Episode Report Card Gwen: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Hoop Dreams
By Gwen | Season 4 | Episode 18 | Aired on 04.09.2000
"Dr. Pepper makes the world taste better"? The hell? I could have come up with a better slogan while playing bingo online with one hand tied behind my back.
We get to see Ruthie's stupid dream of being a queen. She's walking down a red carpet with two dogs on leashes. People wave. Ruthie's crown looks like the one from the Imperial margarine commercials. Simon wakes her. She thinks her dream will come true. Simon doubts it. Happy barks twice in this scene.
Lucy is trying to talk to Annie, who doesn't want to hear her excuses. Ruthie walks in and says she doesn't want to be "just mom" either. She wants to be the Queen. A twin says, "Ah oh." Annie asks what Ruthie saw on the biography that made her think she wanted to be Queen. Ruthie spouts some crap about castles and such. Annie tells her to finish watching the tape. She says, "You should do a lot of research on someone before you decide you want to be them [sic]. Or before you decide you don't want to be them [sic again]." This last is said with a guilt-trip-inducing glance at Lucy.
The doorbell rings. It's Molly and her dad. Molly hugs Mary. Mr. Connelly tells us that he's off to the driving range to meet Coach Cleary. He then wants to make sure that his daughter's welcome to hang with Mary, because Molly was confused about something Mary said on the phone. "Why didn't you want to be my hero?" Molly asks Mary. (This is getting to be like a tongue-twister or a children's poem, isn't it?) Mary says she doesn't deserve to be a hero. She explains that she hasn't had a great year. "I'm aware of that. Maybe you're being a little too hard on yourself," says Mr. Connelly. Uh, okay, buddy. Maybe you should quit gossiping about your friend's students. Mary just smiles her lip-glossy smile. Mr. Connelly leaves.
Simon goes into the den/study-thingie and tells his mom he's ready to walk Happy. Annie suggests he talk to RevCam first. Simon moans that he talked to his dad all day. Annie scolds Simon for not getting enough out of the conversation. Simon is surprised to learn that his flippant attitude had such an effect on RevCam. Annie tells him that he's a young man, not a little boy, and what he says matters now. Simon goes to find his dad.
Contrived As Well As Incredibly Stupid Scene time. Matt's working at the hospital cafeteria. John shows up on some pretense and ascertains that Matt still hasn't been able to inform Shana of his imminent visit. Then he takes off and some older guy in a cafeteria-worker uniform walks up, offering to relieve Matt for a while. Matt introduces himself. The guy, Jake, claims he's been working at the hospital for thirty-nine years as some sort of menial jack-of-all-trades. Then we get a long sob-story about how Jake wanted to be a doctor, but he put off his studies because blah blah blah and then he got married and blah blah and when I woke up, Matt was excusing himself to long-distance-stalk Shana on the payphone.