer, which she says was terrible. She’s definitely keeping something from her friends, but she still won’t say what it is. Julie rewinds the tape and starts over. She talks about getting tested to see if she could donate a kidney to her birth father, which she’s mentioned before. She’s grateful for how welcoming her family was and says that getting to know them made it the best summer she’s ever had.
Felicity wakes up from a dream where her dress got caught in an escalator and she and Ben were chased by monkeys. She’s annoyed that he didn’t protect her very well. Ben promises to do better the next time they get attacked by monkeys on an escalator. He gets a call from his mother reporting something about his father. Ben tells Felicity that he doesn’t want to talk about it and doesn’t even care anymore.
Noel and Natalie meet with a judge to try to get their annulment. Noel does go with the impotence claim, but Natalie denies it: “He’s not impotent. If anything, he’s potent.” Then she leaves. The judge tells Noel to get on the same page as his soon-to-be-ex-wife before they come back and try this again.
Ben and Sean play basketball together, but Ben’s mind is obviously elsewhere. Sean asks if it’s unfair that he’s charging Noel $25 more in rent than Ben and Julie. Julie shows up and tells Sean she finished her video already. He’s surprised, since he gave her a week to do it. Ben gets more and more annoyed as the game goes on, eventually elbowing Sean in the nose. I think Ben’s rent is about to go up.
Julie follows Ben as he leaves and tries to get him to tell her what’s going on. He admits that his mother called to tell him that his father has been missing for four days. Julie says this is like freshman year, when she was looking for her birth mother. Ben was great in supporting her, and she doesn’t think she could have gone through with everything without him.
Sean needs a “hook” for this week’s episode of his nameless TV show, so he interviews Molly. She’s from London and is studying fashion, photography, and “orgasmology.” Sean is thrilled. For the show! Just for the show! Molly admits that that was a joke. She’s just trying to give him the hook he wants.
Later, at the dorm apartment, Felicity tells Elena and Molly that she can’t get Ben to open up to her about what’s going on with him. Molly says guys are like Venus fly traps; they snap closed when something emotional lands on them. Felicity’s worried about Ben trying to bottle everything up forever. Molly just hopes that Ben doesn’t take his anger out on Felicity like he did with Sean. Felicity didn’t know about that.
Julie comes home and tells Felicity she spent some time with Ben. Felicity is surprised to hear that Mr. C. is missing and that Mrs. C. wants Ben to file a missing-persons report. Julie doesn’t think it’s a big deal that Ben opened up to her instead of his girlfriend. After all, she and Ben have a history. Felicity goes to the loft to address things with Ben. He says he won’t file the missing-persons report – this is what his father deserves. Felicity thinks he didn’t tell her because he thought she would judge him. Ben just says again that he doesn’t want to talk about it.
Noel tells Sean (on camera) that Javier called to tell him that Natalie is eligible for a sizable inheritance…but she can only get it if she’s married. He thinks he’s a pawn. He confronts Natalie, who notes that Noel was the one who proposed. Noel thinks he was the victim of reverse psychology. Why didn’t she tell him about the money? Natalie says that obviously he would have thought she just wanted to be with him so she could get her money. She’s been in the position to get married before, but she never did.
Natalie gets Noel to admit that they had a great summer together. That’s why she wanted to marry him. Her uncle left her a quarter of a million dollars in his will, and whoever she marries gets $100,000. Sean thinks this is a great hook for the episode. Now Noel has to decide if he wants to get an annulment or stay married and get the money.
Meghan takes care of Sean and his busted nose, which he thinks he might take advantage of to get a nose job. Meghan is on board, but Sean says he was kidding. Now he thinks she hates his nose. Great, three episodes into their relationship and they’re already exhausting. Ben is back at the basketball court, still avoiding doing anything about his father. Julie offers to help track him down, but Ben doesn’t want her opinion on the subject. It’s great that she got to know her biological father, but in some cases, not knowing your father is better.
Sean interviews Molly again, this time about her family. Her mother is a real estate agent and part-time psychic. When Molly mentioned coming to New York, her mother said she already knew. She also predicted that Molly would find love here. Molly isn’t sure if that’s true, but she hopes so. Sometimes it’s hard to believe everything your parents say, even the psychic ones.
At the dorm apartment, Noel asks the women and Ben what he should do about the annulment. Felicity reminds him that Natalie hit him. Noel blames that on the intervention, saying that was more for everyone’s actions – “it was sort of a communal right hook.” Now that there’s money on the line, he might overlook it. Noel isn’t sure he wants to throw away a relationship with someone he has fun with just because it would give him money for college.
Molly acknowledges that this is a tough decision. Elena thinks marriage is too sacred to treat like this. When asked for his opinion, Ben leaves. Felicity follows him out to the street and urges him to talk to her. He says that not everything is about them. If Felicity were in a position like this, Ben would give her space. Felicity says that’s fine, but if she were suffering as much as Ben is, she would want his help. Ben says he doesn’t want his friends’ help while his father is missing. It didn’t do anything the first time and it won’t do anything now.
Ben reveals that when he was in the seventh grade, Mr. C. disappeared for a few days. His mother filed a missing-persons report and called hospitals and morgues. It turns out Mr. C. was less than an hour away, drinking in his car for days. When he got home, he acted like nothing had happened. If that was the worst thing he’d ever done, Ben would have forgiven him, but it’s not. Ben isn’t doing anything this time because he hopes Mr. C. is dead.
When Felicity returns to the apartment, Molly tells her she spoke to her mother, who thinks Ben feels bad about their fight. She saw them arguing all the way from London. She also says Ben will apologize to Felicity. Felicity starts to tell Molly to thank her mother, but her mother has already said Felicity’s welcome. Meghan tells Noel that the money isn’t the issue here; it’s burnout. She mentions her classmate who joined a different friend group and went wild. Noel isn’t cut out for this kind of life. In 12 months, the inheritance money won’t cover the costs of a psych ward for Noel.
Sean arrives and asks Noel what he’s decided about the annulment, then requests Noel’s opinion on his nose. Meghan drags him away for a conversation. Elena tells Felicity and Molly that she doesn’t think Julie has dealt with her father’s death yet. Elena also acted out when her mother died; she thinks Ben’s situation with his father is bringing up buried emotions for Julie.
Meghan and Sean fight about his nose and how he thinks she wants him to get a nose job. No one cares. Natalie shows up and tells Noel that she read his four-year-plan notebook. She doesn’t care that he’s a geek. In fact, she bought him RAM. Ben arrives as Felicity is leaving to buy some ice cream, and as Molly’s mother predicted, he apologizes.
Meghan and Sean are still fighting. He doesn’t want to change his nose; he thinks it’s perfect. It’s his family’s nose. Meghan says that something that’s old isn’t automatically good. Meghan, just shut up. Noel tells Natalie that while their summer romance was fun, it needs to end. He wants an annulment. She walks out without responding. Meghan kicks Sean out, and he and Natalie leave at the same time.
Julie arrives just then and asks Ben to talk alone. Ben tells her they can talk in front of Felicity. Julie announces that Mr. C. has turned up in a hospital, unconscious and with alcohol poisoning. She admits that she filed a missing-persons report. Ben refuses to go see him, and Felicity sides with him, telling Julie that her situation with her father doesn’t apply to Ben’s situation with his. Julie tells her to stay out of it, but Felicity keeps talking. Finally, Julie exclaims, “The hospital said that I was a match, okay?” She lied about not being a compatible donor. She could have saved her father’s life, but she said no, and he died.
Ben winds up going to the hospital, unable to stop thinking about how scared Julie looked. He wants to make sure he has the opportunity to do something in case his father needs him. Mr. C. is now conscious, and a doctor tells Ben he can go see his father, who doesn’t know that Ben is there. Ben goes to sit by his bed while he sleeps.
The next morning, Meghan goes to the loft and gives Sean an old picture of herself…before she had a nose job. She was insecure as a teenager, and maybe she still is now (but so is Sean). They make up and she says she likes his nose. Are they going to have dumb plots like this all the time? Can I opt out now?
Noel and Natalie return to the judge, this time with the explanation that Noel was lured into the marriage under false pretenses. He thinks Natalie just wanted her inheritance. Natalie admits to keeping the inheritance a secret, but she announces that she doesn’t want the money. It’s going to be donated to charity. The marriage is based on love, not on a lie or money. Natalie wants to make this sacrifice in the name of their “sacred bond.” Natalie leaves, and the judge tells Noel that if he still wants an annulment, he needs to get a different judge.
Noel thinks Natalie is trying to manipulate him again, making him think she really cares about him so she can get her money. He’s calling her bluff – they’ll stay married and take the money. Natalie says it’s not a lie. She’s willing to give up all the money to prove that she loves Noel. Why not stay together and see where it goes? Noel says he’ll only stay with Natalie if they get an annulment and start from scratch. Natalie agrees.
Ben tells Felicity that Mr. C. will go home tomorrow. He and his mom are both relieved. When they get to the dorm apartment, they’re stunned to learn that Julie has packed up all her stuff and left. She made a goodbye tape, which the friends all watch. She apologizes for being difficult and gives a little message to each of her friends, like how she’s grateful to Sean for giving her a home, and how she feels like she’s known Ben forever. She’s sorry that she and Felicity fought, but she knows they’ll get past it.
Julie came to New York to learn more about her birth parents, but she just made a mess of things. She doesn’t think the city is the right place for her now. She’s not sure where she’ll go, but she hopes she’ll learn more about herself. She’ll miss all her friends and knows they’ll see each other again.
Thoughts: ‘Bye, Amy Jo Johnson! I…won’t miss you. Sorry.
Fun fact: When she joined the show, Sarah-Jane Potts (Molly) was dating Erik Palladino.
I feel bad for Molly coming into an established friend group, especially this group. But she seems like the type who gets along with most people and doesn’t feel intimidated or left out.
Does the dorm apartment have five bedrooms (Felicity, Julie, Meghan, Elena, Molly)? I’m so jealous. Do all the roommates have to share one bathroom, though? Maybe I’m not that jealous.
'90s Flashback 
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