by Aimee Curran
In a twist, this week's "Hellcats" started off with a bunch of shirtless, sweaty firemen playing basketball. Huh? Kind of a head scratcher…oh wait…no it's not. Turns out it was Alice's brilliant idea to to try and make Savannah feel better that their cheery world is about to come crashing down around them.
It sort of works when Alice invites two shirtless fire wonders to a party at Lancer. Savannah freaks out over the idea of throwing an impromptu party and goes back to Cheer Town stressing out. The whole squad won't stop talking about their impending demise, Savannah starts crying, goes to her room, prays to God and gets the answer she needs: get into Alice's idea and throw an 'It's the end of the World' toga party to distract everyone from the blatant fact that their days at Lancer could be numbered.
Lewis kicks off the party by giving some sort of cheer-leading speech that would have made Martin Luther King Jr. proud before launching in to a cover of "Shout" while everyone, dressed in perfectly tailored togas, perform the usual gyrating, skin-flashing routine we see in every episode.
Not satisfied with the guys in attendance, Alice sets a fire in a trash can to get the hunky firemen to come respond. They do, and end up ditching their firemen duties to flirt and hang out, because you know, it's not like firemen have a job to do or anything.
Savannah has a heart-to-heart with one of the firemen about family values and the potential of losing the squad. She freaks again, thinking maybe this is the best her life is ever going to get, yet he decides she is the girl of her dreams. He asks her out and she says no because she's still into Dan. Duh. What a toolish thing to do.
Anywho…Marti, Professor Julian, Morgan and Vanessa meet with Red Raymond to try and get him to help free Travis. They want Red to talk Jake into turning himself in. Instead, Red tells football coach Bill Marsh everything, and Marti blows up thinking Red is a total a--hole for betraying her and Vanessa's trust. Oh, but wait…it was all a trick to get Bill Marsh on tape talking about doctoring evidence again to make Jake take the fall for everything! They corner Jake, present him with his options and after a lot of convincing and a football-field-praying sesh with Alice, Jake agrees to turn himself in.
The football program and cheer team is saved! Wow, didn't see that one coming. Marti, Red and Professor Julian, high off their Jake-in-jail triumph, force Bill Marsh to resign and donate his entire pension toward getting the three strikes rule overturned. Jake begins a seven-month sentence in jail and to be honest, he doesn't have it too bad. His cell is pimped out with a TV, microwave, mini-fridge, snack delivery and no roommate. So it was kind of confusing why he was crying when he's set up better than most college students.
Oh, did I forget to mention that there was some sort of kindred spirit bonding between Julian and Marti? I'm kind of hoping for a teacher/student relationship to spark à la "Pretty Little Liars." Fingers crossed because the professor is kind of hot!
Travis is now a free man and spends his first night back in society hanging with the entire cheer team, Julian, Morgan and Marti for a Bob Marley "Redemption Song" singalong at the Cheer Town dorm. Talk about getting the warm fuzzies. Get pumped for next week when Dan pops back up with a new girlfriend in tow. Whaaaat?? Drama! Can't wait.
What did you think about last night's "Hellcats"?
** Hollywood Crush Twitter