Amy's relationship with Ricky seems to have improved, since the teenage lothario has stepped up and truly seems to care about and take responsibility for his newborn son. This being an ABC Family show, it's not surprising that Ricky's turned out to be a good guy after all, but it's still nice to see his character mature. Ben, on the other hand, seems to have taken a step backwards: he's extremely possessive of Amy, and is threatened by Ricky's presence in her life. Sure, he has the right to be a little nervous, and I'm sure the insecurity about being a dorky virgin isn't helping, but I thought it had already been established that Amy and Ricky weren't romantically interested in each other at all. Am I wrong? Or am I still just weirded out by Ben's desire to marry Amy/raise her baby as his own (a storyline the new 90210 totally jacked, BTW).
As for the major changes: first, Grace finally decided to get it on with Jack (after maturely weighing the pros and cons in a neat little monologue and equipping herself with the appropriate birth control, of course). Though Adrian tried to talk Grace out of it and made her realize that one of the main reasons she wanted to have premarital sex was because she didn't want Jack to sleep with anyone else, the good Christian girl had made up her mind. Unfortunately, Jack ran into Grace's mom while sneaking out of the house and inexplicably told her what happened, but she was too upset to react: she had just learned that her husband died in a plane crash.
Second, costar Molly Ringwald's real-life pregnancy has been written into the show: Amy's mother, Ann, found out she was now the one dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. The baby, we've learned, is most likely her new boyfriend's, because George got a vasectomy 10 years ago. (For the record, I still despise George. For every kind moment, like offering up his empty bed so his soon-to-be-ex-wife can get some much-needed shut eye, there are a gazillion skeevy moments, like discussing his soon-to-be-ex-wife's weight with both her mother and her boyfriend.)
Last night's episode seemed a little jokier than before — Ben and Henry talked about Amy's much more endowed chest (though in that trademark Secret Life language where they clinically referred to her "breasts" instead of using slang any actual 15-year-old boys would use). Plus, Ben's dad is now dating Jennifer Coolidge's Betty, definitely unaware of the fact that she's an escort. While I hope Leo doesn't get hurt (I think he's a nice guy), I am all for seeing Coolidge on my screen as often as possible.
I'm thinking these new developments could provide interesting material to build on. Now that the whole "teen going through a pregnancy" plot has played out and the "frustrated young mother" thing is going on, we have room to explore some other topics. Hopefully the writers won't just turn these new problems into issues of the week, instead allowing time for the characters to grieve Marshall's death, deal with Ann's accidental pregnancy, and explore the more emotionally complex aspects of teenage sex (other than "If you have sex, you'll get pregnant!" or "If you have sex, you're the school slut!").
What did you think of the season premiere? Kinda the same, but different (in a good way)? Do you like the stories last night's episode set up? Which new plot point are you most excited about?
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You know, I knew from spoilers that somebody was going to die, so the minute they talked about Grace’s Dad getting on a private plane, I figured it was him, but I still ended up crying over it. I think it’s set up to be a really good season.
Now it’s “if you have sex, your daddy will die!”
Saw the catch-up-on-the-show marathon. Now I’ve got it down. Totally have sex with everyone whether you are a teen who wants to pretend you are a mature adult or an adult who wants to get it on like you are a teen. Make lots of babies. Mix in a few marriages and divorces. Repeat.
It seems like the writers are trying to “reboot” the show. Old stories were left behind, unexplored, and many new ones began. It’s almost as if they were unprepared for the show to be this successful and last beyond Amy’s pregnancy.
My wife and I watch this show and “Weeds” on Monday nights. After watching each one last night, we were both like “what is happening to these shows?”
I liked the different sides they showed to some of the characters. I like that they showed how much Ricky has matured. I bounce back and forth on George. But, I really like the way he offered Ann his bed. Nice George. And I wasn’t Adrian’s biggest fan, but I like the way she tried to stop Grace from having sex. Her arguments were smart, and right.
But, I really hate that it had to be Grace’s dad who died. Despite her stubbornness in this episode, she truly loved her father, and she’s a good person. The best person on the show, in terms of intentions and personality. She didn’t deserve that to happen to her. And I know the reality is that sometimes bad things happen to good people, but I would have preferred a happier conclusion from a show, an escape from reality. Why couldn’t they have given the story line to any of the other a-hole characters? Grace is too good a person to have that guilt.
I thought it was good, overall. I am getting tired of Amy’s attitude though. While I know she’s a teen, she’s still coming off a bit too mean. The comments she was making to her mother were just WAAAY off the wall–especially since her mom was pretty cool about the whole baby thing. I like seeing Ricky stepping up and loved him telling Ruben off.
I was not aware of the death, so that was a bit upsetting. Well, I knew where it was going after the whole, “I’ll talk to him after he gets home/I’ll be a week older” line and then when Grace’s mom walked in crying. And I must have missed it when they originally said Tom was adopted, because I was wondering why he wasn’t upset and had an “aha” moment when they were at the table.
But after all is said and done, I thought it was a good first episode. And I agree–love seeing Jennifer Coolidge on the screen, no matter what role she’s in.
I think that we’ll see some interesting scenes develop between George and Grace’s mom Since they were married before, I’m sure George will try to lend support to her. Plenty of room to explore that situation further…all we really know is that she cheated on him and they got divorced. George should be a busy man between his exes and his daughter.
I enjoyed Secret Life last night. It’s nice seeing the growth in Ricky’s character, and I would really like to see he and Ben battle for Amy’s affections. I wish Grace had of stuck to her convictions. Not every teen has to do “it”. Will miss seeing John Schneider as Grace’s dad. I wonder why he left the show.This show is way better than Gossip Girl and the teens actually look and act like real teens. Kudos to Brenda Hampton for creating a show I enjoy immensely.
Did John Schneider want off the show?
This sounds terrible but since I heard the rumor about a character dying in the premiere I assumed (and hoped) it would be Grace’s brother, Tom. I just really don’t like that character at all. Though as soon as they mentioned a plane, I knew Marshall would be the one to go. And I cried.
As for the premiere as a whole, I thought it was good. I still don’t like Amy. Grace and Jack are adorable. And Ashley and George are a great comic duo. I’m loving seeing Jennifer Coolidge on the show as well.
“If you have sex, your father will die in a plane crash and the rest of your family will resent you!”
It’s beyond me why anyone watches this show. Not only is it one of the most poorly written shows on TV today, it’s totally obnoxious, just like 7th Heaven was. The situations these kids are put in, the way they talk, the actions they take – all of those things are so contrived! This show not only stereotypes(the hapless band geek, the sexually frustrated born again Christian, the resident bad-girl, the stupid jock, the manipulative “ladies man” with a tragic past) but it makes caricatures of those stereotypes! Take the case of 7th Heaven, dumb the characters down several notches, allow Brenda Whatshername to write her stupid, cheeseball scripts and hire has been adults to act in support of inexperienced child actors and you’ve got this show. It’s embarrassing and should be cancelled immediately.
90210 did the teen pregnancy story better IMO. Who ever said this show is obnoxious like 7th Heaven is right, but at least the acting and scripts for that series were better.
ok, did anybody eles get annoyed with the constent use of the word “sex” i mean omg we get it!!!!!! i felt kinda embarrassed to watch it with my family!
did anybody else get annoyed with the constent use of the word “sex” i mean we get it already!!!!
i was kinda embarassed to watch it with my family
A pretty good season opener! As for whiny Amy, let’s talk about what giving birth does to a personality…NIGHTMARE! She was dead-on: Sleep deprived, moody, snippy – a new mom/teenager through and through. I’m not thrilled that Betty is a glorified hooker dating that sweet naive man, but ok. He likes her so, what the heck? Speaking of hooking, what’s with the second family unplanned pregnancy. I guess it’s supposed to be a lesson for the ages. As for Grace’s dad’s death – WHAT!?! You killed John Schneider…who does that? That storyline should just be reported as Grace’s nightmare and bring him back like they do in the SOAPS.
Every girl in my school and some guys are obsessed with this show. We all watch the episodes and text eachother during the commercials and after its over. I cried when her dadd died.. Damn she must feel guilty. I hated how many times they said Sex.. It was just obnoxious. I love this show, yesterday was a drama filled tv night, this plus Jon and Kate oi vay!
haha, grace is like “oh, i know God would WANT me to have sex right now because i am ready and it is beautiful.” That made her look so stupid. anyway, i knew her dad was going to die because the way the mom talked to her before his plane took off. uh, amy is so annoying– i could care less if she died. like seriously, she is being such an ass to Ben, like obviously he should be a little jealous if Ricky is there EVERYDAY and offered to sleep in her room! Especially with Ricky’s reputation. Anne is preggo- that ruined the show. Ben’s dad with the hooker.. ha! WHAT A JOKE! I love George and Ashley– They are the best characters.
i absolutely love this show and i hope it never gets cancelled. so about the show, i dnt think betty should be dating ben’s dad hes so sweet and i just know hes gonna be crushed when he finds out shes some online prostitute. and how did they meet anyway?? as for ben and ricky, ben just needs to get over his jealously..hes starting to get on my nerves with this whole amy is my wife and not ricky’s thing. i cant believe ann is pregnant! WAT!? i strongly believe its her ex husbands baby you just wait and see it cant be that weird guy that shes dating…eww. and amy needs to suck it up and deal with wat shes done not make her dad do all the work since her moms pregnant. i felt sooo bad when i found out marshall died..it was devastating. i feel even worse for grace because her mom told her to call him but she didnt and now look wats happened to him..so sad. i bet shes never having sex again. as for jack, ive lost all respect for him, now hes a man whore…and hes supposed to be a christian!
Terri –
“You killed John Schneider…who does that?”
Far too many shows do that. (Remember Jonathan Kent?) I’m getting darned sick of it! Another show loses me as a viewer. It’s not like I was watching for the brilliant writing.
I got into this show because it seemed interesting and I liked Brenda Hampton’s 7th Heaven. But I am also an avid fan of the CW’s One Tree Hill. I feel that last nights season finale got a little OTHish with the amount of drama that they threw down. What I am interested to see is if Brenda copies her scripts with how 7th heaven was. Start of episode each character has a problem, 45 mins later all problems are solved. I think now that Amy’s Pregnancy is over we will see a lot more drama in every other situation.
That was a very intense episode, I definitely felt horrid for grace at the end. I only wish it hadn’t of happened right after her first time, now whenever she thinks of sex she’ll remember her dad’s death. Not exactly a good combination. I also wish the writers hadn’t drastically changed some many characters so quickly, ben went from sweet in the finale to over-protective, grace’s change of heart, amy suddenly acting like the world owes her, and then there’s ricky’s change. I dislike how lovable they made his character seem, in real life it doesn’t work like that and many girls are getting the wrong impression.
To top it off though, interesting episode and here’s to many more like it.
~Heather
Seems like John Schneider chose to jump ship. Probably because he wanted more money to play on such a stupid show. Once again this season, the characters’ shallow personalities are morphing at the drop of a hat. Ricky is suddenly nice, Adrienne is the voice of reason, Grace HAS to have sex and her mom seems okay with it. The worst had to be Ben’s dad, who has been the only moral one in the bunch, asking his son for a condom. What’s with these horny parents anyway and why does a show that’s supposed to be geared toward teens have to show the parents shacking up with whoever comes their way? And didn’t Ann just have sex like yesterday, and she’s already overweight with swollen ankles? What a shame the show is becoming so ridiculous when it really had such potential.
I think you all are stupid becuase you are all upset that marshall was written out of the show. The guy who plays him DIDNT WANT TO BE IN THE SHOW! HE WANTED TO MOVE ON INTO A DIFFERENT PART OF HIS CAREER so you all need to cool it and leave the freakin writers alone. What were they going to do with Marshall anyway? If they sent him away for a few monthes they would have to show him once or twice. If you are mad that Marshall died then blame the actor playing him!
They only made Ann pregnant because she got pregnant in real life at the end of last season. So they made the premier episode a few months later so that Ann would already be showing. That had to write that in or they would have had to write off Ann for a while and you couldn’t do that with Amy just having the baby. Besides they were talking about moving the Baby into the nursery so the premier was definetly a few months later.
Did anyone notice that Anne told George that she and her new boyfriend were careful, doubly careful when he asked if they had unprotected sex? I think we are gonna find out it’s george’s baby.
The season premiere was outstanding overall. I didn’t really get the whole mom/daughter arguments between Amy and her mom in the beginning but as that was further developed I got it. In season one everything seemed to revolve around Amy’s pregnancy but it looks as if there won’t be one main focus this season as there are several intriguing plots going on at one time, the Christian girl and the Christian jock’s relationship, Ben’s dad and his yet to be discovered prostitute girlfriend, Ben and Ricky’s struggles to be the most important part of Amy’s life; etc. Looking forward to seeing where it all goes. Love the way the show is written. It’s so against the grain of what you would expect from regular network tv- so original.
this episode was bizarre…on one hand you have the great acting of ashley george and adrian, and in the other you have grace changing her mind so quickly about sex(there wasnt any time wrap from season one to season two), amy is sooooooooooo annoying, ann’s pregnancy is completely out of place, it’s like season one’s plot all over again. I don’t see this show going anywhere. BTW i totally agree with kristen, tom should have been the one to be killed off: im not english, and even though I understand english quite well, when he speaks I do not understand a thing, and his character is not helping the plotline
I missed the episode that showed how Grace’s father died, and the one where she also had sex, so i interneted my way here to find out what happened!
I know the language used on this show is not the way teenagers actually speak; i didn’t speak that way when i was 15-16. But i think the point of the show is to give people a kind of ~manual~ for ways of thinking about and talking about the issues the show deals with–to present a few points of view and possibilities for handling teen sex, pregnancy, abuse, jobs…all that stuff, in a format that people will actually watch, instead of printing it in some book that only a few parents are really religious teens might read. Yeah–the archetypes are exaggerated, but they are in other teen/young adult movies too–10 Things I Hate About You, She’s All That…
i watched the marathon today. i just started watching the show today! it is ok. but it is getting more interesting…