Second Chance is episode 20 of Season 4 of Growing Pains.
Summary[]
Carol's college-aged boyfriend, Sandy - the butt of Mike and Ben's recent ridicule - takes her on a night on the town. This is despite Jason and Maggie saying no. During their date, Sandy and Carol stop at a bar.
Ben begins pestering Carol with the family's video camera, recording Carol's nervousness at Sandy being an apparent no-show for their date. But the fun and teasing quickly ends when Carol gets a phone call informing her that Sandy is in the hospital. He was involved in a car accident on his way home from his date with Carol. Carol goes to the hospital to visit Sandy, who appears to be just a little bruised; there, he lets on that drunk driving charges are pending against him, but he feels lucky that he has gotten a second chance. Carol tells her parents, who are upset. Jason wants to teach Carol a lesson, but Maggie is just glad Carol is alright, and they decide Carol has learned her lesson.
Unfortunately, the lesson about the dangers of drunk driving, is about to be hammered in a little harder, in a way no one was expecting. When Carol and her parents get home, Mike is waiting with some terrible news. He had just gotten a phone call informing him that Sandy had just died (of internal bleeding). Carol is furious at first, thinking that Mike is playing a cruel practical joke, but as he presses on with the details, it becomes clear that it isn't a joke, and Sandy really has died. Carol breaks down in grief questioning how it could've happened so unexpectedly, and what happened to Sandy's second chance, and her family consoles her.
The episode ends with a statement claiming that 29 (then 30) people were killed/injured in alcohol-related automobile accidents, in the U.S. during the airing of the episode.
Cast[]
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