Episode Report Card Al Lowe: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Rich Dad, Poor Dad
By Al Lowe | Season 1 | Episode 10 | Aired on 05.04.2010
I guess Amber never gets to leave work, because she's back at the club, serving drinks at an 80s party. The costumes are quite fabulous, and she herself has modified her uniform with a jaunty side ponytail and loose necktie. Welcome to my wardrobe in 1986. Outside on the patio, she finds the ever-present Steve, looking fly like Don Johnson at his slickest, wearing sunglasses at night. She is delighted. "Can you believe this?" she asks, pointing at the party revelers. "Tell me that your parents forced you to come, or that they paid you or something." He says yeah, a little. "I also heard you would be here, too," he says. Amber: "That's not good. That's not a good reason." Thing is, she doesn't say it with much conviction, and my heart sinks. Oh, Amber. Steve says, yeah, well, he also came for the dancing. "I'd almost believe you," Amber says, smiling, "except, you're not dancing!" At this tragic moment, kryptonite hits the scene in the form of James Ingram's "Just Once," as if any human being could ever resist that song in the history of time. "I don't see why we couldn't dance out here," Steve says, and Amber... doesn't see any reason, either. They start slow dancing. Behold, the power of good R&B. You youngsters won't recognize the feeling, since you haven't heard it in your lifetimes. No, don't get me started! I'll start crying about Whitney Houston and never stop.
The dinner of unconditional parental love is not going so well. Adam makes an awkward segue from talking about Camille's great dinners to the [here's the cue] economy. Julia and Sarah gamely try to jump in, and Crosby takes a breath and starts reading from his index card, saying that they'll always be there for their parents they way they have been there for them. "Yeah, unconditionally," Adam says, shaking his head at his incompetent brother. Zeek is suspicious. He asks what the agenda is for this whole soiree, thinking the sibs are worried about money for their kids' college educations. "No, Dad," Adam says, adding that they are worried about his and Camille's future. "Our future?" Camille says, sort of smirking, and asks why they'd be worried about that. "Staying solvent in an economic..." Crosby starts reading again. Sarah: "Stop now." Camille doesn't understand what is going on and finally an uncomfortable silence falls. Zeek, realizing his kids are ambushing him, gets eerily quiet. "You found out about the cufflinks?" he asks Sarah. She swears she didn't mean to. "What about the cufflinks?" Camille asks. Zeek sighs. "This is what family is all about, isn't it?" he says. Swallowing, he looks at Camille. "I made a bad investment," he says. She is immediately angry. "That property up north?" she asks, slapping down her napkin. Zeek: "It went south." He admits that he's been scrambling. "We've got some financial problems," he finally says. She's pissed. "More lies," Camille says. The kids all try to say again that they're there to help, but Camille only has eyes for Zeek. "This isn't just about money, is it?" she asks him in a scary tone. Everyone freezes. "I don't want to continue with this right now," Camille finally says and leaves the table crying, telling her kids that they are all so sweet. Zeek doesn't feel the same, apparently. He stomps away, out the front door and drives off in his truck.
Back at Jasmine's, she and Crosby are tucking in the soccer champ. "Goodnight, Pelé ," Crosby says, and Jabbar asks him if he's sleeping over. "Not tonight," Crosby says, and Jabbar looks disappointed. In the living room, Crosby turns to Jasmine. "It's not 'fooling around,'" he says. "I've done a lot of research on that topic. I want to be with you, Jasmine." Jasmine, sweetly, says that Crosby has been through a lot -- particularly tonight, with his parents -- and that they should give their relationship some time. He nods and turns to the door. "Crosby," she asks, before he can leave. "You wanna have a sleepover?" Hee. He says yes, he loves sleepovers. "I didn't bring any jammies, though," he whispers. Jasmine: "You don't need any."
Camille finds Sarah in the guest house where she's still working on her Photoshop assignment. She apologizes for running off the night before. "Mom, please, don't worry," Sarah says. Camille says that she knows they've had money problems before and that they'll have them again, but what bothers her is that Zeek didn't respect her enough to tell her what was going on. "There's been a lot of lying going on for a lot of years," she says. "Not just about money." Sarah is confused. "There was a woman, up north," Camille says. "I covered for him. Been covering for him for years." She says she told herself she was doing it for the kids, but that was only partly true. "I couldn't, for some reason, confront him about it," she says. "So, I just let it go. I let it go." Sarah is crying. "Mom..." she says, her voice breaking. "Don't tell the others about it," Camille says, and I wonder why this is a request she makes, seeing how lies have hurt her family already. Sarah says okay, shocked. Changing the subject, Camille asks how her assignment is going and comes around to look at the computer screen. It's a montage of family pictures. They both cry, and so do I.
Adam and Kristina have realized the error of their ways. In their backyard, they are enjoying a boisterous cookout with the Lessings, watching poor Mr. L get pummeled by Max and Noel in a game of trampoline basketball while Mrs. L plays guitar. It's so sweet, until Adam hears someone at the front door. He opens it to find Zeek, suitcase in hand.