Season Four Episodes
4-01: Growing UpIt's time for Jack's company picnic as summer comes to a close.
Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what's to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves for growing up.
4-02: Ninth Grade Man
The first day of ninth grade doesn't go as smoothly as Kevin had hoped.
Ninth grade man. Noble, upright, virtuous. I went into my last year of junior high thinking I knew all the answers. And suddenly all I had was questions.
4-03: The Journey
Kevin and friends, beers in hand, hope to gain entrance to a 10th grader's slumber party.
Adolescence is a battle. A life-or-death mission into hostile territory. You tiptoe through minefields. Dodge bullets. Try to do the right thing... in a crazy time. But war has another side. The noble side. Forging friendships between improbable comrades. Uniting men. Bringing together the good... the bad... the ugly. Along around ninth grade, one thing was clear: in the battle of growing up, junior high school was basic training. Not that any of us had actually enlisted in this army. Still, we'd learned one thing. We'd learned how to survive. It was all a matter of balance. Poise. Keeping your head down. Avoiding the war. Until, that is... the war came to you.
4-04: The Cost of Living
Kevin gets a job as a golf caddy.
That day... I realized something from this man that I was trying so hard not to be like. He understood the value of money. And the cost of it.
4-05: It's a Mad, Mad, Madeline World
Kevin misses his anniversary with Winnie to work on a project with a classmate, and ends up losing the bracelet that she gave him.
You start out life with a clean slate. Then you begin to make your mark. You face decisions, make choices. You keep moving forward. But sooner or later, there comes a time where you look back over where you have been... and wonder who you really are.
4-06: Little Debbie
Kevin is guilted into taking Paul's little sister to her cotillion.
Heck, I was no Superman. Not really, anyway. But if Debbie Pfeiffer needed a hero... so be it. She had plenty of time to grow up, and figure it out on her own. After all, a little stardust in the eyes never hurt anybody. Least of all, me.
4-07: The Ties That Bind
Jack's request for a raise comes with a price of its own: a new position that forces him to be on the road for Thanksgiving.
When you're fourteen, you know a lot of things. How to throw a spiral... how to fix a bike. But standing there... I knew I couldn't fix what was wrong.
4-08: The Sixth Man
Paul is picked to be on the school's basketball team, which surprises Kevin.
That night, Paul Pfeiffer and I played the most important game of our lives. We both played hard. And we both played to win. And no game ever mattered more. To both of us. Maybe change is never easy. You fight to hold on. You fight to let go. But that night... after seven-hundred-ninety consecutive losses... Paul finally beat me. Paul made the basketball team that year. And he had some loyal fans. But his biggest fan... was also his best friend. I guess sometimes you have to grow apart... to keep growing together.
4-09: A Very Cutlip Christmas
Kevin sees a different side to Coach Cutlip after seeing him dressed as a mall Santa.
When you're a kid, it's simple: Christmas is magic. It's a time of miracles, when reindeer can fly, and Frosty never melts. Then you get older. Somehow, things change. The magic begins to fade. Until something happens that reminds you, at Christmas time... miracles still can be found. Sometimes in the most unexpected places.
4-10: The Candidate
Kevin runs for student body president.
Everybody knows politics is a dirty business. Yet our greatest national heroes have always been politicians. Maybe there's a reason for that. Maybe it takes a certain kind of person to get down in the mud... and come out with the bricks of statecraft. After all, in America, they say any kid can grow up to be presdent. What they don't say... is how.
4-11: Heartbreak
Winnie is hiding a secret from Kevin.
Young love is really pretty simple. It's about sharing little inside jokes when the teacher isn't looking. It's about passing notes in the hallway between classes. It's about all the really stupid things you share. It's about going through it, together. Winnie Cooper and I had been through it all. The good times, bad times, the ups and downs. And we were still together. We'd known each other since we were kids. And to me, she was still the girl next door - even though she didn't live next door anymore.
4-12: Denial
Kevin gets Paul to throw a party as a means of getting back with Winnie.
Love makes you do funny things. It makes you proud. It makes you sorry. That night, we talked. About life. About our times together. Maybe we weren't the same two kids we had once been. But some things never change. Some things last. And even though I didn't know what was going to happen to us, or where we were going, I just knew I couldn't let her out of my life.
4-13: Who's Aunt Rose?
Grandpa Arnold comes to town for the funeral of a relative nobody could stand.
As I stood there, listening to Grandpa's words, a lot of things began to become real for me. Aunt Rose. The loss Gramps was feeling. And why coming here was so important, for all of us.
4-14: Courage
Kevin fears making of fool of himself in front of the new dental hygenist.
Over the course of the average lifetime, you meet a lot of people. Some of them stick with you through thick and thin. Some weave their way through your life and disappear forever. But once in a while, someone comes along who earns a permanent place in your heart.
4-15: Buster
Kevin's dog is in need of neutering.
Every American family has its own unique blend of personalities; my family was no exception. Within our four suburban walls, we ranged the full spectrum of types. From the flamboyant, to the demure. From the repellant, to the ideal. Somehow, we managed to fit together in a kind of fragile alliance. One for all, and all for one. With one exception: Buster - the family dog.
4-16: Road Trip
Kevin and Jack go on a shopping trip together.
The biggest thing in a young boy's world is his dad. You do what he says. You do what he does. He's your guide through the mysteries of manhood - your confidant. Your pal. Until the day comes when, for some reason, things change. Your confidant becomes... that guy on the other end of the couch.
4-17: When Worlds Collide
Norma gets a job at Kevin's school, embarrassing him.
There were no two ways about it. When I was fourteen... I was a pretty cool kid. Not in the ninety-ninth percentile of coolness, maybe, but definitely top third of my class. I knew the walk, I knew the talk. I had my own kinda... style. But, like a lot of cool kids my age, I did have one tragic flaw. One terrible secret that threatened the very fabric of my fragile image. I, Kevin Arnold, had a mom.
4-18: Separate Rooms
After Karen goes away to college, Kevin and Wayne fight over who will move into her room.
Childhood is a struggle. In struggling to separate ourselves from one another... Wayne and I had also struggled to stay together. In order to break apart, we had to hurt each other. And now... we'd done what we had to do. And the thing is, even today... on nights when I lie in bed, listening to my children in their rooms, breathing next to one another... I wish for them what my parents had wished for my brother and me. I wish for them... what we had.
4-19: The Yearbook
Paul misses an opportunity to see an R-rated movie with the guys, but winds up in an R-rated evening with a college student instead.
If there's one thing every kids needs growing up, it's a best friend. Someone you trust. Someone who trusts you. Someone you measure yourself against. You go through everything together. Important things. Stupid things. Things that matter. Things that don't.
4-20: The Accident
Winnie is involved in a serious car accident.
There are things about your childhood you hold onto... because they were so much a part of you. The places you went, the people you knew. Somewhere, in every memory I had, was Winnie Cooper. I knew everything about her. What I didn't know was that she was falling apart.
4-21: The House That Jack Built
Jack and Karen get into an argument after he discovers she is living with a man.
Men came home from a just, and noble war. It was a place where peace-of-mind came by the square foot. Where the space between every linoleum floor, and shingled roof... was to be filled with children. And dreams. And where, into every inch of concrete, hard-working men poured their values. My father was one of those men. His values were simple. As solid as the walls of the house he took care of. And he trusted the preservation of those four walls to nothing less than his own two hands. With maybe a little help from my two hands.
4-22: Graduation
Kevin is graduating from junior high, only to find out that Paul is going to a private school the following year.
I couldn't really say what I did that summer. It passed in kind of a blur. What I remember... are green lawns and sprinklers... and the smell of backyard grills. And the nearness of friends.
4-23: The Wonder Years
This episode features highlights from the first four seasons.
Those years were like a long journey for me. Looking back, it was a time when we were still very small. And the world seemed very big. And I think about those days again and again... whenever some blowhard starts talking about the anonymity of the suburbs... or the mindlessness of the TV generation. Because I know I'll never forget those times... those years of wonder.