Welcome back to Teeny Bopper TV Breakdown! Today we recap Breaker High, episode 44, “To Kill a Mocking Nerd.” It’s the series finale, and I honestly don’t know whether it was written as such or if it’ll end on a total cliffhanger. Let’s find out!
Already I kind of have a feeling it’s the latter, as the episode starts with a group of bullies pushing a stereotypical nerd into the pool, and this show has never done that quite so menacingly before (also, no offense to Venezuela, but I don’t think a typical series finale would end there). Sean starts talking to our normal friend group about how someone should stand up to them and insults the lead bully, Ed (also known as “The House”), who overhears and is only stopped by Captain Ballard walking up.
After the theme song, we find a shirtless Alex beating up on a punching bag as Ashley comes up and reminds him his brother Lyle is coming to visit. As homesick as he was a few episodes ago, Alex doesn’t sound thrilled to see his brother; he actually sounds envious of the perfect, popular jock instead. Come to think of it, while Alex has talked about his three sisters before, I don’t think he ever mentioned a brother. In any case, he may have a point about his brother stealing all the attention, as the friend group immediately starts fawning all over the newcomer. As older brothers do, Lyle embarrasses Alex by calling him by his childhood nickname, Bucky, apparently given to him because he would run around “buck naked.” Lyle moves to check into a hotel, but the friend group quickly says they’ll ask the captain if he can stay on the ship. Except for Alex, that is, who instead looks disappointed that he’ll have even less separation from his brother. Why is this visit happening again?
Sean walks out of his classroom, and Ed is waiting to trip him and kick him while he’s down. Then in the cafeteria, Ed dumps a plate of spaghetti on Sean’s head. And later, he somehow traps Sean in the ship’s ventilation system. Sean must somehow get out, as later in the coffeehouse, he walks over to Ed to try and reason with him, but then all the other nerds come over to “help,” which just does the opposite, but again, Captain Ballard just happens to come in at exactly the right time. So like every typical ‘90s bully, Ed then says to Sean, “Tomorrow, after school, we settle this once and for all,” and Sean leaves himself a voice memo to prepare for a burial at sea.
Apparently Lyle’s visit is happening because his college soccer team is playing nearby, and he got tickets for the entire friend group to attend. Alex comes up with a convenient excuse that they have to take photos of the rainforest for a school project so can’t come, but Ashley pokes a hole in his reasoning and Alex storms off. This is why you communicate about why you’re unhappy Lyle is here, Alex, rather than leaving Ashley confused.
Once Alex and Lyle are alone, we find out what has Alex so upset: Lyle stole Alex’s girlfriend last summer, and doesn’t even remember her name - he calls her Cathy, when it was actually Karen. Lyle tries to explain himself, but Alex won’t let him. I do kind of want to hear Lyle’s “side,” but this definitely doesn’t look good.
Tamira tries to convince Ed to call off the fight with Sean, but it doesn’t work - just because Ed doesn’t have to beat people up to prove he’s tough doesn’t mean it’s not fun for him. Sean plans to try talking to Ed himself once again, but then the nerds come up to him and thank him for standing up for them, which fills Sean with a renewed sense of purpose. Hoo boy.
Alex originally skips out on the soccer game (and when the rest of the friend group visits Lyle before the game, we can see the older brother is disappointed), but then Ashley calls him to tell him Lyle’s gotten hurt. That does make him show up, but turns out the hurt wasn’t physical but emotional. Finally, Alex is able to explain that he’s tired of being in Lyle’s shadow - he’s always filled Lyle’s shoes, worn his hand-me-downs and waited for the day when they could be equals, but once Lyle stole Karen, Alex realized that would likely never happen. Lyle recognizes the true enormity of Alex’s feelings (he’s basically been grieving this whole time), and while he can’t change the past, he asks for the chance to be a better brother, which Alex grants him.
It’s fight time, and Sean is dressed for it - robe, boxing gloves and all - and it seems like the entire student body is there to watch. Tamira can’t stand what’s about to happen so jumps in front of Sean and tells Ed, “If you want to hit him, you’ll have to hit me first.” Ed says, “I don’t hit girls,” and Tamira comes back with, “Well, that’s sex discrimination.” Ed seems willing to go at her, but then Jimmy comes to both her and Sean’s defense, and then all the rest of the nerds come to stand on their side as well. Finally, the ratio is too many for Ed, and he realizes he’s the one being ganged up on this time - just a little too late, though, as he falls backward into the pool, and later gets a taste of his own medicine as he’s the one serving everyone else drinks.
OK, so Breaker High ended with a little bit of a whimper - on to the next! We’ll stick with another Canadian-produced high school show: Radio Free Roscoe. Then after that - well, I hope you like YA performing arts dramedies. Good thing this newsletter is basically just for me :D
Don’t change that channel! We’ll be right back on Teeny Bopper TV Breakdown.
