Felicity 3.7, Kissing Mr. Covington: Nothing to Lose

January 2, 2021

Felicity 3.7, Kissing Mr. Covington: Nothing to Lose

OH, ELENA

Summary: Felicity brings Ben home from the hospital after his beating by Randy’s friends. His face is bruised and his arm is in a sling. Since he won’t be able to work for a little while, Noel has offered to fill in for him at work. Mr. Covington calls, but Ben doesn’t want to talk to him. He’s surprised that Mr. C. knows about his assault. Felicity guesses that the hospital called him and he flew out to check on his son (Mrs. C. is out of the country). Ben repeats that he doesn’t want to talk to him.

Noel runs into Jane (or is maybe stalking her?) and invites her to get sushi. She had a bad experience with it and doesn’t eat it anymore. Plus, she has to get to class. She leaves as hopefully Noel figures out a way to learn how to talk to women like a human being.

At the dorm apartment, Felicity is in a great mood and is dancing like no one’s watching. It turns out someone’s watching, though – Mr. C. She tells him not to take it personally that Ben doesn’t want to talk to him. He’s just “going through something.” Mr. C. is going to AA and thinks Ben should try out Al-Anon, meetings for family members of alcoholics. He wants Felicity to try to talk him into going to a meeting. Mr. C. wants Ben to get that he’s in the city because he really cares about his son.

Sean, who’s still in the hospital, has taken an interest in Judaism. He guesses that his roommate, Morgenstern, is also Jewish. Sean tells Meghan that before his surgery, he made a pact with God: If he survived, he would devote his life to God. Now he’s going to follow all of the 613 commandments in the Torah.

At the dorm apartment, Noel asks Elena for advice on how to get to know Jane. He admits that he got her email password and is tempted to read her private messages to find out more about her. Elena tells him to definitely not do that. Lies will ruin everything. Speaking of lies (well, secrets), Tracy arrives with news that the paper he and Finn wrote is going to be published.

As Noel logs into Jane’s email just seconds after Elena and Tracy leave, Felicity tells Ben that Mr. C. came to see her. Ben thinks Mr. C. is just using his charms to win Felicity over. Felicity asks Ben to give him one more chance. Elena meets up with Finn at Epstein Bar and tells him she loves Tracy, so whatever’s happening between the two of them needs to stop.

Mr. C. returns to the dorm apartment, disappointed because he’s sure he’s really lost Ben. His sponsor encouraged him to come visit, saying he had nothing to lose. Mr. C. gets that because he’s already lost it. He starts crying, and when Felicity gives him a comforting hug, he kisses her neck, then tries to move to her lips. He realizes how uncomfortable she is and leaves.

Despite not wanting anything from his father, Ben has put up a little basketball hoop Mr. C. gave Felicity to give him. Felicity tells him that Mr C. came to see her again. Ben has decided to give him a second chance after all, and Felicity awkwardly encourages him to go for it. Felicity, honey, you need to go back to therapy. I’m sure Pavone would love it.

Meghan is trying to gather stuff for a Sabbath meal, telling Molly that Sean is suddenly “ultra-Jewish.” Molly says that happened to a friend of hers who was hit by a car and then started thinking she was the Virgin Mary. Yeah, that’s not the same at all, Molly. Tracy meets up with Finn and another classmate, who share the news that McGrath was busted for sexual harassment. Tracy wonders “who would want to get down with the prince of darkness.” The third classmate knows someone on the disciplinary committee and has a list of women who were involved with McGrath. The list includes Elena.

Noel has gotten a bunch of info from Jane’s emails and now knows multiple ways to her heart. His first choice is crashing her yoga class. Elena warns that he won’t get away with this. Noel tries anyway, showing up with the same book Jane is reading. Then he asks her out for Indian food, her favorite cuisine.

Meghan takes Sean some Sabbath things and he thanks her for doing a mitzvah (good deed). She got a discount at a Judaica store because she told the clerk she was converting to Judaism. That lie may cancel out her mitzvah. Sean asks if she would ever convert for real, but Meghan thinks that’s a ridiculous idea. He tells her that, in that case, they have to break up. He wants his kids to be Jewish, “not Jew-witch.” Meghan leaves him all the stuff she brought him, except the wine.

Tracy confronts Elena over her relationship with McGrath, clarifying that his assistant filed the harassment complaint and gave the disciplinary committee the names of McGrath’s flings. Tracy knows they were together years before, and Elena didn’t cheat on him or anything, but he’s upset that she never mentioned this to him. He’s going to try not to take it too seriously.

Felicity helps Ben get ready for a visit from Mr. C., which goes well, though Felicity looks like she’d rather be anywhere else. When Ben leaves the room, Mr. C. apologizes to Felicity for the kissing. He’s had a horrible year and has felt alone, but talking to her made him feel hopeful. Felicity tells him that he’s making her uncomfortable. Mr. C. thanks her for not saying anything to Ben.

The next day, Ben tells Felicity that he got tickets to a play that night but can’t go. He wants Felicity to take Mr. C. instead. Meghan complains to Molly that Sean broke up with her after she spent all this time comforting him and let herself become vulnerable. Elena glares at Noel as he reads her one of Jane’s emails, then tells him that she cheated on Tracy with Finn. Noel tears up the emails and offers Elena a deal: He’ll tell Jane the truth if Elena comes clean to Tracy. Elena notes that she has more to lose here than Noel, but she agrees.

Sean’s roommate, Morgenstern, reveals that he’s a rabbi. He asks what will happen if Sean has a relapse or gets a different type of cancer. What will happen to his relationship with God? If Sean loves Meghan, he should propose to her. He shouldn’t waste his life on things that aren’t important to him. His “crash diet” with God won’t last. God isn’t a fad; He’s a way of life.

Elena invites Tracy to the dorm apartment so she can break his heart. Before she can, he reads her an acrostic he wrote her (“E is for everything you do so well. L is for your long, luscious locks…”). He promises that he will always love her. This is the first time someone’s written a poem for Elena, and she can’t crush him after that.

Noel and Jane have dinner together, and things are going well, but his conscience tells him he needs to be honest. Instead, he uses a line she wrote in one of her emails, the exact line she told a friend she wants a guy to say to her. In this instance, it’s not what she wants to hear, and she slaps Noel. Good for her. Run away, Jane! Run far away!

At the loft, Felicity tells Ben that she feels like she’s getting sick, so she should skip the play with Mr. C. He guesses there’s something else going on, but she just says that Mr. C. makes her uncomfortable. Ben asks if Mr. C. did something to her. The fact that his mind goes there says a lot, doesn’t it? Ben decides to go pay his father a visit.

He finds Mr. C. at Epstein Bar and asks what Mr. C. did that made Felicity too uncomfortable to be alone with her. Mr. C. first says that they hugged, but Ben guesses that there was more. Mr. C. admits to the kissing, then tries to explain himself, saying he came to New York because he wants to make things right with Ben. Ben replies that he doesn’t want Mr. C. in his life.

Back at the loft, Ben tells Felicity he feels bad for what Mr. C. did. He’s trying to hold in the rage he feels toward his father. Felicity reminds him of when they carved pumpkins together their freshman year. That was the first time he ever told her about his father. She thought she understood then, but now she knows it goes deeper.

She’s gotten him pamphlets on various groups that might be able to help him. Ben says he doesn’t need a group – he needs a new dad. Felicity tries to talk to him about Al-Anon, but Ben doesn’t want to feel like he’s the one who’s messed up. Mr. C. returns, and Felicity leaves without talking to him. Mr. C. has come to say goodbye to Ben, who isn’t interested in a conversation beyond that. He’s definitely not interest in offering forgiveness. Mr. C. says he loves Ben, then leaves.

Sean shows up at the dorm apartment and asks Meghan to marry him. She’s confused, since he just dumped her. He tells her he no longer cares that she’s not Jewish. Meghan wants an apology first, but when Sean apologizes, she says he doesn’t get the real problem. Dumping her because she’s not Jewish is “anti-anti-Semitic.” Heh. She says she’ll get back together with Sean but she won’t marry him.

Sean tells her that this wasn’t even his idea. Just what every woman wants to hear after being proposed to. He explains that Morgenstern pushed him to propose. He needs a little more time to decide if Judaism is really this important to him. Meghan is willing to give him that time.

Tracy finds Finn and says that Elena told him about the affair. Of course, Finn thinks he means his affair with Elena, not her fling with McGrath. Finn’s pleased that Tracy is cool with everything. He says it wasn’t really an affair anyway; he and Elena were only together one time. Oops, looks like Tracy’s going to get his heart broken after all.

Noel is a disaster filling in for Ben at Dean & DeLuca. Jane comes by to apologize (!!!), telling him that her friend reminded her that she wanted a guy to say exactly what Noel said to her at dinner. She’d like to get to know him better. Jane, nooooo! What’s wrong with you??? Ben goes to an Al-Anon meeting after all and is surprised to see someone he knows: Molly.

Thoughts: Leave it to Felicity to not be honest with Ben right after they’ve made up from a big fight over how she wasn’t honest with him.

Trivia: Kit-Kats are kosher.

Meghan wears her best green cheetah-print shrug and zebra-print tank top to visit Sean in the hospital. Guys, remember shrugs? Also, Molly wears three headbands at once. Sigh.

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