My Fair Gretchen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “My Fair Gretchen” | |
|---|---|
| Recess episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 5 a |
| Written by | |
| Production no. | 105 a |
| Original airdate | October 18, 1997 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Big Brother Chad" | "Speedy, We Hardly Knew Ye" |
| List of Recess episodes | |
My Fair Gretchen is the 5th episode of the ABC and Disney Television Show Recess.
[edit] Synopsis
When the Third Street kids take their annual multiple-choice exam, Gretchen-- as usual-- has no problems with the questions, breezing through the test at an unbelievable speed. However, T.J. and his friends are alarmed by an urban legend circulating the school, concerning a child as smart as Gretchen who vanished shortly after the annual exam and was never seen again.
Despite the inherent ridiculousness of the story, Gretchen is somewhat spooked, and has trouble staying calm in class. Just when she thinks she is safe, the headmaster's assistant Miss Lemon turns up to collect "your (Miss Grotke's) attendance sheets-- and her!" Gretchen follows her in terror and apprehension to the headmaster's office.
However, on sitting down beside Principal Prickley's desk, Gretchen gets a pleasant surprise. The boy who "vanished" several years ago was actually Third Street's star pupil, and his "disappearance" was actually a transfer to Oppenheimer's School for the Incredibly Extremely Gifted. Now Prickley has made up his mind: Gretchen, too, is sufficiently ahead of her year to be transferred out to a school where she'll have far more homework, exams that actually pose a challenge, and her very own rat.
Naturally, Gretchen is delighted-- until she realises that this will mean leaving T.J. and her other friends behind. Not even the prestigious school, she decides, is worth that sacrifice. But Prickley is adamant: Gretchen is going, whether she likes it or not. Distraught, she turns to T.J. in hope of a solution.
There is one hope left. To be admitted into Oppenheimer's School, a student must pass an oral examination conducted by two teachers, strangers who have never met Gretchen. If Gretchen were to give these interviewers a bad first impression, they might refuse to take her.
For the next few days, T.J. and the kids concentrate on making Gretchen into the uneducated slacker she never was. Removing her distinctive spectacles, however, cannot disguise the fact that their friend is quite obviously a genius, and a bad dress code is hardly going to deter the interviewers from taking an A* student. The biggest problem: despite her best intentions, Gretchen cannot bring herself to answer a question incorrectly.
Finally, with only a day to go before the exam, Gretchen manages to force herself to give a wrong answer to the question "What is the capital of Montana?" Astonished at her new ability, she practises intensively until the moment of truth.
When the interview day arrives, Principal Prickley is startled to see Gretchen dressed in casual clothes, without her glasses. His biggest shock is yet to come, however, as Gretchen proceeds to give patently wrong answers to every one of the interviewers' questions. The disbelieving teachers try asking progressively easier questions, but to no avail: Gretchen claims the first man to discover the North Pole was "Santa Claus", and finishes her losing streak by answering the question "What is two plus two?" with "Thirteen!"
Prickley is infuriated. Whatever has happened to his star pupil, he refuses to stand for it. Turning the full force of his anger on Gretchen, he threatens to expel her. The prospect is a terrifying one for Gretchen, and she promptly starts to rattle off the correct answers to all the previous questions-- in exact order. The formerly sceptical interviewers are astounded with her intelligence, and ask her what could possibly have been wrong before. Tearful and anxious, Gretchen explains everything.
When the full story comes out, the Oppenheimer's School teachers understand Gretchen's feelings in a way that Principal Prickley never did. Instead of being forced to transfer out, she is allowed to remain at Third Street School while taking additional classes-- and is even appointed to examine the faculty on current teaching practice!
