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The hearing starts, and it doesn't really look very good. For some reason, Matthew from Newport Group had to talk to him, leaving nobody to really speak up for Marissa. We knew it was going to be tough with Taylor's mom on the board, and to make it worse, the president of the board, and the one who makes the final decision, is Judge Mercer, who hates Sandy from their courtroom days. Things start on a pretty good note. Taylor decides that she is going to defy her mom, and she shows up wearing a Free Marissa t-shirt, with a petition signed by almost the entire school, and both Julie and Dr. Roberts speak to Marissa's character. That's all well and good, but Judge Mercer says there was no precedent about reinstating people after violent behavior. Although students aren't allowed to speak, Ryan makes mention of the earlier precedent, but it looks like Judge Mercer won't budge. And then came Sandy!

The reason why Sandy was talking with Matthew is that Matthew knew a private investigator, and he had done a background check on Judge Mercer. He found that Judge Mercer had a son who was addicted to drugs, and was effectively disowned by the judge. Although this is the sort of leverage that Sandy needs, he is unsure how he is going to use it. In the end, he decides that if he can use the information to help Marissa, he has to try. Sandy is too nice to simply confront the judge and make a demand; so instead, he makes his case in simple terms. There is nobody in the room who thinks Marissa is a threat to anybody (apparently there wasn't any lawn furniture or laptops in the room), and shouldn't they be less concerned with making a point and instead worry about helping to right a wrong? In conclusion, it is so rare that anybody gets a second chance (although you could argue the first 60 or so episodes of this show would not agree with that statement), shouldn't they give that chance to Marissa?

Judge Mercer doesn't like it, and he knows that all that second chance talk Sandy has is trying to make him feel guilty, but he reinstates Marissa. Everybody is so happy! Well, Taylor is not that happy, because she probably needs a ride home now, but she may have some real friends now. And for some inexplicable reason, Johnny is there. I guess he wanted to see if Marissa got back into Harbor, apparently not content with such new technologies as "the telephone" or "waiting to see if she shows up to public school the next day." Not to worry though, because Ryan would later thank Johnny for doing the right thing.

But don't let those people get you down, almost everybody was happy. Among that information about Judge Mercer's son, Sandy's PI found his son, and brought him to a shelter. Judge Mercer would have a chance to reunite. As he's doing all of this, I kind of understand why Kirsten decided to put up with all of that annoying do-good attitude and the bagels all over the house when she married Sandy. When he's flexing his court skills, he is one sexy beast. The whole hearing was such a wonderful moment that people started becoming honest spontaneously. Julie told Marissa about living in a trailer park, and Dr. Roberts told Summer about his divorce. Neither girl seemed too concerned about the news. Marissa had been living with Summer for so long, and Summer hated her stepmom, so what's the big deal? The girls looked about as sad as a Detroit Lions fan after hearing about the death of Matt Millen (hey, that didn't really happen, so don't get your hopes up D-town).

Things are now officially back to normal. Marissa is back where she belongs, happily mingling with the rich and pampered. Although I don't think there was any doubt that Marissa would be back in school, I think this was a pretty good episode. Johnny's suckiness didn't bring down the whole episode, and I am glad that they found a way to give us more of that hot, hot, Taylor Townsend. It's not a very big secret that Caitlyn Cooper will be coming back next week. I think that it's great that we finally will get some answers as to why we haven't seen her for two years, although the jury is still out on how good her storyline will be. I mean, I hope there is more to her story than she is a slut who is hot for Johnny. But hey, if she doesn't work out, they can just send her to live with her dad.

What did you think of this episode? Were you happy to see Sandy in the courtroom? Excited to see Caitlyn come back? Waiting for Johnny to stop sucking?

"Hey!" Count: Episode - 28, Season - 254

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Posted by J-Unit on January 14, 2006 3:25 PM