At Least I'm Your Friend

**At Least I'm Your Friend** is the eighth episode of season one, and the 8th episode of the CFK 2 Go! series *Wild2ide*. It first premiered worldwide on June 3, 2023.

This episode was the third episode to be filmed in Season 1. Primary production took place between January 9-13, 2023.

## Overview

When Jane struggles to move further in a situationship, she chooses to sought out the truth. Meanwhile Alexa and Dean learn a valuable lesson all while Dean attempts to juggle a new reign of sudden fame.

## Episode Summary

### ***Opening scene***

The episode opens with Jane arriving home with her date named Todd. Jane gets lead to believe that he would finally ask her to be his girlfriend, however he baits her by asking to borrow her *Swap* console instead. Jane agrees to let him borrow it before leading him inside the house. Here they are greeted by Rachel, Dean and Alexa playing a competitive game together on her *Swap*. They share a small conversation with Todd before he agrees to leave. After he leaves, Jane begins to vent her frustrations about him to her friends. The scene suddenly shifts to a few flashbacks of Jane and Todd's previous dates; notably with all of them baiting her with silly questions just like what happened in the present. When the scene shifts back to the present, the four continue with their conversation. Dean ends up suggesting that Todd was seeing another woman. Jane ends up sleeping on this thought, but agrees to ask him out the next time she sees him. She also forbids her friends to play her *Swap* any longer, however Alexa decides to take it to her room and play it hand-held anyway.

### **Plot A: Jane's situationship**

Jane is shown getting ready in the living room before she answers the door to Todd. He ends up complimenting her by calling her "beautiful" and yet again baits her, before revealing his plans to have a picnic with her in the park.

At the park, Jane and Todd are seen having a romantic lunch before Jane interrupts by asking him to be her boyfriend. Todd immediately rejects her, revealing to her that he "had a lot on his plate". After this moment he ends up getting a phone call, and proceeds to leave while leaving his belongings with Jane. Jane, too curious for her nature, then begins to go through his backpack. Here she finds a bottle of lipstick, a purse, and several other feminine items. She proceeds to take a picture of his belongings on her phone and pockets the lipstick right before he returns. Upon his return Jane decides to end the date early and decides to rush right home.

Jane arrives home with Rachel playing *Creature Crosswalk* on her *Swap*. The two share a brief conversation about it before it turns to the topic of Todd; where Jane presents the lipstick she found. This leads her and Rachel to believe that the lipstick actually belonged to another woman that Todd was secretly seeing behind Jane's back. She also shows her the picture she took on her phone, and Rachel immediately recognises the purse as one that she owned. She presents it to Jane and they proceed to go through it, however it is soon revealed that the purse actually had Todd's "mystery woman" stuff in it and that Todd took Rachel's purse by mistake the previous night. Jane gets motivated to interrogate him.

Later that day, Jane meets up with Todd at the park again and begins to confront him about the feminine items in his belongings. The two end up sharing an argument, which almost leads to Jane storming off. Todd then stops her and reveals to her that the feminine items actually belonged to him. He then comes out as transgender, and reveals that he (now she) is in the process of transitioning to be a woman and that she was more comfortable with the name Tracey. She tells Jane her life story, and she reveals that her realisation is the reason why she never asked Jane to be her girlfriend. She proceeds to ask her finally anyway, however Jane agrees to have a think first.

Back at home, Rachel, Dean, Alexa and Blanket are seen playing *UNO* when Jane arrives home. She then tells her about her situation with Tracey, and the group share a sentimental conversation about sexuality and labels. Here, Alexa and Rachel reveal that they identify as bisexual. At this point Jane refuses to label herself with a sexuality. Dean then goes on to discuss Tracey's trans future with Jane; mentioning that Tracey would eventually start taking hormones and facing gender reassignment surgery. This becomes the catalyst to Jane's final decision on her future with Tracey.

The following day Jane and Tracey meet up with each other at the mall. Tracey, now wearing a bit of makeup, hands Jane some flowers and they begin to have a conversation. Jane finally confesses that she couldn't see a future with Tracey, despite being unlabelled. Tracey then reveals to her that she identified as pansexual. The two share a final sentimental moment and agree to remain friends.

### **Plot B: A hairy Dean**

Dean and Alexa are seen waiting on the street together, revealing that they were waiting for the others to show up. When it is finally revealed that they would be eating alone together, the pair agree to do so in order to improve their friendship. They end up eating at a fast-food place called *Julie's Burger Bar* and they share a brief interchange about it before finding a seat in there. Once they are seated, they end up over-hearing a group of young boys at a table nearby making fun of the gender identity of one of the staff members working there named Fern. The boys end up debating their gender identity and insulting them before they begin to walk away. As they are walking past their table, Alexa makes a comment expressing her remorse for the way Fern was being treated. Fern then tells her that they were used to it; quickly revealing that they identified as non-binary. They are also revealed to be Julianna's intersex child as she walks away.

A little while later Fern returns to Dean and Alexa's table with their order. They also suddenly recognise Dean from the "Chilli Burger Challenge" that he won a couple of years prior by presenting him with a picture. Alexa begins to make comments about his "sheepdog" hair while their conversation with Fern gets overheard, and suddenly a bunch of pre-teen boys begin to line up at their table to meet Dean. The first kid asks him for an autograph before making a comment about his haircut. Dean dismisses him before the second kid shows up, making similar comments. The kid also gets dismissed as he calls upon the next one. The third kid also comments about his haircut, leading Dean to punch his hamburger and storm out.

Alexa begins to comfort Dean however he appears agitated about his hair. He then agrees to go to the hair salon to get it "fixed". He walks out a little while later with a towel on his head and finally reveals his new haircut to Alexa. His hair appears very long, before he asks Alexa to cut it for him. She does, but ends up cutting a huge portion of it unevenly.

Later that day Dean and Alexa arrive back at *Julie's*, this time with him wearing a bonnet and leather jacket. He proceeds to walk in and is immediately swarmed by fanboys, which lead him to a single table for him to sign autographs. After signing a couple one kid approaches him with a water bottle, requesting to see him cry like he did when the original picture of him was taken. He ends up throwing water in Dean's eyes, causing him to immediately jump up and his bonnet to fall off; revealing his horrible haircut to the tweens. He storms out in frustration.

Fern confronts Dean outside and begins to have a heartfelt conversation with him. Fern cuts his hair and proceeds to talk to him about the world's view on self-image; reminding him to not worry about what others think. At this moment Alexa approaches the pair, and she shares a conversation with Dean when Fern leaves. The conversation ends with the pair agreeing to be friends for a "really long time". Alexa also tells him that he patched up his relationship with his fanboys, leading them to follow him everywhere. The pair agree to head for home despite the fanboys following them.

During the closing credits Dean is shown signing autographs for his fans in his living room. Eventually one fan gifts him one half of his chilli burger, where Dean gets immune from the taste (it is revealed earlier in the episode that his participation in the "Chilli Burger Challenge" from a few years back or COVID caused him to lose his sense of taste). The fan reminds him of the burger's scoville units, leading Dean to run away and spit his burger out. It is soon revealed that the fan was messing with him.

### ***Post credits scene***

Sierra McCormick addresses the subject matter of the episode to the show's audience, concluding with an endorsement to her self-founded charity (along with Chloë Grace Moretz) "The Rainbow Umbrella".

## Continuity

### **WildSide**

* Rachel and Jane references Dean's chronically single lifestyle from the original series, which was established in episodes such as Wild Meeting.
* *Julie's Burger Bar* from Our Big Wild Wedding (Prep) - Part 2 is referenced in this episode. It is revealed that Julianna opened another chain in Burbank.
	+ The B plot of this episode heavily references Dean winning "Julie's Chilli Burger Challenge" from the same episode, as long as his hair style at the time (referred to as his "sheepdog era").
* Dean references witnessing Julianna in labour from Wild Bill/s.
* At one point Dean gets Gary's hair-growth hairspray from Wild Hog applied to him from the hair salon.
* The shots of Dean wearing the hair bonnet to hide his haircut somewhat resembles the shots of him wearing a cap in Wild Child for the same reason. Both episodes notably include a scene of him sitting at a table with others.

## Title Reference

The title of this episode is a reference to a part of a conversation stated by the character Rachel Norman in the *WildSide* episode Wild Justice, after Justice lies about her relationship situation to her friends.

## Cast

### **Main Cast**

* Sierra Martin as Rachel Ford
* Zachary Martin as Dean Ford
* Jamie Martin as Jane Freebairn
* Marija Martin as Alexa Wilson
* Jill Martin as Blanket Thompson

### **Guest Cast**

* Lonnie Colbolt as Todd/Tracey
* Maya-Henrietta Sinclair as Fern

## Trivia

* In a unique way, the episode's title references both plots of this episode. For Plot A, it could reference Jane's agreement to stick by Tracey after she comes out as trans. For Plot B, it could reference Alexa's commitment to be friends with Dean despite the way he thinks about his haircut.
* This episode serves as a "special" episode with the intention to spread awareness on the LGBTQ+ community for pride month. It marks the first "special" episode of the sequel series. In fact, each letter of "LGBTQIA+" is represented in this episode:
	+ **L** - Jane suggests she may identify as **lesbian** if she agrees to date a newly transitioned Tracey.
	+ **G** - The concept of **gay** is mentioned in conversation.
	+ **B** - Alexa and Rachel both reveal themselves to be **bisexual**, despite Rachel being in a relationship with a man as well.
	+ **T** - Tracey is revealed to be a **transgender** female a bit after the halfway point of this episode and Fern is revealed to be non-binary.
	+ **Q** - Jane suggests she may identify as **queer**.
	+ **I** - Fern is revealed to be **intersex**.
	+ **A** - Fern is revealed to be **asexual**.
	+ **+** - Fern is revealed to be **pansexual**.
* Sierra McCormick hosts a PSA scene at the conclusion of the closing credits to spread awareness on her charity "The Rainbow Umbrella".
* Lonnie Colbolt (Todd/Tracey) and Maya-Henrietta Sinclair (Fern) identify as non-binary in real life.
* On May 28, 2023, six days prior to the premiere of this episode, Marija Stove married her longtime partner Allen Martin. She has since been credited as Marija Martin from this episode onwards.
	+ To celebrate the marriage while demonstrating the closelessness of the cast, every cast member was also credited with the surname "Martin" in the opening credits; similarly to what the cast of the show *Friends* did when Courtney Cox Arquette got married in the episode The One After Vegas.
* Rachel and Alexa come out as bisexual in this episode (although it was already established that Rachel previously kissed another girl in Our Big Wild Wedding (Prep)), while Jane currently considers herself to be unlabelled.
* Jane's *Swap* is an obvious parody of Nintendo's *Switch* console. The game *Creature Crosswalk* also serves as a parody of *Animal Crossing*.
	+ Many gameplay elements of *Animal Crossing* are also referenced by Rachel, such as getting assigned loans to pay of bridges, cutting down trees, banging rocks, fishing, and digging up fossils.
* It is revealed that Dean lost his sense of taste following his participation in "Julie's Chilli Burger Challenge" in Our Big Wild Wedding (Prep) - Part 2. Although he believes that is could've also been due to COVID-19, revealing that he contracted it some point prior to the beginning of the sequel series.
* Gary Fisherman now sells his hair-growth hairspray to hair salons under the name "Fisherman Enterprises".
* Dean and Alexa's friendship is officially fully established in this episode.
* Towards the end of the episode Dean signs someone's picture with the name "Zach". According to Dean, this was the name of his alter-ego. Not only was this an obvious nod to Dean's actor Zach Gordon, but this part was actually un-scripted. Zach actually signed the picture with "Zach" instead of "Dean" by accident, and the sequence following that was completely improvised.

## Goofs

* Due to this episode being aired out of production order (103), several noticeable continuity errors take place during this episode.
	+ The main plot of this episode revolves around Jane and her love interest Todd/Tracey, despite getting a boyfriend Charlie at the end of the previous episode.
	+ Dean and Alexa appear to not have an established close friendship yet, despite many significant events taking place between them earlier in the series.
	+ Dean mentions that he is unemployed, despite him getting a job in Jobs Come and Go.
* Fern (Julianna's offspring) is shown to be a teenager in this episode, despite the fact that they were born during the events of Wild Bill/s, which was set in November 2013. Going by this episode's airdate, Fern should be nine, which is nowhere near teenager age.
* Dean mentions that following the events of Our Big Wild Wedding (Prep) - Part 2, he lost his sense of taste, meaning that he could no longer taste things in his mouth. In Stick By Each Other No Matter What (Part 1) however, he appears to have a strong distaste towards Alexa's tuna fish flavoured *Moreos*.
* When Dean mentions Gary's hairspray, his lips don't appear to move.