Tuesday, August 10, 2010

In the Blink of an Eye

Everyone sits down to breakfast. Matt tries to drink coffee, but Annie takes it away. Simon is way too excited about getting the prize in the cereal box. I mean the kid's ten. His parents announce that he will be getting bunk beds. He's pretty excited about that until he realizes that it's a bribe. He will now be sharing a room with Ruthie. He is appropriately disappointed. And really, who decided the best new sleeping arrangement is to make a ten year old boy share a room with his five year old sister? Ruthie, however, is looking forward to the new arrangement.

Lucy is trying to ensure that her dad won't interfere with her first date with Jimmy Moon. Annie has a plan to keep him out of the house by volunteering him to drive for Meals on Wheels. Mary wants to go to a party, but her parents don't know enough about it to let her go. She's worried about how it will look to her boyfriend.
Matt is still grounded and he is annoyed about it.

The grandparents call to postpone their arrival. Annie is worried enough to fly to Arizona. The new plan is to have Matt drive for Meals on Wheels so Eric can supervise Lucy's Date.

Ruthie starts moving her stuff into Simon's room and he is not happy about it.

Mary thinks if she suggests going to an R-rated movie, she won't look like such a dork when she can't go to the party. I'd agree with her thinking, but the movie she wants to see is Strip Tease. Really Mary, you can't come with a better movie than that?

The girls find out about Annie's trip, and Lucy thinks she'll be able to have a date with no parents around. Annie quickly disabuses her of this notion. Lucy begs Mary to run interference for her instead of keeping her date. Mary tells Lucy about their dad embarrassing her the first time a guy came to visit her. Lucy blackmails her with the R-rated movie.

Simon tries to postpone Ruthie's move, but Annie rejects this idea. Ruthie is skeptical about Eric's ability to feed the family while Annie is out of town.

Mary breaks her date. I just realized the actor playing her boy is the guy who played Todd Wilkins in the Sweet Valley High TV show. Mary Camden and Elizabeth Wakefield-- this poor boy is need of a serious upgrade. Anyway, Todd's upset about the broken date and has already seen Strip Tease. He gives Mary crap about waiting so long to tell him, and she leaves in a snit.

Eric leaves Ruthie in the car coming home from the grocery store. Cue the Mr. Mom antics.

Matt is making out with some blonde chick in the family station wagon. They make plans for a date later that night. I think I know why Matt was so willing to drive for Meals on Wheels.

Annie tries to call her parents from the airport, but they don't answer.

Ruthie has finished moving into Simon's room. He's creeped out be her dolls. They are pretty creepy looking. Matt convinces Simon to use his status as the oldest in the room to treat Ruthie like his personal servant. She's fairly comlicit.

Lucy is worried that Mary won't know when to run interference with Eric. She reveals that she expects to be kissed tonight, or as she puts it, "His lips, my lips. Sparks, passion." Mary thinks Lucy is way to young to be kissed, even though Lucy is only one year younger than her. Mary seems way too upset about the prospect of Lucy kissing boys.

Ruthie wanders in and unintentionally reveals that Simon is using her as his personal servant. Mary tells her not to take any of his crap.

Annie rings the doorbell at her parents' house. When no one answers she lets herself in. No one is home and she worries. She starts calling local hospitals.

Her parents come home and she panics at them a bit. Turns out they have been living it up while they still have time. They decide to head to Glen Oak on first class. They do seem to be burning through a lot of cash. Wonder if Annie is worried about inheritance.

Eric is making dinner and instructing Matt about Meals on Wheels. Matt tries to get out of the car restriction. He is unsuccessful.

Eric's dinner sucks. He tries to tell a funny story about it, but it still sucks. The kids try to ditch the food while he's out of the room. He pops back in to announce that he's ordered pizza. Why waste all that food making a fake dinner? I'd think a single pay-check household with five children would try to watch their money.

Matt speeds through his Meals on Wheels deliveries.

Annie and her parents eat at the airport. She's surprised that her parents are drinking wine and eating steak. Annie is freaked by her mother's acceptence of her impending death.

Simon gives Ruthie crap about her imaginary friend. Ruthie wonders how Happy is going to sleep on Simon's top bunk. Simon orders her to switch bunks but Ruthie doesn't want to comply.

Matt picks up his date in the Meals on Wheels van. Hot.

Jimmy Moon shows up for his date with Lucy. She breath sprays in front of her dad before opening the door. He's brought a bootleg French film. He's even made a copy for Eric so he can watch it. Mary ignores Lucy's cue to save her from Eric.
Simon is trying to bribe Ruthie to switch beds. She's not having it.

Jimmy puts his arm around Lucy. This annoys Mary, who is spying on them. She convinces Eric to pull out his guitar and sing "Froggy Went A-Courtin'" He also is starting to wonder where Matt is.

Matt and his date get in the van. She pulls out a beer. They make out while Matt is backing the van out of his parking space. That seems like it could be distracting. He manages to back right into a passing police car. His date spills her beer on him. Somebody's in trouble.

Jimmy gets distracted from having his arm around Lucy by the music in the hallway. Lucy storms out to the hallway to confront Mary. Simon and Ruthie are fighting, Lucy reveals the R-rated movie.

Jimmy Moon wants to know if the dates over. Lucy spazzes out and runs upstairs. Eric offers to take Jimmy home when the phone rings. Eric doesn't look to happy.
The cop knows that Matt's grounded. Why does the cop know Matt's grounded?

Mary and Lucy fight. Mary wins when she reminds Lucy that Eric drove Jimmy home.
Simon and Ruthie and Happy are all trying to share the bottom bunk. It's not pretty. I don't blame Happy for leaving.

Annie and her parents arrive home and everyone comes down to greet them. It becomes obvious that everyone's fighting, and that Matt is still not home. Nothing in the household functions unless Mom is home to keep an eye on things.

Eric picks Matt up at the scene of his accident. He's upset that Matt broke his car restriction. Matt tries to blame Eric for not letting him drive in the first place. Eric yells at him.

Annie sends Simon and Ruthie to bed with ice cream. She settles the bunk argument by telling Simon that Eric can put Happy on the top bunk when he gets home. That seems like a really bad idea.

Mary and Lucy tell their grandma about Matt's accident. She reminds them about how lucky they are to have each other and they apologize and make up. Mary thinks her grandparents are acting weird. I can't believe Matt is the only kid who knows that grandma is sick.

Grandma also makes Simon feel better about sharing a room with Ruthie. Simon wants to give his cereal prize to Grandpa. I don't know why.

Annie sends Lucy and Mary to bed just as Eric and Matt get home. Eric doesn't want to talk and heads to bed. Grandma tells Eric to forgive him.

Eric and Annie are making out, but Eric really wants to rant about Matt. Annie seems a little flippant about her son backing into a police car when he was supposed to be grounded.

Eric is on a rant when Annie spots his guitar. She equates Eric playing his guitar to embarrass Lucy to Matt's indiscretion. Driving while distracted could actually kill someone, and I suppose Lucy could have died from embarrassment. Eric's still mad, though.

Todd is throwing rocks at Mary's window. He wants to make up. Eric gives them five minutes, and tells them that Jimmy Moon promised to call tomorrow.

Lucy seems to think she needs Mary's permission to get kissed. That seems weird.

Todd and Mary make up, and she tells him that she wasn't allowed to go to the party. She also rules that movies might be out for a bit. They start kissing on the porch.

The grandparents are dancing in the living room. They reminice about Annie. Apparently when she was at camp, the only thing that would make her feel better was the Camp Grananda song. They start to sing it, but are interupted by Matt finally coming home.

Grandma makes Matt feel better about the whole evening. They have a pretty nice conversation.

Eric and Matt make up. They hug. I can only assume that Matt is still grounded.

Morning. Grandma says goodbye to a sleeping Annie. Annie seems to be dreaming. She wakes up and meets her father in the hallway. Grandma passed away in the night.

So this episode ended on a pretty sad note, and the scene was well done by the actors. However, the episode centered on the funeral reception has many wtf moments. Stay tuned.

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