Here we go everyone. The chapter you've been waiting for. Tyler will tell them the truth about his origin, relations with Laurie, his connection to the main characters, and why everything that happened to Laurie is all connected. ENJOY!
The police have once again finished taking over the Forman garage. Two Agents are assigned to guard both sides of the house. The Detectives and other cops have finished processing the crime scene. Mike's body and car are taken away.
Betsy is watching over Nancy, Jeff, and Veronica in Nancy's bedroom. They're not taking a chance at separating their kids now. Betsy listens to everything being said down stairs from the bedroom door.
Downstairs in the living room, Kitty has just finished listening to the tape recorded message X left behind. She is horrified and upset with Tyler.
The entire family and gang (Red, Kitty, Eric, Donna, Hyde, Kelso, Fez, Jackie, Bob and even Leo) all turn to Tyler. They are not happy with him. They all feel betrayed. They allowed this mysterious guy into their lives with the hope of reconnecting with their loss of Laurie. But his presence and his secret, whatever it is, has now proven fatal for three people already and appears to be a threat to them all.
RED: Who are you really? What have you not told us?
TYLER: It's nothing that would make this guy wanna kill anyone.
RED: That's no longer your place to say. Three people are dead. None of this happened until you showed up. Are you working with this man?
TYLER: NO! Never. I have good intentions on being here. I admit that I may have confronted Millerton and Riley, but I never did more than threaten them. I may have physically assaulted them. But I did not kill them nor am I responsible for this.
HYDE: I asked you about this the other day. This guy, like you, said he has the same goal.
Everyone is shocked by this.
RED: WHAT GOAL?! You do know something.
TYLER: All I know is that this guy and I have apparently have a history with Laurie. And the things you guys and everyone else in her life have done to her is our reasons for being here. But I have different intentions.
RED: What is your intentions.
TYLER: To make you see what you've done to her. To make you understand why Laurie became who she became. Because she died never making peace with those who she loved. That is why I came here to Point Point. To finish the goal she never had the chance to succeed in doing. She wanted you to know that she loved you all and she forgives you all for what happened.
Everyone is confused by this.
RED: What did we supposedly do to her?
TYLER: What you guys did is the reason why she never came back. And why you never knew about me. She didn't tell you about me for a reason. You don't even know who I am because of it.
RED: Who the hell are you? What is your connection to Laurie?
Tyler sighs. The moment of truth. He cannot keep it a secret…
TYLER: Remember when I said that my mother and Laurie were friends? How my mother died giving to me and that Laurie took me in afterwards?
Everyone nods. They remember his origin story.
TYLER: Well. The thing is. It's both a lie and the truth. Laurie and my mother were not friends. My mother didn't die giving birth to me. Laurie didn't take me in as a result. That is because…Laurie is my mother.
Everyone is confused. Red is not buying it.
RED: Why should we believe you? You've lied to us already. How do we know you're telling the truth?
Tyler gets up.
TYLER: There is only one way I can prove it to you.
Tyler approaches Red and Kitty. With both hands, he touches their faces. One hand per face. Then he moves his hands away from them and slowly touches his own...and there it is. The PROOF. Tyler is a FORMAN! He has Laurie's features with some of Red, Eric, and Kitty. It's now clear as day...He's one of their own.
Everyone is emotional. They cannot believe the twist of Tyler's secret. Tyler is Laurie Forman's son and Laurie is Tyler's birth mother. But why did he keep this a secret?
RED: Dear Lord. It's true. You're…
TYLER: That's right, Grandpa. I'm your Grandson.
RED: Why didn't you tell us this when we first met you? Why didn't she say anything to us?
TYLER: She tried to. Think about…
Red thinks and suddenly remembers.
RED: The phone call in 1987.
TYLER: That's right. When she confessed to sleeping with the man you guys hate, it resulted in the very thing she wanted to share with you. The reason she wanted to come home. She was trying to tell you that you had a grandchild. But you didn't listen.
Red is on the verge of breaking down. He has come to realize that the last time he spoke to his daughter, which ended in a heartbreaking argument, she was trying to tell him about his grandchild. Which she never got to tell him because of his anger over who he just learn that she had slept with.
TYLER: You guys raised her and Eric to believe that premarital sex and that having a child out of wedlock was wrong. She was afraid to tell you when she first found out that she was pregnant with me. She was afraid that you would disown her and her baby. So after my father, the man you hate…
Everyone's eyes are wide open upon hearing this. They know exactly who he's talking about. Betsy heard this upstairs. She's horrified by learning who Tyler's father is. She knows his father as well. She thinks back when she kissed Tyler in the park. Her stomach turns and she begins to feel sick.
TYLER: After he rejected her, she felt that she had nobody to go to. Because she was afraid you wouldn't accept her child born out of wedlock. Especially should you had learned who my father was. So she ran away to Canada. Where she debated on rather or not to have me. When I said that my mother and Laurie were at odds with each other...claiming Mom wanted to live a good life and that Laurie wanted to continue the carefree life...I was talking about the emotions that she was going through during her pregnancy. And when I told you how my mother died giving birth to me and Laurie took me in, I was talking about the Laurie you knew and the Laurie I knew. When Laurie saw me for the first time upon giving birth to me...she decided from then on that she'd be a devoted mother...so the mother who died giving birth to me was the Laurie you knew. The Laurie who was an easy-cheap, lying, stealing, partying whore. She died the day I was born and your Laurie ceased to exist. Because the Laurie who was my mother was nothing like the girl you knew. So what I told you was true...from a cert…
ERIC: (finishing his sentence)...certain point of view.
The two point at each other. Tyler is giving kudos to Eric for recognizing the Star Wars reference and Eric is giving Tyler kudos for using Star Wars in this particular ironic situation.
RED: Okay. So you're my Grandson. But what does all of this have to do with what you and this killer is up to? What did we supposedly do to hurt Laurie so bad that it resulted in this guy murdering people?
TYLER: You really don't know what you've done?
Everyone shakes their head. They really don't know what they've done.
TYLER: It was 1971. Laurie...mom...was a thirteen year old virgin. She was innocent and naive, much like Nancy, my sister. As you all know...it was Millerton who stole her innocence. But Kitty and Eric...you ignited the slandering.
KITTY: I did what?
ERIC: (that dumb) Wait, what?
TYLER: Instead of accepting what Laurie did was something every girl does eventually, yes, even thirteen year old, you made her feel like trash. You called her a whore.
KITTY: She had sex with her teacher. She knew better…
TYLER: But it was mistake. We all make them. Not only that...but she was vulnerable. She was afraid. She was about to fail a very important class. She was being threatened with having to repeat the course the next year. She was afraid of disappointing you and Red. She didn't know what to do. It was Millerton who took advantage of her. He put her in that position. Not her. She didn't realize what was happening until after it happened.
KITTY: She could said "no" though. She even admitted that it felt good. That she enjoyed it.
TYLER: She was thirteen years old. She never had a boyfriend. She was lonely. Millerton was giving her feelings she'd never felt before. She was doing what every single lonely teenager girl does when someone claims they love her. She fell for what she thought was the feelings of love. He made her trust him. He made her believe he loved her and that she was special. But he only used her for sex. And you didn't see it. All you saw was your daughter...YOUR DAUGHTER...sleeping with an older man. And you couldn't accept it. You couldn't accept that your daughter lost her virginity to an older man and for the reason it happened. So instead of seeing her as a victim that she was who fell for the oldest trick in the book, you made yourself believe that she was a whore who didn't care for the values that you taught her. Because no daughter of yours could be a victim of something you believe that you or her would have prevented from happening. It was a flaw and a mistake that many people make. And you just didn't want to accept that she made the mistake.
Kitty breaks down. She knows what he's saying is the truth.
KITTY: You're right. I didn't want to believe that my own daughter was a victim. My daughter does not make mistakes. My family does not make mistakes. I taught Laurie to not fall for such tricks. She should have been strong enough. It's not who we are.
TYLER: But it is who WE are. Because we are human beings. We all make mistakes. Even ones we're raised all of our lives not to make. That's what makes us human. She was human just like you and the rest of us.
RED: But we don't make those kind of mistakes.
TYLER: Oh really?
Tyler stands up and looks at everyone.
TYLER: You think out of all the mistakes that were made by this entire family...Laurie was the one who made the worst one of all? Shall I tell you some mistakes you've made?
Everyone just looks at him. It's a challenge. A challenge accepted.
TYLER: Red, do you love your wife?
RED: Yes, of course. I love Kitty more than I can ever explain. I would die without Kitty.
Kitty smiles.
TYLER: Remember what happened in Vietnam?
Red is horrified. Everyone turns to Red. Shocked. They know where Tyler is going with this.
RED: I told Kitty.
KITTY: He did. I've forgiven him...just like…
TYLER:..like how he's forgiven you?
Everyone's even more shocked now. Kitty Forman is the image of a faithful wife, loving mother, and devoted Christian. Basically the ideal woman of their times. Yet...she's made the mistake that nobody ever thought she'd make.
KITTY: He was overseas. I was afraid he would die.
RED: I was scared, too. That's why it happened.
TYLER: I understand that. But you two were married, mature, adults. Now shall we compared that mistake to the mistake of an innocent, naive, lonely vulnerable thirteen year old girl who is being told that if she has sex with her teacher not only will she get the passing grade she needs but that she will be given the love she so desired for like a good girl deserves? Which mistake do you think is worst?
Red and Kitty begin to cry. They realize that they've made an even bigger mistake than their daughter.
TYLER: Laurie was vulnerable. Even when she pretended to be tough on Eric or mature around you. Truthfully she was extremely weak inside. She was falling apart. She never had the chance to understand what true love was. Her mistake costed her that. But it was a mistake that could have stopped continuing...if you had only understood it and was there to support her. Perhaps, Grandma, your mistake was the reason you were mad at Laurie for her mistake. Because she made a mistake similar to yours and you just couldn't accept your little girl was just like her mother?
Kitty is shocked by that comment. It is harsh...but most likely true. Tyler looks at everyone.
TYLER: Oh, the rest of you. Everyone knows your mistakes. Kelso constantly cheating on Jackie. Jackie hurting others because she was rich and popular. Hyde for repaying the Forman's by disobeying their wishes when they took you in. Eric, you called your sister a whore and the devil, yet you're not very different from her. You kept forcing Donna to have sex several times when she didn't want it.
DONNA: That is true.
ERIC: I'm a guy. I like sex!
TYLER: So do girls and look how you treated Laurie over it. And Eric...it was you who exposed her secret. You guys called her a whore when she only slept with one person..without understanding how and why it happened.
ERIC: But she did continue sleeping around like a whore.
TYLER: Because you guys made her feel like she was one. That single moment you first called her a whore just for having sex for the first time, her fate was sealed. She never got the chance to find the same love to you and Donna found in each other or the love that Red and Kitty have. All she knew how to feel loved was by the way she first got it. Being used for sex. You weren't there to support her. All you did was make her feel like trash. So much so that she began to believe it. And that is why she continued sleeping around. Not to be a whore because she wanted to be one...because everyone including her own family made her believe that's all she was. All the men she slept with. She had hoped to find love. But all she did was find Millerton each time she slept with another. Millerton used her, screwed her for his own pleasure, and made her feel that was all she was worth. And every man who came after him did the same.
They all begin to feel bad now. Tyler has made them see something they never saw.
TYLER: You see...you all screwed around, stolen from each other, lied to each other, cheated on each other, and done things that most would find to be very unforgivable. But you didn't condemn each other. It was her you condemned. All of your frustrations with all the screwing, cheating, lying, and stealing went onto her. She was your punching bag for doing everything you all did. You did it all. And you had the balls to say she was the bad one. When you've done even worst. She didn't run away to party, screw around, and be disrespectful to her own family by avoiding them in favor of the other. It was because you pushed her away. She had one lover...you called her a whore...and you made her feel like that was all she ever was. So it was all she ever knew. It wasn't until I was born that she changed forever.
Kitty is sobbing. She's finally seeing her part in all of this.
TYLER: Had you just supported her. Been there for her when Millerton raped her, perhaps you could have been there to see her get married and got the chance to be there for the birth of your first grandchild. Her child. But you didn't support her when she needed you the most and for that...you lost the chance to experience the greatest moments in her life. And she never got the chance to marry a guy who would have given her everything. And she gave her birth to me alone.
Betsy has been listening to all of this upstairs. She is sobbing. She never met Laurie but she knew enough. And now she's learning a horrible truth about her family's treatment of her. It breaks her heart to hear all of this.
Downstairs Tyler watches as everyone processes everything. It's heartbreaking and disturbing to see. They're all full of guilt. They've all done some of the most horrible things we can ever think of yet they made Laurie out to be a villain when really...Laurie was the victim and it as they: Red, Kitty, Eric, Donna, Hyde, Kelso, Jackie, Fez, and Bob who are the villains. That 70s Show can never be seen the same ever again with this knowledge.
KITTY: (looking up) I'm so sorry, Laurie. I am sorry I was never there for you when you needed me. Can you ever forgive me.
Tyler approaches his Grandmother. He holds her hands and looks her in the eyes.
TYLER: She already has. That is why I'm here. I didn't come here on my own accord. It was her last wish. I came here because she asked me to. She knew that she was going to die without having this chance. So I'm here to fulfill her final wish. The wish she wanted the most in her life.
KITTY: She sent you here?
TYLER: Yes. Because she wanted you to meet your Grandchildren. She didn't think you'd ever meet Nancy. And I was afraid of how you'd react to me. So I made a mistake myself when I saved Nancy.
Everyone is confused.
RED: Saving Nancy wasn't a mistake. You did the right thing.
TYLER: I had ulterior motives for doing so. Like I said...this family makes horrible mistakes. And I made one when I brought her to you. You see...because Mom and I knew you were against having children out of wedlock, we were afraid of how you'd react to me...so I used Nancy, who you obviously know was born out of wedlock. And your response was positive. You love her despite how she was brought into this world. So now I was waiting for the right moment to finally tell you the truth. But you hurt my mother so badly..that I almost didn't want to even though it was her wish. But now you know.
Everyone closes their eyes as they reflect everything that's been said. Red is the first to speak.
RED: You're a good man, Tyler For..or...uh..what is your…
TYLER: Forman. I refuse to take my father's name…(turns to the gang)...no offense to those who may know people who share my paternal name.
The gang shrugs. No offense. They don't blame him. Especially one of them who knows his father very well.
TYLER: But now...despite how we started this conversation with anger...we must let our anger on each other go so that we come together to face another crisis...our lives. Whoever this guy is, he is threatening us all. Like me, he is putting blame on everyone for Laurie's tragic life. But unlike me, he's taking the punishment to another level. I have found my family after spending eighteen years of my life without them...I will not let him take them away from now. I lost my mother...I will not lose you, too. So we must stick together and solve the mystery behind this man before we're all slaughtered by him.
Everyone nods in agreement.
RED: I'm with you.
KITTY: So am I.
Eric and Donna hold hands as Eric speaks for them both.
ERIC: So are we.
Kelso, Hyde, Jackie, and Fez all put there arms around each other like a tribe.
HYDE: Count us in as well.
Leo and Bob, who never got along in the show, are seen with their arms around each other like buddies.
BOB: Us as well.
BETSY: I AM WITH YOU, TOO, TYLER!
Everyone looks up at Betsy. She and Tyler stare into each other's eyes. She smiles at him. Despite the possible connection that we're beginning to speculate between them, Betsy still shows signs of having romantic feelings for him. Tyler finally can no longer hold back. He gives her the same smile...basically admitting through his facial expression his love for her, too.
Everyone is slightly disturbed by their interaction. Although we don't know who Tyler's father yet, they do. And it's because of this, they are disturbed by this.
KELSO: Um...Tyler...don't forget who you are.
TYLER: Right.
They all come in for a group hug. Betsy joins. This is not a group of neighbors (Bob), high school friends (gang), or former boss/co-worker (Leo and Hyde)...this is a family. And they are prepared to protect each other and fight together in the ensuing war with X who alone is threatening to destroy this family.
Speaking of X...we pan away from the family and over to the window by the living room bar. Outside we find that X was there the entire time. He saw and heard the whole thing. He laughs over it. Things are exactly how he wants them to be.
X: Finally. Let the games begin…
He hears the Agent, who is unaware of X's presence, walking towards his direction. He quietly and calmly walks away.