Greek 3.20: "All Children...Grow Up"

“What? Casey’s as predictable as a Katherine Heigl movie.”

-Rebecca

So “All Children…Grow Up” contained the moment I’ve been dreading but kind of figured would come sooner rather than later. Casey and Cappie are done. For now, at least. It’s once again Spring Break at CRU, and the gang is headed back to Myrtle Beach for some sun, sand, and debauchery. While I didn’t overtly dislike this episode, I don’t think it quite had the same emotional draw for me as the first trip to Myrtle Beach back in the season 1 finale. There were a few callbacks to that earlier Myrtle Beach trip, though, which I definitely appreciated, considering I liked the first go-round so much.

The episode opens with Cappie and Rusty going over their plans for revenge on Omega Chi one last time before heading to Myrtle Beach. Cappie has one big surprise that he reveals to Rusty. He wants to lavaliere Casey on her birthday. Rusty seems to think this is a fine idea, although I’m not for sure. It really perpetuates the “I want to stay in college forever” message at a time when Casey is really deeply thinking about post-graduation life. She’s thinking about the future especially in this episode because she got accepted to George Washington Law (which I didn’t, for the record). To make things even more complicated, she was rejected by CRU Law. It was kind of amusing watching her obsessively check her e-mail and badger the maillady while waiting for her admissions decisions. I’ve definitely been guilty of that sort of behavior myself.

There’s plenty of other business to be taken care of before everybody can leave for Spring Break. Omega Chi is starting to think about elections. At the last chapter meeting before break, Evan takes nominations for president. Tripp, the really annoying red head who egged Evan on to do the kind of crappy things he’s done lately, is one of the nominees, of course. And the other is Calvin. Grant is the one who nominates him, actually- it looks like their post-break up drama will be kept to a minimum, and I most definitely approve of that. Over in Casa Engineering, trip plans are being finalized. Dana tells Rusty she’s gotten a hotel room, and Rusty asks if he can stay with her- to save money. Yeah, right.

Dale’s going to Myrtle Beach too, because he wants to have a genuine college experience. To Rusty and Dana’s chagrin, he’s staying in their hotel room too. If that isn’t bad enough, the hotel room has its own problems. It what was probably the funniest scene of the episode, Dale goes all CSI on the hotel room and shines a black light around. As a result of his investigation, he decides that the most sanitary place for him to sleep is on the floor. Predictably, considering all the scheming Cappie and Rusty have been doing, the Omega Chis have problems with their spring break accommodations, too. There’s a tough mobster-looking guy at the house they thought they won who tells them that it’s his house and they need to get off the property.

Casey and Ashleigh are both pretty preoccupied with their futures while in Myrtle Beach, but in different ways. Casey’s stressing about whether or not to move towards a known future or stay in the very comfortable present. Ashleigh is just trying to create a future. Casey is seriously considering turning down GW and taking a position as ZBZ house mother instead. People like the “Margarita Bandito” who flamed out at Georgetown Law aren’t helping things. Abby the bubbly pledge thinks Casey as house mother would be a great thing. Ashleigh is in the middle of playing a game with Rebecca where they both pretend to be someone else for the break when she runs into Faith Flowers, a famous trendspotter. Ashleigh makes a bit of a fool of herself at first. She thinks Faith is scouting for a “Girls Gone Wild” type video, and she tells her off. Once she finds out who Faith really is, though, she realizes that trendspotting is the perfect job for her.

While chilling at a bar, some Omega Chis spot Rusty paying off the “mobster.” They realize that the whole episode was a set-up, and they’re determined to have a confrontation with KT over it. A group of Omega Chis find the KTs partying it up in the disputed beach house. To make the situation even more precarious, two cops show up. Tripp’s solution is to try and bribe the cops, which just makes the situation worse. Calvin takes the cops aside, says something to them that we, as viewers, can’t here, and they leave without trouble. Even though it’s definitely fishy (it turns out that Calvin was actually in on the whole plan, too), the Omega Chis are so happy that Calvin solved their problem that they all say they’ll vote for him for President.

Cappie has quite the day planned for Casey’s birthday. As they enjoy a birthday breakfast, Casey tells Cappie about her plans to stay at ZBZ and be house mother. Cappie is thrilled, which sort of lowers my opinion of him. And my opinion would be lowered further by the end of the episode, but that’s for later. The next birthday event is bungee jumping. Cappie’s ready and raring to go, but when she’s standing on the platform, Casey starts freaking out. She ends up ditching bungee jumping while Cappie dives off the platform happy as a clam. Casey discusses this later with both Ashleigh and Rusty. Ashleigh rightfully calls Casey out for thinking she might want to stay in Cyprus. Casey’s just scared- it’s time she make her own life. Rusty echoes her sentiments, telling Casey that all children grow up. Dana then pops up behind Rusty and says “I didn’t know you had a sister!” Which was a lovely bit of symmetry with what everyone said to Casey when Rusty first started at CRU.

Ashleigh spends much of the episode looking for the “Fairy Jobmother,” aka Faith Flowers. It’s another lovely callback in this episode, this time to the “Hotness Monster” from the last Spring Break. She does eventually find Faith, who completely forgets Ashleigh’s telling her off earlier. Ashleigh makes a great impression, and Faith offers her an internship in New York. Ashleigh finally knows what she wants to do with her life, and she feels great about it. She’s done living her life for other people.

All the final drama of the episode goes down at Casey’s birthday party. Earlier in the episode, Rebecca had asked Evan for another chance, and he rejected her. Convinced by Calvin that Evan had just been letting pride get in the way, however, Evan finds Rebecca and the party and they get back together. Casey and Cappie go for a walk, and Cappie is planning to lavaliere her. His plans change however, when Casey starts talking about how they’re both on different paths, but they should enjoy their last few weeks of college together. Cappie doesn’t want to be in a relationship with an expiration date, so he breaks up with her right there. Although I get where Cappie’s coming from, breaking up with a girl on her birthday is an ultimate douche move. Just ask Ted Moseby, who in the season 1 episode of HIMYM “Return of the Shirt” got krav maga attacked by a woman for doing just that. Twice.