Episode: "The way we were" - possible Fic prompts

[janicehope]

So I was watching The Way we were- episode on Youtube

Click to view

It is a flashback show with clips form previous shows. But there is also drama happening in their 'Now'.  So I wrote a little summary, because I have some questions that need answers from writers and maybe I missed some subtext and someone can point it out. :)


The 4 girls have to clear their room because it is about to get painted.

Jo is working on an engine that will pay her mother's the first vacation in years. She has all its part sorted on a table next to her bed.

Blair meanwhile is preparing her vacation. She is the bridesmaid on multiple weddings this summer and she is looking for a pair of shoes or she won't match one of her dresses. Jo drives to town to buy an impotant part for the engine and Blair asks her to pick up a certain dress from the bridal shop for her. Blair insists that Jo takes her car.

When Jo is gone Blair, Nat and Tootie remember their first year in Eastland. Everything was perfect summarises Blair and wonders what happned to change that. In answer to Blair's question the episode cuts to Jo's first encounter and the events in "The New Girl" with Blair, Nat and Tootie. Back in the present Tootie remarks: Boy, Jo has really changed since then, hasn't she? which earns her a dirty look from Blair.

The girls are still rumaging around the room. And Nat remarks that she has found the shoes Blair is looking for under Jo's bed.Blair remembers putting them their when her closet ran out of space. In the process of retrieving them she knocks over the table scattering the engine all over the floor and part of it into the heating vent. Natalie warns them all of the impending doom of an enraged Jo. Though Tootie says that Jo can be very reasonable.

Nat: Like when?

Blair: No. Tootie is right!There is really nothing to worry about.

Nat: Unless Jo acts like she usually does. *cut to Jo and Blair fighting scenes in which Jo threatens others with bodily harm*

Back in the reality Jo is back and Blair now dreads her coming into the room and she whimpers.

Jo is surprisingly calm about the affair, calling it "no big deal" and only gets upset when Blair wants to resolve the situation by "throwing money at the problem". Even Natalie comments with "Bad Move, Blair." And Jo and Blair start argueing for real.

Blair: Well you don't have to be so ungrateful.

Jo: Don't tell me how to act. You never had to work for anything in your life!

Blair: You can't even be gracious enough to let me pay for my own mistakes. You have to get mean and insulting.

Jo: Well at least you didn't miss the point.

The first victim of the fight is Blairs new dress that she had placed on Jo's bed, now decorated with oil stains.

Mrs. Garret tries to appease the two and appeals to their friendship.

Jo: What friendship? I expect more out of a friend than big fat checkbook.

Blair: And I expect more than an ill-mannered bully.

Jo: Great! Then I won't have to fake being friends next year. I am moving out.

Mrs. Garrett, Natalie and Tootie are working to reconcille the two. Remark from Natalie: Remember your finest hours have been spent at each others throats. *cut to scenes of Jo/Blair insult trading*

The rest of the episode is spent with flashbacks and Jo and Blair fighting or ignoring each other. The end of the episode is rather anti-climatic. The room is ready for the painters to do their job and Jo and Blair have two lines and they are friends again. Blair takes advantage of the fact and adds her stuff on top of Jo's to carry it, who doesn't even protest and together they all leave the room.

Now that leaves me with some questions and maybe a writer can answer them.

1. Why doesn't Jo protest in the slightest to the added task of getting Blairs stuff and having to drive her car?

2. Why are Blair's shoes really underneath Jo's bed? If that was really her additional storage space, I don't understand how Blair could forget that.

3. Why isn't Jo more upset about the engine?  She had invested two weeks of work into it.

4. What was that look about that Blair gave Tootie for remark on how Jo changed her life?

5. The conflict between Blair and Jo about Money and Manners is not new and yet it is the reason for the fight. Was there some recent previous encounter where this conflict had come up between the two? Or is that a cover fight for some issue we are not aware of?

6. How did Jo and Blair really solve their conflict?