#208 MR. MUSCLES                                  (Original air date:    11/13/97)
 

Written by:	William Schwartz
Directed by:	Vincent McEveety
Produced by:	Martha Williamson, Jon Andersen, E.F. Wallengren & R.J. Visciglia, Jr.

Guest Cast:

Mark Gerhart	Robert Hays
Ryan Gerhart	Zachery Ty Bryan
Louise Gerhart	Jan Hanks
Coach Belmont	Scott Valentine

 

The Greenes' Suburban breaks down while traveling through Wyoming. Fortunately, Mark Gerhard, an old high school friend of Russell's, owns the local automobile dealership. Mark insists the Greenes stay with them while their Suburban is in the shop. Josh witnesses Ryan (Mark's fifteen year old son), a promising football player at the local high school, using steroids. When Russell finds out, he feels obligated to tell Mark. Mark doesn't let on to Russell that he knew all along about Ryan's steroid use. Mark's more steamed about Ryan embarrassing him in front of the Greenes than the drug use itself. Privately, Ryan explains to his dad how the steroids have improved his performance and convinces his dad to let him continue using steroids on the sly until the playoffs. When Claire (on assignment as a substitute teacher) witnesses a fight in the boy's locker room, she sees pills scatter across the floor. Fearing that steroid use among the team is a bigger problem than just Ryan, she and Josh meet with Coach Barnard to bring this to his attention. Coach Barnard assures Claire that his players' health is his number one priority and that he'll get to the bottom of it. But as soon as they leave, he phones Mark Gerhard and warns him they've got trouble. Gerhard offers Russell the keys to a brand new car -- but Russell turns down the offer seeing through Gerhard's ploy to diffuse the issue. Gerhard takes offense at what he considers Russell's interference and points out that while Russell may have been big man on campus, the roles have been reversed. Ryan shows up at the school dance marathon with some of his buddies to make trouble. Having initially drawn the line at steroids, Ryan pops another pill which sends him over the edge. He starts slamming into other dancers when suddenly he goes into cardiac arrest. Ryan is rushed to the hospital and stabilized. With the sobering news that Ryan's steroid use could have taken his life and may have resulted in long term damage to his liver, Mark is forced to acknowledge his own part in his son's condition. Russell helps put things in perspective, advises Mark to learn from his mistake and re-dedicate himself to his family.