Corky tries to mainstream into the 9th grade, the same grade as Becca. Becca worries that Corky may stop her from getting to the boy she really wants, Tyler Benchfield, a star on the football team. Corky dreams of being King at the homecoming dance with Ron Lieberman. Corky is accused of cheating off Rona's paper but it was exactly the opposite. Tyler introduces the Thatchers to his brother Donny, who also has Down's Syndrome. Doubts arise arise over whether Corky should indeed mainstream as opposed to going into a special-ed program, or a private school (which the Thatcher's can't afford). But at a serious parent-principle meeting, Corky dispels all doubts by reciting ""The Raven"", the famous Edgar Allan Poe poem. Sub-plot: For Libby's 40th birthday, Drew buys her a heart-shaped ring that they can't afford. Paige moves home.
Corky runs for freshman class president with the help of an unpopular, smart student,Lester Fishbein. He has a crush on Rona and really believes that Rona likes him as well. Rona encourages him to run and Corky doesn't realize she's just joking with him.
Corky gets a babysitting job; his classmates barge in at the house where he is babysitting. The intrusive folks include Tyler, who regrets the whole thing, and ""Russo"", who is basically a jerk/nemesis.
An episode showcasing the singing talents of Patti LuPone. A Tony winner for the musical ""Evita"", actually centers around Corky, for whom nothing seems to be going right. First, he has an accident in driver's ed. Moreover, he's not doing well in his remedial arithmetic class, and if he doesn't pass a minimum-competency test he won't be able to stay in the mainstream program. What really gets to Corky, though, is the uneasy feeling that his mom gave up a promising show-business career because he came along. As it happens, Libby has a chance for a comeback of sorts, at the community college's ""Autumn Follies"". She wants no part of it. And Corky doesn't want to take arithmetic tutoring with kids ten years younger than himself. But they work out a deal: he'll take the tutoring if she auditions for the show.
Becca falls for the lead singer (Gabe) in a neighborhood band. She stays out with Maxine to listen to the band past curfew. Gabe encourages her to stay late and she gets in trouble with her parents.
Drew sets up Paige with a charmer whose head is in the clouds; unfortunately his sense of responsibility seems to be mired in quicksand.
Paige's mom comes back. They have a great time, and make plans for a trip to New England. Paige's mom winds up living without Paige. A lot of flashbacks to when Paige's mom, an actress, originally left. Tearful ending with Paige calling Libby mom.
Drew works on a construction project at an Indian burial ground. A wolf who mysteriously gaurds the grounds saves Corky from Dobermans pursuing him in a nearby wooded area.
Corky tries out for the football team. The footbal coach hits a student, one of his former players, and all the team stands up for the coach except Corky who is compelled to tell the truth. The coach claims that he was hit first. He cuts Corky from the team, but later when the team comes out with truth as well, Corky is allowed to keep trying out.
A frustrated Drew decides to quit his construction job and go into the restaurant business; and he joins Libby in counseling a couple whose newborn daughter has Down's Syndrome. As it turns out in the end, the guy who owns the restaurant doesn't sell the restaurant to Drew because Corky has Down's. Also, we learn that the cook at his restaurant makes the best french fries.
Paige goes to work for a veteranarian who is very kind with suffering animals but kind of insufferable with humans. The vet is divorced and has a child. Meanwhile, Becca videotapes a hectic day in the life of her working mother.
Becca and Corky (in the same class somehow) do a classroom exercise in which paired students must pretend to be married for a week to investigate issues of marriage and family life. Becca is first paired with Lester Fishbein, then switches to Tyler. Neither works out terribly well. Corky, on the other hand, is paired with the new girl (Shannon Dougherty of 90210), upon whom he develops a crush. She only has eyes for the ubiquitous Russo, though, and Corky has to make peace with only being a friend. Meanwhile, Libby's parents hole up at the Thatchers' to continue their love feud. There's a great scene in which Sal Giordano encourages Corky that the right girl is out there.
At the high school football reunion, Drew finally makes peace with his best friend after a falling out over a business deal that caused Drew to lose $10,000 after 10 years. Becca watches Paige who is with her vet boyfriend and then her ex (the motorcycle man) shows up and Paige has to choose between the 2 of them. Becca gets a crush on one of the football players sons until Tyler Benchfield shows up putting her in the same position as Paige.
Drew's younger brother Richard, a lovable family black sheep, breezes in at a time when Corky is beginning to wonder who'll look after him when his parents die. Drew and Richard don't get along, but needless to say, the kids love him. The culmination of Drew's mending relationship with Richard comes when Libby and Drew entrust the care of Corky to Richard if something were to happen to them.
The Special Olympics, a time for warmhearted competition and fun, also bring love to Corky and a challenge to Tyler, whose father won't permit Tyler's Down-syndrome brother to participate.
At 18, Corky wants out from under his parents' wings-- even if it just means taking the bus to school. Unfortunately, he ends up with the bad crowd. The height of this episode comes when ""bad boy"" Corky auditions for the community talent show with a hip-hop dance routine to "" Fight the Power"" from ""Do the Right Thing"", the Spike's Lee film. Eventually, after the rough kids with whom he's been hanging out turn on him, he mends his ways and does a tap dance routine with Becca (their ""standard"" act) in the show instead.
Becca enters a Miss Teen contest and finds out that she is sharing a room with none other than Rona Lieberman. Scholarship money is at stake in this pageant. Becca gets know Rona a little better after Rona's mother shows up at the pageant drunk and makes a fool of Rona during her piano performance. Drew has problems with the new neighbors because their son has a band and plays loud music. Corky tries out for chorus but doesn't make it because he can't sing. Later the neighbor boy gives Corky his old set of drums and Corky seems to be quite talented at playing them. Drew and the neighbors make peace.
Drew finally gets a chance to own his own restaurant, but it's Corky who brings home the bacon: a huge runaway porker that hogs Corky's affections. Corkt adopted it to fill the void of Paige's leaving ( so this must be when Monique Lanier left the show). How Drew got the restaurant bears discussion. In ""Ordinary Heros"", he tried to but it, but when the brother's who owned it discovered that Corky had Down's, one of them got cold feet about what that would do for business. Then the writers decided instead on the fact that Drew can't get the loan approved to buy the place. When the owner of the pig ( which Corky named ""Jeffrey"", even though it was a girl) finally is reunited with the animal, he mentions something about liking restaurants but having no time to run them. Drew sees his shot and goes for it-- cut to the Grand Opening of the Glen Brook Grill, with cameos by all the friends of the family from previous episodes.
As a reporter for an underground newspaper, Becca zealously pens an expose of the school janitor's criminal past for the that's the truth- but not the whole truth. The janitor's name was Kominsky. He had a minor criminal infraction years ago when he broke into a house to steal money to feed himself and his wife. Becca reports on this, but never interviews Kominsky for his side of the story. The scandel breaks, and Becca realizes the irresponsibility of her actions ( although she was pushed into it by the pretentios paper editor, who also asked her out on a date). She apologizes to Kominsky and publishes a retraction in the legit school paper. Kominsky gets a job at the Grill.
Becca's aged dance teacher (Viveca Lindfors) must enter a nursing home.
Drew is sure that his father, who stops by on his way to join the Peace Corps in the Solomon Islands, isn't telling them the whole story.
Becca finally gets asked to the dance by Tyler. Only had already accepted an invitation with someone else. She breaks it off with the first guy, but then feels guilty and dances with him or something.
The Thatchers win a problem-plagued church raffle trip to Hawaii.
While in Hawaii, Corky goes dolphin-riding and Becca falls for a surfer. (Part 2 of 2)
Libby discovers she's expecting again, and the family fears the consequences of a pregnancy at her age.
Rona and Tyler break up because Rona lied to him and went to a frat party. Becca becomes manager of Tyler's band and sets up a gig for them at the opening of the new mall with the prerequisite that there has to be a female singer in the band. Tyler asks Becca nad she agrees. At the last minute she backs out and asks a friend to do it and Tyler ends up leaving with Becca's friend, leaving the Bec depressed. Also, Libby is offered a chance to leave the restaurant and return to her old high-pressure, but higher-paying job.
Drew decides to turn the back room of the restaurant into a banquet room in hopes of bringing in more money. He gets funding from Farmer Jack on the condition that Drew use his son (Teddy) as a worker. Drew agrees. Drew and the kid develop a father/son like relationship. Corky is jealous and tries to help but causes more damage than good, which Drew blames on Teddy until Corky tells him the truth. Meanwhile, Libby, back at her old job tries to dig up a canine star for a gourmet dog-food commercial.
Halloween scares up a bad time for all: Libby and Drew at Jerry's big party, Corky at the school masquerade, and Becca who is home alone. The horror movies she's watching start to get to her. The lights go out, an intruder breaks in- it turns out to be Tyler. Confusion abounds.
Becca dreams about figure skating with a man. She wakes up with the chicken pox and has to stay home sick. Tyler comes to visit her several times to tell her about his problems with Rona. He and Becca become closer until Rona shows up ( just when they're about to kiss!)and steals him back from her. Meanwhile, Drew hires a waitress at the grill and comes down with the pox. Corky also gets sick and thinks that Becca got him sick on purpose. Paige's boyfrind (the vet) has gone to a conference and then will be moving back home to take over his father's practice. She wants Libby to go to a spa with her that weekend and think about going with him. The decision is made for her when she finds out the vet wants to get married to a another woman. After all 3 Thatcher's get over the pox, Libby comes down with a nervous rash from all her stress and is bed-ridden for the weekend and left to fend for herself.
Becca gets a crush on a French student and Maxi with this French guy's friend. They have high hope of getting in with this ""mature"" crowd. She and Maxi go to a bar with these boys and Maxi gets drunk. Becca tells her mom the next morning to get some help for Maxi's hangover. Becca's mom ends up telling Maxi's mother what happened after giving her word to Becca that it was just between them. Becca and Maxi get into a fight and Maxi is in with the mature crowd. Becca ditches school and gets grounded but has to go out that night when she recieves a call from Maxi because one of these guys had left her stranded. She gets caught sneaking back in the house. Side plot: A lady is choking in the restaurant, Corky runs to get Drew who gives the lady the Heimlich maneuver and the two of them become heros. Later the lady sues Drew for $ 25,000 because supposedly he broke one of her ribs.
Corky pictures the family at the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving; Drew, opening the restaurant for the holiday, meets an old classmate who is homeless.
Tension between Becca and Drew isn't helped by the arrival of Libby's sister Gina (Mary Page Keller) and neice Zoe ( Leigh Ann Orsi).
A fun-loving old buddy brightens up Drew's life, but the man has a shady side. Meanwhile, Becca and Zoe squabble over room sharing.
Corky resolves to enter a 50k bike race despite his father's objections, and makes friends with another biker who is epileptic. He bought a brand-spanking new bike from a guy in the bike store who had a crush on Paige. The bike was stolen, and Zoe, seeing Corky's heartbreak, stole him an almost identical one. The truth wins out, though, and all gets cleared up in the end.
Cupid is shooting arrows at almost everyone. First Hans gets a crush on a lady that delivers newspapers whose husband just died. Kent, Paige's motorcycle man returns and aings ""Wild Thing"" to her at the Grill and they get back together. Becca has to dissect a frog in biology and her partner is a boy named Matt. They have an up and down relationship but still end up together rather than as friends. Tyler catches them smooching in the hall and becomes jealous. He sneaks into Becca's room that night and proclaims his feelings to her only to find out that it is Zoe he is talking to...Becca is out with Matt. Jerry develops a crush on Gina and they go out on a date provided that only the human part of Jerry is allowed on the date and if Jerry shows up, the date is over.
Gina despairs when nothing she does is right in the eye of her mother, and Corky despairs when his special-ed substitute suddenly takes leave.
Becca organizes a '60s-style protest in support of a record store owner (Quincy Jones) arrested for selling allegedly obscene material. She begins having nightmares of ""Thought Police"" (censorship cops) storming through Glenn Brook.
Becca does a double flip over her gymnastics coach-as does Gina over a handyman (Michael St. Gerard) several years her junior.
Corky gets lost and wanders around the mean streets of Chicago. He meets a kindhearted, young hooker who gives him his first sexual experience-essentially a few long kisses. ( The episode is intentionally vague over whether they went further.) Corky is shadowed (and mystically guided) throughout the evening by a semi-mythic blues singer, the great Leon Redbone. Becca and Tyler spend a rainy, frustrated evening driving around Chicago looking for Corky, and end up smooching in the car. This episode was filmed mostly in black and white.
Drew confronts his feelings about them having yet another child. He comes through in the end when another woman goes into labor early. Becca makes muck over athlete's unearned grades-only to muddy herself.
Drew is having doubts about the restaurant and keeps having conversations with his Grandfather. I think in the end he decides on the new look for the restaurant.
Corky befriends an older man with Down Syndrome who leads a kind of life that Corky would like to lead.
Libby cooks up a great ad for a line of diet frozen foods; Corky and Zoe paly Sherlock Holmes and snoop into Tyler's furtive behavior.
Expectations run high as Becca awaits Tyler's invitation to the prom, and Libby expects her baby. Patti Lupone sings ""More Than You Know"".
The Thatcher's toast a third season by reopening their renovated grill, but their dreams go up in smoke. Corky is given more responsibility at the grill, specifically, cooking french fries. When they close one evening, he turns the fryers off, or so he thinkd, but in actuality, he turned the fryers up as high as they go, which was the cause of the fire. He finally tells Drew that he was the cause of the fire at the end of the episode.
The Thatcher's rise from the ashes of the restaurant: exchange student Becca prepares to take wings for Paris; Paige and Corky go hunting for jobs.
Corky is nearly swamped when he tries to help Tyler's younger brother, who also has Down Syndrome, mainstream at Marshall High.
New roles with Libby as the primary bread-winner and Drew as the homemaker, create new friction in their marriage.
At 16, Becca retains her innocence-but maybe not for long. Throughout this episode Becca records herself and her birthday party on camcorder for Maxi, who is in Paris. When Corky buys Becca a great looking jacket for her birthday, it is with the new-found power of a checking account. Unfortunately, some bad kids at school find out that Corky has checks and fool him into giving them a $100 check to join the fictitional ""Plebian Club"". At the end, Becca is in front of the camcorder again with a robe on, then opens it to reveal her negligee ( which Maxi sent her as a birthday gift), asking, ""Is this hot or what?""
Becca is devastated to learn that Jesse has tested HIV-positive, and during a scuffle between him and Tyler, she blurts out in front of everyone that he has AIDS.
Libby's vivacious cousin Gaby ( also played by Patti Lupone) breezes in from Sicily like a whirlwind, touching everyone's lives-and turning Libby green with envy.
Corky imagines that his family is turning into Venusians after seeing a B-movie called ""Body Snatchers From Venus"". At this time, Paige is learning to be a welder (in Corky's nightmare, she builds a spaceship.)Paige and Becca have a falling out over a malfunctioning answering machine ( in his nightmare, this machine is a LONG- distance communicator).Drew is trying to go on a new diet-and-exercise regimen (when he says to a friend that some new exercise machine ""will make you a new man"", Corky freaks). Becca is appling for college ( the Illinois State University representative calls and says he wants to make Becca ""one of us"", which Corky overhears). After noting that Venusians don't like dairy products or other abnt-acidic material, Corky attacks the family with baking soda and milk.
The thatcher household is burglarized. Suspicions center on an Africa-American welder named Marquis ( another aquaintance of Paige's, he taught her how to weld.) Drew and Libby debate over whether having a gun is the best thing to do. Corky and Arnold are alone watching (what else, a cop show) when Corky hears sounds from outside. He gets the gun, goes outside in that sneaky cop fashion (emulating the show) and fires. Turns out Marquis was returning something, and the family realizes how much they overreacted.
Corky takes a tumble for the new assistant manager; Becca is torn between Tyler and Jesse: Tyler says that he isn't over her; Becca can't break the news to him because deep inside, she wants to commit to Jesse. Becca helps Jesse search for the girl who infected him with HIV; when they come to the house where she lived, Becca learns that the girl has already died. Becca reveals how she feels about Jesse to him during a very low point in the cemetary.
Christmas brings anxieties to all, but most of all to Becca, who fears the worst when Jesse is hospitalized with pneumocystis pneumonia.
The thatcher house is struck by lightening. As a result, Corky predicts the future, Arnold the semi-wonder dog runs away, Becca gets a major static problem in her hair, Drew becomes attracted to another woman, and Paige enchants the boss's son, Kenny Stollmark Jr. Nothing returns to normal until lightening strikes the house again.
Jerry's dad shows up at the ad agency, and starts pushing Jerry around, so Jerry quits and starts to help ""run"" the grill, much to Drew's annoyance. Drew has decided that Corky and he should be closer and that Corky should inherit the grill, so he asks him to work with him at the grill. Corky quits his job at the theatre and helps his dad out. During a converstion with Jerry, Jerry tells him to lead his own life and stop letting his dad make his decisions, a reflection on Jerry's own situation. Corky quits the grill, but finds that his job at the theatre has been given to another guy (a real jerk). Drew persuades the theatre owner to let Corky be the apprentice projectionist. Meanwhile, Jerry's dad dies and Jerry and Corky go to the funeral. Jerry loses his keys in the snow and breaks down in tears. Corky comforts him.
Becca, Libby, and Paige have entered the ""man zone"". They tear down a wall in the Thatcher house to reveal another room, which is then redone (mainly by Paige) to be baby Nick's new room. Momentos from the old room lead to flashback-type scenes that reveal the changing roles of women in American society: Jesse and Becca as 60's hippies, Libby becoming a 50's Avon lady (with the Thatcher's as a 50's family), et al. Libby decides to leave Jerry's advertising firm to deal full-time with Nick. Paige discovers her true calling after finishing Nick's room-- she also wants to be a builder.
It's just a graffiti-covered wall that the students are ordered to repaint, but it becomes a symbol of the future for Jesse, who's awaiting his medical test results. Meanwhile Corky feels that finders should be keepers when he finds an abandoned baby in the theatre.
Jesse gets hired to work as a waiter at Drew's place, but declining patronage forces Drew to let him go. They become real close because they share a love of the blues, so Jesse is upset when Drew tells him of his decision. In the end, Drew offers the job again, but Jesse declines.
Libby writes a fairy tale about Corky, and Corky enters it in a contest. Libby then gets an offer to get it printed as a children's book, but in a rewritten form. Libby turns down the offer, staying true to the story which has so much to do with Corky. (Becca doesn't like this because she would have wanted the money for college.) At the beginning of each act in this episode there is fancy narration and illustration which fades into the scene in "" real life"". There was also a subplot with Paige, Michael and Kenny.
Inspired by her grandparents' upcoming 50th wedding anniversary, Becca proposes to Jesse, and he agrees! But then they think twice. Part of the problem with Jesse and Becca is that one of the guys at the hospice is about to die from AIDS. This guy doesn't want to have any thing to do with his wife- doesn't want her to see him in the pain he's in, etc. Jesse does the same thing to Becca and breaks things off completely, saying she doesn't know what she's in for, and she should live a normal life. The man dies and Jesse talks to his wife, who makes him realize that maybe Becca can handle this. Becca is also worried about handling it, but Libby tells her about finding the strength to raise Corky. They get back together, but marriage is put off. Subplot: Kenny wants Paige to marry him, but Paige isn't so sure. What's more, a remark he makes about Corky ticks her off. Michael acts as psychiatric help.
Romance blossoms between Corky and a girl with Down Syndrome (palyed by Andrea Friedman who has Down's), but it's nipped in the bud by her parents. Corky and Amanda first meet when Drew runs his truck into the back of Amanda's car. Meanwhile, Jerry sponsors Becca in a need-based scholarship contest, and Becca doesn't now it's need-based until the day before a banquet she's supposed to speak at.
Drew and Libby leave the kids to watch over the house. Becca and Jesse decide to have a party there. Then Tyler and some college frat buttheads crash it and take over the house. Meanwhile Michael Romanov, a suitor of Paige's ( they met at that Steelworks where Paige learned to weld) crashes a stuffy gathering at the country club where she, Kenny and Kenny's parents are. Becca kicks a drunk Tyler out, saying she cannot be friends with him anymore, and he goes to drive off. Corky tries to stop him from driving drunk, but cannot get him to hand over those car keys, so they drive off together. They crash into a tree, leaving Tyler near death and Corky mute with a broken arm. Paige returns with Kenny from the country club disaster to one at home. Kenny proposes to her, but when she hears the awful noise from the house, she goes in and helps break up the chaos. Drew and Libby return, find one last drunk who tells them where their children are, then go off to the hospital. At the hospital, Pa
Corky, somehow rendered mute by the accident, does not speak up until Becca bears her soul to him. Then Corky says that Tyler tried to swerve around a boy on a bike. Becca still feels guilty over Tyler's death as she and Jesse place flowers at Tyler's grave. Also, Paige and Michael get locked in a refrigerated room for wedding cake storage ( she was looking for a cake for her and Kenny' wedding.)
Paige has a great heart-to-heart with Drew about her upcoming marriage with Kenny. Drew takes matters into his own hands and convinces Michael to get Paige. Then behind both their backs, he hires Michale's band to play at the wedding. Paige and Kenny break up at the altar; Paige runs off with Michael instead. Corky proposes to Amanda. Jesse leaves for Arizona with his mom, but later comes back, saying that Becca is his family now.
A 40-something Becca (Pamela Bellwood) looks back on the summer of '92. ( In the future, Becca is now married and is a doctor.) Jesse returns, but the reunion is bittersweet. Through most of this episode, Becca is avoiding Jesse to be with her new friends who don't know Jesse is HIV+. They find out when Jesse comes over to their pool party (which he wasn't invited to). They invite him to join them, but he says he has to go to the hospice. Someone asks if he isn't afraid that he might get AIDS. Jesse then tells them that he is HIV+, then lectures Becca about the fact that she didn't tell them about him: there is no break form AIDS. This episode introduces new characters to complement the series star Kellie Martin: Kathy Goodman, an extreme extrovert who wants Becca to get a bigger slice of life; Harris Cassidy, the storytelling boss at the Nevermore Bookstore where Becca and Goodman work; and Eric, the bookstore manager.
Jesse paints a nude painting of Becca. (It is never determined if she posed nude or if the nudity was solely the product of Jesse's imagination.) Becca decides to let it be shown in the Nevermore Bookstore, and this leads to a nice scandal. Endless date proposals on her answering machine are just the tip of the iceberg. See, Drew buys his paper there, and when he sees his daughter's voluptuous body immortalized in paint, he goes nuts, even lecturing Becca at school loudly enough for Becca's French class to hear. Drew tries to buy the painting from Harris, but Harris refuses. Drew, Corky, and Jesse conspire to steal the painting back, but get arrested. ( Corky was the mastermind, inspired by the Pink Panther Film Festival at the theatre.) In a subplot, poor Paige ( still hurting over her breakup with the Crown Prince of Irresponsibility Romanov) shows Becca and Libby a cubist tatoo of MIchael on her shoulder. Now, back at the police station, Harris bails out the three art bandits after
Corky and Amanda's ""trial marriage"" gets off to a rocky start. ( or crunchy, as in the crunchy macaroni and cheese: they didn't boil the elbows long enough.) Interviews with couples who have Down Syndrome are interwoven throughout.
Paige fends off an attempted rape by Becca's poetry teacher ( Leigh J. McCloskey). But their accounts differ and Becca, at first, believe the teacher. Corky imagines that a calendar swimsuit model ( Shari Shattuck) has come to life, and this imaginary woman explains how men tend to see only the bodies of women, not what's inside. Libby confronts her memories of a rape during her high school days. Becca confronts the teacher when his story gets a few holes in it.
Becca and Co. find old World War II letters at the bookstore. (Martin, Smitrovich, and Burke read selected letters while they palyed, respectively, soldier's girlfriend working at a factory, a soldier working a machine gun in a trench, and another soldier reading a letter in a tent.) Eric gets cozy with Becca, and Jesse does the same with a woman from an art gallery named Jill. Becca returns the letters to the woman who wrote them. I think this is where Corky and Amanda got officially married.
Amanda's angry parents vow to annul her marriage to Corky and try to regain custody of Amanda. They then run off to a motel, further angering the Swanson's, not to mention their attorney. Amanda's father also falsely tells Corky that Amanda wanted the annulment. Meanwhile, Becca and Jesse are mad at each other. Becca can't come to Jesse's first show at the gallery beacuse of Corky and Amanda, and his recent growing involvement with Jill. Jesse is mad in part because the art show did not go well. Becca and Jill face off; Jill says Becca is too much in control, and acts like the only one who can take care of Jesse, but she'll back out anyway. Jesse talks with Corky about their ""honeymoon"" and Corky makes Jesse happier by interpreting one of his paintings as a window. In the end, the Thatchers and Swanson's go to court, but the judge let's Amanda make the final decision: She will live with Corky. They get Paige's old loft above the garage, while Paige decides to move out.
Becca, Goodman, Ray Nelson Jr., Jesse and two other students from their English class go on a weekend camping trip, chaperones by Harris. Things get bad when Becca gets sprayed by a skunk, knocks over a kerosene lantern, starting a fire at the barn where they are staying, and worse when they find a note from Harris saying they must fend for themselves. And then it rains! Becca also learns that she tends to want to be in control to much: With Jesse and with Goodman ( she went behind her back to try and get Goodman into high school). Goodman does return to school at the end.
Ray nominates Becca ( against her wishes) for Homecoming Queen; Goodman nominates a cow in protest of beauty pageants in general. The third contestant is a stuck-up cheerleader. Also, Artie (Paige's supervisor from the steelworks in season 3) and Paige redo the restaurant with a bovine motif. (They formed a partnership called Darlin' Construction, so called because Artie always calls Paige darlin'.)
The holidays take on a whole new meaning for Corky, who's celebrating his first Christmas as a married man-and now how the wishes of a wife and in-laws to consider.
Paige finds that she is carrying Michael's baby, and is at first delighted to know this. So's the whole family. But Michael comes back, and decides he does not want the baby. Paige is undecided on whether or not to abort, and Corky and Amanda want to adopt the baby. This all conviently ends with a miscarriage.
Gay-bashing skinheads beat up Jesse outside the AIDS hospice. Becca gets his blood on her hands after the beating. She gets tested and comes up negative, but has to get tested again in six months. ( This loose end was left untied, but it is generally assumed that she stayed negative.) Jesse draws a sketch of one of the skinheads, which is displayed at Drew's restautrant. It is trashed by the skinheads after one of them sees it at the cashier. Jesse sees one of them in a lineup as well but cannot, perhaps out of fear, pick him out.
In her quest to get Becca out of her shell, Goodman takes her and Jesse on a double date. But Jesse and Becca get pissed off as Goodman and her date, Norman Bates, get kinky at the table. Jesse and Becca decide to test the limits of their passions and try to have ""safe sex"". But their sleepover at his apartment is more like a slumber party, as Jesse keeps balking at going farther. Becca tells Drew and Libby about that night, that she slept in Jesse's arms, and they get pissed off. Drew tells Jesse that he's concerned the starcrossed couple will go too far. Subplots: Paige, not realizing how much of a need she has for Artie, becomes jealous of an acquaintance of his; Gradma Teresa stays over a night at the Thatchers' due to her husband breaking the furnace, then goes back because someone's gotta keep Granpa Sal's feet warm.
Shortly after his 18th birthday, a feverish Jesse collapses in extreme pain at school and is rushed, unconcious, to the hospital. Jesse's AIDS Related Complex has progressed to AIDS. He has dreams which highlight the show: Ray french-kissing Becca at Jesse's funeral, and one where a healthy Jesse and Becca have a toast in an idyllic setting and have really nice clothes on-While Jesse is sick, Ray takes Becca out. Jesse is unable to speak about AIDS to a class, so Becca reads what he wrote for this speech, and it breaks her heart, and Goodman comes over to finish for her.
Jesse's insurance runs out, and he gets transferred to County Hospital (which is like being transferred to the Recieving Hospital in Detroit!)Becca goes with him. Jesse nearly dies of AIDS-related cardiac arrest, and doctors apply the ol' shock therapy at-you guessed it-five to midnight. Becca discovers a haunting self-portrait of Jesse's that he doesn't remember painting. Jesse has a dream where he and Becca plan on going to Paris, but the taxicab stops at the hospital with a tab of $11.55- another interpretation of 11:55.
A fellow AIDS patient named Chester (Richard Frank) encourages Jesse to learn to live rather than give up and die. He holds game shows with the other patients, makes fun of the sugar-coated remarks doctors make every time a new patient comes in, and sings, too. Jesse objects to Becca's inclination not to go to Brown University, saying that he would be too much of a burden to her. Chester dies when he races Jesse on the hospital roof.
Becca and Jesse go to see the ocean, after Jesse says that i's something that he wants to do. Jesse is not exactly on top of the world, however, as he is jealous of Ray, who has been seeing Becca lately. During an arguement, they flash back a few Glen Brook weeks ( not from old episodes, but stuff that would have occurred during the course of other episodes). Ray bought them the plane tickets that they needed to get there. This episode shows the development of the relationship between Ray and Becca.
The series finale, it leaps 4 years into the future to see Becca and Jesse marry, and 10 years when Becca, now about 27 ( and still played by Kellie Martin) tells her son a story about what happened after graduating from high school. Corky doesn't graduate, but says, ""I'll be back."" Ray was the valedictorian of Becca's class. Jesse leaves for Europe, breaking Becca's heart, but returns four years later. It is not determined whether Becca's son was fathered by Jesse or not, but Becca expresses a desire to have Jesse's baby, saying that new treatments could make it possible. The question of who fathered this child is hard to answer as Becca says the final words of the series: "" I love you, Jesse.""
Commentary by Chris Burke and Series Creator Michael Braverman.
