Andy convinces Howard Sprague to be a Big Brother to a troubled yet very bright teen boy.
Howard jumps full into it, and gets the teen to agree to a plan of studying 3 nights a week together. But the kid's older sister is pretty and charming, flirting with Howard, and the teen encourages Howard to drive her to work (at a dance club) and back on the study nights, so the teen can goof off. Howard sees more and more of the sister, and starts to dress like a "hep cat" and dances with her about every night. But Andy finds out about the teen's poor marks from the principal, and confronts Howard, then the teen. Andy tells the boy that Howard has shirked his duties and his goals (of taking a civil service exam), and this deeply affects the teen, who sees if an upright man such as Howard can be so distracted from his goals and dreams, he doesn't want to end up like that, and therefore starts cracking the books and improving in school. After Howard is confronted by Andy, he is offended, but then Andy tells him that Howard's own example of shirking his own life goals scared the kid straight. In the last scene, Andy drops into the boy's house and sees him diligently studying, and the boy tells Andy that Howard is again out with his sister, but this time at the public library studying for his own civil service exam!
My only quibble with this episode is that when Howard excitedly tries to tell Andy about the kid he's mentoring, it is ANDY who continually interrupts him and peppers him about the kid's older sister, and has no interest whatsoever in Howard's Big Brother progress, despite Andy goading him into it. When Howard seems put off, Andy furrows his brow as if he's surprised. So that was quite inconsistent.
My only quibble with this episode is that when Howard excitedly tries to tell Andy about the kid he's mentoring, it is ANDY who continually interrupts him and peppers him about the kid's older sister, and has no interest whatsoever in Howard's Big Brother progress, despite Andy goading him into it. When Howard seems put off, Andy furrows his brow as if he's surprised. So that was quite inconsistent.
