How can you tell this is a Season 1 episode? The plot hinges on Brenda having empathy.

We open in a sparsely populated quad at West Beverly High, where the most aggressively clothed cheerleaders in history are putting on some kind of spirit display. The camera closes in on Doogie Howser's girlfriend Wanda (Lisa Dean Ryan), whose unfocused gaze make me wonder for a second if the episode's big storyline is going to involve a girl becoming a cheerleader despite congenital blindness. (We won't learn her name until the episode's almost over, so to save myself some keystrokes: it's Bonnie.)

The camera cuts from Brandon, watching the routine with the smug look of a pasha...

...to a tiny ninth-grader (we'll eventually learn her name is Lucy) staring desperately at Brandon. She wouldn't be mooning at him so hard if she'd ever talked to him, so this crush must be very new.

At a table off to the side somewhere, David is on the mic as the Voice of West Beverly, pulling the world's lamest zoo crew prank by calling the school's vice-principal to ask about Grudge Week -- seven days of face-offs against West Beverly's most hated rival, Beverly High. He tries to involve Scott in his bit, but of course dumb Scott picks up the phone and breaks everyone's eardrums with the feedback. HOW did this character ever get written into the show? He's more useless than Donna.

Back at the quad, Brenda is, for some reason, super-psyched to watch the cheerleaders doing their thing, but her pleasure is short-lived: soon enough, Donna and Kelly roll up and start discussing where they're going to go shopping today. Brenda asks where their school spirit is, and Kelly Samantha Joneses, "I lost that in seventh grade." Donna murmurs, "That's not all she lost." Um...yeah, we got it, Donna, thanks. And then they're off to shop on Melrose. You can't blame Kelly: why waste rough trade gear like that on mere high-schoolers?

Elsewhere, Brandon and Steve discuss some tug-of-war thing Steve's just signed up for. Brandon doesn't quite seem to get the point of Grudge Week, but then Dylan appears and we learn that even the school's arbiter of Cool loves it because of the way it gets the freshman girls all hot and bothered. Et tu, Dylan? Also, ew. And then they spot Brandon's stalker again. With tailing instincts like that, you'd think she'd try to get close to Brandon by getting on the "Blaze."

Chez Walsh, Brandon's in the kitchen, telling Cindy about Lucy. Cindy finds the whole thing adorable, but Brandon thinks it's creepy, particularly given that Lucy is 14. He adds that if he even makes eye contact with her, she immediately looks away, but Cindy defends her: "She's shy!" When Cindy asks the girl's name and Brandon says he neither knows nor cares, Cindy (approvingly) calls him a heartbreaker. Fortunately, the subject gets dropped when Brenda walks in and mopes on through to her room. Cindy complains that Brenda always waits for Jim to go out of town before she "gets all theatrical," but she needn't worry: Brandon is happy to play daddy if it means bossing people around.

Upstairs, Brenda mopes face-down on her bed. She fakes like she doesn't want to talk for a while, until finally Brandon gets her to admit that she's getting bored by Kelly and Donna and the fact that all they do is shop. She informs us all that when she moved to Beverly Hills, she was planning to try out for the cheerleading squad, but that those girls are in an "obnoxious little clique." More obnoxious than Brenda, Donna, and Kelly? Hard to imagine. Anyway, Brenda has decided (this week) that she wants to do something meaningful. Brandon suddenly remembers a program where Andrea volunteers, called the Teen Rap Line (awesomely). Immediately, Brenda's new commitment to public service is challenged, as she sniffs, "Andrea Zuckerman?"

Speak of the devil! At the "Blaze" the next day, Andrea is ripping on someone's writing when Brenda comes in to ask about the Teen Rap Line (hee hee). Andrea is instantly dubious about Brenda's potential involvement and starts in warning her about what a huge commitment it is -- three-month training process, robber of social lives, etc. But Brenda's still in.

Later, however, Brenda doesn't look so sure. At the TRL, the volunteers handle calls about divorce, drugs, some kid whose mother or sister walked in on him masturbating. Off to the side, listening, it's written all over Brenda's face what a huge mistake she's made. Andrea picks up the phone; it's Kelly, calling for Brenda. Andrea gets all pissy to Carol, the TRL supervisor, and talks about Brenda like she's not even in the room. Carol lets Brenda take the call, so Kelly can tell her about the crisis Donna just caused at home by asking her parents for a nose job. Brenda says that she can't really talk. Kelly: "Do we still want to be a social worker?" I know we're supposed to hate Kelly's shallowness in this moment, but...seriously, do we? I think we don't. Kelly says she'll pick Brenda up at 10.

Peach Pit. Brandon's serving customers when some very suggestive groans start issuing from the kitchen. But it's not what you think! It's former Peach Pit waitress Nina, giving Nat an acupressure massage. Brandon is equal parts intrigued and horny.

TRL. The shift is wrapping up. Brenda obviously wants to bail, but completely out of spite at Andrea, she promises Carol she'll be back the following night.

Outside, once the rest of the volunteers have dispersed, Andrea faux-casually asks whether Brandon is coming to pick up Brenda. "Kelly Taylor," Brenda grits. The name alone triggers something in Andrea, who starts in again on how the Teen Rap Line isn't just a job, it's a vocation, and blah blah blah. "I know what it takes, Andrea," snaps Brenda. Some kind of shuttle van pulls up, and Andrea gets in, coldly telling Brenda to say hi to Brandon for her.

Time passes. Surprise! Kelly's late. Brenda bangs on the glass door of the "SOCIAL SERVICES CENTER" until she summons a janitor to let her back in.

In the TRL room, Brenda calls Kelly, who picks up saying, "I'm leaving RIGHT NOW." The drama over Donna's nose rages on, apparently. Kelly says she'll call right back, so Brenda loiters around the room, looking at public-service posters, until the phone rings again. Brenda picks up saying, "I don't forgive you." But it's not Kelly! It's a girl, who wants to talk to a Rap Line volunteer. The caller asks Brenda's name, and whether she's in high school. Brenda asks Caller's name, but Caller doesn't want to say. She tells Brenda a story about this guy she really likes, who says he likes her. Brenda shows her lack of training by interjecting, "Does he?" Brenda quickly catches herself, saying that Caller doesn't have to answer, and tells her to go on. Caller: "When you're really making it, and you tell him to stop and he doesn't, is that my fault?" Okay, not to detract from the seriousness of this situation, but..."making it"? Anyway, Brenda says it isn't Caller's fault: "I mean, I don't think so." Caller takes it home: "I guess what I really need to know is, how do you know if you've been raped?" So I guess this episode WON'T be about a blind cheerleader after all.

After commercials, Brenda is sitting in the TRL room when Kelly enters, in a tizzy (and a fringed buckskin coat). Brenda turns so that we can see she's been crying.

In some kind of lounge area, Kelly tries to talk Brenda down. Brenda is beating herself up because she knows she screwed up: she shouldn't have picked up, and, having done so, she shouldn't have talked to Caller. Kelly very kindly says that Caller needed to talk to someone. Brenda admits that she was distracted the entire time Caller was talking because she thought she recognized Caller's voice. Suddenly, Kelly is VERY interested, because gossip, but Brenda doesn't know who Caller is. However, she feels like, because of her preoccupation with Nancy Drewing Caller's identity, she doesn't have a clear idea of what happened. Kelly asks whether Brenda thinks Caller was lying, but Brenda confidently says, "You don't call an anonymous hotline unless you're in trouble." It's the kind of authority you can only get after four hours on the job.

Brenda comes home, where Cindy's in the kitchen (where else), sorting recycling. Inspired by Brenda's volunteerism, Cindy is going to be working at the recycling center two days a week. Brenda starts hinting around that she might like to get in on that, too, but Cindy says that Brenda shouldn't spread herself too thin. She adds that she told Jim on the phone about Brenda's new social conscience: both Walsh parents are very proud. Brenda hates her life.

At school the next day, there's a pep rally. (Did we mention it's Grudge Week? It is.) Brandon is telling Steve how Nina rubbed the balls of his feet the night before. Steve thinks this is impossibly erotic because he doesn't understand that feet have balls. When Steve presses him for the end of the story, Brandon says that he closed down the Peach Pit and left. Steve, who wasn't there and is going only off Brandon's story, is convinced that Nina was coming on to Brandon and that Brandon blew it. Brandon says that Nina isn't interested in him; she's a woman, who's travelled all through Asia and the South Pacific. Exotic? Steve asks how old Nina is. Brandon guesses: "Twenty-three?" WHOA, I don't know how she'd have time to romance Brandon between all the AARP forms she has to fill out. Steve: "You blew it." And then Brandon sees Lucy again. I don't know.

"Blaze." Brenda comes in to talk to Andrea. Of course, Andrea is super-smug, assuming Brenda's sole reason for being there is to tell Andrea she's planning to drop out of TRL. At Andrea's condescension, Brenda gets hilariously livid...

...and then doesn't end up telling Andrea anything at all -- out of spite, again, some more.

Peach Pit. Nina shows up and asks about Brandon's feet, as you do; Brandon says they're fine. Nina, for her part, is better than she's ever been. She tells him a long, dull, New Age-y story about being in a sensory deprivation tank, though it's safe to guess that Brandon didn't hear any of it after she said she got into the tank naked. And what was Nina thinking about when she was alone in the tank with her deepest thoughts? Peach pie. (Euphemism?)

In the Peach Pit kitchen, Brandon asks Nat about Nina. Nat damns her with faint un-praise by saying she's "an original." Brandon suggests that Nina might be into him, and Nat's basically like, "You and everyone else." Brandon surmises that Nina's a big flirt, and Nat says that when she worked at the Peach Pit, she was definitely "a wild child." How Nat could determine that based on the way she slung hash, I think I don't want to know.

TRL. The phones are already ringing when Andrea arrives, trailed by Brenda and Carol. Nicely, Carol tells Brenda she's glad Brenda came back. Andrea, of course, is suspicious and sour-faced, because she's better than everyone.

Later, the shift is underway when Brenda asks Carol superficial questions about fielding client calls. Carol is no help, basically. Andrea tries to take a call while also totally eavesdropping on Brenda's conversation. The phone rings, but when Brenda tries to take it, Carol sternly tells her, "You know the rules."

Peach Pit. Nina's just finished her pie (not a euphemism) and is giving Brandon a step-by-step rundown of what's involved in this new technique she's learning: an herbal wrap. Again, as soon as Brandon hears that nudity is involved, he has a hard time listening because all his blood has rushed south. Nina says that she has a hard time getting subjects she can practice on, and suggests, "Maybe tomorrow, after work, you could come back to my place and I could try my technique out on you." Surprise! Brandon's into it.

TRL. Everyone's leaving -- and, apparently, they couldn't pay any extras for this scene, because the only ones we see are Brenda, Andrea, and Carol -- when the phone rings. Andrea gets it. Of course, it's Caller. Andrea asks her name. Caller doesn't want to give it. Andrea gently tells Carller that the TRL hours are 6 to 10 PM, but says they can make an exception this time. She asks whether Caller has called before, and Caller busts Brenda on their conversation the night before. Brenda, caught, says that she thought it was Kelly calling the night before when she picked up the call. Under duress, Andrea gives Brenda the phone, as Carol promises that she'll be right there. Caller says she got date-raped again; it happened in the "parking lot behind the gym," and that everyone was "partying" because they'd just won "this competition thing." Brenda leaps on this bit of information, asking if Caller means Grudge Week and demanding to know what school Caller goes to, and of course, Caller gets spooked and hangs up.

WBH, the next day. Andrea comes up to Brenda in the hall, being nice for a change. She asks how Brenda is, and Brenda coldly says that she's a little shaky. Andrea sort of chuckles as she says that's not hard to believe, and Brenda gets all defensive, interpreting this remark as Andrea putting her down. Andrea hastens to say that Brenda handled herself like a pro, and asks whether they can take their relationship from the top. Brenda stops being so salty and admits that she's been jumpy all day; every time she hears a girl's voice in the hall, she whips around to see if it's Caller...though it's not like she took the call on a cameraphone, so I don't know why looking at the speaker would make a difference. Anyway, Andrea asks if Brenda is sure Caller goes to West Beverly, and Brenda repeats the part of the call about Grudge Week. Andrea wasn't aware of anything West Beverly had won, and Brenda points out Andrea's contempt for the student body. Some kids start acting the fools in the hall, and Andrea's like, "Can you blame me?" Brenda ignores that: "It could be anyone." Well, not really. It's either Lucy or Bonnie. I've seen a TV show before.

Elsewhere, Lucy is at her locker when Scott shows up and says hi. She's too shy to talk EVEN TO THE LIKES OF SCOTT, and takes off. Scott: "I hate being a freshman!" If Scott were on "The Flintstones," he'd be the bird in the record player. "It's a living!"

Down the hall, Brandon catches up to Dylan. We're "treated" to a few minutes of blah about surfing Manhattan Beach, ending with Dylan asking whether Brandon's going to come out with him again. Brandon doesn't bother waiting for an actually exploitable opening, and instead responds to this by blurting, "Probably not, now that I'm on the verge of making it with an older woman." Again with the "making it"? Is this something people said in 1991? Anyway, Brandon describes Nina: "She's hot, but in an organic kind of way, like Debra Winger." HAHA! Meaning what, she'll buy him a candy bar at the supermarket whether she can afford it or not? Brandon assumes that Dylan has been with an older woman before, and asks, "If we do it, is she going to expect me to spend the night?" "It's customary," drawls Dylan, who may be Cool but is also apparently kind of a slut. Brandon asks how he's supposed to manage to sleep over at Nina's with Cindy on sentry duty, but Dylan says that Brandon will find a way. Brandon then says he has another embarrassing question, and they hem and haw back and forth so long you're sure it's going to be G-spot-related, but then it turns out that he just wants to know what Dylan said to HIS older woman the morning after. Dylan: "'Do you want a cup of coffee?'" Brilliant! Although if Nina is so "organic," she might be off caffeine. Brandon and Dylan head off to their separate classes, but before Dylan can get there, Bonnie runs right into him, and when she apologizes...OH MY GOD, BONNIE IS CALLER!!!

Walsh kitchen. Brandon's cover for his New Age sleepover party? He's going surfing with Dylan the next morning, and tonight he's going to the library straight from work and probably won't get in until after Cindy's asleep because libraries are totally open super-late. Cindy: "If I'm asleep, don't wake me." Brandon is going to pull off the perfect crime!

In his bathroom, Brandon loads up on aftershave. Brenda comes in to nag him; she can't be late to her shift at TRL. She busts him on his oppressive stank, and he brags that it'll wear off by the time he needs it tonight, when he's with Nina. Brenda's like, "I CAN'T BE LATE," and Brandon gets all crabby that she just blew right past his sex reveal. He goes into his room to pick out a shirt, and Brenda apologizes, but says that she's got TRL business on her mind. Brandon offhandedly asks how that's going, and Brenda says that it's intense. Brandon asks for details, but Brenda says that she can't tell him. Brandon says that he won't tell anyone, but Brenda says that it doesn't matter: it would be a breach of confidence. I guess Brenda could totally tell Kelly the whole story because Kelly is Bonnie's lawyer or something. Brandon's like, "Fine, but then I won't tell you anything about the 25-year-old woman I'm dating." But Brenda's already gone. Brag fail.

TRL. Everyone waits tensely for Bonnie to call.

Peach Pit. Brandon checks his watch. Then Nina comes in. I assume she got held up at Stevie Nicks's garage sale.

TRL. Everyone's leaving. Brenda wants to stay for 15 more minutes, since Bonnie needs counseling, but Carol says that you can't force someone to call. If Bonnie hasn't called, they have to assume that she's okay, at least for tonight. This is not remotely the answer Brenda wants to hear.

At the front door of the Social Services Center, the pack is breaking up. Carol tells Brenda she knows that it sucks, but that the real key in social work (or its related offshoots) is learning how to let it go at the end of the day. Brenda's like, "Totally!" But as soon as Carol's out of earshot, she turns around and starts banging on the door to get back in. Andrea threatens to call Carol, but Brenda says that, the first night, Bonnie called at 10:30. Last night it was around 10. Bonnie could be calling right now! Andrea's convinced, and joins Brenda in banging on the door.

Nina's. We see that she's decided to adopt every last New Age cliche of fashion AND decor, as she parts the bead curtain in her bedroom doorway. She apologizes for the mess in that way people do when they're secretly proud of it, but Brandon loves it, saying he thinks it's "earthy." Nina's like, "That's what Richard says!" Who's Richard? Oh, just Nina's old, balding, live-in boyfriend, who hears his cue and enters to canoodle. We learn that he teaches holistic medicine, and is finishing a PhD (in Snake Oil?) at USC. Nina was his student. They want Brandon to have a copy of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Oh, L.A.

TRL, after hours. Some other person calls, but too bad for her and her problems: Brenda blows her off. By the clock, it's 10:45. Andrea gently says that they should go, but of course, just as they get to the doorway, the phone rings. Andrea picks it up and recognizes Bonnie's voice as Brenda's Caller.

After the commercials, Bonnie's like, "It's me again." Brenda says she was hoping Bonnie would call, which is a weird thing to say under the circumstances, and which Bonnie seizes on, asking if Brenda was hoping to judge Bonnie, or get turned on by her story, or blow sunshine up her ass. Brenda stays cool, asking what happened. Bonnie says that she got date-raped AGAIN, only this time he brought a friend. You might wonder why Bonnie didn't elect to sit out the end of Grudge Week after the first two incidents, but everyone in the scene is too polite to ask. Brenda asks Bonnie's name. Bonnie resists, and Andrea scolds Brenda for asking. Brenda ignores them both, forcefully saying that she wants to know who Bonnie is. She says that Bonnie has to stand up for herself so that she...you know, stops getting raped every night. Andrea hisses that Brenda shouldn't be telling Bonnie this, but Brenda snaps, "It's the truth, Andrea!" Bonnie asks, "Are you talking about me?" Brenda, stricken: "Just with one of the other student volunteers." Bonnie asks the volunteer's name, like she didn't JUST hear it. Brenda tells her. Bonnie's like, "Andrea what?" "Andrea Zuckerman," says Brenda reluctantly. And, click. Andrea: "Apparently not one of my bigger fans." But no matter: Brenda's heard enough, and thinks she knows who Caller is.

WBH, the next day. Brenda catches up to a knot of cheerleaders in the hall, asking whether one of them is Bonnie. She's friendly, until Brenda identifies herself. They walk to a marginally more private part of the hallway, where Bonnie says that, with all the activities that mark the end of Grudge Week, she doesn't have a lot of time to talk. Brenda suggests that she MAKE time, so that she doesn't have to pick up the phone that night. Bonnie says, at first, that she might have made things seem worse than they were when she was on the phone; she even claims that some of it was kind of fun! Yikes. Brenda's not having it. Bonnie says that she needed someone to talk to, and Brenda spits that she was there for Bonnie. Bonnie agrees, but says that it was one thing when Brenda was a voice on the phone; now she's changed everything. Brenda tries to empathize, saying that Bonnie's a sophomore and wants guys to like her. Bonnie says that Brenda doesn't know anything, and is just jealous of Bonnie. Well, that went well.

Brenda finds Andrea in another part of the hallway. She tells Andrea what happened, and that Bonnie won't come forward to make any formal accusations. Andrea suggests that they talk to Carol, but Brenda knows what Carol would say: that you can't force someone to seek help. Andrea says that their job is just to listen and try not to cry. Sounds like a pretty crappy job.

West Beverly, by night. A pep rally or some damn thing lets out. There's banter about the tug-of-war that's just wrapped up; some dude congratulates Steve on his performance. Steve asks what this dude and his letterman jacket-wearing buddy are doing that night. Blond jock: "Nothing special." Get it?! Props to the casting director for finding the two date-rapiest-looking dudes in California.

Later. In the hall, Lisa Dean Ryan has decided that, instead of looking apprehensive about what she has every reason to think is going to be her fourth consecutive night of getting date-raped, she'll just look bored, waiting for one of her little cheerleader friends, who's flirting with a couple of dudes. The other girl comes over and tells Bonnie that the guys don't know the way to Becky's house, so she's going to go with them and meet Bonnie there. NOW Bonnie gets nervous, begging her friend to walk Bonnie out to her house first. Bonnie's "friend" says that she doesn't want to keep the guys waiting, and takes off with the guys we assume are about to date-rape her.

Bonnie crosses the alarmingly dark parking lot to her car. She takes forever getting her keys out, and is still fiddling with them when the Jock Date Rapists show up, shining a flashlight on her head. She tries to beg off, but they remind her that they won the tug-of-war and need to celebrate, and doesn't she know how much they like her and want her? She asks the blond one, George, to give her the night off (basically), but no dice. "Are you going to make us beg for it?" asks George. "Or are we going to have to get nasty again?" asks his wormy brunet sidekick. Bonnie gets a bit stern, saying a forceful "No," but George says that if she won't get in the car, they'll just have to do it standing up. And then they start to push in on her, with the dark-haired one putting his arm around George, I guess to shove him at Bonnie harder?

Anyway, it doesn't last: a bunch of plainclothes cops spring out of nowhere, guns drawn, and put a stop to everything. With no probable cause and therefore no warrant? Sssshhhhhh.

Okay, so then, Andrea, Brenda, and Brandon are all watching the bust? And Bonnie starts sobbing, of course, so then Carol is there to take care of her? Andrea asks whether Brenda is going to go down and say something, but she says she needs to be by herself. Brandon asks how Brenda predicted what would happen. Andrea admiringly says that since the calls all came after 10, Brenda figured out that the date rapes were all happening after Grudge Week events. Brandon: "How'd she put all that together?" ...Seriously? She just told you. Andrea claims that Brenda is a good listener.

WBH, the next day. Donna update: no nose job, but she gets a new car instead. This latest display of shallowness doesn't enrage Brenda at all, I guess because her newfound flirtation with public service has made her feel fond indulgence for Kelly and Donna and their non-problems.

And then Steve is asking Brandon about Nina. He says that they're just good friends. Steve: "You blew it." Brandon: "Nothing was blown!" There's a long pause IN THE SCENE to allow for the knowing giggles at the sneaky line that made it past Fox Standards & Practices, and then Steve says he thinks Brandon is hung up on the age thing. Brandon denies it. Steve doesn't care, in the end, and leaves. Brandon turns around and sees Lucy staring at him. He decides to do his own public service by going over to her and braying, "You're Lucy, right?" Lucy lights up, kind of pathetically. He says he hasn't had a chance to introduce himself, and does so, shaking her hand. She beams, and he tells her she has a nice smile.

Having done his good deal for the year, Brandon takes off. Lucy has a moment of celebration at her locker, and then floats down the hall, saying hello to Scott on her way. Scott thinks he's awesome, and we fade to black.

Bonnie? We don't see her ever again. I'm sure that means she's totally fine.