Parents Weekend on Huge

Tonight's episode had me in tears several times, as I felt for each camper's situation with their parents. Beginning with Will's looking forward to seeing her parents so she could chew them out for being hypocrites, we learn a lot about the family situations that brought everyone to this point in their lives.

Poppy tells Becca that since some girls in another cabin don't have parents coming either, Becca can join them and Poppy will be their "make-believe mom". Becca doesn't really look too thrilled with this idea. Later we find out that her grandmother came last summer, but since then she passed away. Dr. Rand gives advice to those campers whose parents may be taking them out to a restaurant on making healthy choices for dinner. Some of them can't wait to see their parents, but others are dreading it. Dr. Rand spills the beans about Chloe and Alistair being twins...she didn't know that it had been kept secret. Everyone (except Trent, of course) is shocked, and suddenly they realize why Chloe was so upset about the prank on Alistair. Dr. R gets an e-mail and tells Will that her parents aren't coming now, but they left her a package. While everyone is at the pool, Will lets out her anger that her parents bailed on her. Amber is hard on herself, thinking she's a weirdo. Dr. R tells her dad about Chloe and Alistair's secret, and he replies that she's doing the same thing with him. The truth hurts!

Everyone is watching that strange show "Love Handles" again, and Will is hilarious as she makes fun of it. I have to say, a challenge involving plates of bacon? How demeaning! Even on the actual show that this is supposed to spoof, "More to Love", they never had the contestants doing anything this degrading. Everyone is all laughs until a commercial comes on for Core Fitness...then the mood changes as they all stare at the hardbodies in the ad, wishing they could get to that point and look like that. When Will finally opens her package from home, it contains a pink warmup suit with Core emblazoned on it, with a note saying how her parents can't wait to see her in it. It is obviously in a very small size...just how fast did they think the weight was going to come off?

When all of the parents arrive, Ian tells Will that he won't subject any of his friends to his parents because they fight all the time. Amber's mom is late, and she's worried that she might not get there at all. Trent goes to his parents and mentions his girlfriend, gesturing toward Chloe and Amber. His dad automatically assumes Amber is the girlfriend and Trent is afraid to correct him. Chloe hooks up with her parents...her mom is in a wheelchair. Alistair and Becca hang off to the side. Chloe's mom remembers Becca from last year, and thinks that she is Alistair's girlfriend. Actually, I think she just doesn't want to believe her son is gay, so she insists that he and Becca are a couple. Piznarski's mom tells him that he looks so good now...which causes him to ask how he looked to her before. (Been there! Don't you always wonder?)

Amber goes back to her cabin, where Sierra and her very thin sister Chelsea are hanging out. Her mom finally arrives, and says plenty of things that embarrass Amber...actually, they would embrrass anyone! Her mom's name is Teal and she lives with her sister Indigo. To keep the color trend going, her mom named her Amber. Chef enlists Will to help him, so she can get her mind off of her parents. He teaches her about cooking, which she really takes a liking to. Dr. Rand sees, and quite frankly looks a little jealous of Will with her dad. Trent's parents and Ian's meet, and Ian is surprised that his parents are not arguing with each other. We also find out that this is Trent's stepmom, and she is pregnant. Dr. R gets a text from Jonathan, but she ignores it.

Parents get to try yoga class along with their kids. Chloe takes her dad somewhere else...her mom goes with Alistair to yoga. Their dad doesn't like yoga and wants to see Alistair play "real" sports. Amber's mom is the only one that doesn't try, giving all kinds of excuses. Finally George gets her to try it. Amber pulls her mom out of class and they go to talk. We find out that Amber's mom can't stand living with her sister, and she is awful to be around. Teal also gives Amber a surprise, but when she opens it she finds a bag of cookies. Not what you bring someone at a weight loss camp...but Amber's mom doesn't get it. Later on, Amber hides the cookies in the laundry room.

Piznarski's mom watches Alistair as he knits a scarf, and she's very encouraging and friendly. As soon as she goes to the bathroom, Alistair leaves because he's still angry with Piz. Piz leaves a note for him in his knitting for later. Dinner is very weird for everyone, especially Trent, Chloe, and Alistair. Their families take them to a restaurant, and when Trent introduces Chloe to his parents he only tells them she's Alistair's sister. Chloe is very hurt and orders a ton of food off the menu. Becca is along as well, since they remember her as Chloe's friend and think she is now Alistair's girlfriend. Back at camp, Dr. R announces to everyone that the chef is her dad, which takes him by surprise. Ian goes off to talk to his parents, who tell him they've been in couples therapy...which made them realize that they need to divorce. Ian sneaks off later to the laundry room to cry, and while he's there he finds the cookies. He opens the bag and sniffs them, but his strength takes over and he gives them to Dr. Rand. She hides them in her file cabinet, and when Wayne brings her some tomatoes she has him take them away. They share a very nice kiss. After Wayne leaves, she gets another text from Jonathan...but she texts back that she can't come see him.

Chloe feels sick from eating too much, and Alistair walks Becca back to her cabin. She says he will make someone a great boyfriend someday, and she can't even imagine what it would be like to go on a real date. She still wonders what she did wrong for Chloe to hate her, and Alistair tells her it's nothing she did, and it's Chloe's loss if she doesn't want Becca's friendship. Teal wants to stay the night in the girls' cabin, but Poppy tells her it's against the rules. (And Teal calls her Pippi!) After Teal says she will have to sleep in the car, Poppy lets her stay. Amber goes to the laundry room and discovers the cookies are gone. Amber's mom complains that Amber doesn't want her here and she doesn't know what it's like for her. Amber tells her to stay. During the night, Amber gets Will to sneak out with her to the woods, where Will buried her secret stash of food so no one would find it. As they look around in the woods, we find this episode is to be continued next week for the season finale.

What do you think of the various family problems the teens have? Can you relate to any of them? Please let me know your thoughts...sometimes when we see a character going through something similar to our situation, it helps us learn about ourselves!