Recap: Pippa returns home after a shopping trip with Blair and explains to Beverly Ann that she's not at band tryouts as expected 'cause the entire music program at Eastland is getting scrapped due to lack of funds [laying the groundwork for Eastland's imminent bankruptcy]. She laments not having the opportunity to join band, 'cause it's something that the cool kids do [unlike in any high school I've ever heard of], and Jo points out that since she's friends with her and the rest of the Facts gals, she's automatically cool by association. A deliveryman arrives to drop off a bouquet of flowers to Jo, aka Sex Goddess...and Jo tells the deliveryman that they're from her husband, who can be a real prankster. The deliveryman's like, "Hey, don't sell yourself short" ... but then goes on to say that she wouldn't look half bad if she tamed her unruly mullet and wore less frumpy clothes. LOL - but fair point. Jeff arrives at the house...and after he and Tootie suck face for what seems like an extraordinarily looooong time, he hands her a wrapped gift and tells her it's from his (well to do) grandmother in Buffalo, aka a tough old bird who insists on being called Grandmother Rogers. Tootie gushes about how touched she is that his grandmother would give her a gift, then opens the box and pulls out an unsightly, ginormous pendant heirloom necklace. Tootie looks taken aback by the tackiness of the heavy piece and delicately tells Jeff she doesn't know what to say...and after Blair remarks on how it resembles something that's used to anchor her family's yacht - LOL - Jeff blurts out, "How about: 'that sucker's ugly'?" and assures her that she only needs to wear it whenever they go to Buffalo to visit Grandmother Rogers. Tootie says she's kind of OK with that compromise, then tells him she'd like to thank her future grandmother-in-law for her thoughtfulness, so he picks up the phone and dials her number...and when Tootie starts chatting with the old lady, she's somewhat aghast to learn that she plans to be in Peekskill this weekend.
Pippa asks Andy to give her the straight dope about how well she's fitting in at Eastland (turns out, not), then asks him how she can get an in with the cool kids. Andy advises her to throw an outrageous party (with him in attendance, naturally), and shares that Saturday night will be the perfect time to do it 'cause Beverly Ann and the Facts gals all have plans that'll take them outside the house for much of the evening. On Saturday, Andy arrives home with a big bagful of party supplies, and Pippa shoos him to the kitchen - just as Beverly Ann enters the living room to announce that she's off to wherever she's going for several hours. After that, Blair, Natalie, and Jo head out to a Moroccan restaurant that Natalie's reviewing for The Peekskill Register...and a few seconds later, Jeff arrives to pick up Tootie for a date. He tells her that Grandmother Rogers' flight was delayed due to foggy conditions at the Buffalo airport, which means that she gets a reprieve (until tomorrow) from having to wear her new ginormous pendant necklace. Tootie's all, "Phew!" and hastily takes it off and puts it into the nearest desk drawer...and once they leave for their dinner date, Pippa gets into party mode by turning the stereo on, while Andy lays out the snacks. As the teenage partygoers arrive, one snooty it girl urges Pippa to glitz up her outfit, so Pippa decides 'why not accessorize my poofy '80s dress with Tootie's tacky pendant necklace?' and fishes it out of the desk drawer. She then spends the majority of the evening nervously trying to manage the party, which entails preventing a cigarette smoker from lighting up, and chasing a group of kids, in the process of making mixed drinks, out of the kitchen. She openly regrets throwing this party and begins urging people to leave - just as Blair, Jo, and Natalie return home unexpectedly early from the Moroccan restaurant. When Pippa wails about how she can't get the partygoers to go home, Jo picks up a tray and a large utensil and bangs on it while loudly ordering everyone to get the hell outa her house. Once the kids have all exited, Andy stumbles into the room wrapped in a blanket and fake sleepily tells Pippa to keep it down next time she has friends over. Pippa rips off the blanket, unwittingly creating a spectacle of him clad in just his underwear, to which the studio audience [consisting of, I'm guessing, mostly pre-pubescent girls] reacts by wooting excitedly at his tiny undeveloped pecs. When she points out that Andy has lipstick all over his cheek from making out in the closet with one of the partygoers, he sheepishly confesses his role in the party planning and agrees to help clean up the house. It's at that point that Pippa suddenly realizes that the pendant from the tacky necklace she "borrowed" from Tootie is no longer around her neck and cries, "Crikey! It's gone!" Egads! The following morning, Pippa is still unable to find the pendant and steels herself to admit her misdeeds to the rest of her housemates. When Beverly Ann hears her confession, she reacts by nonchalantly fixing herself a bowl of cereal and calmly saying that there's no point in punishing her, since, "By the time Tootie's done with you, there won't be anything left to punish." A few seconds later, Tootie enters the kitchen and says she can't seem to find the hideous pendant necklace she's going to need to wear when she meets Grandmother Rogers later, and Pippa confesses to having a party last night and decided to glitz up her look by wearing the pendant necklace, which has been MIA since last night. An enraged Tootie growls, "How daaaaaaare you take something of mine without asking!" and Beverly Ann coos at her to calm down and have some breakfast, 'cause she's certain that once they start searching the house thoroughly, eventually they're going to stumble across the grisly thing. Tootie takes her advice and turns on the blender to make her morning smoothie - but when it makes a weird grinding noise, she suddenly discovers exactly where her pendant necklace ended up. When she pulls a chunk of the broken piece of jewelry out of the blender and stares at it with a look of panicked horror, Beverly Ann chuckles, "I told you we'd find it." LOL.
Jo tries to fix the pendant with glue, but merely accomplishes gluing her fingers together. Blair, meanwhile, attempts to solve the problem by handing Tootie a less tacky pendant necklace to wear - but Tootie doubts that Grandmother Rogers is going to accept a substitute for the original and suggests going with Plan C: pretend as if their house got robbed last night and the fugly pendant necklace was the only thing the thieves made off with. Jeff arrives at the house and introduces Grandmother Rogers to Natalie when she answers the door, and the old lady scrunches her face disapprovingly as she says, "I certainly hope you're not the fiancée." Jeff assures her she's not, then steers her to where Tootie is standing and introduces her. Grandmother Rogers snarls, "What kind of name is Tootie?", then asks if that's the name of the dog on The Wizard of Oz. Toto - I mean Tootie prompts Jo to execute Plan C, but Jo and the rest of the Facts gals respond by wisely beating a hasty retreat. Tootie politely asks Grandmother Rogers how the flight, food, and in-flight movie were, and she's like, "Awful, awful, and there is no movie on short flights", then chides her grandson for hooking up with such a clueless dumbbell. She asks Tootie why she isn't wearing the pendant she gave her, so Tootie 'fesses up and informs her and Jeff that it accidentally got churned up in the blender. Grandmother Rogers looks deeply upset by that news, then moans as she slumps against the couch cushions...and when a concerned Jeff asks her if she's OK, she snappishly retorts that he'd better hope she's dying, 'cause once she regains consciousness she's going to hit him with something heavy. Tootie apologizes profusely for the mishap and begs for her forgiveness, but Grandmother Rogers reacts to that by telling her grandson that it's prolly a good thing this happened, 'cause otherwise he might have made the mistake of thinking that this careless woman was acceptable wife material. She then gets up from the couch and orders Jefferson to come along, and he meekly obeys while covertly promising Tootie that he'll call her later.
In the communal bedroom, Tootie rails about Grandmother Rogers' hatred of her 'cause of what happened to the pendant. Jo points out that her dad hated Rick with the intensity of a thousand suns until he quickly came around before the end credits rolled - but Blair points out that, in this case, Jeff is being forced to choose between love and money...then offers her condolences to Tootie. Pippa enters the room and offers to take full responsibility for what happened to the pendant, but Tootie declines and says that she's going to need to confront Grandmother Rogers herself and not let the crusty old grumpy-pants run roughshod over her relationship with Jeff. The next morning, Jeff and Grandmother Rogers drop by for visit #2 - just as Natalie announces that she's off to file her restaurant review with The Peekskill Register...and Blair and Jo hastily join her. Grandmother Rogers sternly tells Tootie she has something to say to her - but Tootie interrupts and says she first wants to get a couple of things off her chest:
Grandmother Rogers haughtily tells her that she came by this morning to apologize for her bitchitude yesterday...then dials back the haughtiness and adds that Jefferson should consider himself the luckiest man on earth if he marries such a strong-willed young woman. As Tootie brightens at the compliment, Grandmother Rogers gushes about what a fine wife she'll be to Jefferson, then stretches her arms wide as she welcomes her to the family. Tootie leans in for a hug and invites her to stay in Peekskill a little longer so that they can hang out and get to know each other better. Grandmother Rogers says she has a plane to catch, but is willing to take a later flight...and Jeff decides it's the perfect time to tell his overbearing grandmother that he really doesn't care for being called Jefferson. She responds to that quasi-criticism by shooting him the stink-eye and snappishly retorting, "Don't push it, son." Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
1 Comment
10/9/2023 02:55:15 pm
what was the name of the actress that played the girl Andy fell all over for and ended up kissing with her in the closet? Leave a Reply. |
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