The episode begins with news that there was a shooting the previous night where one person was killed and four were injured. The undercovers are all a bit freaked out, way more than the real students. The real students’ attitude is this happens all the time, what’s for lunch? The local man on the street report for the Topeka station would make a more believable undercover student than the reporter he supposed is. It is reportedly a gang incident so the school prepares for some sort of retaliation by increasing the police presence on campus.
Erin’s friend project, Michelle, seems particularly down and upset in class the day after the shooting. Erin and Michelle and another senior girl, JuJu go out for Thai food for dinner. Erin wants to see what is gong on with Michelle. Michelle knew the girl who died, apparently it was a case of mistaken identity, the gang shot up the wrong car.
Nikki goes to poetry club and discovers that a lot of their poetry is about violence, gangs and death. Students hold bake sales and other fundraisers to pay for the funeral.
Kourtnei’s experience undercover has been more of an exercise in learning to deal with problems and situations on her own rather than have her mother rescue her from any minor hardship. She struggles to make friends with the students, she had a meltdown when they took her iPhone away from her. She calls her mother frequently to vent. On this episode she explains that when she was in school her mother bought her a car. Now she has to take two buses for over an hour to get there with nothing but her little cheapass Android phone. Oh the horrors! Did they not tell her she was signing up to live the typical life of a high school kid in Topeka? Did she think she was getting hair and make up? And when she does talk about the experience she seems to focus on how she can help the kids to take school seriously. Yet she herself is already saying she’s, “over it.” She and some of the others seem to fail to understand the mission. The job is to figure out what they can discover that would be helpful to the administrators as they try to solve the many problems the students are facing.
Kourtnei finally makes it to school and is a seemingly interesting history class where many of the students are engaged in the lesson and not on their phones. Kournei is unhappy that she isn’t being approached by the popular crowd, or anyone for that matter. She was super duper really popular in high school. Or so she says. I fail to see a disposition that would make that likely. She just gets up out of class and walks out the door with the producers chasing her. Kourtnei calls her mommy and packs up to go home. As she is leaving she texts her mother and asks if she would be mad if she came home. Says she absolutely would because she quits everything she tries when things don’t go her way. Her mom begs her to finish what she started for once. She quit anyway.
Jorge and D’Andre are in acting class together. D’Andre clearly has a crush on Jorge. Jorge is furiously applying Chapstick as the Drama coach teaches while sitting right next to D’Andre. Let’s see what happens next…! D’Andre got an apartment on his own and the next night Jorge is coming over to help him decorate.
Daniel goes to a faith-based after school club. The topic for the meeting is “fears.” Almost all of them are afraid of death. One is afraid of going back to prison. These are high school kids. They are supposed to be so fearless they do stupid shit. The next day, Antonio comes to the Inside Out group. He shares that he was arrested again for possession with intent to distribute. His stepfather of ten years went off on him for being a two time felon and Antonio punched a door with both hands until they were bloody. Daniel is shocked because he was trying to get in with Antonio because he’s very popular and seems to have everything going for him. Daniel leads the group in prayer at the end of the meeting.
Erin takes Michelle and JuJu to play putt putt for her birthday. Michelle says she is getting a tattoo for her birthday to honor her friend that was killed.
It’s time for Jorge’s date with D’Andre. Jorge is the first person that D’Andre has invited to his house. He didn’t even invite his mother. D’Andre seems to have something on his mind that he wants to talk about with Jorge, but first he needs to know if he “likes” him. Jorge says no he doesn’t, he only likes him as a friend. While I was expecting D’Andre to be devastated, he says he wanted to be sure before he told him about his date that night. Okay, production, You got me there! Then again, the conversation did not go to talk about a date, but more about him coming out to people. Perhaps he just covered very nicely for the rejection.
Since Daniel is a student pastor, he goes to Kianna’s funeral. Very few of the other students attend. Her murder is still unsolved and they give a number to call the detective if you know anything. I’m sure all the students at Highland Park are watching. Perhaps their family will get some closure if someone calls.
Next week is about an anti-bullying movement one student attempts to start. And we get more Shane, who I missed this week. This week was heavy.
Amazing write up Tamara, this episode was definitely a great one. I commend Erin for being there for Michelle and caring about her well being, as well as making sure once high school is over for her, that she does something she really wants to do and not just a last resort. Kourtnei was definitely selfish and forgot that the program was not about her. I knew she would have trouble when she first arrived and complained to her mom about having to use an android over an iPhone. I had a feeling that D’Andre had liked Jorge but I’m glad Jorge remembered he was the adult and only here to help and be a friend. D’Andre that recovery after he said no was perfect.
This show is so heartbreaking. I wish I could help these kids.