M.J. is shy, quiet, and like his mother when she was younger, is an underachiever who struggles in school due to his lack of intelligence and common sense, prompting Susan and Mike to enroll him in private school. When Mike begins dating Katherine, M.J. resents their relationship; however, he grows fond of Katherine as her romance with Mike progresses. M.J. becomes the target of a murder scheme when Dave Williams wants revenge for Susan for killing his wife and daughter in a car accident several years earlier. However, Dave spares M.J.'s life after experiencing overwhelming guilt.