Previously on Felicity: Knoll and Ruby kiss; Elena discovers Tracy is a virgin; Felicity decides that she doesn't need Ben; Ben gives Felicity a time machine.
At the loft, Richard, Meghan, and Sean listen at Ben's door, trying to eavesdrop on Ben and Felicity. I thought that Ben's door had a frosted glass insert in it, but I guess he ran out and replaced it when he knew that he was going to get back together with Felicity. Ruby wanders by and wants to know what they are doing. Richard wonders if Ben and Felicity had sex and wishes that they (he and Sean) had a camera in there. Sean agrees. Meghan thinks they're like "two creepy pornographers." When Sean takes exception to that remark, Meghan completes her original thought by adding, "that I once dated." Hey Meghan, they wouldn't happen to have been brothers named Charlie and Emilio, would they? Julie arrives and thinks what they're doing is disgusting. Sean is trying to employ one of his "spy cams" which he has slipped under the door. When he spies something it is Ben who is mooning him and Felicity, who is flashing him. Meghan comments, "That's my girl," and walks away. The crowd disperses and Richard looks miffed.
We're right back where we left off last week, on the roof with Ben and Felicity, watching the movie. Felicity is dictating a letter to Sally, telling her about "the most romantic night of [her] life." By now, Felicity and Ben have moved to his bedroom and we get all kinds of slow-motion making out. Felicity tells Sally that she and Ben talked about everything, including how much they missed each other. Ben told Felicity that his mother can't afford his tuition for year, but luckily, a friend of his set him up with a good construction job for the summer, so they'll be able to spend the break together in Palo Alto, and Ben will earn his tuition. Felicity exclaims that this tape will be the happiest one that Sally has ever received from Felicity.
Ben and Felicity, who are still in bed, but are finally not writhing around, discuss getting "those courier tickets and just go somewhere nuts." Felicity coos that she'd go anywhere. The grappling restarts, then stops. Felicity suggests, "How 'bout a desert island?" Ben replies, "Yeah, like maybe London." Huh? I know that neither London, England, nor London, Ontario, is on a desert island. Is there another London in the South Pacific that I don't know about it? They toss around a few more destinations like Bali and Australia. Ben has to leave for Palo Alto on the 26th, and he mentions that maybe he could work some overtime so that he'll be finished working before the end of the summer, and they could go to Hawaii or Africa. They mull the possibilities for about two seconds, then the making out recommences.
Now they're in the library, sitting across the table from each other, and Felicity is telling Sally that before the summer begins, they have to get through finals and she can only concentrate on Ben. He points out a couple behind Felicity who are sitting together and necking. They make some "get a room" type comments about the other couple, then engage in some heavy duty staring into each other's eyes. Felicity suggests that they go somewhere private and they race out of the library.
At what looks like the same bodega from last week's episode, Sean is picking out some "caffeine enhanced cola, vitamins, gingko biloba, Tums, and aspirin" for Julie, to help her study. She whines that she doesn't have enough time to study and Sean assures her that in two days it will all be over and she'll feel better, "just because it's done." He likens the situation to how he felt after he told her his feelings for her. He asks her if they could go out on a date when her finals are over. She hesitates then squeaks, "Okay," while biting her lip. Sean doesn't seem to register her hesitation and is excited. Julie adds, "If I survive." Sean says, "You'll survive" and punctuates that vote of confidence by bobbing his head and sort of punching the air.
Knoll and Ruby are studying at the kitchen table in his and Elena's apartment. He asks if she's hungry and she says she is. He offers to rent a movie that they can watch at 2 am, "when [their] brains are fried." Too late, Knoll. Your brain has been fried for years. Ruby says she can't stay all night because she's seeing Wade. She breaks it to Knoll that Wade wants to get married because he "wants to be in the baby's life." Ruby continues, "a lot of people get married with less than that." Ever tactfully, Knoll blurts out, "As your friend, and former perceived father of this baby, can I just say that's a crazy idea?" Knoll, that's hardly a way to talk to a friend. And what does the fact that you're the "former perceived father of this baby" have to do with anything? The answer is nothing, but somehow you have to make this and every other situation, about you. Ruby defends Wade by saying that he's a nice guy and he that he "could really help support" her and the baby since her parents are so well off. She concludes that "it would be the best thing for the baby." Knoll mutters, "So you didn't say no." Ruby puts her head in her hands.
Julie, Felicity, Meghan, and Elena are all sitting outside the entrance to a building that has conspicuous UNY banners on it. Julie wants to know if Felicity and Ben slept together. Felicity says they haven't and Elena bemoans the fact that she can't have sex. Meghan pipes up, "I think Sean is cute." They all look at her and she says, "Oh, what do I know. After that whole thing with Greg, I'm in the mood for anyone." Elena says, "Yeah, so is Julie." Julie says, "What?" Elena asks, "If you like Knoll, why are you going out with Sean?" Julie claims, "I like Sean too. He makes me laugh and I couldn't say no when he asked me out." Elena tells her she can't do that because she'll break Sean's heart. Julie says that she doesn't want to break his heart and thinks that things may work out, and they'll have a really good time. Meghan repeats, "I think Sean is cute." Julie seems stricken and she looks at Elena.
In the loft, Meghan is in the kitchen clattering around while Felicity and Ben are sitting on the sofa, reading. Ben asks her what she's making and she replies, "Smart cookies." Ben is stumped by the concept and Felicity explains, "You remember the smart powder from last year? Meghan thinks it helps you study." Meghan interjects, "It does help. It just tasted so bad no one could swallow it. So, now it will be in tasty cookie form. Believe me, you people will be begging for these puppies when you're up late, cramming for finals. Damn! I forgot the eggs." Meghan heads for the door and Felicity and Ben smile at each other. Before leaving, Meghan warns, "Don't touch anything," and out she goes. Once they are sure she has gone, Felicity and Ben start making out. Again. I think Meghan was referring to her cookie dough, but I wish she had also warned them to keep their hands off each other. It's getting old.
Tracy and Elena are sitting on the sofa studying, in her apartment. Tracy closes his book and says, "Let's have sex." Elena looks astonished and says, "What?" Tracy gets up and says, "I've gotta take a test right now." Elena shouts, "Wait a minute, you can't say something like that and go off and take some test." Tracy explains that it isn't just some test, it's his "North American Indians final." Elena says, "What about waiting until you're married?" Tracy says that he's thought about his morals and values and then when he looks at the tube top Elena is wearing, his resolve wavers. I would have thought the tube top would have been a turn-off, since it is so damn ugly and it gives Elena the "fried egg boob" look. Elena looks down at her "two, over easy" and says, "So, it's working." Tracy laughs and says, "Yeah." They both laugh and he promises to call after he's taken his test.
Back at the loft, Felicity and Ben haven't left the sofa and they're still groping each other. Felicity sits up and declares that they're kidding themselves. She declares that they'll have stay apart until they are both finished their exams. Ben will be finished tomorrow and Felicity will be done two days after that. Ben wonders how that is going to work and Felicity says that when they're not at Dean & Deluca, they won't hang out together. Why would either of them have hours scheduled in the middle of finals? Anyway, Felicity thinks that when they're at the loft, Ben can stay in his room and she can stay on the couch. I don't know why they are all studying together anyway. Unless you are taking the same course, what good is studying together anyway? Maybe it's just me and the fact that I had very few exams during university. I always opted to write twenty-five page papers instead of exams, then the night before the paper was due, I cursed myself for not choosing to take the exam. Doesn't sound that tough? Well, just keep in mind, that this was during the dark ages of the mid-1980s, and I didn't have a computer, just an electronic typewriter, with a one-page memory. Why, I remember that I had to walk one block across campus, up hill, in waist-high snow, with no shoes...Uh, where was I? Oh yeah, Felicity packs up her books and says she's going to go study at the library. Of course, she and Ben have to kiss goodbye, which turns into another marathon session.
Felicity is in her art history class looking at a slide of Manet's painting Bar at Folies-Bergère. Her professor is blathering that it's not only Manet's "finest painting and a superb example of the Impressionists' rejection of Romanticism, but it is also likely to appear on your final exam." That's a pretty meager commentary on what is considered to be Manet's final masterpiece. I hope Felicity has a textbook that goes into greater detail about the painting because she hasn't even heard what the professor said. Felicity's voice-over mentions that she only has to get through the three days, then she'll have the whole summer to spend with Ben in Palo Alto. The prof dismisses the class and Felicity wakes up and starts packing up her stuff. She is asked to stay behind when the rest of the class has left. The professor offers her an internship to assist her with an exhibit at the Met on French Impressionists, if Felicity does well on her exam. Felicity is initially thrilled but her enthusiasm is dampened when she realizes that she'd have to stay in New York for the summer. The professor leaves, and Felicity stands there alternating between grinning and looking like she is suffering from a small wound.
In the back room at Dean & Deluca, Ben tells Felicity that "it is so cool" that her professor has offered her the internship. Felicity reminds him that it is not a done deal and she has to do well on the exam first. She asks him if he could get a job in New York for the summer and he says that he wouldn't likely be able to find one that paid as well. Felicity whines that she doesn't want to be apart from him for three months. Ben says that he doesn't want to either, but since the internship could be "a really good thing" for her, she should do her best on the exam, and let the prof officially offer her the job and then they'll figure what to do. She thanks him for being so understanding and, of course, they start to kiss. Javier walks in on them and says, "Omigod, you're kissing. It really worked. I'm like your cupid." Hey, that's what I said in last week's recap! Javier has come in to give Ben a little gift from him and Samuel. It's what they're giving to all their ushers. Ben says, "Your ushers?" Javier says, "Yes, we'd like you to ush for us." Ben accepts and he fumbles around trying to open the gift. Javier gets impatient and tells him it is a watch, just like the one he is wearing. He explains that it is "motion-sensitive" and you have to wind it by shaking your wrist, which he demonstrates. Ben thanks him. Then Javier asks Felicity to be his best man. She stumbles over her words for a moment, then accepts. Javier is overjoyed and he trills, "Now I have the best looking best man in the history of the world." They hug and all three stand around smiling at each other. Javier tells them to get back to work, then asking them to stop kissing because the customers can see them. Y'know, I'm getting a bit tired of seeing it too.
At Epstein Bar, Julie and Knoll are studying in a booth. Yeah, I'm sure their pea-brains will really be able to absorb what they need to know for their exams in that environment. And I'm sure that the management of the place really enjoys non-eating and drinking nudniks hogging up booth space for hours at a time. Julie says, "I don't mind sitting here quietly with you, in fact I love it, but if you wanna talk..." Knoll admits that he was thinking about Ruby and he tells Julie that Wade proposed to Ruby. Julie's reaction is to say, "Wow." Knoll tells her that is his reaction as well. He whines on to Julie that Ruby doesn't even really know Wade and that they shouldn't be getting married. Julie asks Knoll if he would be willing to marry Ruby. He says he would definitely consider it if the baby were his. How nice. I guess Knoll has never met anyone who has married a single parent. What a disgrace it must be for them to love someone and accept a child who is not his or her own. Not. He reluctantly states that maybe someday he could "be there for her like that" so Julie urges him to tell Ruby that. Knoll just stares in disbelief. Obviously, he hadn't thought that his feelings for Ruby may outweigh his feelings of being wronged by her.
At the loft, Sean is trying to decide where to take Julie on their date. Meghan is making her smart cookies in the kitchen. Richard suggests a hot air balloon ride, a helicopter tour, or a boat ride. Sean asks him, "What's with you and vomit-inducing transportation? This is supposed to romantic, c'mon, I need your help." Well, there's your first mistake, Sean. Have you met Richard? Richard only knows from vomit-inducing, he clearly doesn't know from romantic. Ben arrives home and Sean says, "This may sound like an incestuous question, but you went out with Julie, where should I take her?" Ben counsels that "it's not where you go, it's who you're with." Sean seems pleased with that answer, which is funny because I didn't think he was that self-confident. Ben tells them about Felicity's job offer and how they may be separated for the summer. Sean and Richard think he needs to do something really romantic, and Richard suggests a helicopter ride. Sean advises that he should get a hotel room and have the "most romantic time [he] can possibly afford." After tasting one of the cookies, Sean tells Meghan that they're the best he's ever had. Ben decides that he will get a hotel room.
Felicity is studying in the library for her art history exam later that afternoon when Ben arrives to tell her about the hotel room that he got "a great discount on" courtesy of one of Sean's friends. Ben tells her that they can go over after her exam and celebrate. Felicity proposes that they go right away because she's not likely to learn anything new in the four hours before the exam, and she'll leave in time for the exam at five o'clock. She packs up and they leave the library.
At Elena and Knoll's apartment, Knoll tells Ruby that she shouldn't marry Wade, even though Knoll gives him "full credit" for wanting to do the right thing. He wants her to stay with him and magnanimously says, "If having a father, uh, a husband, is so important to you, then we can talk about that." Geez, Richard's helicopter ride would have been more romantic and heartfelt. However, Ruby is not offended by Knoll's back-handed proposal, and says that she's been waiting to hear that from him "for so long." The pregnancy hormones must be clouding her brain -- either that, or she has much lower expectations than I do. She tells him that her parents want her to come home so that they could look after her and the baby. Knoll asks if she is considering it and she says that after what he just said, she's not sure what she's going to do.
At one hour and twenty-eight minutes before Felicity's exam, she and Ben are stretched out on the bed in the hotel, fully clothed, and after joking for a few seconds they start to fool around, again. Felicity grabs Ben's "fancy new usher watch" to determine that she has an hour and a half before her exam, and puts it on the night table beside her. With that, the wrasslin' begins in earnest.
Back at the loft, Meghan urges Elena not to be the one to initiate Tracy into the 'mysteries of the universe' because "if you sleep with a religious virgin, it's like he's breaking up with God, to date you. And let me tell you from personal experience, you do not want to be the Yoko in a man's relationship with the Lord." Meghan details her experience with Chad Savage and his subsequent breakdown and obsession with her. Elena doesn't think that will happen with Tracy but Meghan is steadfast and advises her to go to church with Tracy, not to bed.
Fifty minutes before the exam, Ben and Felicity are only partially clad now. Ben asks if she wants to stop and Felicity says that she doesn't want to feel rushed. Ben says that there isn't any rush because they have the room all night and she can go take the test, then come back. She says okay and they resume kissing. We get a close up of the watch on the nightstand, which stops ticking at exactly 4:11 p.m..
Now things really start to heat up. Elena and Tracy are in her bed, getting ready to rumble, when she starts to have doubts. Obviously the seeds that Meghan planted are starting to grow. Julie and Knoll are in the loft scarfing down Meghan's cookies and getting cozy. At the hotel, Ben and Felicity take breaks in practicing their Greco-Roman holds, to consult Ben's watch, which still says 4:11, but they're too hot and bothered to really realize that the time hasn't changed for a long time. Richard accompanies Sean to his storage space where he picks up some suits to wear on his date with Julie. Out on the street, he decides on one in particular since it favours his bone structure. Somewhere en route from the storage locker and the loft, Sean has picked up a bouquet of flowers for Julie. Knoll and Julie start to kiss.
There's a split-screen shot of Felicity and Ben in bed, and the exam starting at five o'clock. Sean and Richard walk into the loft and catch Knoll and Julie. Richard exclaims, "Sluts!" Meghan walks in about two seconds later. Knoll claims that Julie started and they both felt weird after eating the cookies. It turns out the cookies contain beet powder to which Knoll is really allergic. Meghan suggests that he have another cookie. Felicity and Ben finally notice that his watch has stopped and she leaps out of bed to get dressed, while accusing him of sabotaging her efforts to pass the exam. He says that's ridiculous because she wanted to come to the hotel. Sean yells at Julie because "they have a date." Julie reminds him that the date is tomorrow. Meghan laughs and says she wishes she had a videocamera. Sean reminds Julie that she was supposed to be studying, not kissing Knoll. Richard pipes up that Sean should take Julie to "Café des Sluts" which makes Meghan convulse in laughter. Since the loft door is just hanging open, Ruby walks in on the hubbub and finds what is going on. Knoll says that Julie kissed him and all Ruby can do is gasp, "Knoll!" Meghan says, "This just keeps getting better and better." And she is so right. Elena gets up to leave her own apartment "because that's just how strongly [she] feel[s]" and she slams the bedroom door in Tracy's face. Ruby makes an exasperated gesture at Knoll and he asks where she's going. She says, "Away!" and stomps out while Knoll runs after her, tripping over all kinds of stuff on the way out. Felicity is finished dressing and she runs out to save her art history grade. Ben yells that he didn't do it on purpose. Felicity mutters, "I can't believe this, this is a nightmare," on the way out.
Sean is over at the hotel, eating Toblerone bars from the mini-bar. Ben is telling him about what happened with Felicity. Sean announces that he's going to eat all the candy from the fridge. Ben protests that it is kind of expensive and Sean proclaims that he is "in an expensive mood." Ben tells him not to be depressed about Julie and Sean finds that hard to swallow and says, "Okay, don't breathe air." Whoa dude, you need to eat some more sugar because you are so bitter. Felicity comes through the door and seems fine that she missed the exam. She says hi to Sean and he blurts out, "Julie kissed Knoll." She says, "What?" then apologizes to Ben. Felicity isn't upset about the final because she'll still end up passing the class. Ben apologizes to her and they start kissing. Sean is perturbed by their lovey-doveyness and offers to wrap up all the candy and leave. Felicity tells him to stay and says that she's going to go have a shower. Sean tells Ben that he is a "lucky bastard" because he is dating a girl who isn't going to "turn around and kiss Knoll" but then he says, "I guess she used to," and he sighs and slumps back in his chair. Ben calls the Al, the security guard he worked with, to get Professor Morton's number, so that he can fix things for Felicity.
At Epstein Bar, Julie feels guilty about kissing Knoll and Elena feels bad about not sleeping with Tracy. Julie tells her to "go for it" with Tracy. Elena thinks she is right, and says that she is ready.
Ben tracks down Felicity's professor at a restaurant and she graciously lets him spill out his story. She writes a note for Felicity and gives it to him. He apologizes for interrupting them. I had some accommodating teachers in my time, but I'm not sure that any of them would have put up with that.
At the loft, Julie goes up to talk to Sean. She tries to apologize and he stops her by saying that if they were meant to be, it would have happened already. She coos, "You know I love you, right?" He grimly says, "Yeah, I know."
Elena goes back to her apartment and is happy to find Tracy still there. As she starts to tell him that she's ready to sleep with him, he tells her that he's grateful that she put a stop to the proceedings. They kiss and cuddle on the sofa.
Knoll catches up to Ruby and she tells him that she is choosing to go home to her parents, instead of choosing to be with him or Wade. What a Kelly Taylor moment. Knoll says that he might send her some care packages and she says she'd like that. They kiss and Ruby leaves.
Sean is flossing in the bathroom and Meghan stops by. They exchange some quips, then they look into each other's eyes and go into a clinch. Meghan says, "Oh, this is so wrong," then slams the door shut behind them.
Ben arrives back at the hotel and tells Felicity where he has been. It turns out that the note the professor gave him was not the time and date of a make-up test, but an essay assignment on Daubigny that she has to have done for the day. They go back to the loft and spend the night working on the essay, with Felicity doing the writing and Ben making coffee and doing some typing. She takes the paper in the morning, and the prof loves it and offers Felicity the internship. Ben is happy that the professor liked the paper but wonders if Felicity is going to accept the job. Felicity exhales deeply and says nothing. We'll have to wait for the finale to find out.