| Wave Goodbye
Meredith's hook has gone missing, presumably as a prank by some student. She's visibly upset,
and Scott comes to her  aid
assuring
her that she is not a freak no matter what students or faculty may say.
In
classic Guber overreaction he calls for a school-wide lockdown until the
hook is found. Naturally Harper disagrees. The hook, found by Harvey,
is on display in a classroom protruding from the backside of a life-sized
caricature of Guber. (Who did it? We don't find out tonight.)
Guber storms out and stomps down to Meredith's class to accuse the
students there, immediately singling out seven suspects, informing them
that he'll get the person responsible. Tirade over Meredith
approaches Scott, uncertain if she's thankful for his standing up
for her or if she feels like he made a spectacle of the whole situation.
The couple visit their counselor, who tells them that there needs to be closure for the
hand situation: a funeral for the lost appendage. Guber invites Harper and
Meredith shyly asks Marla, both of whom agree to attend. The
services are held and Jeremy speaks the eulogy, telling of the tragedy of the severed
hand and how he and his mom are great friends now thanks to their therapy
sessions. At the silent urging of the counselor, Scott also speaks
telling
Meredith that she has friends there that she can count on.
Ronnie the Teacher/Lawyer
The parents of a 15-year-old girl come to the school to have
Marshall Fulton arrested for statutory rape. The  police
enter Ronnie's classroom, cuff Marshall, and take him away despite his
teacher's protests. Ronnie gets in Guber's face about it, telling him that the
student didn't need to be humiliated that way. She gets no answer
from the Vice Principal, so instead approaches Harper to plead the case:
an at-risk student, Marshall
has had a tough life and needs a chance. She gets permission to talk to the two kids
and learns that they love each other, that the girl gave her consent.
Ronnie agrees to fight for Marshall and meets with the girl's parents, who
continue to
push the rape case until Ronnie tells them she could possibly get Marshall acquitted.
Not to mention that it would be a potentially messy and very public court battle. The parents
relent as far as charging Marshall,
but the father (Steven Culp)
is furious and threatens to legally pursue Ronnie instead. In the end
Harry Senate comforts his distraught friend, saying that sometimes you have to do difficult things
to help kids. (He should know)
Family: it's all the Rave
Danny arrives for class and finds a party going on in
the stairwell, with music blaring and kids dancing throughout  the
hallway. As he shuts off the
music he finds a boy convulsing on the floor. After inquiring about
and dismissing possible medical conditions, Danny
finds out from the class that the boy had taken ecstasy. The
youngster is taken to the
hospital and nearly dies, but makes it through in the end. When the drug
tests come back Danny learns that the drug was not ecstasy, but PMA, a
drug 30 times stronger. He warns his class against social drug use,
stating that sometimes drugs are not what
they appear to be.
That night Brooke (China
Jesuita Shavers) goes to Rave where a girl offers her some ecstasy.
Shortly thereafter we see the
police  escorting Brooke into Harper's office. They car
she was in was stopped for running a light, and during a routine search a drug testing kit
was found. Harper asks his daughter if she takes drugs, but she
staunchly denies it, explaining that she bought the kit to protect her friends who
do use drugs after Danny Hanson told them how
to protect themselves from taking something other than ecstasy. Harper calls him on it, warning him
not to teach about drug paraphernalia, then asks his opinion on whether or
not Brooke might be using. Danny says no.
Harper's ex (Lynn
Whitfield) comes to school and
the two of them have a yelling match in the office. Brooke talks to
both of them and tells them how much she wishes they were together like a
normal family. They decide to have dinner as a family, and things
look good for the three of them as they enjoy an outing at a local skating
rink.
Three part Harmony
Louisa is still upset about the way Harper handled the
sex column issue and writes an apology to the students  and staff in the
newspaper. He is reluctant to accept the apology and asks her if
working as a secretary is really what she wants to do, if she is really
finding fulfillment in her job. Louisa thinks on this and decides that she
needs to do something for herself. As a kid she always wanted to
sing, so talks to Lauren and Marla about starting a band. Lauren
declines but suggests Marilyn might be interested. Marla, Louisa and Marilyn get
together and sound great when they practice. Their rendition of
"Lean on Me" (requires RealPlayer)
is beautiful!
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