Welcome back to Teeny Bopper TV Breakdown! Today we recap Breaker High, episode 31, “Jimmy Behaving Badly.” If some of what we’ve seen up to this point isn’t considered him “behaving badly,” I’m a little scared.
We start the episode with Jimmy watching Sean and Tamira play checkers. As they finish the game, Sean and Tamira try to sneak off for some alone time, but are unable to - Jimmy is clearly not ready to lose Sean and is third-wheeling for dear life.
Ms. Mitchell’s class is learning about whales, and she assigns Max, Cassidy and Alex to present about them as a group. Apparently Max and Cassidy haven’t spoken since they left Canada (lingering resentments from the hockey game perhaps?). Yup, Cassidy confirms later that she’s still mad about the power trip he pulled as captain, so it’s on Max to apologize - again. One, this should be fun, and two, poor Alex.
Tamira has set up a picnic for her and Sean on deck, and for once Jimmy is nowhere to be found! Seems Sean distracted him with food in the coffeehouse and was then able to escape himself. Of course Jimmy shows up right as they’re about to kiss, though, and steals Sean’s sandwich on top of it. As soon as Jimmy leaves to grab some more condiments, the school bell rings, so there goes that quality time. Sean apparently has a plan for that night, though - we’ll see how it works out.
We fade in on someone fiddling with a rose - it’s easy to assume it’s Sean, but turns out it’s Max, and then Cassidy walks into his room. He’s hidden the rose in his desk drawer, so when she asks what he wanted to talk to her about, he makes a flimsy excuse about needing help getting said drawer open. She doesn’t believe him and turns to leave, so he goads her by saying she’s probably not strong enough to open it, and as predicted, Cassidy comes back, yanks it open, finds the bloom, and accepts Max’s apology.
Tamira and Sean are holed up in the A/V room, and we can see Jimmy peering in through the window. Sean had turned the “On Air” intercom off before kissing Tamira, but while they’re making out, Jimmy sneaks in and turns it back on, so the entire ship overhears their date. The friend group all come and make kissy faces at the A/V window, and Sean and Tamira’s faces are bright red.
Alex comes in to his and Max’s cabin and congratulates Max on the rose tactic. When Max asks how he found out, Alex says Cassidy told him, just like she told him about how when Max’s parents split up, Max begged his dad to stay. Looks like Max may be having a talk with Cassidy about oversharing.
It’s a night of hard conversations: Sean has to truly drill it into Jimmy’s head that Jimmy needs to leave Sean and Tamira alone sometimes, and yup, Max confronts Cassidy about sharing their private discussions. He feels she’s totally betrayed his trust, and when she tries to tell him it won’t happen again, he says, “You’re right, it won’t,” and walks off - are they broken up now?
Everyone on-ship is making fun of Tamira after they heard Sean call her “Tammy-bunny” over the intercom. She’s mad at Jimmy, but apparently not mad enough to see Sean’s side of things and exclude Jimmy from their “alone together” time yet. Tamira, I know you feel bad for Jimmy, but really? She soon sees the error of her ways, as Jimmy won’t stop commentating their “golf outing” and eventually starts spitting food at them, which is finally what sets Tamira off. Will Jimmy care about being called a steamroller though? Unsure.
Alex remembers Cassidy’s coffee order without her having to tell him, and this plus the fact that he’s generally level-headed and doesn’t fly off the handle (aka the opposite of Max) has her thinking some kind of way about him. Alex doesn’t know what to do with this information (Cassidy may not say anything directly but definitely has a look on her face as she scoots closer to him), so steers the conversation to a “let’s just get our presentation done.”
Tamira finds Jimmy as he’s playing checkers by himself, and she’s the one to apologize first for getting mad at him? At least he admits he deserved it; yes, he was “being himself,” Tamira, but those were some pretty glaring social cues he missed, and even now he can’t seem to differentiate between “changes in relationship” and “not friends at all anymore.” Jimmy thinks Tamira has taken his place as Sean’s best friend, and Tamira has to reassure him she wouldn’t do that, and that there’s a time and place for each set of two people and sometimes all three.
While researching, Alex finds that when a female whale wants to get rid of a male, she may give him a tail slap, and Cassidy quips, “There’s a certain male I’d like to slap.” Knowing exactly who she’s talking about, Alex says, “You and Max will get back together, you always do,” but Cassidy denies it, saying she’s tired of dealing with Max’s mood swings and he’s not worth putting herself through that anymore. Alex is impressed, and the following, “Maybe it’s time to move on,” “Maybe I will,” exchange is a little, shall we say, heated. Then on deck later, they actually get to see a few whales surfacing, and are so excited they almost kiss before Denise interrupts them. Wow, I’d forgotten how high school friend groups really do all date each other.
Tamira and Sean are cuddling in the lifejacket storage bin, not wanting to take any Jimmy chances. Jimmy can hear Tamira giggling, and barely stops himself from opening the bin, but then of course Tony calls a lifeboat drill, so even if it’s not Jimmy, it’s just the couple’s luck that they’re exposed anyway.
Don’t change that channel! We’ll be right back on Teeny Bopper TV Breakdown.
