The title of Secret Life’s August 17 story may have been “Lady Liberty” but we think a better title would have been Tom Bowman’s line when he walked in on Ben and Jack talking in his kitchen:

“Any Relationship Can Be Destroyed.”

… becauuuussseeee …

everyone on this show wants to ruin someone else’s relationship plans! Jack and Ben think Tom is talking about his ex-girlfriend, Tammy, who went off and got married without even telling him but Tom wasn’t really in love with Tammy, so who knows why he would want to break up her new marriage.

Ben is worried that his true love, Amy, will begin a real relationship with her baby’s daddy, Ricky, so he devises a plan to fake an engagement with Adrian, who is carrying his baby. Adrian used to be Ricky’s main squeeze but anyone can see that just the thought of her having Ben’s baby grosses him out. We’ve heard of star-crossed lovers but this is ridiculous! But wait – it gets worse

Ricky tells Adrian that he is exploring the possibility of a real relationship with Amy, but Adrian tells him it will never work. Amy’s sister, Ashley, who also has a thing for Ricky too, tells him it won’t work. Amy wants him to be completely monogamous and Ricky is, at best, a sex addict. As if to prove the point, he was about to go off to the therapist when he found out that Amy was going out to a club, so instead of going to his appointment, he goes off to have sex with a random girl. This all begs the question, why do Ashley and Adrian want him, knowing his track record?

Yet many teen fans are rooting for poor Amy to wind up with Ricky. Adrian is beside herself because she has screwed up her chances with him and Ben hits upon The Engagement Plan to end all engagement plans. He tells Adrian they can get engaged and then both Amy and Ricky will come to their senses.

What will happen? Well, we really don’t care. We’re more interested in who will have the cutest baby after Adrian has Ben’s kid. We also like the other characters on the show better than the main ones. Especially Madison. Madison (played by Renee Olstead) is our new favorite.

We started liking her over the past few episodes because of the repartee going on between Madison and Grace Bowman. Then Madison’s father, Morgan (played by William R. Moses) finds out she slept over her boyfriend’s house with her best friend Lauren. “Nothing happened.” Nothing really did, but they both lied about where they were going, so Morgan decides Madison can’t see Jack anymore. Madison stamps her foot and her father remonstrates her for the childish gesture. She then texts Lauren in front of him to tell her their friendship is over, and tells her father, he’s not her friend either. We’d like to see more of Madison on the show: a spoiled brat whose parents can’t agree on how to discipline her. Madison’s mother doesn’t want to get in the middle of it.

By contrast, Lauren’s mother (played by Dawnn Lewis) is the stronger parent, even though her real father, Dr. Fields (played by Ernie Hudson), is the therapist Ricky was going to see. Interesting sub-plots. Why waste these great actors? Oh and give Lauren’s mom a name, too.

Just don’t write in any pregnancies for Madison or Lauren. This show is already on pregnancy overkill with the Amy, Ben, Adrian, Ricky quadrangle.

Back to the title, Ben’s dad suggested to Lauren’s dad over cocktails that he could still get back with Lauren’s mom, even though she remarried. Maybe he was eavesdropping like Grace and Grant, and heard what Tom said about relationships.