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Recap / 21 Jump Street S04E20 "Last Chance High"

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Frances: Most of the kids [at this high school] come from completely screwed-up families, or have drug or alcohol problems... or are socially maladjusted like you two.
Penhall: [As his alternate MacQuaid persona] I happen to like my maladjustment.

Penhall and Hanson go undercover as the MacQuaid brothers one last time, this time at a high school where students who have otherwise failed the eductation system are sent to as their very last chance. While there, Hanson encounters a girl who's (secretly) taking care of a baby, which he initially thinks is her baby having resulted from a Teenage Pregnancy—but soon it turns out there's a different explanation for her taking care of the baby.

Weanwhile, Penhall is trying to adjust to his new life role as Clavo's (adoptive) father, and Hanson is trying to make it clear to Penhall that he thinks they have outgrown their roles as the MacQuaid brothers, or even more in general, their trying to pose as high school students at all.


This episode provides examples of:

  • Ambiguous Ending: Was Frances really physically abused by her parents (which would make the ending Fridge Horror), or was that at best all in her imagination, or at worst all deliberatly made up by her?
  • Grocery Store Episode: During one segment of the episode, Hanson and Frances go grocery shopping. The scene is important plot-wise in that it reveals that Frances is stealing money from the high school, which leads to the discovery of the baby she is taking care of. Also, Hanson takes the opportunity to lampshade some stuff we in Real Life also hate about shopping ("Why is it on every shopping cart there's always one wheel that refuses to turn?").
  • Teenage Pregnancy: Subverted. Hanson meets teenager Frances who shows him her baby. When he asks around at her school about "when [Frances] was pregnant", they reply "Uh no, Frances never was pregnant...". Turns out the baby is not Frances' daughter, but her baby sister whom she kidnapped from her own parents.
  • Tropaholics Anonymous: This episode takes place at a high school with students with lots of social and psychological problems, and some of them (maybe it's even mandatory for all of them) are shown to be in a group therapy where they talk about their grievances.

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