Episode Report Card Cate: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Pathetic
By Cate | Season 6 | Episode 11 | Aired on 01.13.2002
Mary and Ben are sitting in the CamPound living room, staring into each other's eyes. It takes a lot of acting talent to pull off something like that, and I don't suppose I need to tell you that these two just don't have it. RevCam comes in and asks if Ben is planning to stay for dinner. He tells RevCam he is, though he keeps staring dorkily at Mary the whole time. Not even when RevCam sits down across from them do the young lovebirds break their eye contact. It takes a bunch of nosy questions from RevCam to finally do that. At least Ben is smart enough to know that Buffalo is not the same thing as New York. On the other hand, the best excuse he can come up with for why he's stalking Mary across the country is that he had to pick up some rescue dog that was trained near Glenoak. Right, and that's totally likely. Ben rudely looks back at Mary and starts quizzing her about Wilson; RevCam eavesdrops shamelessly. He looks perplexed when Mary tells Ben that she and Wilson "both knew it was never gonna work out." I half expect him to blow her cover story by pointing out that Wilson dumped her, but unfortunately, he doesn't.
Annie informs Ruthie that it's almost time for dinner, but Ruthie says she won't eat with the family unless SuperMom goes back to her teaching job. What a brat. Even this does not make Annie lose her cool, though, as she tries to bribe Ruthie to come down by telling her she can meet Ben. Ruthie's not interested. After listening to Ruthie's obnoxious theory about how Mary is stuck in her past, Annie turns to leave. Before she can make her escape, Lucy storms in and starts ranting jealously about what she perceives as Mary's good luck: "She cheated on her fiancé and she gets a guy who looks like that as a reward." She finishes her tirade by screeching, "Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben!" Obviously, the psycho torch has been passed from mother to daughter, which could help explain why Annie's so calm these days. Maybe there's only a fixed amount of craziness available in the CamPound at any given time, and right now Lucy's using it all up. She refuses to eat with the family, and Annie doesn't push the issue. Hey, who would want to be around Lucy right now? Annie does tell her that she must at least say hello to Mary's "hunk -- uh, 'friend.'" Annie seems just a little too excited about Ben herself, I'm thinking. ["Is Ben's last name 'Braddock'?" -- Sars]
In the CamKitchen, Simon, Robbie, and Dopey are arguing over who is going to tell the CamRents about the accident. RevCam interrupts this wacky discussion, so Simon tells him about the accident. He and Robbie are still trying to blame each other as Annie walks in. When she hears about the accident, she just smiles beatifically and says, "At least nobody was hurt." RevCam stares at her in shock. Obviously, he still remembers her Cruella phase all too well. Annie smilingly informs them that Ben is here, and then she waltzes off. RevCam is too stunned to lecture or punish Simon, so he just wanders off in a daze. Simon escapes to his room before anyone can change their minds about punishing him -- not that having to walk home with Dopey and his bag o' lectures wasn't already punishment enough.