Episode10:
"Chapter 10"
Original Air Date: 1.15.01
Summarized by:
Kris D.
Due to some sexual content, parental
discretion is advised.
Boston at night. We begin with Harry and Lauren in Lauren's bedroom. Harry is
going through college application essays and Lauren is tapping away on her
laptop. Harry stops and reads an application aloud, which likens life to playing
basketball on grass. "In the end it's about trying to score your goals
without stepping in dog poop." Lauren smiles - it makes sense. (Kris would
like to point out that whoever wrote it doesn't "get" basketball. You
don't make goals, stupid, you make baskets. <g>) Lauren logs on to Holt.45
(we know this because her computer actually says "Welcome to Holt 45) and
is stunned by the newest animation. She climbs over to Harry to show him - it
shows Animated!Milton having relations with Animated!Lisa Grier. Harry claims it
can't be true, because Milton would have told him. About this? Lauren wants to
know. Harry can't believe it's true. The sound effects get more and more vulgar
and Harry looks at the animation shiftily. Whew.
Roll Credits
A father is speaking to Guber about his daughter. It seems she's being teased at
school and it's upsetting her. The father wants Guber to check it out, but
unobtrusively, because the girl would also be upset if she knew her father told.
Guber assures the man that he'll take care of it. Steven walks past and Scott
hurries to catch him - Scott informs him that he would like to fire Harvey
Lipschultz. They head to his office to discuss matters. Kevin swings past and
Harry calls out to him. Harry wants to know if Kevin knows anything about the
animation on Sheryl's website. Kevin pauses a second too long before saying no
and Harry calls him on it. Harry asks why he had to think about his answer and
Kevin claims he was thinking about the question. Kevin calls the notion
"ridiculous" and Harry wants to know if Milton is doing *anything*
with this girl. Kevin, possibly at his snarkiest, says "Are you
concerned...or jealous?" That's as funny as it is evasive. Kevin claims not
to know anything and walks away. Harry calls after him...some smartass remark
about a good mood and hemrrhoids. Haha.
In Marilyn's classroom, her students are reading aloud. A boy is reciting a
particularly dorky love story, "And he felt his heart as he'd never felt it
before. Thump. Thump. And he knew, it was the thump of love." As everyone
cracks up Marilyn claims they don't laugh at each others' stories. Yo, Marilyn?
It was funny.
Steven is in his office trying to remind Guber about a teacher shortage. Guber
brings up the fact that Harvey is co-teaching with Marla, so firing him wouldn't
result in any real shortage. The thought of Marla teaching a class on her own
doesn't instill Steven with a lot of confidence. Guber lists Harvey's
shortcomings - he has already earned three unsats (unsatisfactory?) and what's
worse, he's a bigot. He's a terrible example for students and a worse reflection
on the rest of the faculty. Steven claims that his kids learn, but it's not
about that. (Education not about learning?) Scott will handle it himself, he'll
be the bad guy, and Steven can stay out of it. Steven says that Harvey is
entitled to a hearing, but Scott interrupts, not if he's asked to resign. That
way, he can still sub. "He's a loose cannon that is eventually going to
explode in our faces." Louisa choses that moment to come in and
breathlessly announce that there's been another assault. Student down on second
floor, paramedics on the way.
In the hallway, Lauren is questioning a rather large young lady. Did she see
anything? Nope, according to the girl, she came out of the stairwell and there
the kid was. Laying there. He was found unconcious and he must have been struck
in the head. They help the kid up, who's finally awake, and he claims he must
have gotten hit in the head with the door. They send him to the infirmary. Guber
takes the chance to talk with the girl, Miss Banks. Apparently this is the one
whose father was concerned. Guber asks her about the teasing she's receiving and
she denies it. Unconvincingly, I might add.
Milton and Lisa are standing in the stairwell whispering rather loudly about the
animation. Milton wants to start a Shakespeare club to explain why they're
spending so much time together. Then he claims they can "let them
talk", because they'll have a factitious reason why she's teacher's pet.
WHATever. "If we're seen whispering covertly like this? That's what will
kill us." He wants them to be open and public. Yeeeah. Milton sends her to
class then jogs up the steps to find Harry. "Hey, Milton." Harry
stands casually. Milton is surprised to find Harry there and wiggles and squirms
under the microscope. He's fine. Same old same old. Nothing new. Milton streaks
past. "See you around!" to Harry's "Yuuup."
Harvey thinks they must be joking. Scott, in a moment of utter hilarity, says
"Yes, I'm refining my stand-up routine before I go out on the road."
Harvey then turns to Steven - is this true? Yup. Lauren choses that moment to
enter and wants to know what's up. Harvey informs her that he's being fired. She
looks to Steven for clarification and he explains that Harvey is being asked to
resign. Lauren wants to know why she wasn't notified - she was, that's why she's
there - then asks about his union representative. Scott claims they aren't
required to have one and Lauren stumbles around. Harvey believes it's an ambush.
Lauren reminds them that Harvey has tenure and gets a hearing. She then sends
him out of the room and proceeds to read her two administrators the riot act (in
a very Lauren kind of way). "First of all, your notice to me stinks.
Second, you first have to bring him in and give him a chance to fix whatever the
problem is." Scott claims that doesn't work if the problem is unfixable.
Lauren goes head to head with Scott, asking him what the problem is, exactly.
Bigotry, he's a nutcase...she warns them about the union and Steven intervenes
saying they will set up a hearing, if that's what she wants. She does. Then she
shares snarky eye contact with Scott, who's actually kind of shaking. Weird.
Back to Marilyn's classroom. A girl is reading her short story. This one,
however, is not like the last silly love fest. This is an emotional recap of a
young girl's rape by her father - apparently a repeated event. The girl stumbles
over her words and her voice cracks, and the emotion in the story is arressting.
Marilyn looks on in horror. Nobody laughs.
Act II
Kevin chases down Sheryl Holt in the hallway. He compliments Sheryl, saying she
looks great. (Kris thinks she looks like she's been diving headlong into
Lauren's closet. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I swear Lauren has that EXACT
blouse in teal.) After Kevin finishes with his gratuitious buttering up, she
snarks about Milton and walks away. She says she'll grant him his favor if he
tells her what he knows about Lisa and Milton. Kevin don't know nuthin', babe.
Kevin's favor includes unmasking the bandit who's been beating up bad boys. He
wants to know what she's learned. Her suspicion is that it's a friend of
"The Blob". The Blob is Miss Christine Banks, the unfortunate pick-ee,
who has been abused severely lately by the three chumps found knocked out and
bleeding. The Blob is what everyone calls her - those boys were calling her
worse.
Harvey and Lauren walk the halls and Harvey wants his lawyer. Lauren talks him
out of it, saying that it would only lead to legal wrestling that the school
*will* win. She convinces him to let her take over his defense, to stay quiet
and let her do all the talking.
Marilyn is in her classroom trying to get to the bottom of the girl's
shortstory. It seemed to authentic so she asks the girl, Jodi, if it's real.
Jodi claims that it's fiction, that it was the assignment. Marilyn then asks
point blank "Does your dad touch you?" Jodi gets antsy and claims that
it was fiction, that she was just doing an assignment, but Marilyn tries to
convince her to talk about it.
Marilyn remains unconvinced and takes the story to Big Boy Lick. According to
Marilyn, Jodi isn't this imaginative. Lick concludes that this [the rape]
happened. He flips through the pages and becomes more and more sure.
Harry trolls the hallways with a cuppa joe and finds Lisa Grier. Proving his
prowess in all matters requiring tact, he asks her quite innocently if she's
sleeping with Milton Buttle."You know, Mr. Senate, I'm not a laywer, but
from everything I've read, your remark might be considered sexual
harrassment." He says probably not, not unless he kept repeating it...which
he does. She won't answer, not because she doesn't have anything to hide but
because it's none of his business. He threatens to tell Harper, saying that
she'd much rather it be Harry's business, but she still declines. She says she'd
love to play poker with him, though.
It's Harvey's hearing. Harvey claims he has nothing against "colored
people" and Steven comes down on the terminology. Harvey goes off on a PC
tangent and says "I should just be safe and say African American black
colored negroes." Lauren tries to shut him up with a urgent
"Harvey!" but he continues. He wants to know if that's why he's being
fired - because he's off on terminology. Nope, not according to Guber. "No,
I want to fire you because you're an embarrassment--" Steven puts a cap on
Scott's tirade with a soft-spoken "Scott." They go over things past -
the gunman and Harvey's kneejerk "Is he black". Yadda yadda. Harvey
says a few more choice things, making Lauren squirm next to him. He then calls
Scott a racist, which causes Lauren to once again exclaim "Harvey!"
Harvey goes on to say that "Even Jesse Jackson is afraid of them in
groups." Steven, apparently as tired of these shenanigans as I am, asks
Lauren if she has anything to say on Harvey's behalf. Harvey turns to her
expectantly and with a pained expression on her face, she says no. Harvey looks
at her shocked-like and asks "This is your defense?" Steven says he'll
make his final decision tomorrow and excuses Harvey.
Kevin finds Christine Banks walking the hallway and approaches her. He asks her
some asinine question about going to the nurse's office for neosporin (last
WEEK!). It's only after he references her scraped knuckles that we understand
where he's going with this. Kevin asks, between him and her, she laid those guys
out, didn't she? "Between you and me?" she asks. "I laid them
out." When asked why, she lets us in on her story. "I can tolerate
being called the Blob, don't ask me why but I learned to live with it. Something
about being called the Titanic...they said if you lifted up a fold of fat you
might find Leonardo DiCaprio." Kevin notes that the boys she bested were
pretty tough and she explains that her father was a wrestler who taught her a
few things. The right-cross? She taught herself. Kevin tells her to be careful,
that she doesn't want to get suspended. She reminds him of the fragile male ego
and claims that those boys will never tell, because then they would have to
admit to an ass-whipping by a girl. She smugly walks away as girls around the
world raise their fists in solidarity.
Milton scampers down to the dungeon, the little rat, and comes upon Harry. He
wants to know what Harry's doing. "I'm going to take a pee, you want to
watch?" Milton demands to know why Harry asked Lisa Grier if she was
sleeping with Milton. Harry responds honestly with "I wanted to know if you
two were sleeping together." Milton tells him that if he has a question, he
should come to him. (Ack!) so Harry does. "Are you two sleep--" NO!
Milton really does sound like a stuck pig. A guilty one, too. Harry thinks this
explains why he's just "laughing it off, huh?" Milton, apparently
overdosing on stupid pills AGAIN, jumps in front of Harry, waving his finger.
Harry shoves him back and tells him not to go there. (TESTOSTERONE!) Stay out of
my life, Harry. (TESTOSTERONE!) I'm a little confused, Milton, what exactly am I
supposed to be staying out of? At this point, Steven interrupts wanting to know
what's going on. Harry claims it's private and personal and before Steven leaves
he tells Milton that he wants to talk to him. Harry starts to walk off and
Milton stops him, asking what Steven wants to talk to him about. "Whatever
it is, I'm sure it's none of my business."
Jodi is in Bob Lick's office, wanting to know what he's trying to do. She still
claims the story is fiction and wants to know why they don't believe her.
"Because I just don't." Is Marilyn's witty answer. Lick goes over the
reasons why she wouldn't want to tell and claims he can help her. She wants to
know how he can help, assuming she's in that situation, which she's not saying
she is. He claims they can get the father out of the house. "My word
against his." She also says it would be destroying the family for her two
brothers and mother. Jodi finally has enough of the tag-team interrogation and
stands up, claiming she has said all she's going to say. Bob gives her an
ultimatum. Either she brings her family in for a discussion or he calls the
police.
Lauren and Harry are back in her apartment, wearing jammies, headed to her
bedroom. Lauren is worked up about the fact that she basically let Harvey hang
out to dry to save her own hide over the racism issue (Webster Harrellson's
Mother's suit). As she sets down and Harry lays across from her, she claims that
what she heard was "Lauren, are you going to side with the bigot?"
Harry claims that after all she's told him, how was she supposed to defend him?
"African American Black Colored Negroes?" Lauren says he's just an old
buffoon. Harry, witty as ever, says "There you go. Defend him with that.
He's a buffoon." In a moment of seriousness, Lauren tells Harry that he
needs to learn to take her seriously better. After a brief look of shock he
quietly agrees. She half-smiles at him and then out of the blue he says "I
think I'm starting to love you. That's serious." Touched, Lauren climbs
across him and they kiss, kiss, kiss.
Cut to Milton and Lisa kissing, kissing, kissing. While Lisa is happily feasting
on Milton's neck, we actually see a moment of *guilt* on Milton's behalf. Wow.
Act III
Milton, as whiny as ever, comes to the office to see Steven. He asks Louisa if
she knows what Steven wants and she says "Gee, I wonder." What Steven
wants is to know about the cartoon. Well, d'uh! Milton looks guiltier than sin
and for a moment, it seems as though he's going to sing about his sins. He goes
on his PR trip about the Shakespeare club and then pretends to be offended about
the website. Steven doesn't look convinced but lets him go anyway.
Christine Banks wants to know if Kevin is on drugs - he wants her to wrestle in
the heavyweight class. She says he's crazy, she won't wrestle on a *boy's* team
and she can't imagine what everyone will say when they find out she's wrestling
in the heavyweight division. Kevin bets they aren't going to say much, and no
one would be brave enough to utter "Titanic" (although my
closed-captioning says it's "Titac" heh), especially if she starts
winning matches. "It's a boys' team." It doesn't have to be, he says,
and he thinks she might like it.
Harvey's sipping coffee in the teacher's lounge. Lauren tries to talk to him but
he has very little to say to her. Little as in nothing. She's going to try to
extend the hearing for him and urges him to bring a union rep. He agrees, she
walks out, and Marla looks on with interest.
Back in Bob Lick's office, Jodi's father is reading his daughter's story. He
claims it's very "powerful" and Bob goes right for the jugular with
"Is it true?" This offends dad much, who claims he's not sure if he
should get a lawyer or jump across the desk and break his neck. (Which would
have been REALLY funny to see him try. Big Boy is named that for one reason and
it ain't because he has some resemblance to the little man.) The father goes on
about how this isn't true, and if his daughter said anything to make them
believe the opposite, then she's pathological. So Bob turns and asks Jodi if
she's pathological. Jodi clams up - she said nothing about nothing and only
wrote a short story. Jodi's mom wants to know what's wrong with them and Big
Boy, who fears not the man who claims to be able to break his neck, asks
"How well do you know your husband?" The parents leave, claiming they
shall be hiring that lawyer.
Kevin and Milton are trotting along. Milt thinks Kevin told Harry about him and
Lisa. Not! But Kevin says if Milton continues to see her - Milton claims it's
over. Just then, Christine finds them and agrees to wrestle. He tells her
practice is at three, and she seems very excited about it. Lisa swings up just
then and does her little charade about the Shakespeare club. Kevin is
unimpressed and walks away.
Marilyn approaches Jodi at her locker - she never answered the question. Is she
pathological? Marilyn tells her that she's not protecting her brothers by
allowing that man to stay in the house, and if it's really about protecting her
brothers she has to get him out of the house. Marilyn asks her if she's worried
that no one will believe her - but that isn't the case. One night she left her
video camera running. She produces a small tape from her locker. She doesn't
know what's on it but...she gives Marilyn the tape and walks away.
Marla enteres her classroom to find Harvey sitting at his desk. She's continuing
with her business when Harvey stops her with "Marla, you'r black,
right?" He wants to know if he offends her. As they talk, Lauren walks up
and listens at the doorway. Harvey claims that he supports black people - he's
for affirmative action and he's against the death penalty. What does the death
penalty have to do with anything? They commit most of the murders. "Right.
I forgot." He knows he's old fashioned, but is he a racist? Yes, he's an
old-fashioned racist. He says if you were to give him a pop quiz on which
students are colored, he'd probably fail. He doesn't even notic. Lauren turns
and walks away.
In the gym, the wrestlers are practicing and doing drills. Kevin is doing the
Coach drill about how the other team likes to beat them, yadda yadda. He
introduces Christine and there are some nasty comments through the team. He
wants Jimmy, one of the leaders, to go a round with her so Kevin can evaluate
her. Jimmy doesn't want to wrestle a girl so Kevin plays hardball. Either he
does it, or Kevin automatically gives Christine Jimmy's spot on the team. R'uh
r'oh!So they wrestle.
Lauren is in Steven's office trying to get them to extend the hearing. Scott
claims Harvey already had his hearing but she admits to talking him out of
having his union rep and it's her fault he didn't get a fair hearing. She says
Harvey is a good man, but Scott doesn't think that has anything to do with
anything. She claims that it can be a factor. "It is not a factor, Lauren.
Stop looking at the world like a little girl in love, Lauren, and take this
matter seriously." Whoo. As you can imagine, that fries Lauren. "What
did you say to me?" Steven intercedes and schedules a new hearing for the
next day. Scott tries to beat a hasty retreat but Lauren catches him before he's
out the door. She wants to know what Scott said to her (though she HEARD it the
first time. The look of horror on her face was enough...) "I'm saying, if
you're ever going to excel at leadership you're going to have to learn to be
tougher." She says she's standing up to a militant vice principal, isn't
that tough? Scott is stunned for a minute, but continues on. "No. You are
acting out of an overdeveloped sense of charity because you haven't got the
heart to fire a sweet old man, despite the fact that you know he shouldn't be
teaching." Lauren's eyes narrow dangerously and she brings out the big
guns. "Are you still planning to adopt a baby, Scott?" Scott is
mortified, Steven looks out from behind his hand. Keeping significant eye
contact for a second, Lauren walks away. Scott skitters out of the room. Steven
sighs and rolls his eyes.
In the gym, Christine is preparing to wrestle with Jimmy. His teammates say such
adorable things like "Sink the titanic" when Christine picks the
little pencil neck up and slams him into the mat. Victory signs dance in Kevin's
eyes. "Whoa." Poor Jimmy just lays there hacking.
Bob and Marilyn are reviewing the tape Jodi gave them. They can't make out much
because it's too dark. Apparently they've been watching for a while because
Marilyn is about to give up when you hear the click of the door. You hear her
father come into the room and say things like "It's just me, honey"
Marilyn's coutenance turns to disgust and mortification as the bed squeaks
rhythmically. She doesn't think she can watch.
Act IV
Marilyn has taken the tape to Steven. He tells her to call Detective Danby,
because it's a police matter. He tells her to keep a dialogue going with Jodi.
He wants Marilyn to encourage the girl to seek counseling and to continue seeing
Mr. Lick. Louisa enters, saying that Christine's father wants to speak with him.
In a jam-packed teacher's lounge, Lauren is going over what Guber said to her.
As she settles on the couch (really close to Harry, if I may make that
observation) she says she should bring him up on sexual harrassment charges.
Harry points out that she's obsessing over Scott's obsessing. Kevin reminds her
that if she wants to save Harvey's job, she's going to have to be focused on
him. She tells them that Harvey is going to defend himself. As Milton walks in,
Marla remarks "Oh, God, he's as good as gone." Everyone falls silent
as Lauren sits back to read the paper. Harry is reading, Kevin is chomping on
popcorn. In the sudden silence, Milton turns and looks around the room.
"What?" Everyone looks at him. He then goes on to say that nothing is
going on with him and Lisa Grier. Everyone is still silent. Kevin stares at him,
mid munch. Both Lauren and Harry look up from their papers silently. Marla gives
him the fish-eye and he says "To hell with you!" and storms out.
:::snort::: Louisa comes in as he's leaving and tells Kevin that Steven wants to
see him.
Christine's father doesn't want his daughter wrestling. He believes that it will
only expose her to more humiliation. Kevin reveals that Christine is getting
into fights, beating boys up for making fun of her. He bets that she'll to well
in wrestling, something for her to excel at. Kevin gives his word that if he
feels it's not affecting her positively, he'll take her off the team.
Marilyn delivers the news to Jodi that her father is being arrested. They're
telling her mother, as well, and some detectives are coming to talk to Jodi. As
Jodi walks away, Marilyn follows her. "Ever seen one of those sappy movies
about teachers where teachers go to the student and say lean on me as a friend
if you have to? Do that, OK? I'm here." She hugs a crying Jodi.
Christine's father is trying to talk her out of wrestling. She claims she's not
good at anything, but she can be good at this. Her father holds that it's
embarrassing and she wants to know, for who?
At the next meeting, Harvey refuses to defend himself. When Lauren tries to
appeal to him, he says they have something in common. Neither one of them can
think of anything to say in his defense. "I am what I am, Scott, and you
don't like me. Now what can I say to change that?" At that moment, Marla
comes in and wants to say a few words. "Is he a nut? A big one. A racist?
Probably. But he doesn't come from hate and the kids know that." Steven
maintains that a lot of the bigotry in the school does, and he's a bad example
either way. There's no such thing as a benign bigot. Harvey wants to make one
point. They can all go to hell.
In the gym, the wrestling match is starting. Christine is holding her own,
fighting hard, and doing well. Her father watches uneasily from the stands.
A student follows Steven in the hallway, asking if it's true that they're firing
Lipschultz. Yes, it's true. The kid thinks he's making a mistake. Steven wants
to know why it doesn't offend this kid when Harvey says that it's his job to get
his black ass into college. The kid says it's because he will. Whatever else he
does, Harvey will help him get his black ass into college. This strikes a chord
with Steven, as the student walks away. Lauren chooses that moment to talk to
him. She says that she agrees, there's no such thing as a benign bigot, but it
could be worse. Such as? "Such as a liberal teacher who exudes tolerance,
whose test scores somehow come out higher for whites than blacks. Who
disciplines the black problem students slightly harder than she does the whites,
who doesn't even know she's doling out disparate treatment." Is Lauren
saying she's a racist? She doesn't know but she's just saying that Harvey's
bigotry seems to be all talk. Steven then tells her that Harvey can stay, but he
has to take racial sensitivity seminars. And Lauren has to tell him, because
Steven doesn't even want to look at him.
Back to the wrestling match and Christine is *tearing it up* in her class. The
crowd is chanting "Blob" but she's fighting for all she's worth.
In the classroom, Milton and Lisa are discussing their affair. Milton's
*finally* starting to feel guilty, because apparently he's now using school
funds to put together a club to conceal his sexual affair with a student. Just
last week he was willing to give up his career, but now he's finding out that
he's going to be giving up his friends, too, and he's not sure it's worth it.
Lisa says she can't assume his risks and only he knows for sure what he has to
lose...or gain.
In the gym, Christine is kicking ass and taking names. She pins the guy and wins
the match, much to everyone's delight - including her father's. The team tries
to pick her up, but fails, and they gather around to hug her close instead.
Swelling music and misty eyes.
Lauren is talking to Marilyn, who's in her classroom. They're all going out, I
guess. Marilyn says she'll meet them there. Lauren asks her if she's OK, and she
asserts that she is, that she'll met them there. Lauren leaves (wearing a VERY
cool jacket that I want) and Marilyn sits down at her desk. She flips through t
he short story that started it all, and begins to cry.
Fade to black.
