S04.E18: Heartbreaker

[Primetimer]

Nat's cardiac incident gives Brandon a late Christmas gift: the chance to show everyone that no one cares more about the Peach Pit than he does.

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[Primetimer]

While Jim spends 'Heartbreaker' dodging brays, Andrea barely handles her baby business. Here's the episode in pictures!

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[sinnerforhire]

"Like two eggs trying to fuck," is my new favorite Sarah D. Bunting line. Brilliant.

[Lisin]

I got name checked in this article! I feel like I've fully arrived! I should also add that yeah, even if that's a legit way to do meth I still think no one does it that way. It looks insane. 

For real though, that hat on Cindy is the worst thing this show has done to poor Carol Potter in a while. I mean other than forcing her to pretend to love Brandon. 

[bilgistic]

Has anyone made the joke yet that at least David was getting his daily allowance of vitamin C?

[blueroses]

Is this the first time Jim's made episode MVP? Poor Carteris, she's been massively hosed storywise for so long. 

[Tooch]

I remember all the stupid bullshit regarding the "Task force," but I didn't remember how idiotic it all was -- did they really just present it with absolutely no information about what the hell it is and how on Earth fucking Brandon was selected to participate? What were the criteria!? Steve is right, Brandon has done exactly dick at CU so far. He turned down rushing a frat, he turned down getting involved in student government, and he didn't even really follow through on his stupid tutoring gig, unless you count blackmailing a professor.

So why the hell would he be plucked to serve on some elite education policy team that will literally advise the president of the goddamn United States? I'm about to swallow my tongue.

[Nanna]

I haven't listened yet, but I'm irrationally angry about that note - Andrea would never ever write such an incorrect note. And I'm sure her handwriting is much better.

[Lisin]

13 hours ago, blueroses said:

Is this the first time Jim's made episode MVP? Poor Carteris, she's been massively hosed storywise for so long. 

Hilariously? No, Jim was crowned MVP only once before, by both @Tara Ariano and @Sarah D. Bunting, way back in Season 2 Episode 24: The Pit and the Pendulum... you know, the one where the mall developer was going to buy the Peach Pit and Jim and Brandon get into a huge fight about the ethics of selling the Pit because "It's all Nat has" even though Nat doesn't actually seem too upset about it? So basically this exact episode but heart attack replaces mall.

Jim only wins MVP when he's yelling at Brandon and that only happens when Nat is involved apparently, otherwise Jim just defers to "second dad" for all his decision making purposes. 

[CurlyATX]

On ‎6‎/‎27‎/‎2016 at 9:59 AM, sinnerforhire said:

"Like two eggs trying to fuck," is my new favorite Sarah D. Bunting line. Brilliant.

Mine was something like (paraphrase) " why don't you bend down and take all of Brandon in your mouth now". I actually screamed out loud while driving in rush hour Austin traffic. 

As for the Task Force, (ok, why am I delving into this as the writers spent no time thinking of it) wouldn't there have been an application process, along with teacher recommendations, student leadership, etc.  He's a second semester freshman! He knows jack about student life.  All he cares about is meeting the president.  ugh, I just can't.  Don't even get me started on Chancellor Arnold and when he isn't on the Task Force travel list and barges in to yell... or how he gets Kelly an extra pass to attend.

When will Jim learn that with both his kids, you just need to deprive oxygen from the fire... just let them do their silly things and they will return (Brenda and moving out, Brenda and Dylan, Brandon and this stupid free diner).

[Lisin]

Oh, yeah I meant to go on a bit of a rant about the whole abortion story too...

So, my take is that what Andrea means when she says she "doesn't want to lose him" regarding Jesse is that she's decided to terminate the pregnancy and if she tells him that he will break up with her because he's pro choice. And when she says she doesn't want to ruin his life or whatever she means that if she ends up telling him, in order to "keep" him she will be basically forced to have the baby and that burden will ruin his life. Which is why she doesn't want to tell him. And all of that makes "sense" but is terrible at the same time.

Basically I'm saying I don't think Andrea thinks Jesse is going to dump her because she's pregnant, I think she thinks he'll dump her if he finds out she had an abortion OR he'll guilt her into having the kid and it will ruin their lives. So Brandon's whole "well if he loves you" bullshit is really even more unhelpful here because Andrea's point as I took it was "yeah, he loves me, and he won't want me to terminate this pregnancy and I don't want him to break up with me so if I tell him I guess that means I'm having a baby" which just sucks out loud. Blah. I HATE this storyline!! 

[Cekrypton1]

"..that to us, you are a burger." made me laugh outloud in this coffee shop. Well done.

[Jmallory]

Hey Tara! Get used to that mandolin. It's used for the rest of the series lol.

[CurlyATX]

Later on, don't Kelly and Brandon have a pregnancy scare and it comes out that Brandon is fairly pro-life but still does the "whatever you want to do" thing.

I do like the pairing of Andrea and Kelly.  They had a heart to heart a few years ago about Andrea being a virgin and Kelly saying that's ok (and admitting that she went after Brandon too).  It seems a nice bit of continuity to have an on-screen talk between Andrea and Kelly, especially as Kelly seemed like she could have had an abortion in the past.  I see a brief glimpse of old-Kelly in the sense that she wasn't so self righteous (I would NEVER consider having one) about it, even if she did push a bit to have Andrea tell Jesse. 

I did like that little jab of "he wasn't too religious to sleep with you".  Too bad Jesse and Donna didn't hook up!

[Petunia13]

Nat and Brandon weren't even making sense here. Restaurants, even very successful ones, have temporary closing a for family emergencies, holidays, vacations, team training, private events all the time. 

[itainttippithebird]

I'm not even ready for how angered I'm going to be all over again by next week's EPIC Bray-down, where Brandon is SEETHING with anger because Dylan saves the day instead of him. Rather than be grateful that his friend helped save this thing he's so hellbent on keeping afloat that he's willing to bend time and space to work there fulltime, he's sooooo pissssssed that anyone but him should get any credit. My blood pressure is rising just thinking about it! Not to mention the endless task force bullshit to come. Must meditate, using my personal mantra, "DAVID!!!!!"

Edited June 30, 2016 by itainttippithebird

[Sarah D. Bunting]

It's not confined to next week, either. He sulks about it for like five years.

[txhorns79]

Quote

Nat and Brandon weren't even making sense here. Restaurants, even very successful ones, have temporary closing a for family emergencies, holidays, vacations, team training, private events all the time. 

Yeah, I didn't really understand how everyone acted like the only choices were "Nat is available 24/7 to run the Peach Pit" or "The Peach Pit must close forever."  It's odd to me that Nat has no one already employed to cover for him from time to time.  Maybe he's just doing a David Silver-style orange juice cleanse all these years and it finally caught up with him. 

[SoupThrower]

I still don't know what a Task Force is.

Also I mean I can somewhat feel what Brandon feels in a weird way. Like you have this friend who's loaded and he can just buy whatever and you can't and you really can't say anything. But other than that Shut up Brandon. Eugh this story line is the worst story line until Dylan's stupid Old Western dreams. 

I just can't wait for David and the super toilet. 

[atlanticslide]

On 6/28/2016 at 0:55 AM, Tooch said:

I remember all the stupid bullshit regarding the "Task force," but I didn't remember how idiotic it all was -- did they really just present it with absolutely no information about what the hell it is and how on Earth fucking Brandon was selected to participate? What were the criteria!? Steve is right, Brandon has done exactly dick at CU so far. He turned down rushing a frat, he turned down getting involved in student government, and he didn't even really follow through on his stupid tutoring gig, unless you count blackmailing a professor.

So why the hell would he be plucked to serve on some elite education policy team that will literally advise the president of the goddamn United States? I'm about to swallow my tongue.

Up until this season Brandon was portrayed as a pretty good but not exceptional student. But for some reason in Season 4 he suddenly became the smartest smart who ever smarted, and apparently there is no one smarter at this 14,000+ student university, so of course Brandon would be chosen for the task force after only being in college for a little over a semester!

[Tooch]

On 7/1/2016 at 11:14 PM, SoupThrower said:

I just can't wait for David and the super toilet. 

I am dying of anticipation for the super toilet. Is that this next episode? Ah!

[psychoticstate]

On 6/29/2016 at 9:28 AM, CurlyATX said:

Later on, don't Kelly and Brandon have a pregnancy scare and it comes out that Brandon is fairly pro-life but still does the "whatever you want to do" thing.

I do like the pairing of Andrea and Kelly.  They had a heart to heart a few years ago about Andrea being a virgin and Kelly saying that's ok (and admitting that she went after Brandon too).  It seems a nice bit of continuity to have an on-screen talk between Andrea and Kelly, especially as Kelly seemed like she could have had an abortion in the past.  I see a brief glimpse of old-Kelly in the sense that she wasn't so self righteous (I would NEVER consider having one) about it, even if she did push a bit to have Andrea tell Jesse. 

I did like that little jab of "he wasn't too religious to sleep with you".  Too bad Jesse and Donna didn't hook up!

I liked the Kelly and Ohhhhhhn-drea pairing too.   Kelly was actually acting like a friend and not her usual judgmental St. Kelly self.  Hey, no wonder she eventually hooks up with judgmental braying Brandon.  The more you know . . . 

That said, the show really screwed over Gabrielle Carteris this season.  Not just by the stupid clothes they put her in that NO college freshman under the age of 60 would EVER wear, unless they are a 40 year old masking as an 18 year old who has just gotten knocked up, but they effectively cut her character off from the rest of the Hillsters as soon as they had her wig out about writing a stupid review of the Peach Pit (that just happened to be on the day that Nat was short staffed, there was a kitchen fire, etc. and Ohhhhhhhhn-drea couldn't just write a review based on one of the other 5,433 times she'd been there.)  Geez, sorry about that painfully long sentence.   As soon as the show placed her in her own dorm room (versus having a roommate that could play into the storylines) and then had her become pre-med (despite never mentioning anything about pre-med before EVER),and thus removing her from participating with Brandon on basically anything . . . she was on the slow boat to China.  I liked Jesse but it felt like they met, slept together and got pregnant in about 15 minutes.  The whole thing, starting with Dan Rubin and then pre-med, was so uncharacteristic for Ohhhhhhhn-drea, it was just painful.  And  blowing out and teasing GC's hair was just uncalled for.  She's a college freshman who is allegedly pre-med - - put her in a ponytail (this is the era of the scrunchie) or a headband.  Just . . .why???

BTW @CurlyATX, I also listen to the podcasts during my commute and it's not unusual for me to bust out laughing while sitting in the special level of hell known as the southern California rush hour.

[CurlyATX]

I agree on the deterioration of Ohhhndrea this season.  The only thing that rings true is her hopping into bed ASAP in college.  She even says something about this at prom, about how she's itching to make a "bad decision" and I think that's code for wanting to give up her V-card.  Unlike Donna, Ohhndrea sort of felt like an unattractive dork and probably needed sex as validation of her attractiveness.

btw, I wanted to edit that abortion post above... I meant to that I was impressed that Kelly didn't shame Ohndrea by saying that she (Kelly) would never think of having one- it wasn't a personal commentary.

As for realistic college fashion- that is ending very soon.  Pretty soon, won't we see Dylan in a vest/suit combo?

7 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

IBTW @CurlyATX, I also listen to the podcasts during my commute and it's not unusual for me to bust out laughing while sitting in the special level of hell known as the southern California rush hour.

So Californian rush hour--I was back home in CA a few weeks ago and saw a sign for "Reseda"... isn't that where Ray One-T Pruit is from?

[pavlovcat]

When are you guys coming baaaaaaaaaaaack? I miss yooooooooooou.

Also listen to the podcast in the hellishness of Atlanta rush hour.

[savannah31401]

I'm with pavlovcat-where are you? The podcast gets me through my Savannah bus route. If only you were around when I was living in Austin-you would have saved my sanity with that rush hour.

[psychoticstate]

21 hours ago, pavlovcat said:

When are you guys coming baaaaaaaaaaaack? I miss yooooooooooou.

Also listen to the podcast in the hellishness of Atlanta rush hour.

I am a refugee of the Atlanta rush hour!  (That then took herself to the crazy of the LA/Orange County rush hour!  Yay me!)

But I agree - - where are our favorite podcasters?  Do we need to call you repeatedly at the KEG House?  Send anonymous letters?  Burn down your float?

Edited July 13, 2016 by psychoticstate
Because I obviously took a hit of David's meth

[Tara Ariano]

As we have tweeted and posted on Facebook: technical issues prevented our record on July 1; Sarah was on vacation the following wee. We will return July 18 and will drop three episodes that week.

For important information like this, please like PreviouslyTV on Facebook and follow @PreviouslyTV on Twitter.

[savannah31401]

2 minutes ago, Tara Ariano said:

As we have tweeted and posted on Facebook: technical issues prevented our record on July 1; Sarah was on vacation the following wee. We will return July 18 and will drop three episodes that week.

For important information like this, please like PreviouslyTV on Facebook and follow @PreviouslyTV on Twitter.

Thank you! I was worried that the Raisin Special Interest groups had kidnapped you. 

[CurlyATX]

I have been surviving on old podcasts-- like a hopped up David licking the meth paper.  I'll be white knuckling it until the return. 

On a side note, I listened to the podcast on our family trip to CA, stuck between both of my kids.  My older son kept asking me why I was laughing out loud... there is no way to explain "David!" to anyone. 

[Petunia13]

The California Raisins? "They intimidated them with doo wop and snapping!" 

[atlanticslide]

On 7/11/2016 at 2:34 PM, psychoticstate said:

That said, the show really screwed over Gabrielle Carteris this season.  Not just by the stupid clothes they put her in that NO college freshman under the age of 60 would EVER wear, unless they are a 40 year old masking as an 18 year old who has just gotten knocked up, but they effectively cut her character off from the rest of the Hillsters as soon as they had her wig out about writing a stupid review of the Peach Pit (that just happened to be on the day that Nat was short staffed, there was a kitchen fire, etc. and Ohhhhhhhhn-drea couldn't just write a review based on one of the other 5,433 times she'd been there.)

I think you nailed the problem with Andrea in Season 4, which only got worse in Season 5 - I've been home sick for a few days so I've been marathoning the college years, and it's really incredible how detached Andrea is from everyone else in Season 5. She and Jesse could legit be on their own show. I've heard that Gabrielle Carteris wanted her pregnancy written into the show, but I think that was really the worst thing they could have done to the character - Andrea went from being a very Type A character with a lot of goals and ambition, sometimes to a fault, who was very driven in her education to being a pregnant "teenager". Which is not to say that one thing is better than the other, but her character became entirely about being pregnant, and then entirely about having a premature baby, and then entirely about being a mother (and then entirely about having an affair). There was nothing else to her once she got pregnant, which was a) really a bummer, and b) made it even harder to buy her as 18/19-years-old. I think it probably got harder and harder to pass GC off as a teenager by Season 5, but you know what REALLY doesn't help? Making all of her storylines about breastfeeding and her rocky marriage and working at a hospital and having an affair.

[psychoticstate]

15 hours ago, atlanticslide said:

I think you nailed the problem with Andrea in Season 4, which only got worse in Season 5 - I've been home sick for a few days so I've been marathoning the college years, and it's really incredible how detached Andrea is from everyone else in Season 5. She and Jesse could legit be on their own show. I've heard that Gabrielle Carteris wanted her pregnancy written into the show, but I think that was really the worst thing they could have done to the character - Andrea went from being a very Type A character with a lot of goals and ambition, sometimes to a fault, who was very driven in her education to being a pregnant "teenager". Which is not to say that one thing is better than the other, but her character became entirely about being pregnant, and then entirely about having a premature baby, and then entirely about being a mother (and then entirely about having an affair). There was nothing else to her once she got pregnant, which was a) really a bummer, and b) made it even harder to buy her as 18/19-years-old. I think it probably got harder and harder to pass GC off as a teenager by Season 5, but you know what REALLY doesn't help? Making all of her storylines about breastfeeding and her rocky marriage and working at a hospital and having an affair.

I'm guessing that Gabrielle Carteris thought a teen mom storyline would give her something good to sink her teeth in.  On paper, yeah, sure.  I mean, there's a certain irony and truth to the one kid in high school that was the most ambitious, least likely to get pregnant/married before 30, etc. end up getting pregnant 15 minutes into college, but when you have such a small core group of characters in the first place . . . 

Also, I would think that the viewing audience at the time were also college students and/or high school students.  So really no way to relate to Ohhhhhn-drea with her pregnancy, quickie marriage, premature baby, daycare problems, and the like.  Brandon braying about the Task Force, Kelly and Donna being about the sorority, Brenda trying to be part of the drama department, Steve and the KEG house - - those are things that kids want to watch when thinking about the freshman year of college. 

Ohhhhhn-drea was already more of an outsider, even when she was considered part of The Group, but by seasons 4 and 5 she was really did little more than be window dressing (horribly dressed window dressing by whatever) for the others.  The writers literally changed her overnight.  WTH with pre-med?  She had NEVER mentioned that before.  Why not have her go out for the Condor and be forced to deal with grunt work?  Or deal with sexual harassment (since the show loved hot button topics.)  Or switch to broadcast journalism?  With all the undercover b.s. that went on at West Beverly, there should have been a ton more at the infamous C.U. 

And having an affair??  What??  Again, the writers really had her go 180 on a dime. (That's one thing I always appreciated with regard to Steve - - over the course of the show, I think he remained the most true character-wise throughout.) 

Edited July 14, 2016 by psychoticstate
brain freeze

[pavlovcat]

THREE episodes this coming week?? Hot damn! Despite my sabbatical from Facebook, I should remember to check there before I panic and assume you've been brayed to death.

[Tara Ariano]

Er, we'll see. Today's record was also foiled by connection problems. Update coming soon.
 

EDITED TO ADD: We did it! Episodes will drop Monday, Wednesday, and Friday next week.

[SoupThrower]

On 12/07/2016 at 0:25 AM, Tooch said:

I am dying of anticipation for the super toilet. Is that this next episode? Ah!

Episode 20 I think. Then he starts playing the piano which I think is legit considering the other shows Brian has been on. 

Yeah they really dropped the ball on Andrea. She could have done politics instead of Brandon. It makes more sense. But just how they dressed her, she was like a mature aged student hanging out with her nieces or something. The wardrobe made no sense next few seasons. I think the only person who dressed like a normal college student was David and maybe Clare. 

[benteen]

The super toilet?  That was where David and Dylan flushed all those drugs, right?

[heshy]

[FozzyBear]

Why will Bradon not let poor Nat retire? Jesus, every time that poor man comes close to a little fishing cabin and some peace from the 90210 gang, Brandon steps in to "save" him. I swear if Nat dropped dead, Brandon would try to revive him Frankenstein style to get one last mega-burger.

[CurlyATX]

On ‎7‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 0:12 AM, FozzyBear said:

Why will Bradon not let poor Nat retire? Jesus, every time that poor man comes close to a little fishing cabin and some peace from the 90210 gang, Brandon steps in to "save" him. I swear if Nat dropped dead, Brandon would try to revive him Frankenstein style to get one last mega-burger.

On the house of course! 

[Conotocarious]

  On 7/11/2016 at 10:25 AM, Tooch said:

I am dying of anticipation for the super toilet. Is that this next episode? Ah!

Episode 20 I think. Then he starts playing the piano which I think is legit considering the other shows Brian has been on. 

Yeah they really dropped the ball on Andrea. She could have done politics instead of Brandon. It makes more sense. But just how they dressed her, she was like a mature aged student hanging out with her nieces or something. The wardrobe made no sense next few seasons. I think the only person who dressed like a normal college student was David and maybe Clare. 

If they didn't know how to dress her, which they clearly did not, why not just keep her in jeans and a t-shirt, which is practically the universal college wardrobe? Or sweats? That has the added benefit of being decent pregnancy wear as well. Put her hair in a ponytail, like 99.9% of college girls. Why on earth did they make the decisions they made? She looks not only older than all the cast by a whole lot but she looks way older than me now and I'm older than she was then. It's ridiculous.

[CeeBeeGee]

On 7/11/2016 at 2:34 PM, psychoticstate said:

I liked the Kelly and Ohhhhhhn-drea pairing too.   Kelly was actually acting like a friend and not her usual judgmental St. Kelly self.  Hey, no wonder she eventually hooks up with judgmental braying Brandon.  The more you know . . . 

That said, the show really screwed over Gabrielle Carteris this season.  Not just by the stupid clothes they put her in that NO college freshman under the age of 60 would EVER wear, unless they are a 40 year old masking as an 18 year old who has just gotten knocked up, but they effectively cut her character off from the rest of the Hillsters as soon as they had her wig out about writing a stupid review of the Peach Pit (that just happened to be on the day that Nat was short staffed, there was a kitchen fire, etc. and Ohhhhhhhhn-drea couldn't just write a review based on one of the other 5,433 times she'd been there.)  Geez, sorry about that painfully long sentence.   As soon as the show placed her in her own dorm room (versus having a roommate that could play into the storylines) and then had her become pre-med (despite never mentioning anything about pre-med before EVER),and thus removing her from participating with Brandon on basically anything . . . she was on the slow boat to China.  I liked Jesse but it felt like they met, slept together and got pregnant in about 15 minutes.  The whole thing, starting with Dan Rubin and then pre-med, was so uncharacteristic for Ohhhhhhhn-drea, it was just painful.  And  blowing out and teasing GC's hair was just uncalled for.  She's a college freshman who is allegedly pre-med - - put her in a ponytail (this is the era of the scrunchie) or a headband.  Just . . .why???

Oh God, that HAIR. It's absolutely hideous.

On 7/11/2016 at 10:33 PM, CurlyATX said:

So Californian rush hour--I was back home in CA a few weeks ago and saw a sign for "Reseda"... isn't that where Ray One-T Pruit is from?

As well as Danny LaRusso of The Karate Kid.

On 7/13/2016 at 10:17 PM, atlanticslide said:

I think you nailed the problem with Andrea in Season 4, which only got worse in Season 5 - I've been home sick for a few days so I've been marathoning the college years, and it's really incredible how detached Andrea is from everyone else in Season 5. She and Jesse could legit be on their own show. I've heard that Gabrielle Carteris wanted her pregnancy written into the show, but I think that was really the worst thing they could have done to the character - Andrea went from being a very Type A character with a lot of goals and ambition, sometimes to a fault, who was very driven in her education to being a pregnant "teenager". Which is not to say that one thing is better than the other, but her character became entirely about being pregnant, and then entirely about having a premature baby, and then entirely about being a mother (and then entirely about having an affair). There was nothing else to her once she got pregnant, which was a) really a bummer, and b) made it even harder to buy her as 18/19-years-old. I think it probably got harder and harder to pass GC off as a teenager by Season 5, but you know what REALLY doesn't help? Making all of her storylines about breastfeeding and her rocky marriage and working at a hospital and having an affair.

Poor Ohhhhndrea, they ruined her character. I thought she was very well-written in the West Beverly years, very believable (albeit believably cringe-inducing--"I offer...me!"). I liked how opinionated and political she was, I loved that she was a writer and had high standards and I loved how she was never afraid to call Brandon on his shit, even if she did carry a torch for him. How did we go from that to a student who gives up her passion (writing) for...pre-med???? And didn't have multiple back-up plans in case the condom breaks? (I think I've heard somewhere that she and Jesse didn't use protection when she conceived which I refuse to believe. There is no way in hell someone like Ohhhhhndrea wouldn't have planned that out.) The whole thing is just so poorly handled and written. She's like a completely different person.

[Scarlett45]

On 10/24/2020 at 9:14 PM, CeeBeeGee said:

nd didn't have multiple back-up plans in case the condom breaks? (I think I've heard somewhere that she and Jesse didn't use protection when she conceived which I refuse to believe. There is no way in hell someone like Ohhhhhndrea wouldn't have planned that out.) The whole thing is just so poorly handled and written. She's like a completely different person.

Yes I find that hard to believe. The morning after pill didnt officially exist then, but Ob/Gyn's had been using large doses of oral contraceptives as a "morning after pill" trick for decades. Also I just always find it so strange that young women who are sexually active dont use their own form of contraception- an oral contraceptive, an IUD, depo provers, a diaphragm (I know the nuva ring and implanon didnt exist yet....

 

The only reason Andrea was pregnant was because Gabrielle wanted to have her pregnancy written into the show because she said she didnt want her child to see it one day and thing she was ashamed of him/her (thats kinda odd, but Mommy guilt for the win).