Episode Report Card Niki: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Experience Is The Teacher
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 17 | Aired on 03.31.2002
Cut to Manning Manor, where Grace and Lily are carrying groceries through the back door. Grace is saying, "So Mom, this is your big opportunity," as if they haven't said anything about it since leaving the station or while getting groceries. Grace says that she's really proud of Lily, which I'm pretty sure Lily wasn't expecting. Lily looks touched and says that she's proud of Grace, too. Grace, rummaging through a cupboard, doesn't get it. Lily yanks a sheaf of papers from under a grocery bag and holds it up, saying, "Well, if you're just going to leave brilliant short stories lying around..." Grace spins around, locked and loaded, and snaps, "What?" Seeing the story, she softens and asks if Lily really liked it. Lily says she couldn't put it down. "Yeah, I sorta don't hate it," Grace says shyly. Lily gushes about the title -- "What You Need to Know" -- saying how it pulls you in. Grace says that Creepitri really liked it, too. Lily raves about the ending, and how Grace "tied it all together." She sums up the ending, and Grace corrects her, telling her that she got it backwards. "Oh. I didn't get that," Lily frowns. Grace says that she sent out the story to a magazine. Lily's awed by the news, and starts to get smothery with the affection. Oh, and speaking of magazines, did you know that Creepitri knows about all kinds of magazines that no one's ever heard of? Yeah, he's good like that. Lily, touched, studies Grace's excitement and says, "Grace, that's wonderful. You have a real mentor." Grace says she guesses so, and they hug. Pulling away, Grace can't keep the smile off her face and says, "Well, I'd better go get ready." She quickly adds, "For Rashomon." Hmmm, a little quick to clarify, there.
Cut to Grace in the bathroom, pressing her glossed lips together and examining her extremely made-up face in the mirror. Can I just inject a quick PSA here? Whenever you feel the urge to pick up a crimping iron, as our unfortunate young friend here has done, I want you to take a second and really think about what you are about to do. No, really. Don't do the crimp if you don't have a pimp, okay? She picks up the book from Creepitri and rereads the inscription. She glances into the mirror again, as if comparing herself to whatever is written in the inscription. She closes the book with a satisfied smile.
Meanwhile, down in the dining room, the rest of the brood is seated around the table having dinner. With Katie, I might add. Zoe asks Lily what it means to be syndicated. Since Lily's busy guzzling her beverage, Jessie answers that it's "when they take your show and air it all over the country, right?" Lily sets down her glass, swallows hard, and says, "Yeah, which is sorta terrifying." Zoe spears a piece of meat and asks whether they're saving it for Grace. Lily tells her to go ahead, since Grace is going to a movie with her English class. "She is?" asks a surprised Katie. Lily asks why. Katie explains that she's in Grace's class, and Lily's confused that Katie didn't know about it. Jessie pipes up, "Well, maybe they planned it while you were absent," and shoots Katie a "cheese it" look. Katie quickly agrees. Lily says that now that she thinks about it, Grace did mention that it wasn't the whole class, just a group. Katie concurs that makes sense, adding that she never pays attention in class anyway. "And yet you still get As," Jessie teases, giving Katie a playful shove on her shoulder. Katie, embarrassed, laughs and denies it, but you just know she's loving the attention.