Life Goes On

- Season 4

(1992)

A 40-something Becca looks back on the summer of '92 and Jesse's return from Arizona, but their reunion is bittersweet; Becca's avoiding Jesse to be with her new friends who don't know that Jesse is HIV-positive.

Jesse paints a nude painting of Becca, who decides to let it be shown in the Nevermore Bookstore, leading to a nice scandal and endless date proposals on her answering machine.

Corky and Amanda's "trial marriage" gets off to a rocky start--or at least a crunchy one like their macaroni-and-cheese dinner.

Paige fends off an attempted rape by Becca's poetry teacher. Their accounts differ and Becca believes her teacher at first, but later confronts him when his story contains some holes.

Becca and her friends find old World War II letters at the bookstore, which leads to Eric getting cozy with Becca and Jesse doing the same with Jill, a woman from an art gallery.

Amanda's angry parents vow to annul her marriage to Corky and regain custody of her. The newlyweds then run off to a motel, further angering the Swansons and their attorney. Elsewhere, Becca and Jesse are mad at each other.

When Becca goes on a weekend camping trip with Jesse and several classmates, she gets sprayed by a skunk and then knocks over a kerosene lantern. This starts a fire in the barn where they are all staying and forces them to fend for themselves.

Ray nominates Becca--against her wishes--for Homecoming Queen while Goodman nominates a cow in protest of beauty pageants in general. Also, Artie and Paige redo the restaurant with a bovine motif, which leads to a business partnership.

The holidays take on a whole new meaning for Corky, who's celebrating his first Christmas as a married man and now has the wishes of a wife and in-laws to consider.

Paige is delighted to find that she is carrying Michael's baby, and so is the whole family. Then Michael returns and decides that he doesn't want the baby.

Fear befalls Jesse and Becca when gay-bashing skinheads beat up Jesse outside the AIDS hospice leaving Becca with his blood on her hands after the beating.

In her quest to get Becca out of her shell, Goodman takes her and Jesse on a double date. Meanwhile, Grandma Teresa stays overnight at the Thatchers' after her husband breaks their furnace.

Shortly after his 18th birthday, a feverish Jesse collapses in extreme pain at school and is rushed to the hospital, where he dreams of Becca. When he wakes up, he finds that his AIDS-Related Complex has progressed to AIDS.

Jesse's insurance runs out and he gets transferred to County Hospital where he nearly dies of AIDS-related cardiac arrest; Becca discovers a haunting self-portrait of Jesse's that he doesn't remember painting.

A hospitalised Jesse is challenged to fight his disease by an irrepressible AIDS patient who refuses to passively accept his condition.

Becca and Jesse go to see the ocean when Jesse says that it's something that he wants to do, but jealousy of Ray, who's been seeing Becca lately, dampens the outing for him.

In the series finale, Becca, now about 27, tells her son a story about what happened after graduating from high school. Corky doesn't graduate, but says, "I'll be back" while Jesse leaves for Europe, breaking Becca's heart, but returns four years later.