Tomorrow's Farewell

Synopsis

There's trouble for Leroy's when his older brother Willard, who has recently been paroled from prison, turns up drunk in the auditorium. Leroy realises Willard is up to his old tricks when he finds a gun hidden in a draw. Trying to dispose of the gun Leroy gets arrested.

Meanwhile the board of education send a team to evaluate the school, particularly it's lack of sports facilities. To prove a point Lydia arranges a dance off between her dancers and some local athletes.

My Review

This episode has a mixture of things I like and don't like. I know some shows film their first few episodes out of order so that the ones they screen first the cast have had time to gel a little and it looks like they have known each other for awhile. I don't know if that was the case with "Fame" but it feels to me like this episode was filmed before "Passing Grade" and there are a few inconsistencies with the characters.

I like the opening as an instrumental version of the theme plays and we see the characters preparing for school. Then all of the teachers advising their students of the board of educations evaluation team and I like this part of the story. Also there is lots of humour throughout the story which I really like. The whole issue of these evaluators not understanding the school and it's students and their needs is very good. I love the dance off between the dancers and the jocks and Lydia's satisfaction at proving her point is great. I also like that the focus of the episode is now on Leroy and we get to hear Gene sing, but I don't like Willard and find his scenes and storyline annoying.

Also the scenes where each of the characters is interviewed is a little annoying. They seem to ramble and talk differently to any other situations. It's almost as though the actors are improvising the scripts and just making it all up. Maybe it's because they are supposed to be nervous but they don't tend to ramble like this when they audition. I guess I just find it irritating. Also What is Bruno talking about when he mentions the hierarchy of students and how they look down on each other and don't mix? He has a group of friends that are dancers, actors, musicians and they all mix all the time! This is what I mean about being filmed out of order. Maybe Lee wasn't aware of how the cast would interact and made that up.

I'm not sure why Montgomery didn't get an interview and his character is pretty much neglected again. We still haven't been told what his major is although we do see him in the drama room with Danny and Doris so maybe we are to assume he's a drama major. At least we are finally told that Doris is a drama major and we assume Danny is as well as they talk about him wanting to be a comedian. We also finally hear Danny's name being used on screen.

It's a little confusing as to what classes each of the kids has. When the teachers are all talking we see Coco & Leroy in the dance room with Lydia, Julie and Bruno with Shorofsky and Doris with Sherwood. However in the first episode all the kid have English together are we to assume that Doris has extra English classes, because the same things happens in "Passing Grade".

There is quite a bit of location work which is nice and some scenes set in the school that aren't on the normal set. We see the auditorium but this is much bigger than the set they use from season 2 onwards so presumably this a real place that they used. Also there is a scene in a corridor where Sherwood confronts Leroy about his brother being drunk. It could actually be anywhere but it's not a place we see again.

We are told that the showers are up on the second floor of the school which is frustrating for the students to have to travel after class. This is a contradiction to where the locker rooms are shown from season 4 onwards.

I was also a little confused when all the kids are in the dressing room and they hear a noise in the auditorium and Bruno says "there's someone out in the house" but school seems to still be session so what is the problem with someone being in the auditorium and why does everyone go to investigate?

I freeze framed on the picture that was of Leroy, Willard and their Mother which is on Leroy's wall as I wondered if it was really a picture of Gene when he was young but it doesn't really look like him or the actor playing Willard. Leroy says there is 10 years difference in their ages but it doesn't look like that in the photo.

From season 5 they introduce Leroy's other brother Lemar but Leroy doesn't appear to have any pictures of him on the wall and bother Willard and Lemar seem to have the same personality. I wonder why they created a new person rather than just bring Willard back? Interestingly when Coco wants to know why Leroy hasn't thrown Willard out on the streets Leroy yells he's the only family he has but later in this season we see his Mother, then his Father in season 4, his pretend Uncle Eddie in Season 3 and then Lemar and his niece Tina in season 5 onwards!

I also got confused with the scene where the cop chases Leroy. I didn't see him dump the gun so didn't understand why suddenly the cop was after him.

The music is great from the theme that is used to the wonderful "I can do anything better than you can", "Come what may" and the use of the Jackson's "Can you feel it at the end". It all gives a really good feel good vibe to the episode.

The use of the outdoor scenes while Leroy sings and the use of the mime artist is all very distinctive. Leroy's little speech about dancing and the school is actually pretty powerful and moving. For the whole episode the school seems to be put down, either by the evaluators or things like Danny's parents thinking the people at the school are a little flaky but by the end we see the school is actually a really special important place and without it people like Leroy would be following a very different path. It leaves you feeling pretty inspired.

Update: Director Thomas Carter confirmed in an Interview for the Archive of American Television that the Kids Evaluation Interviews were partly improvised. (Scroll down to Links to watch the Interview)

Episode Pictures