Episode Report Card Cate: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Forget Me Not
By Cate | Season 4 | Episode 11 | Aired on 12.12.1999
RevCam's in the parking lot of the grocery store, where The Amazing Robbie is gathering shopping carts. Oh, I suppose I should mention that he works at the grocery store. I know, you were probably thinking he was just doing some impromptu charity work. Robbie's got a pretty big chip on his shoulder, though, and he throws RevCam a bunch of attitude. He brags about his job, his grades, and the fact that he may be released early from the diversion program, and he caps it all off by saying, "Guess you don't know me as well as you thought you did." RevCam says he's willing to get to know him better, though, and asks why Robbie doesn't want to come over to the house. Robbie looks like he's having a bit of a moral dilemma. If he says that going to the CamPound would scare the bejesus out of anybody, he might have a harder time getting down Mary's pants. Hmm, what to do, what to do? Wisely, he says nothing.
Dopey is wandering around his room looking for Simon. He finds him sitting on the balcony. Simon informs Dopey that he is going home, which appears to confuse the big ol' lunkhead. Simon's pretty disappointed with the way the evening has turned out, because he'd been hoping it would be "like old times." Matt says he's sorry. Simon's sorry too -- sorry he came over, that is. Hee hee. RevCam drives up, and Simon leaves. John comes in and asks, "What's going on?" Dopey reaches for the Cocoa Puffs again. John says that Dopey's way out of control and that "it's time for some tough love." Or maybe he just has a hankering for some Cocoa Puffy goodness, as he grabs the cereal box from Matt.
Simon is bitching to RevCam about Matt, and wishing things could be the way they used to be. "Change is a part of life," says RevCam. Gee, thanks for that platitude, Eric. Bitch, moan, complain (that's Simon). Here comes Platitude #2 from RevCam: "You have to keep changing to really keep living." This is followed by Platitude #3: "Relationships are like school -- there's a new lesson every day." Then RevCam takes a little detour from cliché, but what he comes up with is mondo bizarre. He says, "Brothers, sisters, uncle, aunts, fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, friends, teachers, boyfriends, girlfriends -- they're all relationships, and they're constantly changing." Mmmm, maybe you should stick to clichés, Eric. That ad-libbed stuff isn't exactly working for you. Simon says, "At what point in this conversation do you start making me feel better?" I know it's not a very funny comment, but I included it because it's the closest thing to funny that this episode gets. Well, intentionally, anyway.
Annie and Ginger are discussing Charles's illness, and Ginger is saying that the hardest part for her is the fact that Charles is still denying that he has Alzheimer's. Until he's ready to admit it, Ginger won't be able to make him accept that he should have someone caring for him during the times when she isn't around. She starts to cry as she worries about him wandering off again and possibly not coming back. Charles has been eavesdropping (and he's not even a Camden!) from outside the door. He joins Annie and Ginger in the kitchen and apologizes because he hadn't realized everyone was so worried about him. He doesn't know if he can face the situation. Annie goes over to hug him and says, "We're gonna get through this." I wonder if the writers have a special macro programmed into their word processing applications for that particular phrase. Next show, I think I'll start keeping a tally of how many times it gets used.