'Life of Ryan' - Episode Eight Recap

Oct 16 2007 / Los Angeles, CA

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Ah, I knew this day would eventually come but it's still tough:  the first season of "Life of Ryan" is over.  I'll try to keep it together but I'm not promising anything.

Any way, the show starts off pretty abruptly, with Ryan fielding a call from his dad who seems irritated about his mom dating.  What happened?  Seems like we dropped into the middle of a conversation. 

"Did I catch you off-guard?" Randy asks his son.  Yes, we answer.

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From what I can tell there may have been a conversation I missed either from last episode, which I thought I watched pretty closesly, or between the two.  But any, it seems Randy is responding to something Ryan said.  Before we can get too much info, the call gets cut off and Ryan goes home and yells for his mom, who joins him on the couch just as dad calls back.

Ryan listens to his dad for a few minutes and then decides to put him on speakerphone while Mom is there.  Doh!

It seems Randy is saying something about Gretchen dating guys behind everyone's back.  Ryan doesn't want to believe it but Mom is pretty quiet.  Whatever the reason or whatever the truth, Ryan is over it.  He finishes his call with his dad and is out.

He goes and hangs with Tony and Casey, who hang out by the pool while Ryan gets to take off his shirt and sit by the water -- he still has a cast from his Dew Tour injury.  Tony laments the passing of summer, which gets Ryan thinking about doing a party.  But as soon as that's decided, he starts talking about his family issues again.  Casey understands -- as you will recall his parents' divorce was final on the same days as Ryan's.

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Ryan thinks that he should do something drastic to solve the problem -- so what's that?  He plays his music really, really loud in his room until his Mom comes to ask him to turn it down.  At which point he tells her he's moving out and getting his own house.

"Because I asked you to turn the music down?" -- and it's worth noting that she looks genuinely surprised at this point.

Mom takes it pretty well, though she does act a little mom-like in her concern.  But Ryan wants to make it happen.

He breaks the news to Casey and Taylor at a stationary store (?) where it looks like Taylor has to pick up some supplies.  College is mentioned -- not sure what Ryan is planning to do for that?  But apparently Taylor and Casey are going to different colleges.  Anyway, I digress.  They are excited by the news as you'd expect.  How long until Casey moves in?

Anyway, Ryan needs an unbiased opinion so he goes to see his agent, Steve.  Unbiased opinion from his agent?  Yeah, I am soooooo sure he's unbiased.  Only a true friend who is unbiased would bring up "liability."  But his agent doesn't try to talk him out of it -- he just lets him know it's a big step and that he should keep both his parents in the loop.  (insert foreshadowing music here)

Then it's time for a massive "Say Wha?" moment as Ryan is transported to Hollywood for a commercial shoot for Activision and the new Tony Hawk game.  There's a new Tony Hawk video fame?  Along with the man himself, Ryan is being made up like a pigeon-man alongside legend Rodney Mullen and MTV vet Bam Margera.

The little plug allows Ryan to have a flashback back to when he was just a little tyke, skating in Tony's shadow.  Awwww.    But it is pretty amazing that he interacted with him at such a young age.

So Ryan asks Tony when he got his first house, marking the first time he has actually had a conversation with another skater in the entire season.  He did ask Bam a question a few minutes earlier, but Bam just smiled and wished he was dead.  At least that's what I imagined.

The shoot involved the four skaters sitting on some wire (all via CG) and watching the action in the game (Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, out NOW!) and making snarky comments.  We see a few moments of that, then Ryan is back in San Clemente and looking at homes.  He likes the one that looks like a castle and has a seven-car garage.  His mom, all dolled up in curlers (Meow!), warns him it may be out of his price range...  When you are Mr. Sheckler, that's not likely...

"One of these days Ryan," his mom advises, "You'll miss me."

Perhaps.  But he will have four bedrooms, a pool and a seven-car garage to keep him company.

Ryan realizes he's going to have to tell his younger brother Kane about the move, especially since he's kind of taken over the father-figure role.  As they skate in the backyard, Ryan can't tell him and decides to do it later.

Ryan goes house-hunting and sees some pretty sweet homes.  No doubt million-dollar homes given the locations that overlook the ocean and are just mega-huge.  Mom and Steve come along and it's not clear which house he likes the most but before he decides to do anything, he goes to talk to his dad.

Randy is not happy about not being included in the conversation.  He quizzes Ryan about the basics of home-ownership:  What's your property taxes, how much is your monthly payment, etc.  Ryan is like, who cares?  I'm Ryan Sheckler!  When it's all said and done Ryan looks like he's not that big of a fan of his dad.

Ryan finally decides to tell Kane when they are at a local skatepark.  The little guy takes it hard and Ryan tries to make him feel better by promising he will be close and be seeing him every day.  But Kane is is just sad -- like any young kid would be. 

Then it's time for fun -- the Beach BBQ that was discussed earlier.  Ryan and his three main friends hang out on the beach in a nice moment, hugging and talking about the summer that was...  Ryan tells them he's put an offer on the house and Tony (no surprise) is most excited.  It's a big lovefest then Taylor's like, "I'm hungry."

The beach fills up with Ryan's friends and he says goodbye in his voice over, ending with the fact that his friends make him feel like a "normal 16 year-old kid."

Sniff.

- Return to the "Life of Ryan" - Full Resource Guide
- Hang out with other Sheckler fans at the Sheckler Fan message boards right here.

Random Notes from Episode Eight

- In addition to the show, during commercial breaks Ryan hosted a look into the Tony Hawk Proving Ground release party.  He had a new haircut -- gone is the new-wavey "Flock of Seagulls" 'doo and in is 90s Spikee. Regardless, it's a step up IMHO.
- During the breaks, he talked to Tony Hawk and introduced the winner of the sweepstakes.  It was some dude which surprised the hell out of me.  Millions of teenage girls are screaming "IT'S NOT FAIR" right now...
- I don't think Ryan should buy a house -- I think he should buy an apartment complex and let Casey, Tony and Taylor live there rent-free, along with a dozen or so bisexual cheerleaders.  And Bam Margera. Now THAT's a show..
- We don't see Shane until the closing credits at the BBQ.  Who knows what he thinks of this moving out thing? 
- One day I hope to be able to talk about getting a house and being able to say "I guess I need a few bedrooms, like three or four" like it's picking out what toppings you want on a pizza.  "Yeah, and a big backyard so I can put in a big Jacuzzi or pool or both.  And a bowling alley." (Okay, that last one's mine but if you're Ryan Sheckler, you can get a bowling sponsor to pay for it)
- Still not sure which house he chose but I guess we will have to wait until January '08 to find out -- that's when season two will start.

So that's it for the first season folks!  See you in a scant three months for the new season.  And remember Ryan turns 18 in December -- you can bet MTV will be there...