Episode Report Card Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Let's Spend The Night Together
By Niki | Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired on 09.27.1999
Roll the credits and opening theme, which is a new addition since the pilot episode. I guess that isn't too surprising, since it seems every shot in the sequence has been taken from that single episode.
In the interim, Rick's made his way to Karen's house, where he's waiting to pick up Eli and Jessie so he can drive them to school. He and Karen are standing in the doorway, discussing Eli's love life. Karen asks what he knows about "her," referring to Jennifer. Rick says he thinks "she's really great" but says he doesn't know what's going on because, duh, he's the father of a teenager and obviously Eli doesn't tell him anything. Karen of course thinks "it's a problem" since "they're on the phone for hours." Eli scoots between them, and their conversation stops until he's out of earshot. Karen then adds, "I think I overheard him say 'I love you.'" "Yikes," Rick responds. They pause again as Eli heads back into the house. Karen asks if Rick will "talk to him about..." She drops her voice so low that I practically have to read her lips "...condoms." "I have to go now," answers the Voice of Responsibility. And I suspect that he's only half joking. Karen tells him they have to make sure Eli is dealing with sex responsibly, and points out that the girl "is so young." "And Eli isn't?" Rick retorts, although I'm not really sure why he's arguing. He adds a remark that implies that the girls are the ones speeding up the process, asking Karen if she's seen "those girls at school." Karen doesn't latch onto the wholly beside-the-point point Rick just made and instead says she just wants to make sure Eli's being careful. "He's my baby," she adds plaintively. Eli zooms past them again and Rick looks after him wistfully, no doubt wishing Eli was, in fact, toddling around in diapers. "I'm the dad," he says, sighing stoically and resolving himself to the fact the he's staring down the barrel of a good-old-fashioned sex talk.
Cut to Eli groping his girlfriend in the school hallway. Jennifer pulls her neck slightly away from his lips to ask how much homework he has to do that night. He tells her that there's no way he'll be able to see her, and she says that she should be able to get out by eight o'clock. Eli's story quickly changes, and he agrees that they can get together then. Grace and her friend walk past the gooey pair, and Grace casts a sidelong glance at Eli. Once they're past them, Grace resumes telling her friend the horrific story of how she discovered her mother and Rick making out on the living room couch. Her friend is adamant that it's "the worst thing [she's] ever heard." Grace makes her swear that she won't tell anyone else about her shame. Which pretty much guarantees that it'll be all over school before lunchtime the next day.