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Plot

Exasperation reaches an all-time high in the Camden household as Eric and Annie don't know how to handle Mary's recent behavior. When Lucy applies for early acceptance into college, Frankie suggests that she and Mary apply somewhere together, but after a revealing dinner at Frankie and Johnny's, Mary realizes some more painful truths about her new friends. Elsewhere, Simon has a hot date with a former spelling bee champion, Lucy receives an odd proposition from a classmate, and Ruthie finds some extremely inappropriate inspiration for a school writing assignment.

Full Summary

Eric is feeding the twins and is interrupted by Mary coming home and when Mary asks where Annie is, Eric gets defensive and starts explaining that he can feed his kids. Eric asks Mary if they can all hang out and watch a movie together, but Mary tells him that she has plans. Mary explains that she lost her job because she was laid off. Lucy walks in the kitchen with a stack of college brochures, which Mary thinks is to rub in the fact that she is not in college. Mary explains that she is babysitting for Johnny and Frankie's baby, Mercy. Frankie calls and talks about signing up for college and offers to sign up with Mary. They invite her over to spend the evening with them.

Ruthie gets her diary out and starts writing while in the closet with the chair keeping the door closed. When Annie knocks on the door, Ruthie quickly puts everything up. Simon walks up to Annie and explains that he has a date with Marsha Chalker. When Annie explains that she is really smart and won a spelling bee, Simon doesn't know that about her being smart. Simon tells Annie that he and Matt were going to go pick up "chicks", but now they won't do that since one of them has a date.

Annie is very offended by his use of the word "chicks" to describe women and it makes girls sound like property. Annie reminds him that dating is not a right, not a privilege. Ruthie thanks Simon for taking the tension away from her and why her room was locked. Simon tells her to stop being negative since he needs to get ready for the biggest date in his life.

Eric knocks on Ruthie's door and wants to know what movie she would like to see for the family movie night. Ruthie tells him to stop thinking that they are going to have a movie night since others are involved with other things. Ruthie closes the door telling Eric that she has a school project to work on. Annie finds Eric in the hallway and tells him that Matt and Simon have plans and Lucy overhears and tells them that if everyone else isn't attending the family movie night, then she won't either.

Lucy asks if she can have company, Mike, another person who is trying to get early admission into college. She tells them that it is not a date and they are strictly friends. Annie asks Eric how long they wait until they are making old, but Eric is happy that Lucy is going to college and it will help get Mary on track. Mary shows up at Johnny and Frankie's trailer and she hears the baby crying and them yelling over getting the baby to stop crying. Johnny hugs Mary when he notices that she is there and they invite Mary inside.

Matt drives by Marsha's house to pick her up for the date. When Marsha answers the door, Simon is wowed by her appearance and tells her so, then she spells it back to him, "w-o-w." Lucy and Mike walk into the kitchen and Lucy tells him that her father likes him because he is getting her to go to college. Lucy begins talking about how they will look at colleges, but he has a different idea about what will be happening. Annie offers up The Graduate as a movie and feeds him a chocolate covered strawberry. The kids are all occupied and when they realize it, they begin kissing on the sofa. Ruthie discouraged as she sits in her closet and tries to write in her diary.

Lucy asks about a deal that Mike has proposed where he will write her application and he will receive in return a date to every school function. While this conversation takes place, Ruthie is in the stairwell, listening. Simon's girlfriend is flirting with Matt and Simon has to practically kick her out of the car so that she would stop talking to Matt.

Johnny is getting the food ready while Mary suggests that they look at college brochures, but Frankie doesn't want to and just wants to drink a beer. Eric and Annie are cuddled on the couch and she tells Eric that she is checking on the twins and when Eric is watching Annie walk away, Ruthie pops up and asks what is happening. Annie is leaving the twins' room, she runs into Lucy and then Eric runs into her on his way upstairs. Ruthie talks to Lucy's friend about kissing Lucy, but Lucy walks in and tells Ruthie to mind her own business. Lucy realizes that she is writing something for school and just can't figure out what she is doing. Lucy suggests that they give her something to write about, but Mike just wants to write the applications.

Matt is outside of the movie theater when Simon and Marsha show up and Marsha immediately walks up to Matt and tells him that the movie was "i-n-s-i-p-i-d." Simon wants to go and eat pizza with just Marsha, but Marsha thinks that they should invite Matt. When Simon doesn't want to intrude, he spells it for her and gets it wrong and she corrects him. Matt just laughs and Simon invites him to go with them. Eric and Annie leave their bedroom after having fun and Eric wonders if they left the door unlocked the whole time. Ruthie is in her closet again writing in her journal about what she saw Mom and Dad doing. At the trailer, Frankie gets upset at Johnny for not checking on the baby and Mary offers to check on the baby. Frankie starts yelling at Johnny for being lazy and immature. Johnny storms out of the house and Frankie wants Mary to stay with her and pulls out some marijuana and starts smoking it.

Mary tells Frankie about her arrest in the past and making mistakes. Mary suggests that they go to college and change their lives for the better. Frankie decides that they will look at the college brochures tomorrow. Frankie tells Mary that Johnny is not a bad guy and Mary says that there is plenty of time to do something with their lives. Lucy discusses the functions that Mike and she will attend together and then Mike discusses the college admission processes.

Eric comes down after Lucy tells Mike to kiss her and tells him that he is welcome at any time at their house. Lucy admits that she likes the Mike. Mary walks into the kitchen and gives Lucy back her brochures for the colleges that she borrowed. Eric asks if his night could get any better and Ruthie interrupts and tells him that she hopes not. Eric goes upstairs and then Lucy asks her what she meant by her comment. Simon walks Marsha to her door and Marsha tells him that she appreciates the date and meeting Matt. Marsha then kisses him, but looks at Matt while in the middle of the kiss.

When Simon gets back into the car, Simon is disappointed by the date, so Matt tells him that the night is young and they can do something else. Lucy tells Mary that she smells like smoke, but Mary tells her that it is none of her business and she is not smoking, her friends do. Mary says that smoking is not as bad as dating a mental patient and then Mary proceeds to tell Lucy that Mike had taken a year off of school to be hospitalized because he tried to kill himself. Mike used to be in her grade.

Lucy runs into Ruthie's room and asks her about what she heard. Lucy wants to know what she has been writing in her diary, but Ruthie won't let her read it. As Eric and Annie are cuddling on the couch, they receive a call from Marsha who is asking to talk to Matt. Annie is confused as to why Marsha was asking for Matt's number and they are concerned that they dropped her off an hour ago.

Matt is trying to help Simon find a girl. Eric answers the phone again and is startled when he receives a call from a police officer about Mary's new friends getting busted for marijuana. Lucy confronts Eric and Annie about Ruthie's diary, but they are so upset about Mary's friends that they tell her that they don't have time. Lucy then tells them that Ruthie wrote about her watching her parents having sex and they quickly get up and run after Lucy to see the diary.

Eric paces in the kitchen and when Mary comes downstairs, he asks her if she smokes marijuana and tells her that Johnny and Frankie got arrested for possession of marijuana. Mary tells him that she knew they smoked pot, but never tried it. Eric explains that if they got caught while Mary was there, then she would be arrested. Mary explains that Frankie's mother keeps their baby and she probably doesn't want her mother to know about the arrest. Mary wants Eric to bail them out of jail and he wants to know what else Mary wants him to do.

Eric tells her that he isn't bailing out two irresponsible people out of jail, but Mary continues to defend them and their actions because they have a lot of stress between working and being parents. Eric explains that their lives are so stressful that they have to smoke pot. Mary thinks that she can persuade them to stop smoking pot, but Eric isn't so sure about that. Mary says that she will help them, but Eric points out that she doesn't have a job and requires help for herself. Mary yells back that she doesn't need any help and she will find a way to help them. Eric tells her she will not see them any more and will go down there and do what he can but not give her money to bail her out.

As Eric is about to walk out of the house, he runs into Mike, who tells him that he knows that Mary has told Lucy about his missing a year of school. Eric asks him to leave, but Mike wants to really talk to Lucy and tell her about his suicidal thoughts. Mike's therapist is a doctor who Eric knows and respects and finally decides to let him talk to her. Lucy comes downstairs and tells Eric that she doesn't want to talk to him, but Eric explains that he was sick and the doctor helped his get better. Matt and Simon walk back into the house and Simon hands Eric a note with a girl's number on it and Eric puts it in his mouth and chews on it.

Eric tells him that he is not supposed to hang out with Matt and pick up "chicks". Annie returns the diary to Ruthie and suggests that she write something about her own life. Ruthie tells Annie that sex is funny, but Annie stresses the importance for a married man and a married woman to only have sex and it is private. Ruthie explains hat she never wants to see it happen again. Annie runs into the boys and apologizes to Annie for staying out so late. Annie explains Mary's problems and then lets out that Ruthie saw her and Eric having sex. Annie is mortified, but the boys explain that it was bound to happen.

Annie is confused and Matt explains that all of the kids have seen them having sex and Annie is shocked. Matt mentions the signal that they use to have sex and Annie gets upset and tells them to go to bed. Annie runs into the closet to fix the lock on their door. Mike explains his experiences to Lucy and explains that he wants to be more normal than ever. Lucy tells him that she will give him a chance and only attend one function together at a time and see how things go. They shake on it. Mary answers the phone and Frankie thanks Mary for her father's help in getting them out of jail. Frankie tells Mary that she is lucky to have parents that are always there for her.

Trivia

John Hamilton (Chaz Lamar Shepherd) does not appear in this episode.

In the episode Help, Ruthie is told she doesn't get homework at her new school, so why would she have homework in this episode?

This episode introduces Jeremy Lelliot as Mike Pierce who plays a recurring character later in the 5th & 6th season.

Brooke Anne Smith won a Young Artist Award for "Best Performance in a TV Drama Series" for her guest role in this episode of "7th Heaven."

Quotes

Ruthie: I have no life. On the other hand, everyone else in this house does!

Mary: (to Eric as he's feeding the twins) Where's Mom?
Eric: I am perfectly capable of feeding my own sons. I do it all the time! I have fed my children for over 21 years now. True, for many of them, your mom cooked most of those meals while I was out earning the money to pay for those meals, but from time to time, I have fed one of my offspring, or all of my offspring, just as I am doing now, without the aid of Mom!
Mary: I'm just looking for Mom because she asked me to pick up some soap for her.
Eric: Oh. She's upstairs.

Simon: (about Matt) I already talked to him. If I didn't get a date tonight, the two of us were just gonna hang out together and pick up chicks. He's coming over in an hour, anyway.
Annie: No, you weren't going to hang out and "pick up chicks."
Simon: We're not going to now. One of us doesn't need to.
Annie: You can't just hang out with your brother, who's in college, and "pick up chicks!"
Simon: Why not?
Annie: Because your mother won't let you!
Simon: It's not a thing a guy asks his mother permission for. It's just a thing guys do.
Annie: There are so many things wrong with this conversation, I don't know where to start, but I choose "chicks". I don't like you calling young women chicks or babes, or anything that depersonalizes them as human beings and makes them sound like property to be acquired! And secondly, you know, you're never too old or too cool to do what your mother tells you.

Annie: (after Ruthie saw her and Eric having sex) Ruthie, it really isn't funny.
Ruthie: Oh, it's plenty funny! I always thought it was so serious, because you always have this serious face when you talk about sex, but trust me, it was funny!
Annie: It's also very...private, and very intimate, and even though it's perfectly natural for a man and a woman; a married man and a married woman to...make love, it's not something that's meant for anyone else to watch.
Ruthie: I didn't mean to, and believe me, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure I never see anything like that again!

Matt: So Ruthie caught you and Dad....um, you know?
Annie: Yes. Okay? Yes!
Matt: I should have seen that one coming.
Annie: No, you shouldn't have, it's never happened before!
Matt: Yes, it has. Um...we've all seen you. I've seen you, Mary's seen you, Lucy's seen you, even Simon has seen you. Did you do that thing where you said you were gonna check on one of the kids and then Dad said he's gonna go check on you? That usually signals the red flag and we all steer clear, but Ruthie just didn't know the signal!
Annie: Well, how did the rest of you know the signal?
Matt: It's kind of an obvious signal.
Annie: No, it isn't!
Matt: Yes it is.
Annie: Go to bed.
Matt: I don't live here.
Annie: Go to bed, anyway.
Simon: (teasingly) You know, you're never too old or too smart to do what your mother says.

Johnny: Fire's ready. (sits down with a beer)
Frankie: So, if the fire's ready...
Johnny: Do I have to do everything?
Frankie: Well, I did everything else!
Johnny: Fine, I'll cook the steaks! (storms out)
Frankie: (to Mary) Don't ever get married.
Mary: Marriage takes a lot of work.
Frankie: You have no idea.

Frankie: It just seems so unfair. You make one little mistake, you know?
Mary: Yeah, I know. I made a big mistake once, too. I got arrested last year for trashing the school gym.
Frankie: (laughs) Arrested? You?
Mary: Yeah. I'm still on probation.
Frankie: Oh, so that's why you don't drink or smoke or anything.
Mary: Yeah, kind of.....but also because I feel so out of control, anyway, like I couldn't get my life back on track even if I wanted to. Not that I want to...I mean, it's not so bad, but it's just...
Frankie: Existing. Just existing. I know what you mean. Every time I make an effort to do something, it just feels like there's so much resistance...and I give up before I even start trying.
Mary: Maybe we could help each other. Maybe we could make an effort together. Maybe we could go to college and see if anything changes. I brought the brochures. Do you want to look at them?
Frankie: No, not right now, I'm too out of it. Maybe some other time.
Mary: (disappointed) Yeah. Maybe some other time. (stands up)
Frankie: No, don't say it like that. Don't give up on me. I need a friend.
Mary: Well, I need a friend too.

Frankie: (on phone with Mary) Hey, what if you and I both decided to sign up for college together next semester?
Johnny: (smirks in the background) Be sure to apply for that scholarship!
Mary: Are you serious?
Frankie: Sure, I'm serious. I don't know what I want to do, either, but I know I don't want to wait tables for the rest of my life.

Frankie [to Johnny]: Why do you always have to act like this when somebody comes over?
Johnny: I don't act like this whenever someone comes over, I act like this all the time.
Frankie: Right. You do act like this all the time. So when are you going to grow up?
Johnny: Get off my case, will you?
Frankie: You could at least help me out a little around here. It's not like I ask you to do that much.
Johnny: You don't ask me to do that much? You asked me to marry you, didn't you?

Frankie: (about Johnny) He's not such a bad guy, you know. He wanted to go to college, too, major in English Lit, and be a writer.
Mary: Hey......we all still have plenty of time to be whatever it is we want to be, right?
Frankie: Right. (Mercy starts crying from her crib) Whatever I'm going to be doesn't change who I already am: a mom.

Mary: Is that... Is that pot?
Frankie: Yeah. I just need it to loosen up. This whole mother and wife gig really sucks.

Mary: Dad, please. They really are my friends. Frankie is my friend! She asked me to bring over those college brochures tonight so we could look over them, and make a plan to go back to school.
Eric: And did you?
Mary: (pauses) No.
Eric: Because she was too stoned? Mary...who are you, and what are you doing with these people?

Mary: (about Frankie and Johnny) They are good people. They're both working, and they're trying to raise this kid, and it's really hard…
Eric: So hard that they have to smoke pot?

Mary: If you're not going to help them, I'll help them.
Eric: How? You don't have a job, you don't have any money. You have to help yourself before you can help anyone else!

Frankie: (on phone with Mary) Hey, your dad got us out. Thanks so much for getting him to help us.
Mary: You know, I was kind of surprised you called him.
Frankie: Yeah, well, I didn't know who else to call. After I got pregnant, my mom told me never to call her again if I got into trouble. Of course, your dad made me promise to talk to her, and to a counselor, and whatever...but at least I didn't have to call her from jail, you know? (pause) You are really lucky to have parents who are always there for you.

Busted

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