Season 2 of The Wonder Years consists of 17 half-hour episodes, which first aired on ABC from November 30, 1988, to May 16, 1989. Serving as a direct continuation of the first season, Season 2 covers most of the remainder of the 1968–1969 school year, where Kevin Arnold recently enters the newly renamed Robert F. Kennedy junior high school for the seventh grade alongside his best friend, Paul Pfeiffer, and love interest, Winnie Cooper. Here, Kevin is shown facing various life-changing situations both at school and back home as he prepares to enter into his teenage years.
Among the highlights from this season include the Arnold family celebrating Christmas, Kevin getting into a steady relationship with Becky Slater only to later break up with her in the next episode, Kevin and Paul joining a school committee that forms a walkout to protest the Vietnam War, Kevin having a bad confrontation Winnie after finding out that Becky mentioned of bad things he prevoiusly said about her and later, subsequently trying to stand up to her against a school bully, Kevin trying to avoid public humiliation while making friends with a weird girl at school, and finally Kevin having to endure an entire summer vacation by himself as Paul and Winnie reveal they have other plans at the last minute.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold
- Daniel Stern as the voice of Adult Kevin
- Josh Saviano as Paul Pfeiffer
- Dan Lauria as Jack Arnold
- Alley Mills as Norma Arnold
- Jason Hervey as Wayne Arnold
- Olivia d'Abo as Karen Arnold
- Danica McKellar as Winnie Cooper
Recurring Cast[]
- Michael Landes as Kirk McCray
- Linda Hoy as Mrs. Ritvo
- Wendel Meldrum as Miss White/Mrs. Heimer
- Krista Murphy as Carla Healy
- Crystal McKellar as Becky Slater
- Michael Tricario as Randy Mitchell
- Ben Stein as Mr. Cantwell
- Brandon Crane as Doug Porter
- Robert Picardo as Mr. Cutlip
- Raye Birk as Mr. Diperna
- John C. Moskoff as Alvin Pfeiffer
- Stephanie Satie as Ida Pfeiffer
- Torrey Ann Cook as Debbie Pfeiffer
- Lynn Milgrim as Mrs. Cooper
- H. Richard Greene as Mr. Cooper
- Ben Slack as Mr. Ermin
- Bentley Mitchum as Brian Cooper
Episodes[]
| Season Two | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Summary | Airdate | # |
| The Heart of Darkness | Kevin and Paul lie to their parents so they can spend a night of camping with a kid from their school who is anything but an angel. | November 30, 1988 | 2X01 |
| Our Miss White | Kevin gets a crush on his English teacher, Miss White, who convinces him to play Robert Kennedy in a play she has written about Martin Luther King, Jr.. Only, he's having trouble getting her to see him as more than a 7th grader. | December 7, 1988 | 2X02 |
| Christmas | Kevin and Wayne try to convince Jack to buy a color television for Christmas. Meanwhile Kevin tries to find the perfect present for Winnie after she unexpectedly gives him a present. | December 14, 1988 | 2X03 |
| Steady as She Goes | Kevin's continuing longing for Winnie has caused him to become frustrated with being alone. And it's not helping that his best friend, Paul, now has Carla. When Kevin reaches his breaking point, he ends up asking Becky Slater to go steady, even though it's just to make Winnie jealous. | January 11, 1989 | 2X04 |
| Just Between Me and You and Kirk and Paul and Carla and Becky | Kevin and Kirk McCray both want to know which one Winnie really likes. Kevin struggles with his feelings for Winnie. | January 18, 1989 | 2X05 |
| Pottery Will Get You Nowhere | Norma begins taking a pottery class and receives support from everyone except Jack. | February 1, 1989 | 2X06 |
| Coda | Kevin feels that his piano lessons with Mrs. Carples aren't doing him any good. While most people are quick to commend Mrs. Carples' student Ronald Hirschmuller, Mrs Carples still feels that Kevin has got musical potential, if he'd just apply himself more to practicing. | February 8, 1989 | 2X07 |
| Hiroshima, Mon Frere | Wayne's bullying of Kevin has been getting pretty out-of-hand lately. but when he interferes in a big way with Kevin and Paul's Science Project, Wayne may have gone too far. | February 15, 1989 | 2X08 |
| Loosiers | When Kevin sees that Paul is being humiliated at basketball during physical education class, he decides to go to Coach Cutlip to complain about how he thinks teams are being unfairly picked. Cutlip then decides to teach Kevin a lesson about fairness by making him a team captain. | February 28, 1989 | 2X09 |
| Walkout | Kevin along with kids from his school plan to schedule a walkout to protest the Vietnam War. However, when the assistant principal, Mr. Diperna, finds out about the planned walkout, he threatens to suspend all who participate. | March 7, 1989 | 2X10 |
| Nemesis | Now that Kevin is back together with Winnie Cooper (after hurting Becky Slater's feelings), Kevin thinks his problems are behind them. Until he remembers how he ridiculed his friends (including Winnie!)behind their backs to impress Becky, who doesn't seem too happy to have been dumped. | March 14, 1989 | 2X11 |
| Fate | With Winnie still upset at him, Kevin tries to get back on good terms with her by confronting Eddie Pinetti, the school bully, for going into her locker. This plan backfires when he realizes that Winnie is now seeing Eddie. | March 28, 1989 | 2X12 |
| Birthday Boy | Paul Pfeiffer and Kevin Arnold's birthdays are just days apart, and the two friends have usually always celebrated together. But this year, upon turning 13 Paul(as per Jewish Tradition), will become a man. The only problem is that Paul's Bar Mitzvah happens to take place on the same day as Kevin's Birthday! | April 11, 1989 | 2X13 |
| Brightwing | To get closer to his sister, Kevin agrees to run errands for her before school. He soon discovers that she is skipping school to hang out with her friends at the "rock". | April 18, 1989 | 2X14 |
| Square Dance | The gym class is engaging in square-dancing, and Kevin is paired up with Margaret Farquhar, the strangest girl in 7th grade. While Margaret enjoys spending time with Kevin, her presence makes Kevin wary of his junior-high image. | May 2, 1989 | 2X15 |
| Whose Woods Are These? | Kevin, Winnie & Paul band together to save their childhood playground of Harper's Woods from becoming a shopping mall. The only problem is, no one seems to care. | May 9, 1989 | 2X16 |
| How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation | As the end of school approaches, Kevins looks forward to spending the summer with Paul and Winnie. However his wonderful summer is spoiled when Paul tells hims that he'll be going his parent's cabin until Labor Day and Winnie seems to be avoiding him. | May 16, 1989 | 2X17 |