Secret Life: Setting Things Straight Recap

At school, Dylan tells Ben that Henry kissed her and wants to date her. She’s having some second thoughts about the difficulty level of seeing Ben vs. seeing Henry.  Maybe, she suggests, it would be a good idea for her to date Henry while Ben can’t see her. Ben can’t believe his ears. Then Ethan wants Ben to mentor him, since he’s already had a pregnant girlfriend. This causes Ben to call everyone in the hall to an impromptu lecture on the pitfalls of high school. That’s okay, Ethan needs a lot more than a mentor. He needs someone to teach him limits. He already thinks he has a vested interest in Kathy’s unborn baby.

The Sausage King comes to school to discuss his son’s emotional state with guidance counselor, Katelyn O’Malley, and has a moment of clarity, realizing that some of Ben’s predicament is his fault for encouraging Ben to follow his heart with Amy. Did Amy overhear that entire convo?

Speaking of hearts, the main girls of Secret Life have a heart-to-heart about their men. Well, sort of. Talking about sex with Grace and Adrian makes Amy really uncomfortable and she leaves. Most girls would be a lot more comfortable with their girlfriends but not Amy.She seeks out her father and they go out to eat and discuss sex.  Since George had to break his date with Kathleen, Grace comes home and has a talk about sex with her mom. That was pretty awkward for Kathleen because she clearly thinks that Grace is nuts but she’s glad they’re talking — that is, until Grace says she’d hate to see another marriage fail for Kathleen.

Clementine dresses Jack down for using her and lying. Jack told her they had an undeniable attraction to each other and he thought he was falling in love with her.  Jack tries to play that off — can’t a person be in love with two people at the same time, invoking Dr. Zhivago. Well, Jack ain’t no Omar Sharif, but Clementine doesn’t know what he’s talking about anyway. All she knows is she’s had a hard life because of her philandering father. Clementine says when she does something stupid like fall for a dumb line like Jack’s, she gets really angry at herself and at the guy. “I keyed your truck,” Clementine says and waltzes out of the room.  As Jack’s jaw hits the floor, she steps back in and says “Not really, but I thought about it.” Ha ha ha. Clementine is one cool chick.

Leo’s heart-to-heart with Ben doesn’t go very well at all. It starts out okay but Ben declares his intention to see Dylan no matter what. Ben learns that Alice told Henry about that one-night stand. Leo tries to point out that he has no room to call Henry a scoundrel but Ben refuses to apologize for his own behavior. “I own it,” he says and storms off.

Ethan tells his foster mother his sad tale. Margaret explains how unselfish Kathy is by giving the baby up for adoption. Whether that’s true or not, Ethan would like Margaret to take Kathy’s baby on as a foster child. Margaret’s going to have to work harder on that limits thing.

George called Ricky while he was out with Amy and gave Ricky some advice: play the jealousy card. So Ricky pretends he thought Amy was out with someone else.  Amy confesses that she wanted to run off and get married because she was afraid she was gay after Anne’s confession. Good grief. You’ve got to give Shailene Woodley credit. What a ridiculous scene but she played it straight, pun intended.