Zoom in on the Cohen kitchen. The three males are scrounging around for breakfast scraps in the wake of Kirsten's prolonged absence when Julie knocks on the door. She tells Sandy that parents are signing a petition to have Marissa and Ryan expelled.
At the diner before school, Summer convinces the gang to make senior year "all time." Unfortunately, this becomes instantly difficult when Marissa is confronted by Taylor Townsend, a perky senior that wishes to take over as social chair. Julie and Sandy also run into a new enemy at school: Jack Hess, the Dean of Discipline. Overcome with alliteration, we'll move on ...
During this time, Jimmy is meeting with a man to whom is owes a considerable amount of money. It becomes apparent that Jimmy's motives for returning extended beyond love. What, the audience is then left wondering, are the motives behind Charlotte's infatuation with Kirsten? She invites her to spend time at her father's lake house before returning to her family. Sandy is dismayed by this decision when he visits them for dinner - and then we are later dismayed to discover that a teary-eyed Charlotte, seemingly close to falling of the wagon and begging Kirsten to remain by her side, was actually faking and (gasp!) even drinking immediately after our favorite MILF went to bed.
After the school board meets to discuss the fate of Harbor's most notorious couple, only Marissa is expelled. Despite Ryan's best efforts to plead with the new dean, this doesn't change. At least Summer is having better luck in her attempt to wrestle social control away from tenacious Taylor - she jumps into the planning of the Kickoff Carnival and everyone thanks her for the great event. Around this time, Jimmy proposes to Julie and she accepts.
After apologizing to one another for a fight over the shooting, Ryan and Marissa show up at the carnival. We're in for a happy ending, right? Not so much. When Dean Hess finds the gun-friendly girl there, he personally escorts her away. In a case of Ryan being Ryan, he actually grabs Hess and punches him. That earns him a one-way ticket out of Harbor, as well, and a bleak future for each half of this damned duo.
"The Shape of Things to Come" File: