Previously on Felicity: Knoll confessed to Elena that he hacked into Jane's email; Finn inadvertantly told Tracy that he slept with Elena; Ben went to his first Al-Anon meeting and saw Molly there.
Knoll is still covering for Ben and Dean & Deluca. He and Felicity are both behind the counter when he asks her for a "casually profound, but not glib" sentence on the artist, Jeff Koons. How about "money-grubbing opportunist"? I mean that in a totally non-glib way, of course. Felicity asks if Knoll it's for a class and Knoll says it's for a project he's working on. Felicity laughs, "Oh yeah, what's her name?" Knoll mumbles bashfully for a few seconds and Felicity's Koonsian insight is: "He takes mundane things and turns them into icons, making us rethink everyday objects." She fails to add, "And then sells them for obscene amounts of money." Knoll calls her a genius and writes down what she said. Javier comes in, pushing a stroller containing his delightfully cute nephew, Isaiah. Felicity coos at the baby and Javier asks to speak to her privately. Knoll asks Javier if he wants him to watch the baby. Javier responds, "Yes. How perceptive of you," and then he encourages Knoll to make monkey faces at Isaiah. If Knoll flares his Knollstrils more than usual while doing his simian impression, I fear the child will be scarred for life. Javier and Felicity sit down at a table and he tells her about how much joy Isaiah is giving him and that he and Samuel have decided to become parents. Felicity is thrilled for them and thinks they'll be wonderful parents. He says, "Would you ever consider having a baby with me?" She wonders whether he's kidding and he lets her know that he is not. Apparently, she has his "most favourite genes, and [he's] not talking Jordache, of course." He reassures her that if she says no, it's okay, then he asks, "Would you be the mother of my child?" Felicity stares in disbelief. Cut to the credits.
Ben and Felicity are in the kitchen at the loft, preparing food. He's describing how the Al-Anon meetings work and that some of the people have "some really messed-up stuff" going on. When Felicity pries into what kind of stuff, he explains that he can't discuss it outside of the meeting because "it's anonymous." Felicity understands but then prods a bit more and asks if he said anything at the meeting. He says he just listened and didn't say anything, but he asks her how work was. She mentions that Javier wants her to donate an egg so that he and Samuel can have a child. Ben thinks she's kidding until she makes it clear that she is not. She explains the "harvesting" process, and that Javier and Samuel have been looking through catalogues of potential mothers and concluded that route was too much like ordering furniture. Ben is pretty much against the whole idea and asks if she's considering doing it. She says she isn't, but it's clear she hasn't completely made up her mind yet.
In a stairwell at school, Elena runs after Tracy. She complains that she's been phoning and looking for him because she's having "a complete Physics meltdown" and she's wondering if they're going to have a "study session." Tracy coldly replies, "I am." When Elena asks what he means, he tells her that Finn told him about the fling. She stands there, one step below him, indicating that he's on morally higher ground, and tries to explain. He doesn't want to hear her explanations because she "slept with Finn, that's all [he] need[s] to know." She simpers that she knows it was a horrible thing to do but he cuts her off: "Ever since we've been going out, you've had a problem with me and not having sex." She whines that wasn't the problem, the problem was that she was confused. Tracy continues up the stairs, with Elena following. At the top of the stairs, he turns around and says, "You've had your sex now, I hope it was worth it." She pleads, "No, baby, it wasn't worth it." He snaps, "Who you calling your baby? I'm not your baby." And with that, he stomps away, leaving Elena snapping at flies. I think she should consider herself lucky that he acted so civilly toward her. I might have screamed that she was a bitch, told her to lose my number, and turned on my heel.
Knoll and Jane are walking down the street, discussing an Australian Aboriginal dance company performance that they've just seen. Knoll didn't really get it and Jane says that's okay. They approach a pretzel vendor and he asks if she wants one. She does, so he says to the vendor, "One for the lady and one for the Philistine." When Knoll goes to pay, she notices a tag from the Met on his knapsack. He mentions that there's an exhibition of one of his favourite artists "hung" there. She enthuses about Jeff Koons while Knoll acts surprised that she knows who he is, then trots out the line Felicity gave him. Jane flirts with reality for a nanosecond and wonders how it is that Knoll just "dropped out of nowhere" into her life when they have so much in common. It seems like Knoll is about to tell the truth but at the last minute he weasels out with some line about "the planets aligning" and his "getting lucky." He moves in for a kiss and at the last minute Jane proffers her cheek. He apologizes then she apologizes and mentions that there's someone else: an old friend. He mumbles, "I know," which confuses Jane. Knoll covers by saying that he knows that it's confusing "in that situation." Jane just wants to be honest with him because honesty is really important to her. Knoll concurs that it is to him, too. She grins and adds that it's another they have "in common."
At her apartment, Felicity sees a commercial for "Storkdust Baby Powder" featuring baby animals; it seems to strike a chord with her. Ben comes in and sits down beside her; she greets him, "I don't agree with you. I actively don't agree with you." Ben protests that he hasn't said anything and Felicity launches into a speech about the many ads in the school newspaper for egg donors. He reiterates his position against her plan and she tries to win him over with the everyone-is-doing-it argument, followed by the Javier-deserves-to-be-a-parent defense. Ben doesn't deny that Javier deserves to be a parent, but he doesn't change his stance and he accuses her of not thinking the whole thing through because she does "these things impulsively sometimes." She claims she's not. He asks whether she's sure, and she repeats that she is. Okay, I agree that Felicity can be impulsive at times, but Ben, dude, you define the phrase, "going off half-cocked." After your spate of recent outbursts, I have to wonder if you've ever been fully cocked. So, Pot, quit paging the Kettle.
Felicity purposefully strides into Dean & Deluca and walks up to Javier, who is sitting at a table doing paperwork. Javier outlines the reasons why his brother is against Javier's and Samuel's having a baby which mainly have to do with the child's being teased for having two dads. Felicity blurts, "I wanna do it." She clarifies that she wants to look into the procedure. They both smile then embrace each other. Javier says, "Do you know what you're doing? You're giving us a family."
Back at her apartment, Felicity is on the phone, pacing and discussing the egg-donating scheme with her mother, who thinks Felicity is crazy. Molly walks by and Felicity asks where she's going. She says she's going to a movie, and adds that she thinks Felicity is doing a "wonderful thing." Felicity thanks her and goes back to her call.
Docuventary clip. Knoll is at his desk, wearing earphones, and thus doesn't hear Sean approach to catch him snooping in Jane's email account. When Sean yells at Knoll for breaking the law and being unprincipled, Knoll tries to rationalize his actions. Sean doesn't agree and he tries to make Knoll see just how morally bankrupt he's become. Knoll pretends to agree, then lunges at Sean to retrieve the tape so that he can find out the name of the seniors' centre where Jane will be volunteering that day. It's a sad day when Sean takes a moral position superior to Knoll's.
Cut to Knoll playing chess with an old coot at a seniors' centre. Jane comes in and asks what he's doing there. Knoll plays the innocent and says that he's having a game of chess. Jane bleats, "Knoll, I know we have a lot in common, but this is strange." Knoll laughs, "I know, you're following me." In your dreams, Knoll. The old coot says, "Check," which prompts Knoll to ask, "How'd you do that?" Jane decides that she doesn't need any further explanation for the series of bizarre coincidences and she sits down at the table with Knoll and the coot. She asks, "Are we winning?" Knoll answers, "We're losing, but I'm sensing a rally." If I were him, I'd be sensing a rally with bullhorns and an angry mob calling for him to be run out of town on a rail, when Jane finds out what a felonious dink he's been.
Felicity goes to visit a woman who had a child with a donated egg, in order to find out more about the process. The woman is breastfeeding her baby during the interview, which makes Felicity a tiny bit uncomfortable. I guess that witnessing the intimate act of mother and child nurturing and bonding will sway her one way or the other. The mother describes hormone injections and the accompanying symptoms, "blood tests and vaginal ultrasounds" and needles going into her ovaries to harvest "egg follicles," all of which Felicity will undergo during the procedure. Felicity just nods blankly throughout.
Felicity walks into her apartment, where Elena is sitting on the sofa, blathering about everything that donating an egg entails. She whines, "You have no idea how many needles are involved in this thing." Elena counsels that if Felicity thinks it's a mistake, she shouldn't go through with it. Felicity says she's still going to do it, and then describes the contract she'll have to sign, giving up all legal rights to the child. Eventually, she notices Elena's distress and asks what's wrong. Elena tells her about cheating on Tracy, explaining that she's trying to write him a letter to apologize. She asks whether Ben would have forgiven her if she had actually slept with Randy. Felicity gives the non-answer, "You don't know what's going to happen. Maybe you can work this out." Elena just stares miserably as she reads between the lines of Felicity's comment.
Molly and Ben are both at another Al-Anon meeting. The leader makes another inappropriate comment about hoping one of the group will "hurry up and heal" so she'll quit bringing brownies to the meeting. I've never been to a twelve-step meeting, so maybe her brand of "gallows" humour is normal. Anyway, Ben introduces himself and admits that his father is an alcoholic and that he hates him and has little else to say. The leader tells him that's all he has to say at this point. Molly volunteers to discuss her boyfriend, James, and how she was going to break up with him but couldn't because "he's going through some really bad times, right now." Apparently, "he's using all the time -- alcohol, drugs," and is a bad influence on her. She tearfully concludes that she's "addicted to an addict." Ben regards her solemnly.
Knoll and Jane are bickering in the hall outside her apartment door about the chess game. Knoll says that he had fun and that he's glad that she followed him. Jane says, "I freaked out back there, didn't I? Things like that don't usually happen to me." Word, sister, which is why you should be delving further into why these things are happening. Knoll says nothing, and when Jane unlocks her door she turns around tells him that she has a test. Knoll wonders "hypothetically" whether she'd like him less if they didn't have so much in common. She chides him that she never said that she liked him. He asks her to have dinner with him, and she says that she wasn't kidding about the test. Then, he asks her for the night and she replies that she already has plans. He blabs, "I know, but this is important." She gets suspicious and says, "You know?" He fumbles a bit, then says that he knew she'd have plans because she's so great and beautiful, how could she not? For some reason, she ignores the warning bells and agrees to go out with him. Jane, skip your yoga class, go to the library, get yourself a copy of The Gift of Fear, and quit ignoring your instincts.
Felicity is reading a book when Ben comes in. He says that he's been thinking about the "egg thing," and she says that's what she's reading about. He states vehemently and unequivocally that he's opposed to her doing it. He gets quite argumentative and brings up Julie and the way she had to find out who her real parents were. Felicity tries to reason with him, but he flies off the handle and accuses her of always putting everyone else's needs before hers. Um, in this case, I think he's just worried about her putting someone else's needs before his. She asks where his anger is coming from and he just says, "I really don't want you to do this." She stares at him uncomprehendingly.
At Dean & Deluca, Felicity is gushing over baby Isaiah. Javier approaches her and states, "We are low on Kenyan Roast and Soho Blend. [He notices that she's dressed in her coat.] Why am I tell you, you're not working." He tells her that his brother is warming to the idea of his and Samuel's having a child. She breaks it to him that she's decided against being the egg donor. She explains that Ben "is not comfortable with it" and that she isn't, either. Javier says that he understands, and that they "have a Smith College graduate who seems okay." Felicity whines apologetically, and he tries to reassure her, fairly unconvincingly, that it's okay.
Elena -- who is wearing a very odd, hand-knit orange hair band -- arrives late at a Physics study group meeting held in a classroom. Tracy is talking to another student and ignoring her. I don't really know how he's doing it, what with the knitted equivalent of the bottom half of a traffic pylon on her head. She asks where they are, and the other student says they're working on mechanics. She asks whether they're going to work on circuits, because the prof told her there'd be a question on circuits. Tracy curtly states that he doesn't care what they work on. The other guy mentions that it's time for a break because "it's study group, not group therapy." When everyone has left, Elena hands him the letter she wrote and says, "If you care to hear about how sorry I am and how much I care about you, it's all in here." He takes the letter and slaps it down on the desk, then glances away.
Cut to Felicity exclaiming, "You stole her email password?!?" Knoll acknowledges that he's "dirt." Felicity says that he must've known that she'd advise him to tell Jane the truth; otherwise he wouldn't have asked for her opinion. He agrees that he has to come clean with Jane, but he also thinks that because he ended up volunteering at the seniors' centre due to his ulterior motives, that somehow justifies his lawbreaking and mitigates his guilt. Knoll, courting by way of lying and gaslighting is not a good strategy. Also, not telling the woman in whom you're interested that you're still married is not a great idea. That kind of thing matters to a lot of people. Felicity very generously tells him that he of all people doesn't have to lie to get someone to like him. Okay, who's fibbing now? Knoll catches a few flies, and then Javier barges in saying, "You should lock your door! This is Manhattan, okay?" No kidding -- it would keep all kinds of undesirables and lecherous dads out. Javier informs Felicity that "Miss Smith College" wants to meet the mother and the father of her potential child. Felicity is sympathetic until Javier suggests that she stand in as the mother. Felicity says that she won't do it.
Cut to Felicity and Javier sitting at a table at Dean & Deluca, being interviewed by Miss Smith College. Javier interjects that it's all his problem because he's "omnipotent." Hee! Dude, you totally rule this show, for sure. Smithie looks confusedly at him, and then at Felicity. She explains that she wants to make sure that the baby will have a happy and secure home, adding that, once before, she was set to donate, and the couple filed for divorce. Javier assures her that a divorce between him and Felicity "cannot happen." He says that he and Felicity have loved each other almost from the day they met. It seems like Felicity is going to break down and tell the truth while he gives her several pleading looks, and instead, she ends up saying that he's the sweetest man she knows and that he'll be a great dad. Javier basks in her praise, and Smithie seems genuinely moved.
Knoll and Jane are in her apartment, eating take-out and discussing how her friend, Tricky, no longer wants to express his love for her in a brotherly way. Jane admits that she was confused, but now she's not. They chat coyly for a few minutes, and then she moves in to kiss him. The action gets hot and heavy and moves over to her bed. When she strips down to a tank top, Knoll moans. Things progress then he calls a halt and admits to stealing her password and snooping in her email. Naturally, she freaks out, calls him a stalker, and orders him out of her place.
At the girls' apartment, a baby shower for Javier and Samuel is in full swing. Personally, it seems a bit hasty to me to have a shower before the egg is even donated and implanted. Everyone oohs and ahs over the gifts, and Felicity apologizes for Elena's absence. Javier mentions to Ben that he knows that Ben and Felicity argued about the baby. Neither of them want there to be any hard feelings between them.
Smithie enters Dean & Deluca, looking for Javier and Felicity.
Back at the shower, Molly is in the kitchen, pouring a drink from what looks to be a wine bottle when Ben comes in. He says that he knows that they're not supposed to talk about Al-Anon outside the meetings, and then he proceeds to do exactly that. He asks whether she's using, and whether the drugs Felicity found were hers. Molly denies it, and then states she doesn't want to talk about it "outside of the group" before leaving the kitchen.
Docuventary clip. Javier opens Ben's gift, which is a Nerf basketball and hoop. Hmm, it's strange that he would give a gift just like the one his dysfunctional father gave to him. What kind of message are you sending, Ben? Javier says of the baby, "If he's a boy, I want him to be a jockey just like you." Felicity gets up to make a toast, and the doorbell rings in the background. Just as Javier starts to make a toast to his "loving husband" while kissing Samuel, Meghan ushers in Smithie, who says, "Husband?" Miss Smith College says that she "can't do this" and leaves in a huff with Felicity running after her. Javier and Samuel just stare at each other.
Out in the hall, Felicity tries to explain things to Smithie, but she says that she's from a small town in Iowa and that she goes to church every Sunday. According to her, Javier and Samuel are not a family. Felicity says, "Javier and Samuel are the two most loving and wonderful people you'll ever meet." Smithie says she's sorry and gets on the elevator.
After the Physics test, Tracy and the guy from the study group discuss it in the hall. The guy calls after Elena that she was right: "There were circuits all over that puppy." Tracy grudgingly says, "Yeah, you were right." She asks whether he has read the letter, and whether he can forgive her. He answers, "I can't. I'm sorry," and walks away.
Knoll is sitting at the bar in Epstein Bar. Richard bounds in and announces, "Prepare for greatness." Knoll mutters, "Before you tell me whatever it is that you made me come all the down here to tell you, you should know I'm not in a good mood." Richard thinks that his news will cheer Knoll up. He tells him about his old friend, the one he mentioned when he told Knoll he wasn't gay, and how she stood him up for another guy. It turns out that the other guy was a fraud and Richard's friend, Jane, came to his place in tears and he slept with her. Knoll blanches when he discovers that Richard slept with his Jane. And who should appear but Jane herself, who greets Richard, "Hi, Tricky." Knoll pretends not to know her while Richard predicts that Knoll and Jane will really get along. She goes along with the pretense and Richard hugs her tightly.
At another Al-Anon meeting, Molly is discussing her healing process. She says that she lied to someone and denied that the drugs he found were hers, although they were. She and Ben exchange looks as she says that she's sorry she lied.
Molly is waiting for Ben outside the meeting, and she asks whether he's planning to tell Felicity what she said about the drugs in the meeting. He says that he won't tell Felicity, but that it's an awkward situation. She reminds him that what she said in the meeting was private, and that he has to respect that. He just stands there morosely.
Felicity is waiting for Ben at the loft, and she asks how the meeting went. He says that it was okay so she starts talking about egg donation again. He admits that he was so against it because it felt weird to him that she would "share" herself with someone else. Then he realizes that it's his problem and not hers, so he commits to supporting her if she wants to do it. She thanks him and tells him that she can't do it because she would have to see the baby and watch it grow up. Ben murmurs, "They're going to have that baby, you know that," and hugs her.
The episode ends with a montage of Felicity walking on the street; Felicity giving Javier a baby gift; Tracy sitting in a booth at Epstein Bar and reading Elena's letter; Elena pondering the phone, then putting it down; Knoll playing chess with the old coot; and Felicity and Ben snuggling on the sofa.