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The Secret Life of the American Teenager Thank You and Goodbye

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The Secret Life of the American Teenager Thank You and Goodbye

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Secret Life of the American Teenager
ABC Family
June 3, 2013

So, Readers, this is it. The series finale. Our previous episode ended with Ricky giving Amy one last out. One last chance to say that she doesn’t want to get married and get out of the whole thing. This episode begins with Amy packing some things in her parents’ old house. Her expression is thoughtful, and we shift into a flashback. She’s about to go to her first marching band halftime, during freshman year, when she decides to tell her parents something important. Before she can say anything, she gets a phone call…from Ben.

Back in the present, George sees her sitting at the dining room table and sits down with her. They reminisce about all the family dinners they had around their dining room table before everything went crazy and they moved their discussions into the kitchen. She remarks that graduation is going to be a lot of everyone having an opinion about whether or not she wants to marry Ricky, but George assures her that the only opinions she needs to worry about are her own and her family’s. He reminds her that she does have a family, regardless of whether she marries Ricky or not. The next five minutes are spent on another series of flashbacks, which spans the whole series and accounts the evolution of Amy’s relationship with and feelings for Ricky Underwood.

George goes home to Kathleen, to find her setting the table. She explains that she wanted to give him a nice surprise, and that she wants to get used to having family dinners since their family will soon be growing, with Grace’s impending marriage to Jack. Grace asks why Kathleen let her date Jack, and Kathleen reminds her that she did her best to keep Grace from doing that very thing. This launches another series of flashbacks.

Ben arrives at school late, missing their graduation rehearsal, because of a dental emergency. Amy fills him in on what they’ll need to do, and he asks her if she’s really getting married the next day. She just smiles at him and there are more flashbacks, this time of Amy and Ben. When we return to the present, they share a look, and neither of them look happy, this time.

Following the graduation ceremony, Lauren and Madison come up to Amy in the hall. They talk about how they wish they were going to the same school, and invite her to a party the next day. Amy reminds them that she’s doing a little thing like getting married the next day, so she doesn’t really want to go to a graduation party. She and Adrian and Grace all make up from when Adrian had her breakdown and told the guys all their secrets a few weeks ago. Since Adrian came with Ben, when she, Grace and Jack leave that leaves Ben alone with Amy and Ricky. He makes it clear that he still doubts their commitment to each other, but Ricky just congratulates him on graduating from high school.

Amy admits that she wishes that they could go back and redo high school, doing everything better this time, but it’s too late for that. It’s time to go. It’s time to move on. So they leave the school, the door closing behind them with a click.

More flashbacks, this time about Grace and her revolving door with abstinence.

Jack takes Grace home and leaves her to dance by herself. Adrian arrives home to an empty apartment and tries to convince herself that she’s happy alone, and that she doesn’t need to be in a relationship to be happy. She remembers all the mistakes she’s made for the sake of having a man, over the years. The only one who she was happy with was Omar. A knock on the door brings her back to the present and she quickly tidies up before answering. Omar comes inside to give her luggage…and ask her to go to New York with him right then. By this point, she regrets having let him go before and kisses him with a grin, accepting his offer.

We cut to Amy and Ricky. He shouts at her and they’re both crying. She’s calling off the wedding. She can’t go through with it. He tells her that he gave her every opportunity to get out of the wedding, but she insisted on their getting married. He hates her. She hates him. She tells him that he might love her, but he’s never been in love with her. He only wants to marry her because of John. What difference does that make, he asks? It makes all the difference in the world. They will call their family and friends and tell them that they’re not getting married. She’ll leave, John will stay with him. Ricky tells her that they have to be real friends to raise John separately, and she tells him that they are friends. That’s the problem. She wants them both to be madly in love when they get married. He asks her if she’s madly in love with Ben, and she can’t answer.

After her parents go back and forth a few times about whether she’s doing the right thing or not, she’s ready to go to the airport. She second guesses herself a few times and tries to justify her decision. Ultimately, she decides to go. Upstairs, we see Ricky reading his son a story. He finishes the book, saying “and she lived happily ever after…and so will we.”

So there we have it. This was probably the most sensibly handled episode of the whole series (though I do wish they’d spend less time on flashbacks and more on the actual story). We don’t get a clean ending, because life is not clean. We don’t find out if Amy will be with Ben because she doesn’t know herself. She’s confused and doesn’t know what she wants, but in the end…they’ll move forward with their lives. And they’ll be okay.

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The Secret Life of the American Teenager Caught in a Trap

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The Secret Life of the American Teenager Caught in a Trap

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Secret Life of the American Teenager
ABC Family
May 27, 2013

So as this episode opens, Amy finally admits the bitter truth: She is tired of being a mother and is only getting married so that she can know that John is cared for, and focus on herself for the most part. While she and Grace are talking, they notice Ben staring at her. He looks smug and walks off, and Alice (Ben’s friend, from way back since Season 1) comes up to tell her about the confession Ben made to her last week, that he hacked Amy’s computer and read her diary. Amy chases him down, tackles him to the ground, and forces a confession out of him.

After he explains what he did, she denies any truth in what she wrote. She says that whatever ambiguous text he read to think she still loved him, she was actually referring to Ricky. She assures him that she loves Ricky and is going to marry him, and he shouts after her not to do it. Ethan comes up to him and asks what’s wrong with him and why would he want to destroy a family and three lives. He claims that he’s trying to save three lives…because he’s kind of delusional. I hope he and Amy don’t end up being together. She should end up being single at the end of this show. That’s how it would work in the real world.

Jack’s mother goes to talk to him. She says that she has a graduation gift for Grace, since she’s going to be her daughter, one day. Then she…understates her conversation with Grace from a few episodes ago. Apparently she got her a watch, because time is ticking and they’ll be married soon. Subtle, Jack’s mother. Very subtle.

Omar stops by Adrian’s condo to get his things, and she demands her key back. She then gives him his things…wadded up and in trashbags. Since his belongings are mostly suits for work, this does nothing to soften his feelings toward her and he says that if there was any doubt in his mind, it’s gone now. He’s sure that he did the right thing, breaking up with her.

We cut to Grace, waiting for Jack at George’s restaurant. George proves that he’s a pretty good father and gives her some good advice – just because she doesn’t want to get married right away, it doesn’t mean she has to throw away her whole relationship. Jack arrives so they can be seated, and behind them come in Ben and Adrian. Apparently she called him and asked him to meet her there, because she needed to get out. As Grace and Jack walk by, she remarks that they’re going to be broken up sooner than later – they just don’t know how to do it. Same with Ricky and Amy, she says. Bed asks her if she’s still interested in Ricky, and she tells him that she doesn’t need to be with Ricky to get him out of Ben’s way, because Ricky’s going to end up being with his childhood friend Clementine anyway.

Ethan is supposed to babysit for Ricky and Amy, but instead of Kathy, a girl from school named Leila, who he plans to have sex with. Ricky and Amy are both outraged, so Ricky takes them both home and gives Ethan a lecture about having sex in high school. There are some statistics and Ricky encourages him to wait until after high school to have sex. Ethan refuses to promise that, and calls Ricky out on all the girls he slept with in high school. Then Ricky admits that he has no passion for Amy when he sleeps with her, only comfort. Ethan suggests that perhaps Ricky would be more passionate if he were really in love with Amy.

When Ethan gets home, he finds Kathy’s father waiting for him. He wants to give Kathy a surprise party, wherein he will present her to society as a woman, etc. etc. At the party Ethan will propose, and if she accepts then they will get married after high school. I was getting a bit uncomfortable watching this scene, but luckily he was just kidding. I like Kathy’s dad. He’s a funny guy. Instead, he wants to yell at Ethan for dumping Kathy to sleep with a girl who was bullying his daughter. He instructs Ethan to fix this problem and soon. He calls her and apologizes. She’s indignant and ends up with a very uncomfortable and PSA-like conversation on human trafficking and prostitution. It’s…kind of weird… True. Informative. But weird, since it’s kind of out of nowhere.

Jack and Ben are both told by the police to stay where they are, as they try to leave. A couple weeks ago, we saw Chloe call her former pimp and indicate that she wanted to work for him again. Tonight, we learn that she was actually working with the police to have him arrested. She vows that she’ll always be there to fight him when he comes up for parole, and Leo ushers her safely back inside.

As the episode ends, we see Ricky and Amy putting away leftovers in their kitchen. Ricky still hasn’t said anything to Amy about what Adrian said to him, last week. Now, he tells her that if she wants to know, she has to tell him once and for all: Is she in or is she out?

Next week is the series finale. We’ll see where all this double-talk and miscommunication has been going. Should be interesting to see how it all ends.

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The Secret Life of the American Teenager When Bad Things Happen to Bad People

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The Secret Life of the American Teenager When Bad Things Happen to Bad People

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Secret Life of the American Teenager
ABC Family
May 20, 2013

Next time I complain about a title being too long, someone remind me of this title. I’ve written term papers with shorter titles than this episode has… Previously on Secret Life, Ricky relented to let Amy get exactly what she wants…again…and go to summer school in New York, despite the fact that they have no idea how they’re going to pay for it or for her to live there. Kathleen invited Anne into their family. Grace slept with Jack to try to convince him not to marry her, and Anne discovered that Nora is dating her (apparently) ex-girlfriend. Fun times all around. Oh yeah, and Chloe called her pimp because apparently she wants to be a prostitute again because she thinks she doesn’t belong in Ben’s family. Oops.

This week, Amy, Adrian and Grace go out for a girl’s dinner and confess their feelings about marriage and their respective men. They establish that even though none of them want to be married, they’re all getting married…because they’re engaged? The conversation is really circular and doesn’t make a lot of sense. Since they’re at George’s restaurant, he calls Ricky to check in with him. Ricky seems oddly okay with the bizarre turn his life has taken, but he’s pretty confident that everything will work out.

The next morning, Amy and Ricky discuss their wedding plans. He says that he doesn’t care what they do, and he just wants to be married to her. Period. He wants them to have their weird fairytale ending. As he pulls away and prepares to leave, he points out to her that her summer school starts on the same day that they met at band camp, four years before. Amy is less nostalgic about that fact, and mutters a simple “wonderful.”

Now that Ethan is finished with his math storyline, I’ll pay more attention to him again. Apparently I missed him and Kathy breaking up, last week. Now he wants to have sex with a girl in his math class who cheated off his test or…something. After an awkward sex talk, his foster mother tries to convince him to ask her parents’ permission before sleeping with her. Then she offers to ask their permission for him. It was…very strange…

Kathleen discovers Grace’s brilliant plan to get Jack to dump her because Grace has a condom wrapper on her skirt. Grace asks George to break up with Jack for her, but he refuses to get involved. Jack’s parents, however, are happy to get involved. Unfortunately, he does want to marry Grace and, since she accepted his proposal, they assume that she wants to marry him too. We know that she accepted because Jack’s mother threatened her, but Jack and his father don’t know that, so they just think that she’s unhappy because she likes one of Jack’s other girlfriends more.

While Adrian is preparing to leave for school, Omar comes out and tells her that he needs to talk. He’s been thinking about their relationship and he isn’t sure that he wants to move to New York with his fiancée living in California. He wants his ring back, and he doesn’t want to be engaged to her anymore if he’s going to be living in New York alone. She’s heartbroken, but he insists that it’s for the best. She starts kissing him to make him stay, but he stops her and leaves her crying alone. She didn’t want to get married and move across the country, but she didn’t want him to leave her either. And now he has.

Leo arrives at the butcher shop where he employs Ricky to give him an offer: He recently acquired a multi-apartment building not far from Hudson University. He’s willing to let Amy live in one apartment while Ben lives in the other, free of charge, for four years. That will give Amy a chance to go to school and still live off-campus.

At school, Amy tells Ben that she is definitely getting married, and he shouldn’t bother to go to school in New York because nothing is going to happen between them. He doesn’t believe her, though, and later reveals to his friend Alice that he happens to know for a fact that Amy hasn’t married Ricky because she is still in love with Ben himself, and is still holding out hope that they can somehow get back together. Then we learn that he knows this because he has hacked her computer and has been reading her e-diary, which conveniently proves him right. I hope this is a red herring, readers, otherwise…well, I wish you could see how flat my expression is right now.

When Ricky and Jack run into Adrian at the student union or coffee shop or whatever they have, she lies to them and says that she broke up with Omar (because no one hurts her, right?). Then she spills the beans about Grace and Amy’s feelings. After Jack leaves, terribly hurt by her words, Ricky tells her that he can tell from her behavior that Omar broke up with her, but he thinks it was really despicable for her to reveal that Amy and Grace don’t want to marry them. Whether what she said was true or not, it was still terrible and inappropriate for her to tell them. It wasn’t her place, and it wasn’t her right. He suggests she get therapy before she feels inclined to ruin anymore lives.

Jack runs into George at Kathleen’s house and tells him what Adrian said about Grace. George suggests that perhaps Grace loves him, but isn’t ready to get married yet. So Jack goes to talk to her and tells her that if she doesn’t love him and doesn’t want to marry him, he should say so. He tells her that Adrian told him the truth, so Grace freaks out and texts Amy that Adrian let the cat out of the bag.

Ricky plays it cool, however. Instead, he tells her about Leo’s offer for the apartment. She acts like she isn’t interested, but he assures her that he isn’t worried about her living in the apartment with Ben. After all…she’ll be his wife. What’s there to worry about?

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