| The Prying Game | |
| Season 7, episode 10 | |
 | |
| Air date | November 16, 1993 |
| Writer(s) | Ellen Guylas |
| Director | John Tracy |
| Previous | The Day of the Rhino |
| Next | The Bicycle Thief |
The Prying Game is episode ten of season seven of Full House. It originally aired on November 16, 1993.
Joey, Nicky, and Alex are playing with a toy bowling set in the living room. Unfortunately, when they roll the ball, it misses the pins completely, so they make their own "strike" by running over and knocking down the pins themselves.
Synopsis
Steve Hale pays a visit to the house, and gives Stephanie a note for D.J., which she had accidentally read when confronted by her sister, who was doing her hair upstairs in her room. As usual, Stephanie plays innocent, and successfully makes a break for it. Her former roommate tries to stop her, but, of course, it's too late (see Quotes).
Meanwhile, Danny and Joey talk Jesse into making an infomercial for his new hair care accessory, and the infomercial turns out to be a disaster, especially when they discover that someone else invented the item first.
While at a local public library, Stephanie sees an attractive blonde-haired girl giving Steve a peck on the cheek. Stephanie does not want to say anything to D.J. until she is sure that he is seeing another girl. That is why Stephanie and Kimmy break into Steve's apartment, so they can investigate. D.J. and Steve show up, and it turns out that the girl who kissed Steve was his cousin, Edie, proving that Steve is not seeing someone else. Noticing the odor from Kimmy's boot, D.J. goes ballistic and tells a stunned Stephanie to stay out of her life. She feels that by breaking into Steve's apartment, Stephanie has reached a new low, even though Stephanie did point out that she was trying to help her sister. Realizing she has been shown the door, Stephanie leaves and goes home, not even looking back at her former roommate (as the studio audience groans).
Later, when D.J. arrives home, Stephanie tries to talk to her and even tries to offer a bowl of fresh buttery popcorn as a truce on their way up to her room, but she's in anything but a good mood (see Quotes). Seeing how upset D.J. still is, and taking her former roommate's advice of getting out of her life, Stephanie puts the popcorn bowl down and warns D.J. that her words may come back to haunt her and even bite her (see Quotes), before storming out and slamming the door behind her. D.J., who is already beginning to feel guilty about what she said to Stephanie at Steve's and even guiltier about what she just said a short time ago, gets Stephanie to come back into the room and closes the door behind her, and they have a calmer-heads prevailing heart-to-heart (as the inspirational music plays). She understands that Stephanie was looking out for her because she loves her and is her sister, and explains that she does not want her out of her life; she just wants her to stay out of her private life, just like when they were roommates. What that means is that Stephanie is to never disrespect D.J.'s privacy again. D.J. even asks her former roommate if she was sure that Steve was seeing someone else, why she did not speak up about it in the first place, to which Stephanie says that she did not want D.J. to go through that pain if she was not sure, because it put her in a very tough spot and she did not know what to do.
Stephanie reminds D.J. that whatever affects her affects Stephanie just as much. D.J. says if she has a problem, she can talk to her, Danny, Joey, Jesse, Becky, or even Comet; basically anyone but Kimmy. Stephanie apologizes for what she did and promises not to snoop again, D.J. forgives her, and they hug each other (just as the music stops). What neither of them knows is that Michelle is outside, listening in on their chat, but only Stephanie notices this, and former roommate thinks that current roommate may be picking up these habits from Stephanie. When Michelle sees the popcorn, she barges into the room, and all three of them dig into the bowl (as the audience applauds and the EP credits appear).
Quotes
[D.J. is in her room drying her hair, as Stephanie walks in.]
Stephanie: Hey Deej. Steve was just here. He left you a note.
D.J.: Aw, I love it when he writes me little private notes. It's so romantic.
Stephanie: Not this one. He's cutting your date short tonight. He has to study.
D.J.: You read my note?
Stephanie: Hey, is it my fault when you hold it up to the light you can see everything, "Sugar Lips"?
D.J.: You little snoop, you're toast!
Stephanie: Love to stay and chat, but...gotta move. [She runs out of the room, and D.J. runs after her while still holding the hair-dryer, but forgets it's still plugged in, as the cord pulls her back onto her bed.]
Kimmy: Ow, these boots are killing me. [She takes one boot off.]
Stephanie: [holds her nose] Oh. [Kimmy sighs in relief, while Stephanie waves her hand to clear the stench of Kimmy's foot; D.J. and Steve stop kissing and notice the odor.]
D.J.: Steve, what’s that smell?
Steve: I have no idea. Well, my goldfish died last week, but we flushed him.
[His girlfriend starts sniffing the room and arrives at Stephanie and Kimmy's hiding place. They crawl away, and Stephanie finds herself in front of Steve.
Stephanie: Steve... What are you doing here?
D.J.: What are you guys doing here?
Stephanie: Well, it's kind of a long story and I don't really want to come through with the details.
Kimmy: Right. No harm. No foul. Glad I could be of help, Steph.
Stephanie: Thank you, Kimmy.
[They try to make their escape, but...]
D.J.: Hold it! Hold it! You guys aren't going anywhere. I want to know what you're doing here!
Stephanie: Well, I kind of got the wrong idea when I saw Steve and Edie at the library.
Steve: Wait. Wait. You think I could cheat on D.J.?
D.J.: I can't believe you violated our privacy! You know, you're lucky Steve doesn't call the cops.
Steve: Hey, come on, Deej. Don't overreact. It's not like they stole anything.
Kimmy: All right – one bag of M&M's. But I was going to pay you back. It was all Nancy Drew's [motioning to Stephanie] idea [see Trivia]. She begged me.
[Stephanie has just made a bowl of popcorn as a truce with D.J., offers it to her when she comes home, and tries to talk to her as they head up to her room.]
Stephanie: You're ignoring me, right?
D.J.: Right!
Stephanie: Hey, you talked to me! We're making progress here.
D.J.: You know, there are plenty of other people living in this house. Try torturing them for a change.
Stephanie: I wasn't trying to torture you. It was just an unfortunate side effect.
D.J.: Steph, you can't joke your way out of this!
Stephanie: I was just trying to protect you.
D.J.: Well, you don't need to protect me!
Stephanie: But you're my sister.
D.J.: You're a pain in the neck! I'm sick of it!
Stephanie: [angrily putting down the popcorn bowl] OK, fine! Maybe this time I messed up, but someday you'll need me. But I won't be there because you want me out of your life forever! [She storms out and slams the door behind her.]
D.J.: Steph! [She opens the door, and surprise, surprise, Stephanie is still standing there.]
Stephanie: I was hoping you'd miss me.
D.J.: [as she gets her former roommate back in] Steph, I don't want you out of my life.
I want you out of my private life: my diaries, my phone calls, Steve's apartment.
Stephanie: All the good stuff, huh?
[After D.J. and Stephanie finish their calmer-heads-prevailing chat and hug in D.J.'s room, Stephanie opens the door to leave and sees Michelle there.]
Stephanie: Michelle! How dare you listen in on our private conversation?! [to D.J.] Where does she learn this stuff?
Michelle: [happily seeing the bowl on D.J.'s bed] Oh, popcorn! [She barges into the room, and they all dig into the bowl.]
Trivia
The episode title is a play on The Crying Game, a 1992 Oscar Award-winning film.
Kimmy saying that breaking into Steve's apartment to see if he was seeing another girl was "Nancy Drew's (Stephanie's) idea" is a reference to a fictional detective from a series of novels that was later adapted into a TV series.