Episode Report Card Niki: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Acting Out
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 4 | Aired on 10.18.2001
Meanwhile, Judy's giving Karen the grand tour over at Booklovers's new digs. The restaurant's interior is swathed in plastic sheets and electrical wiring, so it looks like the renovations are underway. Judy locates a folder sitting on one of the tables and hands it to Karen as Sam comes slithering around a corner. "Karen Sammler?" he exclaims, spreading his arms wide. She laughs as they embrace. Sam murmurs, "You smell good. You still using that vanilla extract?" Karen gives him an embarrassed "Shut up!" but with a pleased smile adds, "I can't believe you remember that!" Judy watches the exchange, fighting to keep her hackles down. "Hey, Judy," Sam smiles, almost as an afterthought. Judy grins and waves her finger between them, saying, "Oh that's right -- you two know each other. What's with the vanilla extract?" Karen fixes Sam with a zip-it look and insists it's nothing, "just [her] past coming back to haunt [her]." Welly well well, that could be interpreted in a number of ways, couldn't it? Now it's Karen's turn to wave her finger back and forth, saying, "So, you guys know each other. Because you're both working with Rick?" Judy and Sam quickly agree, folding their arms and trying not to look as though they've seen each other all kinds of naked. "How's Jamie?" Karen asks, explaining to Judy that "Sam's got the cutest little boy." Judy looks positively thrilled for him. She watches Sam closely as he squirms and says that Jamie's "adjusting to the whole thing," and, "he's good, he's good." The finger-waving comes full circle, as Sam asks, "So you guys are friends?" Judy nods with a wide smile, and Karen cautiously answers, "We are...." Her tone lightens and she insists, "We became friends." Sam stammers, "Oh, how...how complicated...for everybody."
Sam, Karen, and Judy are interrupted by Rick calling out Judy's name. He wanders through a plastic-draped doorway, looking over a blueprint. His pace slows when he looks up and sees the unlikely trio assembled in front of him. He pulls a closed-mouth guppy-face as the plucky guitars kick it. "Oh, hi Karen. Sam," he says, a little uncertainly. Karen explains that she just dropped by to pick up some papers, and Sam slickly says, "And I came by to bug you. Are those my blueprints?" Lily wanders in, obliviously yammering into her cell phone. Everyone stares at her, waiting for her to realize what a den of discomfort she's just walked into. She jumps a little when she clicks off the phone and looks up. "Hi," she belts, a little too brightly. She and Rick kiss hello, while Karen curdles in the background watching them. Okay, so we've got Judy, Lily, Karen, Sam, and Rick...someone's missing but I can't quite...oh, right: Jake. He bounds in, right on cue, asking whether Judy "ha[s] those résumés." He stops dead when he sees the motley crew. After a second of gaping at them, he Keanus, "Whoa." After another beat, he manages, "Hi." Sam steps forward with his hand out, introducing himself. He glances at Lily upon hearing Jake's last name, and Lily hooks her thumb at Jake, explaining that yes, he's her ex. Judy supplies that Jake is going to run the restaurant. "Oh," Sam says, registering just how fucked and incestuous the whole thing is. He glances around the circle and suggests, "Well, how about we all get some lunch?" Five jaws and ten eyes hit the floor. He quickly adds that he's kidding, prompting a collective sigh of relief disguised as laughter. Uncomfortable smiles all around. Except Rick, who's looking a lot like a brooding Frankenstein.