Secret Life: Grace Jealous, Ben Innocent, Others at College

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I went to a (large) state school. Of the 191 kids in my graduating HS class, probably 30 went to the same place. Of those, probably 7-8 were people I would have considered "friends." In my eight semesters of undergrad, I had two classes with any of them (one a coincidence in a science lab, the other because we had the same major), aside from the "Honors Colloquium" that all first-year students in the Honors program had to take, thus lumping about 10 of us together in a room of 500 or so. [I did take a class with another kid from HS, but we never spoke to one another.] On television, it never works this way. Boy Meets World had the whole gang taking classes together, and hardly even touched on the fact that any of the kids actually had majors. Saved by the Bell did a little better, with the kids only having some classes together. Beverly Hills, 90210 failed miserably - all the kids took classes together AND lived together (except Andrea, who was pre-med and had a scholarship room on-campus, though through sorority pledging and a feminism class, the show still managed to keep her in the loop). Well, I had hoped that Secret Life would be different... I'm not sure why I thought that would happen. Jack, Adrian, and Ricky all have the same English Literature class. It has not yet been revealed what other similarities in scheduling might occur, but you can probably bet that this isn't the only time the three will run into one another. I just find it so incredibly improbably that it annoys me to no end. /rant

The Secret Life of the American Teenager "Past History" (S05E05): Ricky tells Amy that she needs to get over her issues of being around gay people, but Amy claims that her only issue is that she doesn't think her mother is set in her sexuality, so she doesn't want Anne to have a female companion in all of Amy & Ricky's wedding photos when she might "turn back" to men later. [now, maybe I'm in a difference mindset, but I wouldn't allow either of my parents to only have a "date" in the official photos. I could see pictures with just George and Anne, but there's no reason to include others, IMO. of course, I might be influenced by the fact that my father didn't attend my wedding and my mother didn't bring a date, but I've been to several others where the official photos are "family only" anyway.] John opened up the envelope from Mimzi so Ricky and Amy now have $1,000 in cash. Amy is jealous that Ashley was given ten times that amount, but Ricky doesn't think it matters and that they need to return it ASAP, as Mimzi isn't well. [good point. for being such a "bad boy" in the early episodes of this series, Ricky has turned out to be such a goody-goody!] Ricky also doesn't want a joint account with Amy because she doesn't pay attention to her actions. [I see this becoming an issue sooner than later!] Amy takes the money with her to deposit after school anyway... but her purse isn't in her locker at the end of the day so she files a police report. Turns out, Madison found it and dropped it off at Ricky and Amy's apartment, and Ricky isn't even that angry that she almost lost all that money. [why wouldn't Madison have texted Amy to tell her? that seems completely out-of-character. also, why wasn't Ricky upset AT ALL??]

At school, Ethan goes to hit on Kathy but stops when he finds out that she's pregnant. Grace then meets her and immediately begins talking up Jesus. [of course. ::eye roll:: what does everyone think about Grace's regression, by the way?] Grant shows up and takes Grace away from Kathy, and Grace is immediately upset that the MedCamp students got to spend a week touring colleges and that they've been offered full scholarships and the chance to finish high school in January.

http://abcfamily.go.com

When Amy gets to school, Kathy calls her a lousy mentor, then says that she has no friends. [Kathy is getting really annoying, don't ya think?] Amy tells her that it was nice to have Ben when she was pregnant, which encourages Kathy to talk to Ethan. [wrong advice this time, Amy!] Amy immediately panics and tries to get her to focus on school instead, but things are in motion, as evidenced by Ethan asking Madison for some tips to use around "experienced" girls. [Madison playing the dummy/wannabeslut is also getting old.]

Dylan tells Ben that she told the detectives that the gas line must have been faulty and that they were only in the school because she was trying to convince her then-boyfriend to transfer. She also said HE lit the burner but SHE turned it off. Her friends then threaten him for getting her into trouble. [it makes me laugh pretty hard for them to not think she's one iota of trouble!] Luckily, Leo finds out that the gas lines were running too close to the electrical lines, so Ben is off the hook legally, but Leo grounds him from pretty much everything but Henry (who also knows about the fire now) and Alice. Ben tells Leo about sleeping with Alice, so Leo grounds him from them, too... until the school board matter is resolved, at least. [dang. forgot about Ben sleeping with Alice AND that this school board matter will carry on a while longer.] Ben had made a deal with God that he'd start going to church if he didn't go to jail, but Leo doesn't seem to think that matters too much, so it doesn't look like he'll be leaving the house for services, either. [let's hope that Ben gets things turned around soon... not that I see him running off to the Ivy Leagues, but you never know.]

On his first day of college, Ricky runs into Clementine, a girl he knew when he was a foster kid. He immediately tells Amy, as he's afraid that something will go wrong somewhere. And, of course, it probably will... Adrian sits at the coffeeshop all day to try and get chummy with Clementine. [what kind of name is that, anyway? glad the girl saw through Adrian, though!] 

Margaret goes to have lunch with Nora and tell her about the big party plans, but Nora brings up the fact that Anne is also planning an extravaganza. Nora jumps on board with Margaret because there are elephants involved. [that's my kind of reasoning!] Margaret gets Nora talking so she's now in on the fire story.. [um, I thought we were wrapping that up? Why even get Margaret involved?] Meanwhile, at school, Madison and Lauren are trying to throw their party first, even though Amy repeatedly says that she doesn't want any parties. [she reallly needs to get over that!] But, drama soon prevails, and we find out that Madison is still hung up on Jack, and is thinking of sticking around for college based on that, rather than going off to a "fancy school." [not that I see Madison getting into a "fancy school" anyway.]

More adults... Anne has left for Italy with Robbie. [basically so we don't have to address her for a few episodes, right?] Kathleen asks George to help her take down her kitchen wallpaper, then asks if he's serious about her, as she's now divorced. [that was quick! I often wonder if the writers had planned for that to be a short marriage when Kathleen first recovered from grieving over her first husband...] He says that he's serious, learns that there's no update from Jacob, and then has to placate Grace because she's upset that "her father's wallpaper" is being torn down. George suggests that Grace and Jack decorate her "place" as something they can do together, and she goes for it. While over there, Jack confesses his love and lust for Grace, who decides to think about re-establishing their relationship. [I've got nothing for these two. let's get more Tom in here!]