High School Reunion 2, The Aftermath: Is It Really Over, or Just Over?

On last week's High School Reunion 2: Sharper ears than mine (and that would be just about everyone's) noted that Gabe never uttered the word "engaged" when he gave the fancy ring to Denise. So apparently it was wishful thinking on the producers' part that they were on their way to the altar, and they hoped none of the viewing audience would notice. Some of us almost didn't...

This week: Woo-hoo, Brad crashes the aftermath show! (If, by "crash," you mean set up in advance to produce as much drama as possible.)

Instead of the usual credits, there's a whooping and clapping studio audience. Ananda Lewis, whom I had no real use for even when she was big, is the host of this reunion-of-the-reunion show, which takes place several months after the original two-week get-together. She introduces Heather C. and Jeralyn, Jessica and Tre, Laura and Lenny, Daniel and T.J., Chris and Stacy, Amanda and Trevor, LouAnn and Johnny, Denise and Gabe, and Heather F.

Other high school classmates look on from a big screen set along the side. They were probably the ones who tried out for the show, got rejected, and are now hoping that at least their waving elbows will get a minute of screen time. Everyone whoops some more.

Ananda first turns to Heather F. and asks why she was so intent to shake things up at the reunion. Heather replies that she was looking for an explanation from Gabe about their sudden break up and apology from Denise for tormenting her during some "influential" years of her life.

A clip of "previously unseen footage" shows Heather F. telling Daniel that Gabe screwed up every relationship of hers after theirs, because she always wondered if he was really dating three other people. He was a very believable person – they went to church together, prayed together, etc. This clip provides some of the missing "context" I spoke about a recap or two ago. If I had been able to see why Heather F. placed so much emphasis on this relationship when she has likely had several since, I would have disliked her less. Overall, she seems more grounded on the aftermath show.

Once the clip ends, Gabe insists that he still goes to church, and that he told Heather that he didn't want to be exclusive. Ananda asks Heather if this is what she meant when she told Daniel in the clip that this is what Gabe "was so good at"? Heather says yeah, he's still "running the game," then caps the statement with an awkward laugh. Ananda asks her what she expected to feel when she saw Gabe at the reunion. Heather says she thought she would see Gabe as a jerk, but got caught up again in the fact that he was funny and charming – the things that she had liked about him the first time. The most startling revelation for Heather was to hear Gabe say he would have married her if she had gotten pregnant. Gabe explains that he comes from a conservative family, and if something like that happened, this is what you did.

A former student of Round Rock (another Heather) asks: Stacy and Heather, what made you fall so hard for Gabe? Stacy replies that Gabe is charming, and that his nickname in high school was "suave" (she pronounces it "swah-vey").

Ananda moves on to Denise. A clip of unseen footage shows how Denise reacted to the news about the sophomores when she came back from her Hall Pass with Gabe. She is gathered with LouAnn, Laura, and Jeralyn, who tell her that the sophomores are on a "mission" and that the night before, they were ready to let her and Gabe "have it." Hmm, Jeralyn seems to have gotten chummy awfully quickly with Laura and company. Maybe she wasn't quite the high school "wallflower" she was portrayed. Denise says who cares, if the sophomores want to stir things up, let them. That was ten years ago, time to move on. The seniors giggle conspiratorially. Jeralyn hugs Denise.

Ananda asks Denise what she wishes the sophomores could have known about her when they arrived. Denise says that she wishes they had known that she had just as many hurt feelings from the past as they did, and in some ways more, because she also had to deal with the difficulties of a divorce and how it affected her kids.

An audience member asks Denise why she was so "adamant" that when someone wanted an apology, said person had to come to her. Good question! Denise shoots back that she wasn't adamant; if she had known from the beginning that the sophomores had wanted an apology, she would have given it to them. I'm a little confused, because from the clip, it did appear that Denise knew, and was prepared to apologize if only in a half-assed way. Denise points out that the next day, she did go to Heather in the kitchen and act nice, to show no hard feelings and that she was sorry. "Those words didn't come out, but that was my intention."

A Round Rock alum from '95 wants to know why it was so important for Denise, rather than Gabe, to call and let Heather know that she was pregnant. Denise replies that since she and Gabe had just graduated and were going to have a child, they were on a different level than Heather (Denise seems quite fond of emphasizing her maturity), who still had two years left of high school. Denise wanted to show Heather that she was moving on and didn't want the stress of a high school rivalry anymore.

Denise also affirms that contrary to the rumors, she really was pregnant when she married Gabe, and the miscarriage was the hardest thing she'd ever had to go through in her life. She wishes the sophomores had talked to her about the rumors first, rather than just air them live on national television, which was painful to see. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, although just stating that the rumors were false on an aftermath show doesn't make them so.

An audience member asks the sophomores: Did Denise really treat you so bad? Amanda blurts out that yes she did, but Denise apologized and they've moved on. After being put to shame about the miscarriage rumors, I doubt she could go into the extent of the abuse without seeming like a false martyr, which would seal the audience's hatred of her and the other sophomores.