'Swingtown': Brownie Points

Back at home, Laurie was trying to take the next step in her relationship with her teacher. After last week's kiss in the library, her next move was to invite Mr. Stephens over to her house — just to talk, she reassured him. She seemed to know he'd show up, if only to tell her they shouldn't become a couple. But she hoped to persuade him otherwise, with a homemade gourmet dinner and with the argument that their age difference shouldn't matter (that essay assignment about the subjective nature of time was a real elbow in the ribs from Swingtown's writers) and that they wouldn't be teacher and student anymore once summer school was over in a couple weeks. Mr. Stephens didn't seem to be buying it, but he stayed anyway to watch Double Indemnity on TV. He might have been the only guy in Chicago who'd find Laurie's feminist critique of the movie a turn-on, but still, he left without even kissing her. (By the way, Laurie was right to complain that media portrayals of sexually assertive women too often depict them as black widows enticing men into dangerous situations. Exhibit A might be her own subplot; after all, in luring Mr. Stephens to her house, she revealed to her ex, Logan, who was still hanging around, that there might be some extracurricular activity going on between teacher and student. In a future episode, that secret could earn Mr. Stephens a beating from Logan or get him fired.)

One final note, about the music: The show is still going for the obvious instead of spreading the love. True, there were no Dylan and Stones tracks that were already old in 1976 this week, but the soundtrack did feature Norman Greenbaum's ''Spirit in the Sky'' again. Now, I love that song, but they've already used it twice in four weeks. Aside from Eric Clapton's ''Hello Old Friend,'' this week's soundtrack resorted too easily to well-worn chestnuts. Thumbs up on the kitsch/cheese front, however, for showing us a glimpse of B.J. watching the Saturday-morning kid-TV fave Land of the Lost. Gotta love the Sleestaks!

Questions: Will Janet's new openness last beyond her pot-brownie hangover? Will her newfound friendship with Trina (who'll be feeling especially lonely once Tom starts flying the Tokyo run) last as well? If it does, will Susan become the odd woman out? (Susan showed a hint of such alienation when Trina and Janet fell asleep in each other's arms.) Will Susan and Roger ever act on their mutual feelings? Is Rick really gay? What disaster will befall Mr. Stephens and Laurie? And how come we saw the gals in bed together but not the guys? The party is below in the comments section, and wherever the party is, that's the party I'm at.