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Losers
Season 5, Episode 3
Losers
Air date October 16, 2000
Written by Brenda Hampton
Directed by Harvey Laidman
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"Losers" is the third episode of the 5th season and the 91st episode overall of 7th Heaven. Recurring characters Frankie and Johnny first appear in this episode.

Synopsis[]

When Annie plans an innocent dinner with a former professor, Eric is desperate to keep his mind off the matter but none of his friends seem to be available for a night out. Mary starts a new job at a local pizza parlor and has the great misfortune of befriending co-workers Frankie and Johnny, a young pair of delinquents who have a little too much fun with the Friday night shift. Simon pursues a date with an older girl, while Matt is distracted by a beautiful woman who catches his eye. Meanwhile, Lucy and a classmate team up for the classic "take care of an egg" assignment for a humanity class and Ruthie eagerly plans a late-night pizza party for her and Mary.

Plot[]

Eric and Annie have a discussion in the kitchen, where she suggests that Eric take a night off to spend time with other guys. He is surprised by how she knew that he was feeling a bit confined and needed a little time out with the guys and do guy things. Eric asks what Annie is going to do when he is gone and she tells him that she is going to work on her term paper for college. She explains that it needs approval from her professor before work can begin, which requires meeting up after class has finished that night- a Friday night. Eric senses red flags but Annie reassures him that it will be fine and that Simon, Lucy, or Mary can babysit the twins while they're gone. Lucy and Simon walk down and Simon says that he has a date with "the hottest girl in the sophomore class" and is unable to babysit. When asked by Annie where they are headed or how they plan to get there, his response was simply that he'll figure something out – even suggesting going on a double-date arrangement with another guy and his date which she declined as she wanted more information about who would be accompanying her son before agreeing. Lucy reassures Annie and Eric that she can babysit the twins. Ruthie then arrives home from walking their dog and asks why Mary's car was parked there and not at her job; however, both Lucy and Simon quickly leave as if Ruthie had hit an uncomfortable subject matter upon mention of Mary's name. When Mary walks downstairs and is questioned about what happened with her job, she confesses that she no longer works at the pool hall - not because she got fired but because the pool hall wasn't right for her, and that she'd rather party more frequently instead. In order to figure out how best to handle this situation concerning Mary’s lifestyle choices, Eric and Annie decide to go on a night out by themself (Eric with his being spending quality guy time and Annie with her term paper) and regroup and figure out what to do with Mary.

Mary is dancing around her room to music when Ruthie walks in and sees her. Mary quickly turns off the radio before talking with Ruthie, asking if she shouldn't be on her way to school already. Ruthie explains that a group of girls from school will be picking her up soon but insists she wants to stay and hang out with Mary instead. Mary tells her that she has to work tonight and Ruthie then suggests that they do something when Mary gets home at midnight. Mary tells her that she could bring a pizza home and they can sleep over in Ruthie's room. Ruthie agrees with excitement and rushes off to go to school. Meanwhile, at his office, Eric calls Lou asking him if he would like to go play pool together; however, this idea is met with skepticism as Lou doesn't feel comfortable hanging out with Eric at a social level outside of church-related activities and tells him he and his wife has plans to go out that night. His wife tells Lou she doesn't approve of them going out either because trouble follows wherever Eric goes. Back at his office, Eric is going through his Rolodex trying to find someone to hang out with but coming up empty-handed. Eric calls the hospital and asks to speak to Matt. Matt answers the phone and is confused when it turns out to be Eric asking him to go shoot pool. Matt instantly thinks that there is an ulterior motive until being told it is just hanging out between the two guys which prompt skepticism from Matt about marital problems between Eric and Annie. Matt is interrupted by another phone call, this time from Simon who asks Matt to bring him to his date. Simon tells him he'll pay him $30 but before he can fully answer, he is interrupted by Lucy calling from school. Matt gets angry when Lucy tells him and requests that he babysit the twins so she can go on a date with her classmate from their family class from school. The two of them are supposed to take care of an egg as part of their project, but Matt has been interrupted by phone calls while attempting to do his job. He gets off the line in order to change someone's bedpan at the hospital.

Lucy meets her lab partner classmate at school, where he suggests he could come over to watch their "baby" egg and twins since Lucy will be busy babysitting. Simon is talking to his date by the lockers when she expresses discomfort about them making out while Matt drives; Simon agrees not to do it in order for them all to be comfortable. At work, Mary delivers a pizza to a table only for some guys from a table she serves sexually harass her by asking for her phone number. Mary approaches one of her coworkers, Johnny, who explains that he and his wife, Frankie, both work at the pizza parlor and they have a baby together. Johnny tells Mary that Frankie is about her age, and he's 21. He tells her that it is hard but they are making it, then they are interrupted by the rowdy table when one of the guys asks for her to sit with them. Frankie approaches the table and tells them that Mary is a minister's daughter and tells them to shut up. The guys all apologize in unison that they are sorry. Frankie and Johnny invite Mary to stay after work to drink a beer with them. At first, Mary declines to say she's underage and doesn't want to get them in any trouble, but eventually, they convince her.

Annie asks Simon what he is doing during his date and Eric walks by, upset that Matt couldn't play pool with him but he can drive Simon around. Simon explains that he is paying Matt to drive him and his date around before leaving Eric and Annie to talk. Eric tells Annie that he hasn't found anyone to do something with and suggests some religious leaders in their community but Eric tells Annie that he doesn't want to be on his best behavior tonight; rather than going out with someone else, however, he decides it would be better if she accompanied him after finishing with her professor. Lucy then walks down from upstairs and informs them about a project where she has to pretend to be married for 24 hours alongside a lab partner who will help babysit an egg as if it were a baby. Eric gets concerned about her ability to watch Ruthie, the twins, and the egg. He then knocks on Ruthie's door and she explains her plans with Mary at midnight and that will be taking a nap before midnight. Eric offers to set an alarm for her and tells him that he is the best dad ever. At work, Mary becomes busy when it becomes the busiest hour on the busiest day of the week. Mary asks if they need to get home to be with their child and Johnny explains that they get an extra hour to unwind. Mary agrees to get a pizza after work but she is not sure about the beer. In Matt's apartment while studying he runs short on milk and heads off quickly outside looking into buying some more supplies whilst Annie arrives at her professor's office only to find a note left behind saying to meet him at Gypsy Café instead. She tries to call the house to inform Eric, but the results become unsuccessful due to the phone line being occupied by Simon is trying to get in touch with Matt to see where he is for the date however only goes to voicemail. Eric offers to drive them but Simon repeats that his date is a "sophomore and hot". Eric tells him that he will be at the pool hall if he needs anything. Simon tries to call Matt again but still can't reach him. Back at work, Mary gets Frankie back from her smoking break and she starts talking about Mercy, their baby girl, and how she quit smoking once she had her then afterward started again and hands her unfinished cigarette over to Mary who starts to think about smoking the rest of it but eventually puts it out.

Annie enters the bar and her professor asks what she wants to drink. When Annie said water was fine, he orders a beverage for himself instead. He insisted that Annie should order something from the menu but when she tried to decline his offer, he told her it wouldn't hurt if she just try one thing and so she reluctantly agreed. At the pool hall, Eric was eating all by himself until some ladies who happened to be members of the same church called out loud behind him asking whether or not could join them to play a game of pool because one girl needed to leave for her date. The bartender gives Eric a smile and Eric accepts to play pool at least until Annie is done with her professor. At this moment Matt strolls past a bar and sees saw an attractive woman dancing behind the window. The girl motions for him to come inside yet gets declined by Matt much to the girl's disappointment. In the kitchen, Simon continues to call Matt and gets upset when no one answers. The twins get into a bag of flour when Lucy and her lab partner aren't watching them and they bring the twins upstairs to get cleaned up. Annie starts to eat with her professor and he tells her he would like to try Annie's cooking. Annie subtly invites him to dinner at her house but he admits he doesn't like children, which confuses Annie since he teaches early childhood education. He explains that he likes adults but not children. Annie suddenly remembers that she was supposed to meet Eric at the pool hall hours ago and she calls him at the pool hall. Eric, who is having fun playing pool with the girls from his church, comes to the phone and Annie apologizes for her tardiness. Eric reassures her it isn't a problem and that he'll see her when she gets there. Lucy's lab partner walks into the kitchen to find Simon still there with his hands in his face. Simon tells him his date is gone and wonders what Matt could have had to do that was more important than him and his date. Meanwhile, Matt is at the club dancing with the girl from before.

Lucy and her lab partner were in the midst of putting the twins to bed when Annie called Lucy at home. She told them that everyone was alright, but Simon had missed out on his date. Lucy comforted her not to worry about him too much before Annie mentions plans of going off with Eric for a night at a pool hall and asks her about her egg where both Lucy and her lab partner suddenly realizes they'd forgotten their class project's egg which Ruthie had taken possession over without wanting to give it back up no matter how hard they tried reasoning or pleading with her; she simply told them the whole point of the project is that teenagers aren't meant to be parents and to just write that on their project report. Meanwhile, Annie finally meets Eric at the pool hall and both discuss each other's nights while also being envious of one another; Eric playing pool with single woman whilst Annie enjoying a dinner conversation with her professor. When Annie tells Eric that she wants a cup of coffee and is ready to go to bed, Eric finally gets what she is talking about and hurries up and orders their coffee. At the club, Matt appears to have remembered forgetting to drive Simon earlier tonight and runs out of the club where the girl who danced alongside him followed after him asking for his number and kisses him on the street corner. Eric and Annie catch him while they walk out of the pool hall and he stops kissing her out of embarrassment and writes his number down. Eric and Annie walk up to Matt as the girl leaves and they give Matt instructions to make sure that all of the kids are doing what they are supposed to be doing at the house. When Matt asks where they will be, he realizes when they both hesitant to answer and jumps in his car and takes off. Eric asks Annie if they want to get a room at a hotel and kisses her. Mary counts her money after working, and orders a pizza and a light beer when Johnny asks. Mary looks at it deciding whether or not to drink it. An upset Simon was watching TV at home when Matt shows up to apologize for not taking him on their date but then shifts the blame on Simon and tells him he technically never agreed to drive him. Simon starts yelling but eventually softened after Matt apologizes again and offered to drive him wherever he needed next weekend free of charge. Matt picks up the egg Lucy left in the living room and as Matt continued talking and throwing the egg around, Lucy walks in which distracts Matt, and drops the egg. Mary is talking about her plans with Frankie and Johnny. Frankie tells her she wishes she made what she wants to do with her life before becoming a mother for the rest of her life. Mary offers to babysit for them to take the pressure off of them before realizing the time and when she stands up, she feels lightheaded but tells them that she will be okay. Johnny tries to offer to drive her home but Frankie tells him he's even drunker than she is.

Matt enters Ruthie's room, tucks her in bed and when she wakes up, she gets surprised by his presence. Ruthie insists on having the party that night despite Matt suggesting they wait until tomorrow. Ruthie tells Matt with confidence that Mary will make it on time. In the hotel room, Annie updates Eric on what Matt told them about the kids. Mary gets stopped by a police officer for not stopping fully at a stop sign. The police officer knew Eric and goes to his church so he lets her off with a warning. When the officer goes up close to him, Mary leans back and the officer tells her to not be in such a rush that she's not careful. When Mary leaves, the officer face gives a concerned look on his face. When Mary walks into the kitchen, Eric and Annie are there waiting for her in the dark and tells her that there is a penalty for coming in late. They jokingly tell her it is two slices of pizza. They realize that she smells like cigarette smoke and the pizza is cold. They realize that they need to keep an eye on her and she's worse than they thought. Mary wakes Ruthie up and Ruthie grips at her for not being home at the right time when she arrives one hour behind when she promised she would be home.

Notes[]

  • This episode marks the debut of recurring characters Frankie (Chyler Leigh) and Johnny (Nathan West), who will continue to make guest appearances in a few more episodes as Mary's troubled friends.

Trivia[]

  • When this episode aired, Chyler Leigh (Frankie) and Nathan West (Johnny) were in a relationship. and two years later they got married. In real life the couple dealt with drug addiction when they were teenagers which corresponded to their characters' struggles onscreen at the same time of airing. Fortunately both overcame it successfully.
  • Jeff Yagher, who plays Annie's professor, is actually the real life brother of Catherine Hicks' husband, Kevin Yagher.
  • Music featured in this episode includes "Dizzy" by The Goo Goo Dolls and "Love Shack" by the B-52's.

Goofs & Errors[]

  • In this episode, Annie tells her professor that she has seven kids from 2 to 21 but the twins were only one year old when this episode aired so she actually has kids from 1 to 21.

Opening Credits[]

Featured in the opening credits are:


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