The episode opens with the news that Max and Deborah's wedding is imminent. Naturally, everyone's coming up with ideas for wedding gifts. Phil takes The Saddle Club out to one of Pine Hollow's barns, where he's found an old carriage. He wants to fix it up so that the bride and groom can have a horse-drawn carriage ride on the way to the church. The girls think this is a wonderful idea. Even Stevie is uncharacteristically nice towards Phil, telling him that Teddy should be the one to pull the carriage. Clearly, love is in the air! Carole and Lisa immediately pick on this, and, once Phil is gone, interrogate Stevie. Stevie says that she was just being nice, but Lisa says it's because she's 'in luurve.' Stevie admits this is true, and that she's going to ask Phil out. (Girl, you are ELEVEN. This is not love, this is a crush at best!)
Back at the stables, Stevie tries to psych herself up into asking Phil out. She manages to work up the courage, but Veronica interrupts to ask Phil for some riding advice, and drags Phil away before Stevie can ask. Stevie looks all sad and mopey.
Lisa and Carole are cleaning up the carriage, which is now a level of pristine that would be completely impossible for a pair of eleven-year-olds to actually achieve. Phil visits, and fails to hide his disappointment that Stevie isn't with them. Lisa and Carole sense that he may need some help in the romance department, and proceed to very pointedly talk about Max and Deborah's first date, and how suuuper romantic it was that Max gave her chocolates and a love letter, and how much women like it when a man shows them how he feels. Phil finally gets the hint.
Phil puts some chocolates and a card in Stevie's cubby. (The card says: 'Will you go on a date with me? Yours, Phil. Note that absence of an addressee. This will become an important detail ... right now!) Stevie and Veronica walk into the room in the middle of an argument, and Phil watches as Stevie reaches into her cubby. Only ... there's nothing there. Too late, Phil realises that he put the card in the wrong locker. Veronica then finds the card in her own cubby, and is delighted that all her unreciprocated flirting has finally paid off. She joyfully accepts Phil's offer of a date. Before Phil can explain what happened, a furious Stevie storms off.
Carole and Lisa are grooming Starlight together, while Lisa excitedly wonders how Phil asked Stevie out. When Stevie appears, they ask her to dish, but Stevie glumly tells them what happened. Carole says that she never would've encouraged Stevie to ask Phil out if they knew he liked Veronica, and Stevie unconvincingly says it doesn't matter, because she never liked Phil anyway.
Later, the students are practising jumps together in the riding ring. (Take note: the kids are ring by themselves, with no adult supervision in sight.) Carole and Stevie see Lisa add an extra pole to a jump, and ask what she's doing. Lisa tells them that she thinks the best present she could give Max and Deborah would be winning first place at the upcoming Oakridge Horse Show.
(Oh, Lisa. Deborah's terrified of horses, and I'm sure Max would be happy with a blender. Just get them something off their registry! That said, wanting to give a present that's really all about you is the kind of non-malicious selfishness an eleven-year-old would absolutely engage in. I know this because I absolutely pulled the same behaviour when I was that age, so points for realism!)
Anyway! Carole reminds Lisa that the jumps at Oakridge are too high for her, but Lisa's convinced that she's ready. Carole and Stevie exchange an uneasy look.
We're almost ten minutes in to Max and Deborah's wedding extravaganza, and we finally get to see them! Mrs. Reg, Max, and Deborah are in the office together, where Mrs. Reg is helping go through their pre-wedding checklist. Everything's being ticked off, so it seems everything's coming together nicely. Deborah says that she wants her wedding to be perfect, and Max tells her that nothing's going to go wrong. (Siri, what is foreshadowing?)
Out in the ring, Carole is still trying to talk Lisa out of attempting the jump. Even Stevie tells her it's too big of a risk - which is The Saddle Club's equivalent of the robot from Lost in Space waving his arms and yelling 'DANGER WILL ROBINSON!' Veronica argues that they should let Lisa try the jump. (I assume she is saying this purely for the love of shit-stirring, which I have to respect.) Lisa pouts, and says she'll never improve if she doesn't practise.
Max and Deborah walk out to the ring, all giddy and excited. Lisa and Prancer canter towards the jump, the music turns all dramatic and serious, and at the last moment Prancer shies away from the jump, flinging Lisa over it. She hits the ground and rolls .. and rolls ... and rolls. (Seriously, the kids spends like ten minutes rolling.)
Everyone runs over to her, but Lisa isn't responding. Deborah calls an ambulance as the kids beg her to wake up.
We then cut to a hospital, where a dramatic voiceover from Mrs. Reg reveals that Lisa has a concussion. She tells the kids it's 'a bit like a computer going into sleep mode,' which genuinely made me cackle. (Yes, Mrs. Reg. Lisa having a potential brain injury is totally the same as a Windows going into SLEEP MODE.) Mrs. Reg explains that they don't know when Lisa's going to wake up.
Max wonders aloud why Lisa attempted a jump that was too high. (Because she wasn't being supervised by a qualified instructor, MAX!) Stevie and Carole tearfully admit it's because she wanted to win at Oakridge for their wedding present. Max looks devastated. (I have to assume that it's finally hit him that Mrs. Atwood is going to sue him into oblivion.)
Back at Pine Hollow, Veronica admits to Kristi that she shouldn't have egged Lisa into trying the jump, and that she knew it was too high for her.
The sun is setting at the hospital, and Mrs. Reg tells Stevie and Carole that Lisa's parents will be back later that evening. (I do find it strange that we don't see Mrs. or Mr. Atwood at all this episode, given that their daughter is, you know, on the brink of death.) Carole says she feels useless, and Stevie despairs that they can't do anything to help. Mrs. Reg gives one of her inspirational speeches. She them that Lisa can still hear them, and says 'You need to keep her in the land of the living. Just remind her of all the things she's missing, and you can bring her back.'
(Yikes, that's a lot of pressure to put on two children! Sorry to be grim, but, if Lisa did die, Stevie and Carole would feel 100% responsible for not keeping her alive. I'm usually on board with Mrs. Reg's inspirational speeches, but this one's a miss for me.)
The next day, Ashley is with Comanche in his stall. She tells him that nobody's going to be riding him today. (So no lessons are running at all? Is Lisa being in hospital a 'flags at half mast' situation?) Ashley decides that she'll teach Comanche some tricks. Comanche begins stealing his body brush from the stable door.
Carole and Stevie are decking Lisa's hospital room out with horsey-themed decorations, which is quite sweet. They then hold a Saddle Club meeting with Lisa, which leads into a mini clip show - we flashback to episode one, when Mrs. Atwood almost hit Stevie and Carole with her car. Ah, good times! The girls reminisce about how Lisa saved Stevie from Veronica's pager prank, and how they knew that was the moment they knew they'd be best friends. Phil interrupts the moment to bring Lisa's flowers. He then tries to explain to Stevie what happened with Veronica, but she snaps at him. (I'm with Stevie on this one. Time and place, mate. Time and place.)
Red overhears Ashley talking to Comanche, and stops by to chat with them. She explains that she's taught Comanche a trick, and he proceeds to steal Red's chocolate bar out of his hands. Red, who once again has the patience of a saint when it comes to Melanie and Ashley's shenanigans, laughs it off. He tells Ashley to be careful about what she leaves within Comanche's reach.
Deborah asks Max if Lisa's improved. He tells her that she's got no signs of brain damage, and her vitals are good. She's just unconscious. He can't believe this has happened, saying, 'I'm always in the ring with the kids, always.' (Max, that is demonstrably false. Who are you lying for?) They reflect on what an important role Lisa has played in their lives. Max says The Saddle Club are an integral part of Pine Hollow, and Deborah admits she never would've tried riding without Lisa's support.
Red brings Lisa a bouquet of flowers. He talks about how much she helped him, and how she stood up for him after the fire at Pine Hollow. He tells her that she's left a big hole at the stables, and asks her to come back.
Deborah asks Ashley to give Mrs. Reg her wedding rings. She leaves them on Comanche's stall door. (Gee, I wonder what's going to happen ...) Ashley briefly turns her back, and when she looks back, the wedding ring box is gone!
Veronica visits Lisa in the hospital, and fusses over her in her own Veronica way. She wants to get Lisa moved to a private room, but these bumpkin country doctors are sooo uncooperative. She apologises for encouraging Lisa to try the jump. She admits that she did like like the nice things that Lisa wrote about her in her diary, and that she wanted to tell her. 'But a di Angelo always has to be careful, because people try to get at us. Daddy says so all the time,' Veronica explains. Excuse me, what? Mr. di Angelo is always portrayed as a generic rich guy, but this sounds downright sinister. Are we to assume that the di Angelos were running a criminal empire? Veronica quietly tells Lisa that maybe they'll be friends once she's better.
Back at Pine Hollow, Max and Deborah have called off the wedding. Max explains that they can't go on their honeymoon cruise when they don't know if Lisa's going to make it. (I do agree with him here.) Mrs. Reg, Max, and Deborah all look gloomy and sad.
We cut to Lisa in the hospital, still unconscious. Dun dun dun ...
Overall, I liked this episode, even though I think Lisa's actions were pretty out of character. Let's be real, if anyone at Pine Hollow was going to injure themselves while recklessly attempting a dangerously high jump, it should've been Stevie. I think one of the reasons I enjoyed it was the multiple storylines - there was enough going on to keep you interested. I also quite liked the little moments of vulnerability we got from Veronica. They're rare, but there's just enough of them to give the audience the sense that, underneath all the cattiness and bravado, she's actually quite an unhappy kid. All in all, a solid episode. (I could've done without the flashback montage, though.)
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