Episode #205 "Baby You Can’t Drive My Car"

Claudia and Sean are walking home, returning from a night on the town. As they’re approaching their house, they see the lights on in their old Subaru. As it suddenly peels away from the curb, Sean picks up a rock and smashes that back window. Sean and Claudia fill out insurance forms, and Eddie suggests that they might want to get creative and claim that there were some valuable items in the car, such as a Blaupunkt 20 disc CD changer, but Sean refuses to lie. Claudia isn’t entirely against Eddie’s idea; sometimes when you’re totally honest, you’re only cheating yourself, but Sean refuses to budge. Claudia then discovers the car keys are missing, and Sean says it’s time to change the locks and call the police. Lily comes in and tells her parents that they need to talk; it’s all her fault. She says that Brad came over last night, and he insisted that they get in the car to listen to a tape that he made her. She guesses she must have left the keys in the car. Sean says it was an honest mistake, but she has to be more careful. Brad comes in and tries to apologize, but Lily tells him everything’s cool and takes him out of the room. A tow truck arrives with the Finnerty Subaru. It’s in atrocious shape. A cop pulls up behind it, gets out and tells Sean that the car had been abandoned. Sean wonders aloud who would do that as Brad, in a panic, makes a mad dash down the street. Lily and Brad confess that Lily’s first story wasn’t the real story. Because Brad has a learner’s permit, Lily tries to persuade him to drive them to White Castle for some burgers. When he’s reluctant, she says she’ll drive, and if they get pulled over, they can switch seats. Lily’s a terrible driver, and it isn’t long before the driver’s side mirror is ripped off and the passenger’s door is wrenched into a stuck open position. The only person Lily knows who can help them is Eddie. Eddie takes them to a junkyard where he introduces them to his sleazy pal Vince who runs a chop shop. They move away from the car for just a few minutes, and when they come back the back seat is gone. They take the car back to the house; a new door and new mirror have been installed, but the back seat is a folded-over futon. Eddie gives Brad the keys. He’s supposed to ditch the car, and they’ll say it was stolen. They see Sean and Claudia coming, and Brad peels away. They abandon the car in a bad neighborhood and walk away. Sean tells Lily he can’t believe she’d destroy his car, endanger her life and then lie about it. Claudia says she can forget about getting her learner’s permit next year. And Sean and Eddie pay a visit to Vince who forces Sean to buy back his back seat.