7th Heaven

Lucy goes into labor when she is shopping with Matt. At home, everyone is helping with a surprise baby shower. Martin plays baseball with Sam and David, but they don't want to. Instead, Martin, Mac, Sam and David look for gifts for Lucy and the baby. Matt and Lucy get stuck in an elevator so Matt must deliver the baby in there. Kevin buys a house without telling Lucy. The guests at the baby shower are left alone, so they rearrange the house. Lucy comes out with the baby and she and Kevin name her Savannah.



This was a wonderful episode! I wish that Mary could've been there. This episode gets a 10!

While this episode was good for what it was worth, it seemed a little too typical -- getting stuck in the elevator. Only this time, it wasn't a husband and wife who were stranded, but a brother and sister. Great how it brought a lot of people together, and promoted family values. My problem with the episode was that the subplot about the huge house Kevin bought seemed out of place. I could understand why they didn't bring it up in the episode before -- Lucy was still recovering from her near miscarriage. But why didn't they wait until the week after, when she was showing off the baby to everyone? The irresponsibility in that would have been more à propos to the recklessness of buying a manor.

I loved this espidoe cause Lucy gave birth 2 her daugher Savannah Kinkirk.

I loved this espidoe cause Lucy gave birth 2 her daugher Savannah Kinkirk.

I loved this espidoe cause Lucy gave birth 2 her daugher Savannah Kinkirk.

I loved this espidoe cause Lucy gave birth 2 her daugher Savannah Kinkirk.

I loved this espidoe cause Lucy gave birth 2 her daugher Savannah Kinkirk.

I loved this espidoe cause Lucy gave birth 2 her daugher Savannah Kinkirk.

I loved this espidoe cause Lucy gave birth 2 her daugher Savannah Kinkirk.

I loved this espidoe cause Lucy gave birth 2 her daugher Savannah Kinkirk.

I loved this espidoe cause Lucy gave birth 2 her daugher Savannah Kinkirk.

This is the episode we've all been waiting for: Lucy Camden-Kinkirk finally has her baby! Savannah Kinkirk enters the world in an elevator, delivered by her Uncle Matt. (And proud daddy helped .... without passing out)



This is a trademark for the show.



We've watch Lucy Camden grow up, starting the show off as an intelligent teenager struggling with the in's and out's of high school. We've watched her develope relationships with her many boyfriends, and get her heart broken. We've seen her get engaged, but in the end get her heart broken - again. We've seen her fall in love with Kevin Kinkirk, get jealous over his partner, Roxanne, become engaged, then married. And for the pass 4 months of the show, we've watched her experience pregnancy.



Now that her baby daughter, Savannah, is here, we get to see the trials and tribulations of Lucy as a mother and see how motherhood effects her life as a wife. All in all, this was a very very special episode of 7th Heaven.

If there is one thing 7th Heaven knows how to do to generate publicity and big ratings, it's big events that are centered around weddings or births. Preferably in the family. And none are any bigger than our little Lucy giving birth to her own little baby. To some, it couldn't come fast enough and were annoyed with Lucy's behavior at some points(but to be fair, some of it comes with the territory when you are pregnant, and I would like to see some of them when they are 8 months pregnant). But for me, it was just right, and I am glad they did it they way they did instead of the usual, by the numbers, big hospital scene. They've done that already. In fact, hundreds of tv shows have done that. More on that later....



Lucy is kind of annoyed that her family haven't gotten her any gifts or planned anything special for her this close to giving birth. She has a visiting Matt(who, going to be a doctor, would of been expected to be involved with this), take her to the mall and buy some things. Little does Lucy know that this is exactly what everyone back home wanted as they are putting together a surprise baby shower for her. While at the mall, Lucy starts going into labor(no big surprise), and is lucky that the writers have doctor in training Matt there. While in the elevator to leave, the elevator stops and her and Matt are stuck in the elevator and...the...baby...is...coming. Meanwhile, everyone back home is wondering where the expectant mother and Matt are at, and the guests, some annoying and nosey(and what would 7th Heaven be without nosey neighbors?), are getting a little agitated. In the end, news travels back home and Kevin is able to get to the elevator in time and take over from Matt to help deliver his baby girl. It was a nice scene. Some people thought it wasn't anything new, and the trapped in the elevator scenario was old and unoriginal. Well, how much more original is it for the usual "mom freaking out and gets put on drugs" scenario in the hospital?. How many other ways that is acceptable in the bounds of reality can you have a baby?. The trapped in the elevator thing might not of been very new, but it was something different for this show and that's why it was good and why I liked it. No matter how many times something has been done before, it can still be done if it's done right, and to me, this was. Baby Savannah is born, and she's a cutie. It's a name that doesn't really go along with other names in the family, but that's okay. It's different and pretty, and the fact that Lucy and Kevin named her after the beautiful place they honeymooned at makes it sweeter.



The other storyline here has Kevin revealing that he has bought a house for him and Lucy, and has done so without Lucy knowing about it. We don't see the house in this episode, but do in the following one, and boy, it's some house. There have been some talk in episodes past about Kevin and money that makes it seem like his family is well to do, but geez!. How exactly well off is he and can he share some of that love with the rest of us?. It's easy to see what Kevin was thinking in making such a big decision like this without the knowledge or help of his wife. It's sweet and romantic, and really, who wouldn't be thrilled with that house?. On the other hand, it's such a big decision. This is the place where you are going to live(possibly for the rest of your life)day in and day out. The place where you are going to raise your children. It is something that you would think both parties would need to be in the know of. Wether it was Lucy doing this or Kevin. Still, the sentiment was in the right place, but it makes one wonder.



It was nice to see Aunt Julie again as one of the baby shower attendees, but that whole scenario got old pretty quick. And would the family just leave to see the new house while the guests, who are already wondering what's going on, just sit behind?. Sure they left Ruthie there, but still. It was a little rude and out of the ordinary for the fammily. Especially Annie.



Martin and the increasingly annoying and useless Mac are just background material here as they shop for a present for Lucy for her shower. And does Mac even really know Lucy?.



What we have here is a very nice, very sweet, very 7th Heaven-ly type show. I liked this episode very much because it focused on the Camdens, and it was a sweet moment that just felt like a classic, warm, 7th Heaven episode. Was it original?. Not really. Did it have to be?. No, not really. It just had to be a nice, good episode, and to deliver the baby. And that it did.

Well, we are now halfway through the ninth season and new episodes are back for the beginning year of 2005 and we start off with the arrival of Lucy and Kevin's baby girl. As much as I wanted to adore this episode (Really, I did)...I just can't. There were too many things in this episode that were bizarre and completely unoriginal. This was surprising even by 7th Heaven standards. Seriously, I can name five other TV series on the dot right now that have used the same storyline of a pregnant woman going into labor while on an elevator that breaks down and delivering the baby in there. Surely Brenda Hampton and co-writer Jeffrey Rodgers had to have known that this kind of storyline was been done in the past with many other series, so why would they mimic it? Not only that, but other plots in this episode just didn't make sense with characters doing really odd things. Let's break it down...



Lucy, Kevin and Matt: A very tired and bed ridden Lucy (Beverley Mitchell) thinks no one has bought anything for her or the baby that is due soon, so she decides to secretly go out with Matt (Barry Watson) to "The Big Big Department Store" to go shopping for some baby clothes and accessories. But actually the family tricked her into going out as they get to set up for her baby shower. Why they had to trick her into going out when they just could've asked her to go out with Matt as she was tired of being in the house anyway, or have done it while she was upstairs to set up the party is anyone's logical guess why they didn't do that.



Anyway, Kevin (George Stults) decides to take Ruthie (Mackenzie Rosman) to see Lucy's last gift that he has gotten her to help in knowing what Lucy will think of it. It happens to be a big house. Ruthie gives a very good answer to Kevin on what Lucy's reaction will probably be---that she will go biserk and "kill" him for doing something so drastic without her. It's a little bizarre since Kevin and Lucy have been together for almost four years. Kevin should know Lucy and her personality and behavior right now. The fact that he thought that he could buy a huge house without Lucy knowing and not getting upset when he would finally tell her is preposterous. Does he even know Lucy? Luckily, Lucy made a surprise revelation at the end of the of the episode of not being bothered by the idea as she secretly knew, but wants to move in when they're ready and can take care of Savannah---which shouldn't be long.



Anyway, getting back to the beginning Lucy and Matt are shopping in the store and get the help from a store clerk on finding particular baby items. He assumes they're husband and wife and Lucy gets upset over this. Why did Lucy care so much if the department store manager thought Matt was her husband? All she had to do was say Matt was not her husband and that should've been the end of it. It's like she's desperate for others approval. Not a good sign for a minister-to-be and to be that sensitive. Anyway, the store clerk takes Lucy and Matt to the second floor on the elevator---after many tries of closing the elevator doors that is having electrical problem---so much so they could've easily walked up one flight by then. As they shop upstairs and talk Lucy suddenly goes into labor and Matt decides it's time to go to the hospital. Why the two didn't take the escalator this time (it was mentioned later in the episode that there was one when the security guard talked to Mac) than the elevator as they knew the thing had electrical problems is beyond me as well. As they get back in they get stuck of course, which leads to a very paniced Lucy and Matt. As the episode goes on, it takes time, but everyone inevitably figures out what happens to Lucy and everyone shows up, including the family, shoppers and EMT's who are able to get into the stuck elevator luckily.



When Kevin does finally arrive in the elevator as he jumps in from the roof he and Matt debate on who's going to deliver the baby—which is completely ridiculous as both shouldn't. Quite honestly in real life, neither should, as Kevin is really not qualified to do that kind of procedure even if he's a cop and Matt may be qualified...but that's her brother. It's kind of unnatural and gross that he would go under his sister and reach into her private areas and deliver her baby. Plus, weren't there two EMT's who also successfully made it into the elevator? Seriously, Lucy should've went with the strangers. It would've been less disgusting. I'm sure back in the past people have done this before when there were no hospitals and EMT's and family members would deliver other family members babies, but this is modern times, and now it's just not necessary to go into territory like that anymore.



As for the birth scenes, I was sure Brenda Hampton and Aaron Spelling are very conservative, which is why I wasn't surprised they were going to handle the birthing scenes with discretion, but it still could've been more realistic on how they handled it. By that, it was very odd that Lucy got absolutely no blood or amniotic fluid or any other kind of fluid on her long skirt that she seemed to have kept on throughout the entire birth experience. Plus, it was extremely preposterous that she was able to stand up and walk out the elevator while holding her baby with all her clothes on when the elevators door finally opened---just after giving birth minutes earlier. She should've stayed on the floor until the gurney arrived. And where was the placenta? It must've came out somewhere and it was nowhere to be found when the elevator doors opened. I know 7th Heaven is G-rated but at least make the experience more believable on how a birth really happens. At least try to slip in some new clothes through the elevator and put the others in the bag and have Lucy in different clothes to at least show viewers a birth is really messy---especially when it's in an elevator. It is understandable however that the baby was clean and primped when we finally saw her. It's been known that series get some flak when they try to put that goo and jelly on newborns to make it look realistic and I'm glad they spared us that. That part was understandable of seeing little Savannah all cleaned up, even if that wouldn't be the case in real life.



Another small nitpick that needs to be explored is the name Kevin and Lucy gave to their daughter. I love the name Savannah. It's a beautiful name that is not used too often, but not odd at the same time of what celebrities these days name their children (i.e. Apple, Coco, Phineaous), but I hate the reason of why they named her that. They named her Savannah after the place where they first had SEX on their honeymoon. Eeeewww. That's not a story I think their daughter is going to appreciate hearing when she is finally able to understand it. Coincidently enough Savannah is also the name of an Aaron Spelling drama that aired on the WB in 1996. I wonder if that also played a key in Brenda Hampton's writing. Probably not, as Brenda Hampton gives other characters on her show names like Georgia, Patty-Mary, Venus, etc. She is SO from the South.



Lastly, the last few scenes of the episode were nice, with Eric taking a smoke with the cigar to celebrate being a grandfather for the second time and also with Lucy coddling her baby girl in the hospital bed and the family being happy. But of course there was one thing that was bothersome. It's bad enough that grandma Annie wants them to stay for a few months but Lucy also agreeing that they should stay in the Camden home for a few months until they get into the jist of raising Savannah? What in the world? you are now parents! Start acting like it! They should only need their help for a few days the most and then leave and be on there own, especially since you got a new home. Now they're going to pay a mortgage on a house they won't even live in just because they feel they're not ready yet. They are now a family, so start acting like one Lucy and Kevin. Talk about co-dependence! At least they didn't give up on the house this time, (i.e. There's No Place Like It) so I'll take what I can get.



Eric and Annie: These two are obviously secondary in this episode compared to Lucy, Matt and Kevin. Eric (Stephen Collins) was very encouraging in this episode as he was happy Kevin finally bought a house, even if he did it the wrong way. Finally! One of the Camden parents now wants them to leave the nest. It's a about time too, as Kevin and Lucy have now been married for quite awhile and now with a kid----So please, get out! The garage apartment ain't working no more and it was a breath of fresh air that a Camden parent actually wants their child to leave. We don't see that often enough as they usually try to coerce them to stay. With that in mind, it's sad to say I was disappointed in Annie (Catherine Hicks) wanting them to stay, even when the baby is born for at least a few months. She really needs to let her children go, they are no longer babies. Not only that, but it was rude of her to talk to Kevin in such a manner when she found it he bought a house for Lucy and the baby without her knowing. Even though what Kevin did was wrong Annie had no right to talk to Kevin like that as it's really none of her business. Get a life Annie! And it was very rude of her to leave the baby shower without telling anyone by the way!



The Baby Shower Women: The baby shower scenes with all the women was tolerable with Julie (Deborah Raffin) there who was a joy to see again, but beyond that, it was kind of hard to watch. The women in those scenes couldn't act, especially that young blonde girl with that absurd line about Kevin of "I think he bought a house. He's very cute." What in the world does that have to do with anything? Seriously Brenda Hampton, you have got to write better dialogue than this? This is even beneath you. It was also strange that there were no women at the shower that was Lucy age that attended, but mainly middle-aged housewives. Poor Lucy, you'd think she'd have more friends after being in college for four years.



Martin, Mac, Sam and David: While all the drama is happening with Lucy, Martin (Tyler Hoechlin) takes the twins to the same store coincidently to take the boys shopping for baseball gloves and to buy a gift for Lucy's baby and they meet up with Mac (Kyle Searles) and spend the day together. Surprisingly enough, these four were the most realistic parts in this episode I have to say. Finally, someone like Martin actually cares about the boys and takes them outside for some experience in sports and playing. That is one thing those Camden's lack. They really need to take their kids out more.



Also, there seemed to be a little foreshadowing on Ruthie having a little crush on Martin. It seems inevitable now. But yeesh, Ruthie is sure a teenager now. It wasn't so long ago that she had a crush on Mac and now has moved onto her in house neighbor. But it doesn't likely to happen anytime soon if next week's previews tell us anything as she seems to meet a new guy.



One good thing that was noticeable was that little twin actors Nikolas and Lorenzo Brino are really getting better in their acting as they have been doing quite a bit this season. Their scenes with Martin and Mac were nice and cute. But what was with that one scene where they seemed to be shopping alone? Where were Martin and Mac then? Also, it's kind of sad when two 5 year-olds would rather go shopping for baby stuff than play baseball outside with Martin. I mean I'm sure their excited about the baby, but be kids too. These kids are way too sheltered and need friends desperately.



The Others: Basically, everyone else who is not Lucy, Matt and Kevin, Eric and Annie...



By the way what was that bizarre last minute walk in of Simon (David Gallagher)? Did the producers ask him to come in the last day of shooting to fill in a non-important 2 minute cameo as Lucy delivereed her baby in the elevator? He was barely in the episode and was only in one/two scenes when Lucy delivered. He added nothing to the episode and might as well have not even appeared. The same reference also goes to Aunt Julie (Deborah Raffin) herself as she was only there for a little bit in the beginning of the episode and then had to leave due to a family emergency. At least she got to talk to Eric and Annie, unlike in the last episode she was in last season.



Overall, this episode had its nice moments, but it was still very disappointing on a certain level on how it was written and it's hard to give it a really good grade when it was very unoriginal and not very realistic on a lot of standpoints. Brenda Hampton really could've done a better in writing this episode. Despite a nice warm feeling from the episode, there still needs to be a certain amount of realism on this show that Brenda Hampton seems to lack a lot when writing for the show she created. That's always been a major downfall in her writing throughout recent seasons. How can we viewers possibly relate on that level when the show doesn't add that quality of realism? I really hope the episodes get better in realism and dialogue. This was not the best episode to start out the 2005 year when it should've been as Lucy delivered her baby. Until next week guys...



Grade **5.5 out of 10**



Rants and Bits:

*It's strange that Kevin and Lucy went to Savannah, Georgia for their honeymoon, but it must've been a very short one since they were back home comfortably in the next episode after their wedding We Do in season 7.



*Why does Lucy care so much that Matt doesn't wear his wedding ring? It's a good idea when you're working on job or away on vacation and he does not like to wear it.



*Lucy (Beverley Mitchell) acknowledged in this episode that her parents names all her children after Biblical names. Since her parents named her Lucy the only thing that comes up in my mind of any biblical references was Lucifer, right before he turned into Satan. Are the Camden parents that mean towards Lucy? Nah, it's gotta be another name in there!



*Can the writers be a little more creative instead of naming the store that the family was in, "The Big Big Department Store." At least show you give specific things in this episode more thought and come up with a better fake name.



*Matt (Barry Watson) sure is dropping by a lot in Glen Oak even if his wife Sarah and demanding medical intern job is across the country. He better go back before he loses both.



*I don't get why this episode was called Paper or Plastic?. Was it the idea that this episode mainly took place in a shopping department and paper and plastic is a good reference to a store?