7th Heaven (TV Series) Time to Leave the Nest (1998) User Reviews

Time to Leave the Nest

[studioAT · 5/10 · 27 March 2021]

This episode is a bit so-so, with the main plot involving Sarah and her father being well played, but being let down by yet another "I want the potential spare room" subplot.

On the whole the good outweighs the average though.

Time to leave the Nest...

[teeney1116 · 7/10 · 30 June 2006]

This episode is not one of my favorites. The plot revolves around Matt preparing for college, and Simon finding a lost girl. The man who acted as the father of Sarah (the girl) was a TERRIBLE actor. His entrance was odd, to say the least, and his performance does not stand out in the series. Matt wants to go to school out of state, but is not financially prepared to move down the street. Simon wants to "keep" the girl he "found". Meanwhile, Lucy and Mary fight about Lucy's right to privacy, since Mary has been reading Lucy's diary for who knows how long. The episode is fun, peppered with humor and drama. For the record, the little girl who played Sarah is one of the cutest on the series. Social Services is given a little too good of a rep in this episode. A bargain is made with Sarah's father, that I don't really think would happen out of court.

Creepy

[aqueckboerner · 1/10 · 31 January 2024]

This episode was odd and gave a vibe of just downright creepy. Where did a 6th grade boy get an idea that another human being was their property? The writers didn't have him say, "Can she stay with us?" as in the entire family in THEIR home. No, he asked if he can keep her. What young man talks like that? She is not a slave nor is she property. The whole thing just seemed strange for a young man to talk and think like that. Sexual predators think that way, not a 6th grade boy. He wants her by his side at all times like he's obsessed with her. Again very odd behavior coming from someone that is still a child. They sit very close on the bed together looking through some slides. The whole thing just seemed creepy. I hate the way the writers did this whole storyline. It wasn't appropriate at all and not once did the father correct him showing him this young, strange girl is not property.

Also, it was totally unbelievable that the kids took time to make their parents dinner including a turkey. These children are rarely seen helping their mother do anything in the house. Yes they had the knowledge to cook a big dinner at the last minute? A turkey has to thaw in a fridge at least 2 days before you can cook it. And we are to believe the mother never saw it? Let alone the many hours it takes to cook it. Yet we are supposed to believe all that miraculously happened in the blink of an eye. These writers are not living in reality.

Most absurd, but best episode

[hellomrbig · 10/10 · 1 March 2024]

This episode does well to demonstrate how mad the writers are. Simon repeatedly lays claim to the lost "homeless" girl Sarah as his personal property and Simon's father doesn't correct his use of that language. Sarah and the father both appear in Homeless Face, a weird 90s take on how homeless people would presumably look. Eric, as is a common theme in this show, uses his rank of minister like he's the county sheriff, and waltzs into the homeless father's trailer like he owns the place. Even the cop relinquishes control of the situation to him and they co-commit B&E as if the fourth amendment doesn't exist.

Two notes on the trailer B&E scene: first, Eric exclaims to Matt "see, this is the importance of a college education." Second, the trailer belonging to the homeless father sits on its own private and secluded lot and appears to be reasonably well appointed and spacious if not a little untidy. Would the writers have guessed that not 25 years after airing, the quality of life enjoyed by this homeless man would be considerated unnatainable to the majority of those with college degrees? In a ridiculous twist, the entire Camden family breaks into the trailer a second time to clean it and fill with weird food like Sunny D and cucumbers. Somehow this cures the father of his alcoholism and rebuilds his relationship with his mom.

Sex Factor out of control in this episode. Lucy keeps repeating "I'm petite and sexual", Mary plays into it, and the mom describes their conception. The Mom actually says (to am eleven year old) "when sex is good, it's really good", going on to describe the date when Eric brought her a Hershey's bar and then bedded her. Fortunately she didn't describe Mary's conception, alluding to the story being too raunchy to speak of.