Synopsis
Trevor Kane is teaching back at the School of the Arts when his ex wife Daphne pays a visits. Trevor realises that he still has feelings for Daphne when he becomes jealous of her dating Chris.
Meanwhile Cleo can't get Leroy to notice her. Nicole and Holly advise her to start playing the field to make him jealous. So Cleo starts dating Danny, which has the desired effect on Leroy.
My Review
I'm not particularly keen on this episode and it's probably my least favourite episode of this season.
Lots of our regular cast members (the adult characters) are missing and it's definitely a case of the guest star completely taking over the show and this time he's got another guest star to help him dominate.
Personally I'm totally confused what Trevor Kane is actually doing at the school. We saw him a few episodes ago and he was there as a special guest to appear in a school show but now he appears to be a teacher! How and why did that happen?
The last time he was there he ran up large bills he expected the school to pay, left the show at the last minute resulting in the kids having to change anything so I don't understand why anyone would consider him a good role model and teacher.
There is no explanation given of what was happening and it feels like the writers didn't care about explaining things to the audience. We are just supposed to accept that he's there and then we never hear anything about him again! I find it all a little frustrating.
To me this would have been a good opportunity to explain that Reardon had left the school as he'd got a part or something and Trevor was taking a few classes to help out on a temporary basis.
Even had the writers actually explained why Trevor was there the fact is I'm just not interested in the story of him being in love with his ex wife, who miraculously knows exactly where to find him when she wants his help. I don't care if they get back together or not.
They throw Chris into the mix as a love interest for Daphne to add some connection to the school but for me it's way too little to keep me interested. I never felt that either Chris or Daphne actually had any feelings for each other.
The only part of the episode I am actually interested in is Cleo, Leroy and Danny story with advice from Holly and Nicole. It's good fun, although I'm a little confused by Leroy. What is his reluctance to get involved with Cleo? They had already put the 2 together in previous episodes and they particularly seemed close in "Nothing Personal" where Leroy agrees to coach her when she steps into the show at the last minute.
Here Leroy seems to be like he doesn't want to go out with Cleo but he doesn't want anyone else to go out with her either. Leroy's not normally so indecisive about things so I don't really get the problem here. Still it's good fun particularly the way Cleo handles him at the end.
Also I like how Danny and Cleo seem to get involved and I love Cleo's line when the 3 girls are talking in the locker rooms "well Danny's real cute". There's just something about the way Janet says it that always stands out for me.
"If The Lady Wants To Play" is a really great song and I love that the 3 girls perform it together. It's a particularly strong vocal from Nia.
Chris' "Broken Pieces" song doesn't do much for me and it always felt like he was just mumbling his way through it.
The other songs are sung by non cast members so I'm not too keen on those either.
I was a bit confused why the boys were having a whole class on learning to fence? Is that a crucial part of training to be an actor? Is Trevor Kane qualified to teach fencing? His attack on Chris seems to show again that the character isn't very stable. I would have thought there would have been an investigation of how a so called teacher attacks a student with a sword!
Episode Pictures
CREDITS
Production number 2839
Written by Michael McGreevey
Directed by William F Claxton
Original U.S. air date 28th January 1985
Original U.K. air date 20th May 1985
Guest Stars
Anthony Newley as Trevor Kane
Deborah Wakeham as Daphne Simone
Sam Slovick as Cassidy
SONGS
"If The Lady Wants To play" Performed Nia Peeples, Janet Jackson & Cynthia Gibb.
Written By Peter Beckett and Dennis Lambert.
"Man In The Mirror" Performed by Lori Lieberman.
Written By Mark Spiro.
"Broken Pieces" Performed Billy Hufsey.
Written By Lisa Ratner and Sandy Farina.
"Love Lasts Forever" Performed By Deborah Wakeman
Written By Rocky Davis and Monica Riordan
MP3s Available:
Download Episode in 6 parts
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