Back in the Crashdown kitchen, Max pretends to keep caring about finding Enigma, but as he gravely tells them he's running back to the school for more clues, Slackjaw enters the kitchen and finds the three of them (Liz, Max, and Maria) together. Max tries the old drama exercise of "if I can't see them, they can't see me," trying to avert his eyes and pretend he a wax figure or a hologram. But Slackjaw don't slack, catching Max in the act and changing heart: "What kind of boyfriend isn't with his girl at midnight? Don't you have any class?" Rebirth! Kind of a burn on Frank, though, y'know? And outside to the dining room we go, where the kitschy midnight countdown goes off by the count of Porno's watch at 10:30 sharp. Much cheering and singing of that song that I don't understand begins.

And now, mysteriously, the party is over. Max wheels out the last of the party guests, and Maria helps Liz clean up until Michael comes down and asks if he can talk to her. Meanwhile, Slackjaw lets Liz off KP and tells her to go out with Max and "have a real New Year's." Hugs and loving between a bot and her Slackjaw are lovingly exchanged. And, back in the kitchen, Michael tells Maria that she deserves "a night off from all this alien crap." Maria can't believe that Michael heard her from all the way upstairs, but is all the more shocked by his self-sacrificing nature and his desire to let her go and find -- sing it loud if you know the word -- Enigma. She hugs him big, which should hurt him like a mofo but certainly doesn't seem to. And we're back in the dining room, where Liz pledges her commitment to helping out her father, and Max and Maria conspire to find Enigma together now that they've shaken off the shackles of their annoying mates and fallen instead into the annoyingness of one another. I find that exchange program uncute.