Felicity 3.10, Final Touches (AKA Let’s Get It On): Drawing on Reserves

January 23, 2021

Felicity 3.10, Final Touches (AKA Let’s Get It On): Drawing on Reserves

Is this man a qualified professor? I’m not so sure

Summary: Felicity gets a letter she doesn’t like and goes to see a professor named Boyden. She thought she’d dropped his philosophy class, but the drop request didn’t go through, so she’s still enrolled. She never attended any classes, so she’s in danger of failing. It’s too late to drop the class, so Felicity’s only option is to ace the final, which is worth 50% of her grade. Boyden laughs as he tells her that even students who have been to class all semester won’t get an A.

At the dorm apartment, Felicity asks Meghan what happened to the two letters she asked her to mail two months ago: the drop-class form and a letter to Sally. Meghan insists she mailed them, but she’s wrong. She thinks Felicity’s smart enough to pass her final despite never going to class. Felicity should make Meghan take the final for her. Also, why would you mail a drop-class form instead of taking it to the registrar’s office?

Ben took the class Felicity now has to study for, and he’s sure she’ll do fine on the final. She disagrees – she has to cram a semester’s worth of philosophy in three days. Didn’t Noel TA a philosophy class? Isn’t that the class Ben took? Noel can help her. Problem solved. Speaking of Noel, Felicity’s supposed to be working on “Loser Pet Store” with him, but she doesn’t want to push that aside for…a graded class. Come on, Felicity.

Molly comes by to get the rest of her stuff, now that she’s no longer welcome in the dorm apartment. Felicity and Ben try to encourage her to get help, but she doesn’t listen to them. At the loft, Sean is having trouble performing sexually after his surgery. Meghan thinks they just need to give it more time, but Sean thinks that, after four weeks, there’s something else going on. Richard comes by with an idea to make money for the student government budget: a sexy calendar. Meghan tells him he needs to make one with men and one with women. She offers to pick the guys for the male calendar.

Felicity and Noel go to Icebox to meet with Morrison, the professor who has connections there. He likes that “Loser Pet Store” is cute, since most of Icebox’s stuff is offensive. For example, there’s a cartoon called “Queer Duck.” Yiiiiiikes. Morrison tells Felicity she should take one of his classes; her animation skills are great. While Icebox likes “Loser Pet Store,” there’s another cartoon they also like, and only one open spot. Felicity and Noel will need to come up with ideas for their next 20 episodes by Friday.

Elena and Tracy chat as they leave a class together, and though they’re much friendlier than they’ve been recently, he’s not ready for things to go back to the way they used to be. He spoke to his minister about the situation, and she told him he can decide whether or not to let go of the past, but not whether or not he wants to forgive Elena. For now, Tracy is ready to be friends.

Instead of studying or working on “Loser Pet Store,” Felicity goes somewhere with Ben and complains about how much work she has to do. She knows she needs to tell Noel she can’t work on the cartoon with him right now. They meet up with Noel at Epstein Bar, and he’s all excited about the cartoon because he thinks it’s going to lead to huge success. So I guess Felicity can’t back out now.

Molly comes in, planning to meet James there, and tells Felicity and Ben that she appreciates their offers of help, but she can’t just walk away from her boyfriend. They tell her to make sure she’s taking care of herself. James arrives and wonders why Molly’s chatting with the people who kicked her out of her apartment. He says Molly doesn’t need any of her so-called friends, then orders them to stay away from her.

After working on the cartoon with Noel, Felicity goes to Ben’s room to study. He guesses that she didn’t tell Noel she has to drop “Loser Pet Store.” Felicity knows she can’t handle both responsibilities right now, but she really wants to do the cartoon, so she can’t bring herself to drop it. Good luck staying awake while reading philosophy in bed after a long day.

Meghan, Richard, and Sean meet with potential models while Sean grumbles that Meghan’s enjoying checking out the guys a little too much. Sean shows even more interest in the female models, eagerly asking one what her interests are. They include walking barefoot on the beach and praying for world peace. Her dislikes include loud people. “Okay, thanks for coming in!” Meghan yells. But first the guys need to see her in a bikini. You know, for the calendar. Meghan comments that she’ll get Sean a drool cup for Hanukkah. They fight, and she tells him that if he likes the model enough, he can sleep with her.

Molly speaks at an Al-Anon meeting, telling the group that James is both using and dealing again. She’s also using. She knows it’s wrong, but she can’t help herself when she’s with James. After the meeting, Ben tries to talk to Molly about getting away from James, but Molly makes excuses. He says he’s going to get clean, and that he’s only dealing to get by. Molly is willing to believe him because she loves him.

More fighting over models. Richard wants to know what’s up with the Bickersons. Elena and Tracy stop by and Tracy looks through the stack of photos of the female models. He’s surprised so many hot women go to their school. Meghan thinks Tracy’s hot, too, and tells him to take off his shirt. She quickly tells him he’s in the calendar.

Felicity and Noel work on their episode outlines at the dorm apartment, though Felicity’s done about as much work on them as she’s done for her philosophy class. He thinks she doesn’t care as much about the cartoon as he does. Exhausted and overwhelmed, Felicity starts crying. Noel gets mad, for some reason, and decides to just work on the cartoon himself. Well, there you go. Now Felicity’s free to study. As Noel leaves, Molly comes by again and asks if she can move back home – “something happened.”

At the loft, Noel complains to Ben that Felicity is being a bad friend. Ben tells him that Felicity’s working hard to pass her philosophy class and help Noel at the same time. She didn’t want to abandon Noel. Felicity calls to tell Ben to come to the apartment, where Molly tells the two of them that James pulled a gun on her while he was high. She regrets just leaving the hotel where they’ve been staying. She doesn’t think she’s strong enough to leave him after all.

Ben reminds her of an Al-Anon lesson: She has to fix herself before she can fix anyone else. Molly thinks she can’t live without James, but Ben tells her she has to. Molly says she’s scared. Felicity tells her that going back to the hotel won’t make that go away. Yes, something bad might happen to James, but if Molly goes back to the hotel, something bad might happen to her, too.

Meghan and Sean fight. Again. Some more. I’m tired. Richard finally tells them to shut up. He realizes they’re struggling sexually in the wake of Sean’s surgery. Elena arrives as Sean leaves and objects to Richard and Meghan’s choice to put Tracy in their calendar. He’s sweet and religious, and Elena thinks that putting a shirtless picture of him in a calendar will mock that. She storms off to talk Tracy out of it. Meghan comments that he’s not going to sleep with her anyway.

Ben takes Molly to the rehab clinic where they met up previously. He notes that he doesn’t really know her, even though they’ve done this before and gone to meetings together. She appreciates how nice he’s been. Noel makes up with Felicity, feeling bad about how he treated her while she’s struggling. She suggests that they try to get an extension on their work for “Loser Pet Store.” Noel calls Morrison, but that’s a no-go…though Noel tells Felicity that Morrison said yes. He also finally tells Felicity he’ll help her study.

Elena finds Tracy and calls him a hypocrite and a tease for wanting to pose shirtless but not have sex. Elena, in what world are those things equivalent? Tracy is willing to do it for a good cause. Elena thinks he should have asked her what she thought first. Tracy reminds her that they’re friends, not a couple. Elena decides she can’t be his friend anymore.

Noel quizzes Felicity on philosophy stuff, but it’s not going well. James bursts in looking for Molly (“you guys need to lock your door,” Noel says helpfully), since she moved all her stuff out of the hotel room. He tells her that her friends don’t care about her, and she knows she belongs with him. Molly resists leaving with him, so he orders her to get her stuff. Ben calmly tells James that Molly just wants to sleep for a little while. James backs down and leaves.

Sometime later, Noel and Felicity head to the library, leaving Ben and Molly behind at the apartment. Felicity and Ben admit that they were scared when James came by. She’s proud of Ben for how he handled the situation. The study session doesn’t go well, and Felicity isn’t optimistic that she’ll pass the final. She’s too tired to retain any more information. Noel urges her to rally and draw on any reserves of energy she might have. He has faith that she can do anything she wants. Plus, he’s sacrificing his own study time to help her, so she’d better succeed. He wants this to be something they look back on and feel good about.

Back at the apartment, Molly is trying to draw on her own reserves to get the strength to break up with James. Ben advises her to do it in public and offers to come with her. Molly’s worried that James will get mad if he sees Ben, but Ben promises to stay out of sight. While Felicity takes her philosophy final the next morning, Tracy goes to the apartment to tell Elena that she’s right – they can’t be friends anymore. But it’s because he wants to get back together.

Felicity goes to the loft after her final and tells Noel it went great, thanks to his help. He decides it’s time to tell her they didn’t get the Icebox extension after all, so they have to finish their episode outlines by the next day. That means another all-nighter. Felicity doesn’t hear that part, though, since she’s already asleep.

Meghan, Sean, and Richard finalize the calendars at Epstein Bar, but only Richard is excited about how successful the project will be. Sean looks through photos of the male models and laments that he’ll never look like them. Meghan would never fantasize about him. Sean has wanted to be intimate with her since right after the operation, and he’s worried that if he can’t perform, Meghan will dump him for someone who can’t. Meghan admits that she thought his failure to perform meant he wasn’t into her anymore. They kiss, and the problem is solved.

Ben watches from across the street as Molly waits for James on a sidewalk. Molly breaks the news to James that they’re done, and though Ben can’t hear them, it’s pretty obvious that James doesn’t take the news well. Ben silently pleads with Molly to walk away, but she doesn’t. She leaves with James, giving Ben an apologetic glance. Hey, great, Meghan and Sean are fine again, still together to fight about something else next time. Can’t wait. Tracy and Elena are also fine, and he’s no longer a virgin. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem happy about it.

Thoughts: Morrison is played by Scott Adsit. I hope he got paid extra for having to sport some ridiculous facial hair.

The whole didn’t-know-I-was-enrolled-in-a-class-and-have-to-take-the-final thing is definitely based on a common nightmare, but it actually happened to a friend of mine. I’m not sure how she dealt with it, though.

Molly should have stayed at the loft instead of the apartment. It would have taken James a lot longer to track her down.

I can’t deal with Sean and Meghan fighting in every episode. It gives me Steve/Clare flashbacks.

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