The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry between Renee and Stacy gets to its most intense point in this episode; which sees the band’s excitement over playing a school dance nearly end with the bickering nearly forcing the band to choose one of the two.
We start off with the band preparing to rehearse when Renee and Stacy arrive, already in the midst of a heated argument (Stacy was mad at Renee for telling their mom Stacy spilled her perfume; Renee was equally mad at Stacy for borrowing Renee’s sweater, only for it to shrink when Stacy tried to wash it); with the band managing to get things settled down long enough to start on opening song “I Do (Do I Love You)”.
Unfortunately, whatever the others were able to do to get things quieted down merely delayed the inevitable; with the smoldering flames fanned to life upon some comments Renee made over Stacy’s pet frog Ziggy; to the point where not even Riley (delivering good news for a change after having been the courier of bad news in “No Jockos” and “The Historical P*lace”) announcing the junior high prom committee was considering having Kids Incorporated play there (this scene is interrupted for “You Should Hear How She Talks About You”) and was coming to the P*lace the next day to check them out) can calm things down; with the bickering sisters issuing an ultimatum:it’s either Renee or Stacy in the band, because the other had to go; with attempts to talk sense to the two having little success (“Just Once”).
The other band members make their decision, which Gloria announces was: Work it out among yourselves, and when that doesn’t go over well, Gloria then attempts to point out that whenever she and her sister had fights they didn’t try to drag their friends into it, stating that this was how wars got started (“Living in Desperate Times”; complete with an apocalyptic Imagine Spot with Stacy and Renee representing warring factions and Gloria representing a messenger of peace).
The prom committee shows up, and Stacy and Renee had made up (much to the rest of the band’s relief) with Stacy even offering to buy a float for her big sister (a brief squabble appears to start over who pays before it becomes apparent they’re kidding), setting up closing song “You Can’t Hurry Love”; with the two embracing at the end.
Songs performed in this episode:
- “I Do (Do I Love You)” (The Marvelows covernote ; lead vocals by Mickey and Gloria)
- “You Should Hear How She Talks About You” (Melissa Manchester cover; lead vocals by Mickey and Kid)
- “Just Once” (Quincy Jones and James Ingram cover; lead vocals by Renee and Stacy)
- “Livin’ in Desperate Times” (Olivia Newton-John cover; lead vocals by Gloria)
- “You Can’t Hurry Love” (The Supremes cover; lead vocals by Gloria, Renee, Stacy and Kid)note
Tropes associated with this episode:
- Imagine Spot: Used for “Living in Desperate Times”
- Take a Third Option: The band’s decision
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: The focus of this episode. While there would be disagreements between Renee and Stacy afterwards; it would never get to the level of this episode
