Ep 15. Safety Dance

In Grounded for Life season 2 episode 15 titled "Safety Dance," we find the Finnertys living under the shadow of an impending hurricane. With schools and offices being shut down, the whole family is home-bound. This episode opens with the Finnertys learning that, as the storm approaches, the power may go out at any moment. Claudia, Sean, and the kids have to prepare themselves with enough food, water, and other essentials to last them through a possible power outage that could last several days.

Sean, played by Donal Logue, and Eddie, played by Kevin Corrigan, make a trip to the supermarket to get supplies. There, Sean runs into his high school friend and former class clown, Ron, played by guest star Chris Elliott. Ron has recently acquired a business related to safety inspections, and he offers to inspect the Finnerty's home for a safe family environment.

Sean is initially skeptical of the whole idea of safety inspections, but Ron convinces him to give it a try. Facilitated by Ron's eagerness to complete a safety assessment, it becomes a family activity to find all of the potential hazards that could harm them during the hurricane. The kids even seem to enjoy finding hazards around the house. The inherent comedy in this episode comes as the family discovers some of the unusual things that may constitute as a safety hazard.

Meanwhile, Lily, the eldest Finnerty daughter, played by Lynsey Bartilson, is holed up in her bedroom with her friends. She finds that the storm poses the perfect opportunity to hold her first college party, even if it's just with her high school friends. However, the only obstacle is that she has to keep it a secret from her parents. Her younger brother, Jimmy, played by Griffin Frazen, offers to be her look-out to warn her if her parents are approaching her bedroom upstairs.

As the safety assessment progresses, setting up hurricane-proof plastic sheets over the windows, securing doors, shutting power outlets, and ensuring that there are no hanging wires, the family starts to see Ron’s obvious overzealousness. Despite that, they take pride in completing the safety assessment successfully, happy to have avoided hazards they would have ignored otherwise. Sean, however, feels a bit disappointed that they were unable to find anything that Ron could fix or enhance to stay safe during the hurricane.

The fun really starts after dinner when the kids are upstairs, and Sean and Claudia, played by Megyn Price, stay downstairs to watch television. The hurricane eventually hits their house just as Sean and Claudia hear something from Lily's bedroom. They go up to investigate, thinking that there might be a draft or that something might have fallen. However, as they open the door, they were in for a shock, discovering Lily and her friends having a wild dance party in her room, with the windows shaking and glasses breaking from the force of the hurricane's wind outside.

The commotion upstairs leads Jimmy to investigate as well. As they try to regain control of the situation, a shift in the wind causes a power outage, leaving the family in complete darkness. With the only source of light being Lily's small flashlight, they realize the extent of the damage the wind has caused and that their light source may not last very long. The rest of the episode follows the family's attempts to put their lives back together as they braced themselves for the storm's after-effects.

Overall, 'Grounded for Life' season 2 episode 15 portrays a scenario most of us can relate to. The show captures the family's collective efforts and the protective instincts of a parent during a hurricane that can easily destroy everything in its path. The hurricane provides an opportunity for the family to ensure their safety by identifying potential hazards and making their home as secure as possible. In the end, the episode gives a realistic depiction of how much effort parents put into ensuring that their children are safe during emergencies.