Episode Report Card Cate: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Still Dopey after all these years
By Cate | Season 5 | Episode 17 | Aired on 04.15.2001
Dopey's in the middle of his evaluation, and at least he's turned the hyper nervousness attitude down a notch or two. He says that sometimes he wonders if he should shoot for a job that requires no education or training. I'll bet he'd make a good lawn jockey, though he may need some instruction on how to hold up a lamp properly. Doc tries to convince him that there's nothing wrong with being an orderly, and that he can always do something else when he tires of it. Dopey insists he wants to be a doctor, but he's just not sure if he can get through nine years of school while trying to live the rest of his life. He insists that he actually has a life to live, even though I can't see how stalking his siblings and moralizing at all and sundry are of any value to society. Dopey goes on to emphasize how confused he is. Then the writers give me an early birthday present by having Matt call himself an idiot. I'm already laughing pretty hard, but when Doc looks at Dopey's file and notes that he is ranked third in his class, I just about lose it. Either Doc is celebrating April Fool's Day a little late or he's holding the class ranking sheet upside down. Dopey is thrilled, though a bit surprised by the notion that he has a good chance of getting into med school. Doc points out that it depends on how well the psychiatric evaluation goes. Dopey stammers out, "It's not going that well, is it?" I'd say that's a pretty apt meta-statement for the entire episode.
After a welcome commercial respite, we see Eric hassling Harold's doctor at the hospital. When the doctor asks RevCam, "Do you have a problem with me?" Eric responds, "I have a problem with you telling your patient when to die." Yo Eric, could you do everyone a favour and shut up now? I have my own issues with Western-style medicine, but that doesn't mean I go picking fights with doctors who are just doing their jobs they way they see fit. RevCam's antagonism causes Harold's doctor to freeze up and walk away. A nurse who has been standing next to them hisses at Eric to "do something." RevCam asks her to repeat herself, but she won't since it's a conflict of interest. Before Eric can pursue that and hassle the hell out of her, he sees Dopey and Doc walk by. In passing, Dopey says that he's being evaluated. This sets off RevCam's busybody alarm, and he asks the nurse who Doc is. The nurse says she's never seen him before.
Doc invites Dopey down to the Promenade. I wonder if they'll end up at Flicks.
Annie walks into the living room to ask Lucy if Robbie and Ruthie are back yet. Lucy answers that Ruthie probably talked him into taking her out for ice cream. Annie smiles and comments that Ruthie is a "funny kid" because "she's always up to something but she's never up to anything really bad." She stops smiling, though when Lucy says, "There's always a first time." Lucy says this because she's been reading an article in one of Annie's parenting magazines that says that "sometimes kids who are comedians turn into criminals." Okay, first of all, why the hell is Lucy reading a parenting magazine? And secondly, who considers Ruthie a comedian? I sure don't. This may be the stupidest excuse for a subplot yet. Can I skip recapping the rest of this story line and just say that Annie becomes convinced that Ruthie is going to turn into a criminal? Okay, thanks. Annie grabs the magazine from Lucy and scuttles off with it. This leaves Lucy with nothing to read. She reaches down to the coffee table and picks up another magazine. We don't see the title, but I'll bet it's scary. I'm picturing something called Stalker's Monthly or Sucky Nerds. RevCam would probably keep his stalking magazine in his office, though, and I'll bet Simon's upstairs right now reading Lucy's copy of Sucky Nerds.