The Scholar’s Snafu – As the first episode of Spencer Sisters begins, Darby Spencer (Stacey Farber) wakes up late and has to rush to get to work on time. She eventually arrives and catches up with Gabby who tells her it is the same guy but a different robbery. Detective O’Neill (Kevin McIntyre) is there. Darby ignores a call from her mom before they reach the crime scene. O’Neill tells them about the suspect and that they believe he ran down the alley. Darby questions why he would when it seems like a dead end. Gabby encourages her not to question him.

When she tells O’Neill what she thinks, she is told she isn’t a detective so she shouldn’t be theorizing. She goes up to the parking anyway. She tries to contact O’Neill, but he doesn’t contact her back. Darby manages to take down the suspect with a shopping cart before handcuffing him. The Sergeant and Detective O’Neill aren’t happy that she disobeyed a direct order. Darby suggests O’Neill just doesn’t like it when a woman makes decisions only to be reprimanded by the sergeant. She complains that she is going to take the detective’s exam and it’ll kill her chances. They won’t change their minds though. She insults both of them before quitting her job.

When she goes home, she learns that Chase has been sleeping with another woman. Darby begins calling friends to see if she can find a place to stay for a while. She calls Zane (Thomas Antony Olajide) to see if she can stay with him, but Zane says no because they have the baby now. He thinks he knows who she should call though. Darby drives to Alder Bluffs where she meets with her mother Victoria (Lea Thompson). As they go inside, Darby makes an excuse as to why she hasn’t been in contact with her mother. They talk about her boyfriend who has been trading crypto. Victoria tells her that her book reading starts at eleven and she can come with her. Darby eventually goes to her room to sleep.

In the morning, Darby finds her mother drinking downstairs with Sarita Stark (Ayesha Mansur Gonsalves). They discuss Victoria’s latest book which Darby hasn’t had time to read yet. Darby leaves after promising to be at the reading. Darby meets with Zane and his partner to tell them about her current situation. She wants to help people and doesn’t want to follow orders. Darby has to run so she can make it to the reading. Victoria begins speaking to the audience. She thanks Darby for coming before talking about her book. Kaia comes over to talk to Darby about her studies. She has to step away when she gets a call. Kaia (Jennifer Hui) begins freaking out and causing a scene.

She tells Darby that the university is expelling her because they claim she plagiarized her thesis. Darby doesn’t believe it. Kaia told them otherwise, but they just kept saying her paper was flagged. Darby and Victoria offer to help since Victoria knows the dean personally. As they leave, Darby complains about Victoria getting involved. She relents and says they can go to the dean together, but she is working alone after that. They visit the dean who says the university uses a state-of-the-art submissions portal to check for plagiarism. Victoria tries to convince Wanda to let them look at the proof.

When Victoria flaunts her donor status, Wanda agrees to let her look at it. Kaia’s paper was tracked to a website called TermPaperFox.com. Wanda suggests she purchased an existing paper and modified it. When they tell Kaia, she says she has never heard of that website and that article isn’t her thesis. She goes on to say it is but it isn’t the final version. She was writing about depression, anxiety, and how they impact athletics. Kaia says she deleted the part about preexisting mental health conditions. They suspect someone uploaded an earlier version of her work so it’d be flagged when she turned in her version. Kaia remembers losing her computer at the library so someone might’ve taken the paper then.

It showed up the next day exactly where she was sitting. Kaia believes Jerome could’ve done it because she heard the basketball player was using performance-enhancing drugs and she wanted to use that in her thesis. He blew up when she tried to talk to him. Victoria thinks they should speak to Jerome Callaghan. Once they get there, Darby asks her mother to stay outside. Instead, her mom sneaks inside and goes to the locker room to look through Jerome’s bag. Darby speaks to Jerome who won’t say anything before the coach makes her leave. When she makes it outside, Victoria shows her the pills she found in Jerome’s bag. In the morning, Victoria is very happy.

She thinks they should get the pills analyzed immediately. Darby thinks they can go by the hospital since Lucas might help. Victoria suspects there is more between them although Darby denies it. Darby sees Lucas at the hospital moments later. Once he looks at the pills, he reveals they’re medications for erectile dysfunction. Lindsay comes in and says hello to Darby who learns they’re getting married. Kaia learns about the ED meds and suspects that is why Jerome didn’t want to answer questions about the medicines he was using. Darby asks about Michael Fletcher who is on the team but wasn’t interviewed. Kaia says he was recruited out of Vancouver and his talent bought him a spot on the team regardless of his grades.

Kaia never managed to find him since he was injured and not at any of the games. The coach wouldn’t give her his contact info. Darby approaches Jerome to see if he can help, but he insists he doesn’t know anyone named Michael Fletcher. Once Jerome leaves, Darby finally tells her mother about Chase cheating on her and quitting her job. She says her mother never wanted her to be a cop in the first place. Victoria asks if she is surprised after her father died in the line of duty. They argue about whether Victoria cares. Darby doesn’t think they belong together and never will.

Darby wakes up on Zane’s couch. She complains about her mother, but Zane and his partner believe she is too hard on Victoria. She accuses them of taking her side. Darby argues that her mother abandoned her after her dad died and she buried herself in her books. Then, she’d try to buy her way back into Darby’s life with a stupid gift she bought. That statement makes Darby think of something so she rushes out. When she gets back to her mom’s house, she finds a bunch of negative reviews for her latest book. Victoria catches her snooping and gets mad because she thinks this is what she always wanted.

Then, they discuss the case and agree that there was no one named Michael Fletcher. Victoria says there was a student named Michael Fletcher Everwood at the other school though. They wonder if it was an admissions scam and if the coach was taking bribes. Darby says they need to get a copy of Michael Fletcher’s fake student file. Victoria wants to go speak to the coach. Darby tells her to take Kaia so there will be a witness. Victoria prepares her recording device and gets out of the car. Darby tries to find Doctor Cagney. She breaks into her office and tries to guess the password to her computer. She eventually gets the password and looks for the file.

Victoria tries to get the coach to admit to the scheme. He claims he just did a favor for a friend with Michael and his dad wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. Darby finds the file and notices that it has Doctor Cagney’s signature. She calls Kaia to tell her that Cagney is in on it. When Cagney arrives nearby, Kaia is urged to prevent her from going inside. The coach seems willing to help Victoria. Kaia tries to stop the doctor from going inside. The doctor goes inside and begins wondering what Victoria is doing there. Cagney dumps out her purse and finds the recording device that has been recording the coach. Victoria promises she won’t say a thing. Darby enters and says she will before showing them the files she found.

It mentions that Michael has a heart condition and can’t participate in extraneous activities. Cagney claims she was deceived by a bogus application. The coach doesn’t want to be thrown under the bus. Although Cagney doesn’t think they have any evidence, Darby pulls out a phone that has been sending evidence to Zane who comes in to arrest them. A flashback shows Kaia making the call and putting the phone in Cagney’s bag. Later, Darby learns that Kaia got a job at HuffPost because they want her to write about the bribery scheme. Victoria hopes they mention the Spencer sisters.

She tells her daughter that she doesn’t have to rush off. Darby admits she had fun, but she isn’t eager to stay. She drives away briefly only to return and ask for a beer.

 

Spencer Sisters Review

The opening episode of Spencer Sisters was mostly interesting enough to hold the viewer’s attention, but it isn’t for everyone. It is a bit formulaic and will likely feel like something most viewers have already watched before. Lea Thompson and Stacey Farber make a good team as Victoria and Darby Spencer.

The opening episode was a bit too fast in the beginning, but it settled down nicely once Darby arrived at her mother’s house. The story was fairly unique although it is hard to say it was revolutionary or groundbreaking. Spencer Sisters has the potential to be an enjoyable carefree show if viewers don’t have extremely high expectations.

Don’t expect too much and the series might be a good way to kill an hour. The first episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Spencer Sisters can be found on Reel Mockery here. Want to support our site? Find out how to do so here. Learn more about advertising opportunities on Reel Mockery at this link.