Recap: Jo returns home from a day at Langley and announces that she's been appointed the new editor-in-chief of the college's senior yearbook. Beverly Ann dreamily stares into space and reminisces about how young and fresh she looked in her college yearbook...and before she can launch into a long-winded story about how it was that she came to look so young and fresh during her college years, Jo beats a hasty retreat to go write captions for each graduating senior. Blair arrives with her new ventriloquist friend: Jay Johnson and his sassy puppet-boy, Sam. After gratuitously showcasing his ventriloquist skills for a few minutes, a glum Andy enters the store and glares moodily at Sam. Beverly Ann asks him if everything's OK, and he snaps, "Fine" - but a few seconds later, Sam draws attention to the fact that Andy is stealing cash from the Over Our Heads money box. Andy reacts by looking sheepishly horrified at being caught in the act of committing the brazen theft, which for some reason, he thought was a good idea to do while in full view of Beverly Ann, all four Facts gals, and a ventriloquist and his snitch puppet. In the next scene, Andy is sitting on the couch, broodily staring into space as Beverly Ann and the Facts gals are all, "WTF is up with you stealing from us?" Beverly Ann assumes that something must be terribly wrong to drive him to do such a heinous thing, so Andy fibs that he's being bullied/blackmailed by a guy who has photos of him cavorting with a couple of hot twins. Tootie gruffly orders him to cut the shit 'cause they deserve some honesty, so he admits the real reason for his crime: his foster parents are splitting up, which means he's getting shipped back to the group home to await adoption. He adds that he has no intention of actually going back there and plans to run away...which is why he stole their money (with the half-hearted intention of paying them back once he reaches adulthood). Beverly Ann tries to lift his spirits by pointing out that the child welfare agency will surely place him with a new family, but Andy complains that he's sooooo sick of being shuttled from home to home, and is under no illusion that any couple would want to formally adopt a cheeky jackanapes who can't seem to make friends his own age. Beverly Ann's like, "Can't argue with you there", and offers to call his foster family to let them know he'll be staying with them for the next few days. Later, Beverly Ann makes up a bed for Andy on the living room couch and offers to tuck him in, but he declines 'cause 1) he's not five, and 2) doesn't want to get used to that type of maternal kindness. He then leaps off the couch to go pee - just as the Facts gals enter the room and tell Beverly Ann they've decided that they want to be Andy's new foster family. Natalie describes how they can each rotate their time to take the imp on various types of outings - but Beverly Ann points out that since Blair and Jo are graduating from college soon, they might soon decide 'enough already with the four of us living under the same roof with a housemother replacement' and finally - finally! - go their separate ways and live life as emotionally independent adults. She says that what Andy needs is a devoted parent who can look after him permanently...then looks as though she just stumbled upon a brilliant idea when she adds, "Like me, for instance." When Andy returns from the bathroom, she kneels at his couch bedside to humbly declare her love for him and that she wants to adopt him...and when he's like, "You do?", she earnestly replies, "With all my heart" and gives him a motherly hug as the four Facts gals look on with heartfelt approval. Beverly Ann announces that she has contacted the child welfare agency, and, in the meantime, is slogging her way through the mountainous paperwork. Andy, meanwhile, is shovelling sugar into his bowl of cereal and ignoring Beverly Ann's suggestion that he brush his teeth before going to school. When Natalie gets ready to head off to her dead end restaurant job, Beverly Ann laments how awkward things have suddenly gotten between herself and Andy...so Natalie reminds her that she too was adopted and advises Beverly Ann to just dive right into the job of parenting the urchin. Beverly Ann frets about doing a good job, but insists that she's A-OK about making this ginormous change in her life 'cause of how much she looooves Andy. Blair has a sock puppet on one hand as she practices her ventriloquist skills, and an irritated Jo tells her to go away 'cause she's busy writing yearbook captions for all the graduating Langley seniors. Blair takes a look at the photo of herself that Jo has selected for publication, deems it less than spectacular, and begs Jo to replace it with a better one - but Jo's just like, "Go away" and denies her request. Tootie tells Blair she likes having Andy around (like, more than usual), and Blair concurs and says she hates the thought of him being sent to a shitty group home. She then gazes at her sock puppet and begins singing Tomorrow. Beverly Ann returns home and worriedly says that Andy wasn't at the school when she went to pick him up...and a few seconds later, he saunters into the room. She asks him where he's been all afternoon and what he was doing and with whom, and he offers no details, except to cryptically tell her he was "doing stuff" with "some guys". After Beverly Ann rushes off to get Andy the junk food dinner he requested, Tootie admonishes him for acting like a spoiled brat who could be throwing away the chance to have a permanent ma. Andy guffaws and says he doesn't believe that'll actually happen, not least 'cause every time he's been up for adoption something invariably goes wrong. Tootie insists that this time things will work out - but when she's pressed by Andy to make her swear that she can guarantee that, she falls silent. Beverly Ann is nervously pacing the living room in advance of the social worker's visit when Jay Johnson drops by to bring Blair a Jo look-alike puppet with which she can torment her non-hetero crush. Blair uses her ventriloquist skills to mimic Jo and then blackmail her into using a more flattering yearbook photo in exchange for not performing this puppet act in front of the student union..and Jo's like, "Deal." The social worker, Dorothy Newell, arrives to assess Andy's prospective ma and living arrangement. She's unimpressed to learn that the residence houses four adult women living together as roommates, and that Beverly Ann is a divorced, un-remarried woman. She excuses Andy from the room...and once he's out of hearing range, she tells Beverly Ann she highly doubts that this adoption is going to work out. The Facts gals are all, "Whoa lady!" and do their best to praise Beverly Ann and give testimonial as to what a great parent she'd make. A few seconds later, Andy scampers down the stairs and says he's off to hang out elsewhere...and that since she probably won't be allowed to adopt him, he really doesn't give a rat's ass that he hasn't yet finished his homework. Beverly Ann gets visibly irked and makes it clear that, regardless of the outcome of this assessment, he's to get his tiny hiney back upstairs to finish his homework...and when he hangs his head in shame and squeaks, "Yes ma'am", Dorothy Newell looks impressed at Beverly Ann's tough love parenting approach and promises to reverse the opinion she had less than a minute ago and write up a strong recommendation that she be given the green light to adopt Andy. As soon as she leaves, an elated Andy scampers back into the room to hug Beverly Ann and gush about how he now believes that an adoption will for sure, absolutely, truly happen this time. Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
5 Comments
Kyle
10/19/2022 02:44:21 pm
Why doesn’t Andy go live with the grandmother who plagiarized Natalie’s story a few episodes ago?
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Sean
10/19/2022 05:03:54 pm
They probably didn't think they'd get a 9th season.
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Francis Stanko
10/20/2022 06:30:43 am
And if I remember correctly, Andy becomes one of the new male students at Eastland in the last episode. Your guess is as good as mine what his school situation is like as of this episode.
Trey
10/31/2022 01:47:50 pm
It took me a while but I finally realized why this happened. They finally realized that having Beverly Ann take care of the girls even though they were grown didn't make sense, so they had her adopt the one member of the cast who was still a child - Andy.
Reply
Jojo
11/1/2022 04:29:59 pm
I loved when Blair sang "Tomorrow" with the sock puppet and later conned Jo with her lookalike puppet!
Reply
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