Snow Job, #15
Original air date: Feb. 3, 2003

The scoop: Andy's put in a situation where he has to tell a good friend some bad news; Ephram decides to go along with Colin and Amy on the annual church ski trip.

What's up with Andy: Andy's becoming friends with Reverend Keyes who's very social and upbeat. While watching hockey together the Reverend tells Andy his vision's blurry and he needs to get his prescription for eye drops re-filled. Andy offers to examine him the next day. After his examination, the Reverend asks Andy to accompany him to a singles mixer in Denver. Andy's reluctant but eventually agrees. When the two arrive at the Mixer Andy becomes frozen, unable to enter the party. Seeing Andy's extreme discomfort, the Reverend suggests they go to the Mile High Diner for a stack of pancakes instead. The next day Andy gets the results of the Reverend's eye tests and finds himself faced with having to tell his good friend that he's going blind. When the Reverend arrives at Andy's office, Andy finds himself unable to break the news to him. He talks to Nina about the fact that he's gotten used to giving people bad news about their health and leaving before they can break down in front of him. He doesn't know how to give his friend this bad news. Finally, he tells Reverend Keyes about his impending blindness. Andy finds himself lending comfort to his friend by sitting with him as the news sinks in.

What's up with Ephram: Ephram's hesitant about attending the church ski trip, even though Colin wants him to go. While sitting with Colin and Amy at the diner, Colin gets up to pay the bill leaving Ephram and Amy alone. Amy tells Ephram that three days camping would be too much and that "it's not like you really want to go anyway." When Colin returns to the table Ephram announces that he'd be happy to go along on the trip. Once there, Ephram finds himself sitting alone by the campfire until Laynie, Colin's sister who's been away at boarding school sits down beside him. Laynie reveals to Ephram that after Colin's accident her parents sent her away to school claiming she'd be better off living a normal life away from the stress and sadness. Ephram tells Laynie about his mother's death and it seems as though the two share many of the same kinds of feelings. They continue to talk and laugh by the campfire.

What's up with Amy: Although she's annoyed that Ephram's decided to come along, Amy's particularly looks forward to the church ski trip because it was during last year's trip that she and Colin shared their first kiss. When they arrive at the campsite Amy takes Colin up to the spot where they kissed last year. She continually talks about last year until Colin asks her to stop. He questions her about how intimate the two of them were and she tells him that they've never done anything more than kiss a lot. She's happy to oblige when he asks her to refresh his memory. After Colin and Amy share their second first kiss, she begins rambling about how it differed from the last one. Colin angrily walks away. The next night she tells Colin that perhaps he'd be better off without her and he stops her from leaving by calling her Grover, the name he used to call her. Amy's shocked and pleased as Colin tells her that he's started remembering her. She's happy as they kiss again. The next day, as they're getting on the bus, Amy approaches Ephram. She knows that Ephram's the one who gave Colin that memory and asks him what else he told Colin? Ephram assures her that he only told Colin about the Grover story and both of them agree that neither of them will tell Colin that Amy knows he hasn't honestly remembered her yet.

What's up with Colin: Amy and Colin and Bright and his date all go to a movie and for pizza. Colin looks around the restaurant as the memory of the place comes to him. He tells everybody that he remembers being there and that he remembers Amy wearing a red jacket. Amy's obviously disappointed when she tells him it's his sister, Laynie he remembers. Colin's looking forward to the church ski trip and a weekend free of the pressure of trying to remember people, places and situations. After he blows up at Amy for continuously talking about the past he tells Ephram about how frustrated he is that he has absolutely no memory of Amy because she's been his "home base" and he wishes he could make her happy. After Ephram gives Colin a memory that he got from Amy, Colin realizes that Ephram and Amy got to know each other better than he originally thought. He asks Ephram about it and when Ephram stumbles his way through an explanation Colin just laughs it off telling Ephram not to worry about it.

What's up with Dr. Abbott: When Bright and Amy first tell their dad about the church ski trip his response is that because there isn't adequate supervision they cannot go. With Amy's urging he decides to allow them to go and to chaperone the trip himself. He's convinced that the kids will be unable to "party" as long as he's in charge. He sets up various lame activities and games and is always suspicious of the kid's motives. Since Bright is determined to score with his current girlfriend, one of his friends decides to "take care of" his dad for him. The kids proceed to drug Dr. Abbott, putting him to sleep, and succeed in a night of partying. Just as Bright's about to "go home" with his girlfriend he sees his dad, passed out on the ski lift. He stops what he's doing rescues his dad. The next morning Dr. Abbott punishes the kids by making them sit through a three hour long lecture by a nun.