Eric's Panties
This episode was... particularly strange. For starters, Eric Forman seriously considered having an affair. Even more strange, Donna, Eric's girlfriend underreacts about it. For those
who aren't familiar with the show, Donna seems to feel she has a tenuous grasp on their relationship, despite the fact that, as Eric's father once pointed out, “She's too good for you.” As a result, Donna sometimes overreacts at the slightest thing that Eric does.
This episode, however, was an anomaly. You see, Eric has a new biology lab partner: Shelly. Shelly, in the vein of Eric's sister Laurie, is a tramp. Shelly has also, for some reason, taken a shine to Eric, doing all the classic things that tramps do when they want to get with a guy, including inviting Eric over to her house when her parents aren't home. Kelso suggests that this is the perfect situation to get Donna jealous, whereupon Donna and Shelly can fight over Eric, preferably in a vat of mud. Eric makes a big show around Donna about how much time he's spending with Shelly, but Donna is unfazed. Her rationale is that Shelly could have any man she wants, so it's laughable that she would choose Eric.
Eric is a little dismayed at his girlfriend's lack of confidence in his babe-magnet abilities. He even seriously (or half-seriously) considers actually cheating with Shelly, an action Kelso condones, since Donna's non-jealousy gives Eric license to cheat. Of course, Kelso is a moron.
Meanwhile, up above the basement domain of the kids, Red's (Eric's dad) visit to the doctor has revealed he has dangerously high cholesterol, prompting Kitty (Eric's mom, natch) to restrict his diet to the stereotypical sitcom healthy mush. Donna's parents, meanwhile, are taking part in some creepy sexual role-playing that no one wants to see.
Donna is still laughing over how cute it is that Eric thinks he has a chance with Shelly when she spots something in the back seat of Eric's car, the Del Vista Cruiser: a pair of panties. Leaping to the conclusion that Eric has, in fact, slept with Shelly (but, to be fair, not before investigating every other possibility, such as that Hyde or Kelso might have had a girl back there), Donna heads to the diner where Eric and Shelly are studying to confront them.
Just before Donna gets to the diner, Shelly does, in fact, kiss Eric, but Eric does the right thing as we knew he would and rebukes her. Just then, Donna bursts in, trailed by Fez and Kelso who have come to watch the carnage. Donna accuses Shelly of being a tramp, and Shelly storms out, but not before announcing that those are not her panties. At that moment, Donna's mom comes into the diner and announces that those are her panties, leading Fez and Kelso to drop to their knees and proclaim Eric their god. Such proclamations are premature, however, as the panties got there as a result of Donna's parents doing some of their role-playing in the back seat of the Del Vista Cruiser. Ew.
In the end, the kids are left to sanitize Eric's car, and Donna is forced to admit that Eric is, in fact, sexy and desirable, and everyone is happy. Except, presumably, the car.
