Tool Time is doing their salute to security. Not just door and window locks, but even some high-grade military spying equipment. Including a bionic ear that that picks up an erroneous conversation in "France" where they think Al is a bozo...but they think Tim is a genius, however. And of course, the night-vision goggles...which don't work in the dark. At home, the approaching finals may prevent Jill from cooking for the family, which of course they have no objections to. Brad has some news of his own: he's up for a paper route. He's very ecstatic about the prospect of having his first job, and Tim is equally as excited. Jill tries to remind him all the demands of the job, not to mention his schoolwork, band, soccer practice, his girlfriend. However, he was up to the challenge, and speaking of up, he had to be every morning at 5:00 in the A of M to deliver people their daily newspapers. It's not as easy as it sounds. One morning, he woke up 45 minutes late and rushed out the door without his pants. This job was starting to wear him down, and it's even starting to interfere with his schoolwork, as Brad can't even focus on his paper about the Franco-Prussian War. Tim comes upstairs to congratulate his hard-working son, and he even perma-plaqued his first paycheck in commemoration. Brad attempts to tell him he's bitten off more than he can chew, but naturally, Tim won't listen. He has a large amount of confidence in his boy can handle anything.
On top of everything else, Brad's room is a complete mess, and he gets his math homework confused with his history paper. However, Randy decides to step in and offer to do Brad's homework while Mark cleans his room...for a price, of course. With no other alternative, Brad gives in. He gets an A on the Franco-Prussian War paper, but when Jill looks it over, she notices that it bares a remarkable resemblance to Randy's paper on the Civil War. They catch Mark emptying Brad's trash can, and they get him to confess. Tim, of course, is baffled as to why Brad wouldn't tell him he was having a problem... um, he did. You didn't listen, remember? However, a talk with Wilson straightens him out. He realizes he was pushing a tad too hard. So, father and son get to talking, Tim mentions the paper route he had at Brad's age, and how he never quit...because he was fired. Mainly because he was pitching papers like they were baseballs and broke whole streets of windows. So, Brad concentrates on his schoolwork while Tim, Randy and Mark finish up the week delivering papers for him. Tim took the opportunity to relive some "fond" memories as well.
There was a B plot about Marie cooking for the Taylors when Jill was too preoccupied with finals, and it's obvious Jill can't cook to save her life. Overall, this was a very good episode. It might make some viewers feel nostalgic for the days when we actually had paperboys. I don't think we do anymore, or at least not everywhere. Remember back in the day the kids would get a paper route to earn some extra money before school? Now adays, a truck just drives by and they throw the paper on your driveway. I guess they scaled back paperboys on account of safety, and because a very small number of the population even reads newspapers anymore. We get our news online now. So look back on the days when kids had paper routes, and I'm sure many kids had them and went through what Brad does. Good episode, a lot of laughs and a great message or two. "The Route of All Evil" really delivers.
On top of everything else, Brad's room is a complete mess, and he gets his math homework confused with his history paper. However, Randy decides to step in and offer to do Brad's homework while Mark cleans his room...for a price, of course. With no other alternative, Brad gives in. He gets an A on the Franco-Prussian War paper, but when Jill looks it over, she notices that it bares a remarkable resemblance to Randy's paper on the Civil War. They catch Mark emptying Brad's trash can, and they get him to confess. Tim, of course, is baffled as to why Brad wouldn't tell him he was having a problem... um, he did. You didn't listen, remember? However, a talk with Wilson straightens him out. He realizes he was pushing a tad too hard. So, father and son get to talking, Tim mentions the paper route he had at Brad's age, and how he never quit...because he was fired. Mainly because he was pitching papers like they were baseballs and broke whole streets of windows. So, Brad concentrates on his schoolwork while Tim, Randy and Mark finish up the week delivering papers for him. Tim took the opportunity to relive some "fond" memories as well.
There was a B plot about Marie cooking for the Taylors when Jill was too preoccupied with finals, and it's obvious Jill can't cook to save her life. Overall, this was a very good episode. It might make some viewers feel nostalgic for the days when we actually had paperboys. I don't think we do anymore, or at least not everywhere. Remember back in the day the kids would get a paper route to earn some extra money before school? Now adays, a truck just drives by and they throw the paper on your driveway. I guess they scaled back paperboys on account of safety, and because a very small number of the population even reads newspapers anymore. We get our news online now. So look back on the days when kids had paper routes, and I'm sure many kids had them and went through what Brad does. Good episode, a lot of laughs and a great message or two. "The Route of All Evil" really delivers.
