7th Heaven: Season 4 - Episode 17: Twelve Angry People

 

Ruthie (Mackenzie Rosman) is in trouble for cutting Sarah's hair. 

 

Ruthie cut her friend's hair, and Annie just found out. Ruthie tries to come up with an excuse, but her mother says she doesn't want any. She wants Ruthie to understand the consequences of her actions and tells her to go to her room. Ruthie offers to pick up trash like Mary did. Ruthie says she told Mrs. Hinkle she could go to her house today, and Annie tells her to tell Mrs. Hinkle she can't, and Ruthie needs to understand how her actions affect others as well as herself. 

Meanwhile, Eric is on jury duty for a murder trial.

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

Eric is with the other jurors discussing the case. They are voting on if the person is guilty or not guilty. Everyone except for Eric says the person is not guilty, and it has to be unanimous. (And they need it to run the full episode so that all the actors get paid).  

Matt comes into the house to get the keys to the church to do work in Eric's office. Annie doesn't understand why he can't work right there at the house. Matt tells him he needs to be uninterrupted. She tells him to leave everything at the office as he found it.

Mary and Lucy come inside looking for their father. They want to go to the promenade to buy cappuccinos. Annie tells them she doesn't want them drinking cappuccinos, and they can't afford it. She says she doesn't understand how their girls can spend so much money, and they inform her shampoo is not cheap. She tells them to use the family shampoo. She tells them it's not just a cappuccino they want.

Simon comes in and asks for permission to have Deena over because her parents are finally allowing it. She isn't sure, and he says he's not going to give Deena another hickey, and Annie doesn't have to do anything. Simon feels like he and the other kids are being punished because their dad has jury duty.

Matt is in Eric's office and spills his coffee on his pants. He quickly takes the pants off.

Mary and Lucy are discussing what to tell Annie, but they decide it doesn't matter since their mother won't let them go. Annie comes in and asks them if they have seen Ruthie, and Lucy says her little sister said she was going to Mrs. Hinkle's. Annie tells them Ruthie was sent to her room. The girls ask to just walk around the promenade since that doesn't cost. Mary says Lucy was hoping to see her old boyfriend, and Lucy says that it is Andrew Nayloss. Lucy says Mary wants to run into Robbie, and Mary hits Lucy. Annie is looking at Lucy while Mary goes to get ice for her sister. 

Simon comes in and begs his mother to let Deena come over. (You sound rather desperate, Simon). She gives in and tells him to go find Ruthie. 

Ruthie comes back into the house while Mary is getting the ice. Ruthie says she had to go to Mrs. Hinkle's house. Simon comes downstairs and tells Ruthie their mother is mad. Ruthie doesn't think she could be any madder, and Annie comes down and informs her she is indeed madder. Ruthie explains she didn't have Mrs. Hinkle's number, so she had to walk over to tell Mrs. Hinkle she had to go to her room and couldn't come over. (Ruthie's having a rough episode). 

Matt is trying to study but is very unfocused.

Eric is trying to convince the other jurors that the man is guilty of murder. The others believe it's a police scandal, so the man is not guilty. He then concludes they all know the man killed the police officer, but they just don't care. 

Another juror, Caleb (Bill Henderson), tells Eric about his nephew, who was sentenced to fifteen years for selling drugs on an army base. However, some white guys stole three million in medicare fraud and didn't get any jail time. 

Eric: The only thing I know for certain about how it feels to be black in America is that I'll never know how it feels to be black in America.

Matt calls his mother to ask if Eric had any music in the church that wasn't the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Annie asks what he's looking for, and he says music was written after he was born. (Haha). He tells her he's taking a break.

Lucy tells Mary that Mary owes her. Mary offers to get Lucy and Andrew together. While she enjoys kissing Andrew, Lucy says she doesn't know if she wants to date him. (You don't, he's a loser, not as much as Jimmy Moon, but still a loser). Mary wants Lucy to call Robbie, but Lucy informs her that she didn't give Mary a black eye and therefore doesn't owe her anything. 

Ruthie asks Mary to help her because she doesn't like being stuck in her room. Mary tells her she needs to learn to be responsible for her actions. Ruthie tells Mary they are both labeled as bad girls and get punished even when they don't do anything wrong. 

Annie comes in and tells Ruthie, "No visitors; no talking." Ruthie tells her mom she thought about what she did but doesn't think Annie will like what she came up with. 

Simon and Deena (Nicole Cherié Saletta) are playing Life in the kitchen. Deena puts the peg representing Simon in the backseat. And Simon is upset since he put her peg in his car in the front. 

Mary says she called Andrew's house, but Andrew wasn't home. She talked to her father, and he said that Lucy needs to leave Andrew alone because he has a girlfriend now that Andrew doesn't like very much, but they do. And now Andrew won't make out all the time because making out leads to sex, which Andrew isn't ready for. (This didn't even seem plausible). 

Eric tells the group that he understands racism still exists. And that black people, especially, may have lost faith in the system. However, he asks them not to vote based on biases. They revote, and everyone says not guilty again except for Eric and Caleb. Another juror (Lawrence B. Adisa) becomes angry that Caleb would vote guilty when Caleb knows a black man can't get a fair trial. Caleb says this man got a fair trial and is guilty. Eric asks him to think only about the current trial and the current man on trial.

Eric: Did this defendant get a fair trial? Is he guilty?
There is a brief pause.
Juror: I vote guilty.

Matt is now wearing Eric's robe and pretending to be a reverend in "The Church of Matt."

Other jurors still will not change their minds about the man being guilty. 

Lucy is in her father's office and calls Mr. Nayloss (Ray Bengston) to try and set the record straight. He tells her that she and Mary need to stay away from Andrew. Mary comes in, and Lucy asks her if she talked to Mr. Nayloss, and Mary won't give a straight answer. Lucy chases Mary, who runs into Ruthie's room. Ruthie is wearing a hat; she says she decided to do to herself what she didn't to Sarah. Lucy finds Mary, and then Annie also comes in. Ruthie tells her mom she thought about cutting her hair but decided not to do it. However, when Ruthie sees Annie's face, she understands why she was wrong to cut Sarah's hair. 

Ruthie offers to let Sarah cut her bangs, so they can have bad hair together. Annie says if Sarah says yes, Ruthie will have bad bangs too, and Ruthie says she knows but wants Annie to call Sarah's mom anyway. Annie agrees. 

Simon wants to quit the game, which leads to an argument because Deena is angry that she's been grounded for so long because he bit her. He informs her they both got punished, and now the punishment is over, but Deena says she's still angry. 

Simon: I'm sorry.
Deena: Do you realize that's the first time you've apologized to me. You've apologized to your parents and to my parents, but not to me.
Simon: But I thought we were kind of partners in crime, you know? No apologies necessary.

Deena: Yeah. You know, maybe, I'm mad at myself. Maybe it's not your fault. But maybe it's not anyone's fault but my own. I'm guilty. 

Annie calls Sarah's mother, not realizing how late it is. She says he will have Ruthie call Sarah in the morning. She then calls the church, but no one answers since Matt is no longer in the office but in the sanctuary playing "Chopsticks." 

Lou (Alan Fudge) comes into the church because someone called when they heard the organ at the church. Matt explains he spilled coffee on his pants which is why he's wearing the robe, and he was working in his father's office but taking a break. 

The jurors are still arguing over the trial. More people decide the man is guilty, but one juror (Tom Virtue) tells them to declare a hung jury because he's not changing his vote. Another juror (Jonna Tamases) also sticks with not guilty but then changes her mind when Eric convinces her that one person really can make a difference. 

Eric: Today, you can make a difference. You can see that justice is done.

Juror: It's all up to me, huh? It's a big responsibility, isn't it?

Eric: I think you're up to it. Let's take another vote.

Ruthie is happy that Sarah didn't want to cut her hair. Annie tells her she was going to let Sarah cut Ruthie's hair if she wanted. Ruthie asks her mom why someone knows something is wrong yet doesn't it anyway. Annie says it's complicated, but everyone does their best for where they are at any given moment. Ruthie apologizes and says it's hard to always be good. (Ain't that the truth). 

Lucy asks Mary why she made up the story about Mr. Nayloss. Mary says she feels like she's been punished for the gym incident forever and that hitting Lucy was an accident. She says she wants to have fun. Lucy says she agrees, so she called Robbie. Mary says she didn't want her to call Robbie because Robbie's not a good guy, and she wants a guy who treats her right. Lucy informs her that she didn't call Robbie. 

Annie puts the twins to sleep, and Simon asks if she needs help. She asks if things are okay between Simon and Deena. He says they are, but he is beginning to realize how complicated life is and that perhaps it's better to do the right thing, to begin with, than do something wrong and suffer the consequences. (True, but Ruthie is right, it is hard to do that all the time). 

Annie: None of us is capable of doing the right thing all the time. Life is more complicated than that.

Simon: Yeah, I'm realizing that too. When did life get so complicated?

Annie: Simple wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

They hug.

Matt is talking with Lou. Lou is explaining statistics. However, he says what really matters as a doctor is the person you are working with at that moment, that one patient. 

The jurors return to the courtroom. They find the defendant guilty. The judge thanks and dismisses the jury. 

The closing credits come up. 

(I'm not a huge fan of this episode. I felt bad for Ruthie. Mary and Lucy's plot was just stupid, except for Mary realizing Robbie's not the right guy, at least not now, Matt's plot was dumb, but I did like what Lou had to tell him about not treating patients as a statistic. Deena was obnoxious and annoying in this episode, and even the main plot with Eric was rather dull).