Crackerjack - Recap

Marsh is working on a video in honor of Tara's continuing education.
She's on her way out the door, but Max grabs her and puts on a show for
Marshall. Kate wants to talk about her future, but Tara tells her now's
not good. She checks with Ted, and he says the fact that she showered at
all puts her at the head of the class.

Neil is woken by Charmaine, bellowing her hunger. He can't figure out
why they didn't work out. Is he not the guy? Charmaine says no, he's
not. He's better than the guy.

Tara arrives in her abnormal psychology class, and one of the
personalities introduces herself as Dr. Shoshana Schoenbaum, and she'll
be their teacher today.

Max confronts the man who's stealing all his business. Larry advises him
to calm down and invites him into his office to discuss it. He offers
Max a drink, which is refused. Larry tells him they're not poaching, his
clients are coming to Larry. They're bigger, and cheaper. Max
apologizes, and accepts the drink. Larry makes him an awesome offer.
Come work with them. If Max sells Larry his business, he'll put some
coin in his bank account, make Max a field manager, up his pay, good
benefits and steady work. Think about it.

Dr. Hattaras arrives and finds Shoshana holding forth. He almost leaves,
thinking he's in the wrong room. When he advises her to go on, Tara
comes back and runs out of the classroom, humiliated.

A teacher fights to force attention from his class. Marshall and Lionel
are together, since the teacher put all the gay kids in the same group.
Marshall doesn't want to make gay movies, just good movies. The teacher
swings by and tells them he's expecting something extra-special from
them. Deeper, more emotional; maybe some razzmatazz? None of them respond.

Neil and Charmaine are doing yoga together. She beats herself up over
her weight, and he reassures her that she's sexy and curvy. She's hot.

Kate hears somebody pounding on the piano. It's Neil and Charmaine
knocking boots. She freaks out.

Tara fills Max in on what happened in class. She's going to tell Dr.
Hattaras the truth, and let the chips fall where they may. Max is
feeling bad because he has to tell his best friend he's out of a job. He
also doesn't know how he's going to get his mom to sign off on the
business. They haven't even spoken for two years.

Kate comes in babbling about seeing Neil and Charmaine in flagrante
delicto. She wants to go to Japan to teach English. Tara throws cold
water, and Kate goes ballistic. She needs $800 so she'll have enough for
her flight. Tara refuses, and Katie tells her that after all the
craziness she's put up with for all these years, she sort of thought
they'd want her to do something meaningful with her life. She stomps
out, and Tara heaves a sigh.

Dr. Hattaras wishes he'd known about Tara's mental state sooner, since
four of his students dropped out, and two more transferred. He asks when
she was diagnosed, and Tara says the first time she dropped out of
college. Sometimes stuff like yesterday happens, but for the most part,
she's high-functioning. He retorts "Yes, everything's just crackerjack,
isn't it? You owe me." At Tara's wide-eyed look, he reminds her she has
a paper he needs to see and approve before she can be in his class.

Marshall and Lionel discuss whether they would have found each other if
their lives had been different. Is it really them, or is it simple math?
Like there are only so many gays, so hey; there they are.

Max gives Neil a check, which makes him very happy, but Max tells him
he's selling the company. Neil is distraught. He tears up the check and
storms out.

Hattaras arrives and skips ahead to to the chapter on DID. He postulates
that DID doesn't actually exist, as it is rarely diagnosed outside North
America. What if it's a crutch that severely damaged people use to hide
behind. Or is it an attention-getting performance. He asks Tara her view
on the subject. She doesn't want to discuss it. As he continues, she
stares daggers at him.

The team starts creating their film. It's rather Tarentino-based.

Charmaine tells Neil she's checked every room, and they are completely
alone. He kills their lovemaking by telling her he doesn't have a job
anymore. She asks why he didn't tell her, and he was afraid she wouldn't
want to be with him anymore. She doesn't, who would? That's why you
don't see a lot of pregnant women dating homeless men. He needs to get a
job. He rants about Max.

Tara calls Hattaras on what he did to her in his class. He promptly
offers a meaningless apology and buys her a hot dog. He tells her DID is
junk psychology. She shifts to T and he goads her on. Tara leaves.

Kate sold a vehicle so she'd have the money to go to Japan. She and
Marsh chat about life in general. She can't believe her mom is trying to
hold her down, when she was so proud of herself for going back to school.

Neil tells Max he shouldn't have torn up the check. Can he write another
one. They start fighting again. Max tells Neil he's been carrying him
for four years. Does he think he likes firing his best friend? Here's
your $500, the friendship is over.

Tara gets home and Kate tells T to go away, she needs to talk to her
mom. T physically attacks Kate, grabs the keys and leaves. Kate takes
her down. Tara comes back. Kate can go to Japan with her blessing. Tara
sobs in Kate's arms.



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