Jennifer (Tina Yothers) is growing up, and Steven (Micheal Gross) doesn’t know where he fits in her life anymore, though he’s determined to find a way in My Buddy. Written by Alan Uger, this episode debuted on 6 March, 1986.

Jennifer is moving into her teen years, she’s interested in a boy, and she’s going to Elyse (Meredith Baxter) for advice and conversation, something she used to do with Steven, and he’s feeling disconnected from his youngest daughter.

He takes things too far when he forces himself into a Sunflower Girls meeting and ends up making a fool of himself and embarrassing Jennifer. But he just wants to spend time with his little girl.

It’s a poignant little tale and is balanced with the funny b-story that sees Alex (Micheal J. Fox) trying to fight a traffic ticket that he got ‘because’ of Mallory (Justine Bateman) and his search for justice, which involves presenting his case at traffic court.

Fox is hilarious, Bateman baits him perfectly, and Gross and Yothers share some really tender moments as you watch father and daughter beginning to grow apart as she grows up. It’s easy to see both sides of the relationship, and the pain that Steven is feeling as Jennifer tries to discover who she is, who she’s growing up to be, and doesn’t have as much time for her buddy anymore.

Once in Love with Elyse is the penultimate episode of season four. It was written by Micheal J, Weithorn and first debuted on 1 May, 1986.

Elyse has been back at work in the office for almost a year now, working as an architect from home and there, and she’s been working on a project with Paul (Peter Scolari). They’ve just wrapped a huge project, and Paul reveals to his boss that he’s having problems…

He’s fallen in love with Elyse.

Elyse who is happily married and has four children.

Paul can’t keep it to himself, and he ends up sharing it with Steven, who understands Paul’s dilemma, but certainly can’t help him out with it, and eventually Elyse learns as well and has to let him down easy, and hopefully, the pair can find a way to still work together.

It’s a gentle and rather lovely episode, and despite being about Elyse, she doesn’t get as much screen time as she should, a lot of it is dedicated to guest star Scolari. But Baxter’s performance continues to make Elyse a believable character, and it was easy for everyone who watches to see why Paul had fallen in love with her.

We all had.

Paper Chase closes out the season, and Mallory’s graduation is getting closer. Or is it? She’s in danger of flunking history! Mallory is scared and worried, and as graduation day for the Class of ’86 draws closer, she may not be a part of it.

Written by Susan Borowitz, season four of Family Ties came to a close on 8 May, 1986.

Her parents are less than thrilled when Mallory reveals the state of her grades to them, and tell her that she has to buckle down and do her best, that they are disappointed that it has come to this, and that she’s going to have to work to get herself out of it.

Her teacher, Mrs. Hillman (Gracie Harrison), has told her she has four weeks to prepare for the final, which will be an oral exam. Knowing she has no choice, she buckles down, studies, pushers herself, and works to learn as much about her subject as she can.

Of course, in the end, she proves everyone’s faith in her, as she succeeds brilliantly at the oral exam, and graduates. There’s a message here about pushing yourself when you need to, believing in yourself, and taking responsibility for your actions.

And honestly, I’m glad that Bateman has a chance to shine in this episode, she’s wonderful, and it’s great to see her and Skippy (Marc Price) leaving high school behind.

Next week we dig into season five, and it seems baby Andrew has grown a lot between seasons.