Episode Report Card Cate: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Family Secrets
By Cate | Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired on 09.22.1996
In the CamKitchen, Dopey joins Annie for a cup of coffee. She says she didn't even know that he drinks coffee, and tells him there are things about her that he doesn't know either. She says she was "really good at English Lit." Dopey claims he's not bad at it either, but I don't hear the rest of what he said because I'm too busy howling with laughter. It was something about him going to the library to work on a term paper. Annie acts like that clears up a big mystery. And what mystery would that be? When the subplots are as light on substance as, well, pretty much everything in this episode, it gets hard to keep track of them, you know? The only story on this episode that would have made a good plotline is the one about Annie's mother, but they've spent most of the episode ignoring that one. Now Matt asks straight out if Grandma is going to die. Annie explains that she has a rare form of leukemia that is hard to treat, and she's in the advanced stages of it. It's done without the usual Spelling cheesiness and is a pretty moving scene, actually.
It's also well done when RevCam tries to talk to Matt about the news he's just learned. Then they go and wreck it all by having Dopey tell his father, "I don't think we should tell the kids. I don't think they're old enough to deal with it yet." Oh man, why couldn't Dopey be the one with the terminal illness? I guess extreme annoyingness isn't usually fatal -- unfortunately.
At the high school, Mary is asking Jeff what time he will pick her up for their date, so I guess they got everything sorted out. They even have a deal: no kissing. Right. Because kissing would be evil.
RevCam tries out his magical counseling powers on the father of Renee's baby, who is doing the messy job of fixing a motorcycle, yet doesn't have even a smudge of dirt on him. Hmm -- that's not a bad metaphor for the way they treat serious topics on this show, actually. Eric tries to talk him into applying for a job at the pool hall. We don't see whether the guy follows his advice or not, but come on -- we know that RevCam's amazing persuasive powers always save the day.
Oh, look -- it's the incredibly wooden Jimmy Moon, and he wants to know if Lucy likes him. Before she can answer, he says, "I don't like you either. It's people just playing a joke on us." I think that's what he says, but I can't tell for sure, because he's a mumbler. Where do they dig up these guest stars?
Simon and Dopey are talking, "man to man" (Simon's words, not mine). Simon wants to talk about Renee. I think Dopey suspects he'll be asking about sex, so he tries to head Simon off at the pass and direct him to RevCam, but Simon says he just wants to make an observation. Simon's brilliant suggestion is that Dopey marry Renee. Ugh, The less said about that, the better, don't you think?