Hi everyone, I hope your summer is treating you well. I’ve been mostly being a bum as it’s been extremely hot here lately, and I’m not a summer person at all. I’m counting the days until my lovely autumn comes back.
I was able to go on the Still Not Ready podcast again, where we reviewed Season 4’s Family Album which was much more fun to review with two other people haha. Go check out their podcast and take a listen, and I thank Britt and Amy again for having me on!
Anyway, I hope you guys all have your c.d. players ready with a copy of Vitamin C’s song Graduation (Friends Forever), because Amanda and Busy are about to graduate grade nine.
So this episode was the first episode I distinctly remember watching from Season 5 after Season 4 aired. I have no idea why, but when the show was doing it’s original airing, I thought Season 4 was the last season, so seeing this episode confused the hell out of me. Unlike all the other four seasons, I did not watch this season in order. That story really had no relevance, but I felt like sharing it. On with the review!
The episode opens with Amanda and Busy shopping at some store, probably Le Chateau. Amanda’s looking at some blue dress and saying Busy should try it on, because Milan prefers her in red. Busy rightfully makes a comment about that stupid remark, i.e. letting a dude dictate what you wear. Busy says she’s not getting a new dress and is going to wear her bride’s maids dress from Sheila and Manny’s wedding. UMMMMMMMM. Now it’s Amanda’s turn to be be like WTF at Busy’s thought process. We all remember what that dress looked like, and it would not look normal at any function other than a wedding, and even that was stretching it. The girl’s are dress shopping for their grade nine graduation, which for some reason is a thing.
Later on, Amanda’s having ice cream and talking to Phyllis about a party after the prom. The phone rings and their small talk is interrupted by Leonard calling.
Amanda picks up the phone, and Leonard asks how she is, and if she got the cash he sent her for a new dress. She said she did, and said she was going to send a note, so yeah, they’re definitely not talking other than through letters. Leonard tells her that he was going to pick her something, but the sales girl kept making faces at his selections, which Amanda coldly replies back she picks her own clothes now. The ice princess mode is still activated for her regarding her dad. Leonard is obviously trying to get Amanda to open up a bit to him, and talks about how when she was younger she ate some barf inducing ice cream flavour of orange and black licorice mixed with grape, and how Leonard almost heaved because she forced him to try it. Amanda kinda chuckles at the memory, and since her wall kinda came down, she invites him to her graduation on Friday.
The next day at school, Busy and Amanda are walking down the hall, and Busy is surprised that Amanda invited her dad. I just want to say, I really like how this show kept the consistency of having the girls wear the same outfits in numerous episodes. Amanda’s worn that red sweater vest quite a few times now, maybe red has replaced purple as her signature hue (thanks to Milan). Amanda says she hopes her parents don’t make a scene, and Busy is like calm down, they got all that domestic shit out of their systems, they will be fine. Amanda admits she’s missed her dad despite everything.
Monkey Ears pops out of nowhere and Amanda refers to him as “Monkey” even though it was THE LAST EPISODE she told people to call him Michael. Even ME corrects her here and says “Michael.” I guess now that Carla’s in the ground they don’t have to show him respect anymore. So he’s filming a video on everyone’s thoughts on graduation, and the girls clearly aren’t in the mood for it.
Amanda asks him why he can’t just do a speech like a regular class historian. Historian…. does she mean valedictorian? I’ve never heard of a class historian, and what would they even be archiving, unless they have one of those capsules that people will dig up 100 years later. Monkey Ears tells them to say any stupid shit, so Busy says that she has no clue what graduation means because they were literally at Dorsey for a year and she barely got to know anyone. She also mentions how change sucks and why do people enjoy graduation.
Amanda however still hasn’t given her thoughts, and Monkey Ears stops her, while Busy runs away. Amanda pivots the interview, and steals the camcorder from Monkey and asks him how he feels about leaving Dorsey. At first he acts a bit goofy, but then he gets serious and says he is still missing Carla a lot.
The next scene we see Busy and her parents walking towards the school for her graduation. She tells them not to cheer, and Sam says “I guess the Ramone banner is out.” Nice, I’m glad they ended up keeping the banner after their family reunion. A bunch of students, including Busy and Amanda, are lining up for graduation, but no one is wearing a cap and gown. But again, this is for grade nine so I doubt anyone wanted to put any real cost or effort into this ceremony. Amanda’s worried because she still hasn’t seen her dad and thinks he’s not going to show up. Busy tells her to calm down, because he’s obviously showing up. Like imagine if Leonard blew this off after all the bs he’s pulled?
Busy gets called as everyone is lining up in alphabetical order, so Amanda hauls her Zed last name to the end of the line. Just as she’s about to leave, we hear Leonard call her. She still feels awkward around him, but Leonard said he wanted to see her before she graduated. You can tell Leonard is very grateful that Amanda is slowly letting him back into her life. Honestly, the show did a pretty good presentation of this situation and how it might affect the kid. I’m glad they are making Amanda still be hesitant around her dad, but at the same time you can see she would like to forgive him.
So we don’t even get to see any of the grad ceremony, and the scene goes to some room in school, where everyone is celebrating and signing each other’s yearbooks. Sag is sucking out because they got his quote wrong, and it’s a pretty funny mistake.
Apparently it was supposed to say “Africa” not “Erica.” I feel like the yearbook person did that on purpose because they were over it with Sag.
I had to get a screenshot of Busy’s face with Sag ranting, because she’s making some hilarious facial expressions here.
Sag and Busy leave, and Monkey Ears comes up to Amanda and asks if she’s ready to say something to the camera. Just as she’s about to speak, we hear Sag bellowing in the background still about the Erica/Africa thing. Right as Amanda finishes up (we don’t even hear what she says), Ernie Lipnit comes out of nowhere and sprays Monkey Ears with silly string. The whole scene is extremely chaotic.
The next scene, we see Amanda and Busy taking a bunch of pictures with their families. We also hear that Lucy is now doing a Master’s Degree which is pretty awesome. I really love how the show fully continued her education storyline. While taking a picture, Amanda looks to the side and see’s that her dad is ducking out quietly. Way to ruin the shot, Amanda.
Amanda runs up to her dad and asks if he’s leaving. He says he should probably be going. Amanda invites him to a party at their loft later, which Leonard is hesitant to go to, but Amanda says she’d like him there. So it seems slowly but surely, their relationship is improving. I do have to also give Leonard props for respecting and not violating Amanda’s boundaries, he’s really giving her all the space she needs to deal with the situation, which is good.
The next scene we see Amanda at home getting food ready for the party. Stephen comes up to her and gives her a necklace as a grad gift. Now that he’s buttered Amanda up, he breaks out the big guns and asks her if it’s ok if he asks Phyllis to marry him. It’s actually a really nice scene, because Amanda gets really emotional, as she is worried her mom will get hurt again. But ultimately she gives her blessings to Stephen as she knows he’s a good man.
Later on, Phyllis comes into Amanda’s room to talk with her and tells her she’s proud of her. Amanda asks if it was ok she invited her dad to the party, and Phyllis says yes, it makes sense for him to be there. Amanda then asks if Phyllis ever misses him, and she says not really, because she’s got her sugar daddy Stephen now. But no, she says sometimes she misses their old life, but things are different now and she’s happy she got a second chance at love.
Busy’s family soon arrives to the house, and Stephen shows them around the loft, with Sam commenting on how it’s weird there are no walls lol. The loft looks dope though, I can’t even imagine how expensive that shit would be now vs the mid 90’s. Leonard arrives shortly after, and her parents are being cordial to one another, but you can tell Amanda is still uncomfortable with them being together in the same space, and tells Busy they should go get ready.
Amanda and Busy are putting on mascara, and Busy says the most 90’s thing in that, “why’s it good to have thick eyelashes, but not eyebrows?” Oh just wait another twenty five years Busy, and the caterpillar eyebrow trend will be in full force.
Amanda then says to Busy that she has no idea how her parents can just be ok with everything and just get over it all. Busy says maybe people wake up one day and it eventually happens, but Amanda says she’s not sure if she’ll ever be ok with how everything went. I really think Amanda should have ended up going to therapy for this situation, and I don’t mean that in a snarky way. It sounds like she won’t resolve her feelings around this situation anytime soon, and maybe talking to someone would be beneficial for her.
Amanda and Busy come out wearing their prom looks. Amanda’s hair is very reminiscent of the Sassy Sara episode, and I swear to God I saw a dress very similar to her’s back in the day, it looks extremely familiar to me. Busy’s dress is pretty meh IMO, but her hair and make up is cute.
Sam proposes a toast, saying that they are all really proud of them, and you can tell Busy’s graduation means something to him (beyond just a proud parent). Busy then says “Dad it’s not a big deal, any idiot can pass grade nine.” But you can tell by Sam’s expression, that he in fact did not pass grade nine.
Sam goes outside and Busy follows him. She asks if he’s ok, and thanks him for making the toast, and that she just felt embarrassed by all the attention. Sam say’s there is no reason to be be embarrassed from graduating, but rather from not graduating. He tells Busy he never got to finish school because he had to quit to help his family. Busy tells him he has nothing to be ashamed of, as he has his own business, a family and a grandkid on the way (also owns a house, but I guess back in the 90’s that was considered the norm). Anyway, they hug it out, and this minor issue is quickly resolved.
Milan shortly arrives as Amanda’s date, and then Sag, Monkey Ears and Ernie arrive all to take Busy. The episode ends with everyone watching the the video tape Monkey Ears made for graduation.
This episode was fine. I can definitely see the parallel’s the show tried to do between graduation and change/moving on, especially in regards to Amanda’s family drama. I did find it a bit odd that nothing about graduation was really featured in this episode though, we saw all the in between moments before the ceremony and the prom. It would’ve been fun to see the characters all at a prom. Why do I feel like Ernie Lipnit would’ve gotten shit faced and then ended up getting arrested.
Next episode, Busy and Frankie decide to open up a hot dog stand and have some competition that may have a sinister link to the Ramone family past. Until next time!
Ready or Not Reviewed! 