7th Heaven: Season 2 - Episode 14: Red Tape

 

The Camden Family are out for lunch. Pictured are Lucy (Beverly Mitchell) and Ruthie (Mackenzie Rosman).

The entire family is having dinner at a restaurant because the owner gave Eric coupons for seven free meals. Ruthie is upset they don't give a toy with the meal, Mary is upset that Lucy took her sweater without asking, Matt and Simon keep hitting elbows since they both have them on the table. Ruthie is playing with the bottle of Hot Sauce, and it spills on Mary's sweater that Lucy is wearing. The waitress (Shelley Robertson) comes over to take their orders. There are no substitutions, and nothing included can be put on the side. This makes it hard for them to order since no one wants it the way it comes. The waitress looks at the coupons and tells them they can only have the blue plate special: liver and onions. (Better them than me...YUCK)!

The opening credits come up, and the theme song plays.

Annie is in the kitchen putting breakfast food out o the table. Simon comes down and sticks his hand out of the toast. Annie tells him to say please. The children are all showing bad manners. Their mother has them sit down and gives them a lesson on manners. 

Annie: I'm going on a good manners binge.

Ruthie: Are we going with you?

Annie: Oh, yes. 

Eric (comes into the kitchen): Where we going?

Matt: To a place, we've been many times before. 

Annie excuses herself and leaves the kitchen, not a happy camper. Matt tells them to humor their mother. Then the kids have a food fight. (Probably not the way to humor her).  

Annie is venting to Eric in the laundry room. Eric tells her he has other priorities, like the food bank.

Annie: If everyone were polite and considerate, there'd be enough food to feed the world. (It actually makes sense if you think about it). 

She leaves the room, and Eric is silent. 

Annie: I heard that. (Hee-hee).

At the high school, the girls see a newspaper ad with Matt asking for a girlfriend for his senior year with their phone number. The girls think he has become really desperate. As Matt walks through the halls, all the girls are looking at him and giggling. 

At the house, the phone rings. Annie answers and takes a message as it's for Matt and he's not home. She is going through the mail, and Happy got a credit card in the mail. 

Eric is helping out at the food bank. A boy comes up to Eric, introduces himself as Clarance Fields (Gary LeRoi Gray,) and asks where the Beanie Weenies are. Eric asks the manager, and he tells Eric to let him take what he wants because he needs it. Clarance comes over to them, happy that he found the Beanie Weenies, and says he will be back tomorrow. The manager asks if Eric is going to go follow Clarance because Eric is "a nice guy, but a nosy guy." 

Annie tells Matt she got a lot of calls from girls today. He thanks her, and Annie asks him about his day. He tells her about the girls at school, then says he doesn't know why but Matt thinks he does know. 

The older girls are in their room. Lucy hung up the sweater that was dirty "so it wouldn't get dirtier." Mary tells her to wash it. Matt comes in, and the girls tell him they know about the ad. Matt thinks they put it in the school paper, and the girls believe Matt did it. The phone rings for Matt again, and he says to "tell them I'm not home." 

Simon is taking out the trash with Happy. The bag opens, and Simon finds Happy's credit card. He tells Happy they will keep it between the two of them. (And Ruthie). 

The camera goes to an apartment building. It shows Clarance walking and then Eric following in his car. Eric comes across two big men who try to stop him. Eric holds up his Bible, and they let him pass. (Yep, the Bible is the sword of the Spirit: Ephesians 6:17). He sees the name "Fields" on the mailbox. He knocks on the door, and Clarance opens when he says, "it's Reverend Camden." Eric asks him if his parents are home, and he says he can't say because it wouldn't be safe. Then when Eric says he could come back later, the boy asks him to sit outside the door so he's not alone. His mom won't be home until nighttime. Eric agrees to hang out. (Did anyone doubt that he would)?

Ruthie and Simon are in their room trying to decide what to buy for Happy. Simon calls the 1-800 number on the card to see if the card is authentic. He orders the boots and has them ship overnight. After Simon hangs up and tells Ruthie that he needs to call back and cancel the order, or Simon will have to pay. Simon tries to call customer service to cancel, but the lady won't speak with him since he's under 18. Ruthie asks him if he has the money, and her brother says yes, including the shipping. 

Lucy and Mary are in the laundry room. Mary pulls her sweater out from the dryer, and it has shrunk. (Uh-oh)

Eric asks Clarance what he is eating. He tells him Beanie Weenies. (What else)? He lets him know that his mother does leave him food, but he likes "to top it off with something tasty." A woman starts smacking Eric with some magazines. Clarance tells her who Eric is, and Eric tells her he can explain. He looks at her and realizes it's Harriet, the waitress at the restaurant. She stops and lets him into the house once Clarance unlocks the door. He starts to tell Harriet where he met Clarance but sees Clarance motioning to him not to tell her. So Eric makes up a story about running into him at the front of the building. Harriet calls the Reverend nosy. (This seems to be an overall assessment of the Reverend in this episode). Harriet tells him that she married a man three years ago who ended up running off and sticking with her with a high tax bill. Also, he was still married to his first wife, so it wasn't a legal marriage. Eric asks to try contacting the IRS for her. She doesn't think it will work since the guy's name is Mr. Smith. (At least it's not a common name. Only 2,442,977 people in 2010, so my guess is about the same in 1998). 

Clarance: This could be the answer to our prayers, Reverend." 

Eric tells Annie he has to go to the IRS. She tells him not to lose his temper. Lucy asks Annie to take her to the mall after school. Annie tells her to use "please." When Lucy does, Annie says no, but tells her daughter she's not intentionally setting her up. Mary suggests Lucy ask Matt, but Lucy tells her he wouldn't because he thinks she and Mary are responsible for the ad. 

Annie: Maybe if you ask him more politely.

Lucy: Why? It didn't work with you. 

Eric is at the IRS on his cell phone trying to find Mr. Smith (Kenneth Tigar). 

Matt tells Leonard (Nils Larsen) to print ad retraction in the ad at the high school. Leonard tells him he can't do either. He says he can't place an apology because it would look like the paper made a mistake. He also had to "protect his sources." Matt threatens to go to the principal. Leonard tells him the First Amendment protects him. (I don't think it does in this case, as it's not reporting it is ad placing). Then Leonard tells Matt if Matt comes near him on school property, he will be the one to go to the principal. Girls start giggling at Matt again.

Annie opens up a box at the house and discovers Happy's credit card has been used. She calls to cancel the card, and the woman gives her a difficult time.

Annie: She doesn't have the money to pay for them.

Woman: Then Eddie Bowzer Catalougoes lost a few bucks. Have a nice day. (She hangs up on Annie). 

Lucy takes the shrunken sweater to the store, but she cannot return it or get store credit without a receipt. 

At the IRS, Eric is talking to Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith tells Eric it's not the problem of either of them. The man tells him he retiring in fourteen days. 

Eric: Then you have fourteen days to take another look at this file. The man swindled her. This is a woman with a young child who had to move out of her own home into a rundown apartment building to pay off some guy's debt she doesn't even owe. Not only is that unfair, it can't possibly be legal.

A woman looks into Mr. Smith's o fice. (I am wondering if she's his boss). 

Eric:  m not leaving here until we resolve this.

Mr. Smith: It is resolved. It has been resolved. There is no more resolving. (Mr. Smith puts his hand on his chest): Oh God.

The man believes he is having a heart attack. Eric yells for someone to call 911 and then realizes he can do it since there is a phone right there. (That was funny). 911 puts Eric on hold. 

The nurse (Shay Bennett) says they can't admit Mr. Smith without proof of insurance at the hospital. Eric goes to get the man's cards at the IRS office. (I have never heard of this. I have often gone to the ER at hospitals in various places without my cards, and they have seen me. They just get the cards later). 

Ruthie and Simon ask Annie if they can have a snack, and she says yes, and suggests Happy also has a snack. She calls Happy, who is wearing her new boots. 

Annie: I think Happy will just keep those boots.

Ruthie: I wonder if Happy will order anything else?

Annie: Not if she knows what's good for her.

S mon: Believe me, she does. (I'm sure she does). 

Simon thanks his mother for not punishing him and Ruthie and then decides to go to his room for a long time to concentrate hard on his homework.

The phone rings. It's for Matt, who just walked in with the older girls. Lucy says that the store wouldn't take the sweater back. Annie offers to go to the store and try. 

Eric has returned to the hospital with the cards. The nurse tells him to have a seat while she does the paperwork. Eric sees Dr. Peterson (Keith MacKechnie) and asks him to help Mr. Smith. The doctor takes the man and tells Eric he'll take care of him.

Annie takes the sweater to the store, and the woman will not help. Annie shows some people looking at the same sweater and shows her what happens when you wash it. The lady threatens to call security because Annie is "causing a disturbance." Annie gets enraged.

Annie: Cause a disturbance? You want disturbance? Here's disturbance. Whatever happened to common decency? Whatever happened to service and a simple, "Thanks for shopping here?"What happened to a store sta ding behind the merchandise it sells? Whatever happened to truth, justice, and a store taking back returns? (I can see this side). The other customers cheer and applaud.

Store owner: I'll tell you what happened. People started shoplifting and then returning things for cash. Or buying things and wearing t em and then returning them for no reason. Profits started coming down, and insurance rates started going up. So shop owners had to look for merchandise with a higher markup. What d  you want for a twelve-dollar sweater? Whatever happened to "you get what you pay for? If the manufacturer doesn't stand up for the merchandise, why should I get stuck? I've got kids to feed too, you know. That's what happened to this American store taking returns. (I can see this side too). 

Other customers leave the store. Annie apologizes to the woman, who apologies back. She gives Annie the money for the sweater, and Annie offers to buy her a cup of coffee. The woman can't leave, so Ann e offers to bring the coffee back to her. 

Eric gets some coffee at the hospital, which isn't very good. The doctor tells him Mr. Smith had heartburn, not a heart attack, but they are keeping him overnight to be sure. (I don't think they can tell Er c this, since he's not kin to Mr. Smith)  Eric asks for fifteen minutes with  r. Smith before the doctor talks to him.

Leonard knocks on the door at the Camden house. He was the one who put the ad in. He thought if Matt used the personals, others would also. Leonard apologizes to Matt. After he leaves, Matt apologizes to Mary and Lucy (at their insistence). 

Eric is talking with Mr. Smith, who is scared he might need an operation and has no family. His wife left him, and he has no children. He says he gave his life to the IRS. Eric tells him that is a noble cause except when they go after people who don't really owe. Mr. Smith says he can't go into surgery with that on his conscience. Eric just happened to get Harri t's file while he was at the office. (Pretty sure that's illegal).

There is a knock on his room door, and it's Harriet and Clarance. Mr. Smith apologizes and tells her she will be getting a refund. He says it will be a lot of red tape, but he plans to have the check in the mail by next week. 

The doctor comes in and tells him he has to stay overnight and lose weight, but he doesn't need heart surgery. 

Clarance: It's a miracle.

Mr. Smith: Yes, it is a miracle. No hard feelings? Please.

Eric (to God): Thank you.

The closing credits come up. 

(This episode wasn't horrible but not my favorite. It wasn't overly interesting).