Episode Report Card Erin: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Box, Part II
By Erin | Season 1 | Episode 13 | Aired on 02.09.2002
Turns out that Shovelhead and Syd have met before. Yawn. Shovelhead's all, I met you in the coffee room, you were wearing pigtails, I asked you out, you dissed me, I probably said something inappropriate, you told me that if I ever talked to you again, you'd break my kneecaps. "Which just made me love you," he says, smiling. Gah. Is this really necessary? We get it, okay? He's a lovelorn loser who wants to do Sydney and make her bark like a dog. Gross. I will include this little tidbit, because it made me laugh out loud. "You didn't want to kiss me," he says. "Remember?" "No, I do not," says Syd calmly. "But I can see not wanting to kiss you." Bwa ha ha!
Shovelhead goes on to tell Syd that Sloane's a scumbag (no, really?) and that he'll disappoint her. Then he says that it was good to see her again and that, even though she didn't want to kiss him, when he took a hit off the champagne, he majorly backwashed into it. Oh, for fuck's sake. It's a good thing I had the foresight to bring a bucket in here with me, because I don't think I could have made it to the bathroom in time for this particular horking session.
Welcome, again, to the pointlessness that is Will's storyline. Willage Idiot pays a visit to McNeil's daughter. He hands over the envelope and tells her to give it to her dad. He tells her not to look inside because the pictures are pretty disturbing. Then he tells her to get out of town like she said she would. Then he leaves. The whole scene takes about five seconds and only serves to interrupt the general action of the entire episode.
Oh, Lord. Shovelhead's back again. He enters the Torture Room and starts expounding again about his bad times in Russia. God, isn't this OVER yet? Even Sloane's bored with this by now. Shovelhead's talking about how it only took three needles to make one of his compatriots scream. "How many did you take?" gasps Sloane. Heh. Even when he's being tortured, Sloane's still da man. Shovelhead sticks a needle directly into Sloane's neck, saying he wants to hear Sloane scream just the way his compatriot did. "Scream for me," says Shovelhead, obviously enjoying himself and forgetting all about his real purpose here. You know, THE VAULT? Like, I get that he's all mad at Sloane for abandoning him and everything but, um, his girlfriend's already got seven out of the twelve code numbers so, like, give it a rest already, okay?
Instead of obliging Quarantino (tm tobecontinued) with the required scream, Sloane just calmly turns and looks at him. "They broke you, didn't they?" quietly asks Sloane. "They made you beg." "Don't you wish," says Quarantino, with a hint of panic. "'Please sir, I can't take anymore,'" says Sloane, smiling. "Isn't that what you said to them?" WCAC enters and tells Shovelhead that there's only one code number remaining, and that it's time to make tracks. Shovelhead ignores her, because he's in the middle of being completely belittled and baited by a skewered Sloane. Here's a quick scene breakdown: