Skippy Dies

Howard asks Acting Principal Greg Costigan about taking his second-year class on a museum field trip. Greg is concerned about teaching the boys anything that isn’t in the textbook. He also worries that things might get out of hand with Howard supervising once again. Their conversation turns to Skippy when Greg points out that Skippy has been throwing a frisbee around outside by himself for half an hour. He expresses concern that letting Skippy loose will lead to more trouble. Greg ultimately declines Howard’s request. Before he leaves, Howard mentions Finian’s return and asks if Aurelie might still come back. Greg answers that she is on a holiday cruise with her previously unmentioned fiancé and is unlikely to return.

Dennis and Ruprecht develop a plan to transport Ruprecht’s pod to St. Brigid’s. They invite Skippy to join their operation, but Skippy declines on account of his date with Lori. While Mario and Skippy go to the shopping mall to buy Lori a box of chocolates for the date, Carl set off fireworks inside Skippy’s locker. Skippy’s friends warn him that if he goes to Lori’s house, Carl will certainly kill him. Skippy refuses to give in.

Skippy confronts Carl and challenges him to a fight. News of the fight spreads around the school, drawing many spectators. Right before the fight, Lori calls Skippy to tell him to stay away from Carl. Carl arrives late to the fight and rolls up his sleeves. The student body is shocked to see that his arm is covered in self-inflicted cuts. During the fight, Skippy manages to land a blow on Carl’s jaw, knocking him out. The crowd celebrates. Skippy then prepares for his date and reaches Lori’s house, feeling ecstatic.

Lori introduces Skippy to her mother, who is instantly charmed. While watching TV in the living room, Lori recalls that Skippy had wanted to quit swimming. Before Skippy can explain why he continues to do it for his parents, Lori’s father, Gavin, enters, and the two are introduced. They talk about studying at Seabrook, and Gavin mentions knowing Greg Costigan, Tom Roche, and Howard Fallon. He comes off as very materialistic. They sit down for dinner and ask Skippy about his family. Gavin insinuates that Lori and Skippy have been “roaming the streets […] for the last month” instead of hanging out with Janine (367), like Lori had claimed. This upsets Lori, so Gavin apologizes.

After dinner, Skippy and Lori watch TV again but continuously experience interruptions from Lori’s phone and the doorbell. Nevertheless, they talk about following through with Skippy’s decision to quit the swim team. Before Skippy leaves, Lori asks her mother if she can bring Skippy to her room to show him something. They go upstairs and kiss, but all Skippy can think about is who Lori has been going out with for the last month. Before Skippy leaves, Lori suggests going out again that week. She also tells him that he was brave for fighting Carl; she is moved that he would care for her that much. He walks back to Seabrook, wheeling the bike he’d taken beside him after discovering that its tires have been blown out.

Before Ruprecht and his friends can set out to execute their plan, Dennis starts to feel sick, so they substitute him with another boarder, Odysseas Antopopopolous. They encounter St. Brigid’s security dog, but they’re unable to give him biscuits as planned since Ruprecht ate them. Odysseas blinds the dog with his sweater.

Mario and Ruprecht manage to infiltrate the school, sneak past nuns, and lose themselves in the school’s layout. Finally, they reach the room they are looking for but fail to unlock the door. Suddenly, a ghost nun appears and opens the door before disappearing once more. The boys are ultimately disappointed to find that the room does not house a burial mound but a laundry. Ruprecht decides to abort the mission and escape when he hears someone approaching.

Back in his room, Skippy writes a letter to quit the swim team.

A disappointed Ruprecht reports his failure to Skippy the following morning, having left his invention behind in St. Brigid’s laundry room. Ruprecht cannot replicate the device without a blueprint, so he organizes a second mission to retrieve the device. Once again, Skippy declines to join. Skippy’s friends are impressed by their interpretation that Lori is now Skippy’s girlfriend. Skippy bumps into Carl, but Carl ignores him.

Howard starts taking his grief over Aurelie’s engagement out on his history class. Ruprecht similarly blames Dennis for the loss of his device, causing friction between them.

During the auditions for the Christmas concert, Greg is disappointed with the lack of talent among the performers. He pitches several ideas to Father Laughton, the concert musical director, including hiring performers for the show and recording a DVD of the performance to sell to families. He is interrupted by a student who auditions his flaming farts act. Finally, the Van Doren Quartet comes out and plays Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.” The tension between Ruprecht and Dennis comes through in the performance.

Skippy nears the end of Hopeland when one of the characters reaches out to touch his avatar’s cheek. He panics at the sight of this. Coach Tom then arrives to talk to him about quitting the team. He is frustrated that Skippy would leave so close to the race and without much explanation. Skippy is unable to say anything, setting aside his phone when Lori calls. Coach Tom tells him that he will disregard his letter and act as though he is still on the team. He re-extends his offer to talk if anything is on his mind before leaving.

Skippy returns Lori’s call, and Lori invites him back to her house. Skippy tells her that he has quit the swim team.

Howard continues to grieve over losing Halley and Aurelie in quick succession. Farley tells him a joke about trying to have sex with a mermaid, but it does little to help Howard. Tom enters the staffroom, clearly incensed. Howard suspects that Tom wants to kill him, but Farley tells him that he is being paranoid.

The Van Doren Quartet is included in the final program for the Christmas concert. Meanwhile, Skippy learns that he has been asked to meet with the school’s guidance counselor, Father Foley, who is still recovering from ear surgery.

Father Foley assumes that Skippy’s behavior is a result of drug abuse. Skippy says nothing to indicate that this is the case. The priest then talks to him about puberty and suggests that Skippy should get into rugby, struggling to understand Skippy’s reply that he has recently quit the swim team. Father Foley suggests that he should rejoin the team, which provokes Skippy into an outburst that the priest cannot hear. Father Foley suggests alternatives, such as volunteering with Father Green. Skippy follows through with the suggestion and agrees to join Father Green after school the following day.

Ruprecht is unable to garner any support for his plan to rescue the pod. Instead, his friends make suggestions on what he could say to get himself inside St. Brigid’s. Skippy refuses to tell his friends what Father Foley wanted to talk to him about. He leaves, trying to call Lori to tell her about volunteering. She doesn’t answer.

Skippy misses out on training again despite the race being scheduled for the following day. His dad calls, informing him that Coach Tom reached out to relay his concerns. Skippy admits that his interest in swimming has waned. Finally, Skippy’s dad says that he told Coach Tom about the situation with Skippy’s mother, despite their apparent agreement not to tell anyone. He encourages Skippy to go on with swimming, knowing that it is the sport he loves. Before they end the call, Skippy’s dad indicates that he still cannot come to watch the race at the doctor’s suggestion.

Father Green reaches out to corporate donors while waiting for Skippy to arrive. He has a sexual fantasy about Skippy and is filled with the shame of knowing that what he wants is wrong. He believes that if he can experience love one more time, it will rid him of the desire entirely.

Skippy texts Lori to ask her where she is just before he arrives at Father Green’s office.

Ruprecht goes to St. Brigid’s and asks for his pod back outright. Skippy comes back from volunteering with Father Green, disappointed that Lori has suddenly canceled their date because she is sick.

Carl arranges to meet with Lori through Janine, with whom he has been casually engaging in sexual acts. Carl follows Janine’s instructions on what to say, including telling Lori that he loves her. Lori performs oral sex, and Carl forces her to swallow his semen. Lori gets upset with him when she sees that he has been recording a video of her on his phone. He then sends it to Mario, who shows it to the other boarders, including Skippy. The video is too grainy for anyone to recognize the face of the girl, but one of the boarders points out a familiar ring shape in the corner of the video.

The narrative flashes back to the night Howard, Farley, Tom, and some other Seabrook boys went to the quarry to try bungee jumping. At the quarry cliff, they draw names from a hat to decide who will go. Howard’s name is picked, but he fails to follow through. Tom volunteers to go in his place, giving Howard his moniker, “Howard the Coward.” Tom jumps and hits the ground.

On the 11th anniversary of the quarry accident, Howard decides to go to the Ferry. He avoids Farley and Tom, so Farley convinces him to relax. Tom comes along and buys Howard a beer. Jim Slattery talks to Howard about Skippy, who mentioned in Howard’s class that his great-grandfather fought in World War I. He encourages Howard to assign it to the students as a class project.

Howard decides to leave before he can get too drunk, but he nearly hits a boy on the way home. Howard checks on the boy and finds a distressed Skippy, who claims to have been on his way to play frisbee by himself. Howard berates him for his odd behavior, which brings Skippy to the verge of tears. Though he feels guilty, Howard continues home.

KellyAnn, a St. Brigid’s student, goes to Ed’s Doughnut House with Janine to satisfy a craving connected to her pregnancy. KellyAnn talks about Lori and her new boyfriend, Daniel, whom she assesses is better than Carl. KellyAnn cannot understand why Lori might have such low self-esteem that she would want to date Carl. Janine is mostly annoyed by being at the shop.

Taking an overdose of pills as he nears the end of Hopeland, Skippy is searching for the game’s final castle. As his character walks through a misty path, the memory of his performance in the last race swirls through his thoughts. Despite winning the race, he had been agonizing over his need to tell someone about his mother’s cancer. When Skippy feels that the game has gotten stuck on the misty path, the game’s final boss, the Demon, begins to appear. He then sees Coach Tom on the screen, who repeatedly reminds him about the upcoming race. He tries to escape Coach Tom, even turning off the console, but it is no use. Skippy breaks down as he remembers going inside a hotel room and feeling outside of his own body.

Skippy reaches a “game over” screen, watching his character’s soul float up. He sees doors that lead to the past and future parts of his life. Ruprecht finds him on the floor, having fallen asleep while playing the game. Skippy feels himself floating around Ruprecht while Ruprecht talks about building a new pod. Ruprecht is hungry, so Skippy suggests going to Ed’s for a doughnut-eating race.