Episode Report Card Miss Alli: B | 3 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Tea and Treachery
By Miss Alli | Season 1 | Episode 3 | Aired on 09.25.2001
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Morning. Up-and-at-'em for the Under The Stars Brigade. Lenny and Karyn are really cold (no, not the same way they were cold during the last episode), so they're hugging and jumping together as if it's all okay. Where I live, we usually have a number of days every winter that don't get warmer than 20 below, so I'm the first to admit that the cold can affect one's behavior. There are days when I would cling to Regis Philbin if he were warm and had a down jacket to wrap around me. For his part, Davey comments that it's great just to be up and watch the city come alive, and as cornball as that remark sounds, it's just not cornball when Davey says it and gives his sweetie a big hug. Margaretta voices over about her desire to inspire her kids and grandkids to do whatever they want to do. For some reason, perhaps related to Bruckheimer's effort to establish Margaretta as the carrier of the wisdom of the ages, the cameraman hauls out the Wrinkle-Overemphasizer filter to create a shot of her that's about as unflattering as the shot last night was lovely.
Kevin the Weatherman is over at the tea shop, and he reports that it "rained intermittently" throughout the night. He does not report the relative humidity or discuss the barometric pressure.
Nancy and Emily show up at the wheel, and ask whether all these people were really out all night. Amie confirms, again with a surprisingly chipper disposition, that they were. "Why didn't you go to the hotel?" Nancy asks incredulously. "What hotel?" a suddenly-darkening Amie demands. Hee! I don’t know why Nancy and Emily went to a hotel and everyone else didn't, but Amie certainly doesn't seem happy that somebody in the group has washed their hair recently, and that it's not her.
Come 9:00 AM, the Under The Stars Brigade plus Nancy and Emily pick up the clue about the pendulum/bell. Unlike everyone last night, who chose to go for the Easy Walk, this entire group goes for the Tough Climb. (After all, if you've got the legs for it, why chase a pendulum when you know exactly where Notre Dame is?) Nancy, incidentally, goes with the simplest pronunciation of all: "Focus pendulum."
Drew has a slight Ugly American moment as he observes to Kevin (who, it would appear, has been disagreeing) that he "just [doesn't] think the city's anything special." He rates it no better than SoHo. Now I realize this sort of makes Drew a dork at this particular moment, in the sense that I think majority world opinion is that Paris is more interesting than SoHo. (I have very, very limited experience with both, so I'm not judging.) On the other hand, I think the most important thing is that Drew didn't say this to any actual French people. Furthermore, I have certainly had the experience of visiting supposed tourist paradises only to find they aren't very different from things I've seen a million times, so I'm not entirely without sympathy. A nattily dressed fellow approaches the shop, and as he unlocks the front door, they confirm that he is the manager. Once the Natty Tea Store Manager has gone inside, Drew leans over to Kevin and delivers the Shower-Fresh Dialogue of the Week: "Geez, why did I think it was gonna be an old guy who looked like Ben Franklin?" Hee! Inside the shop, the boys request the special tea, and Natty Tea Store Manager takes the can from the shelf and opens it, then extends it toward Shower-Fresh. Happily, Kev plucks the envelope from inside, and then the guys take a moment to stick their heads in the tea and take a big sniff. Drew pronounces the tea "oregano-y." Huh. That doesn't actually sound all that appetizing, actually, unless you combine it with some marjoram and basil and call it Pizza Tea. ["Actually, you should really run out and trademark that before Starbucks steals the idea." -- Sars] The FF pass tells them to go to Chateau Les Baux. Since Les Baux is described as being in the south of France, Drew is hoping it will be warmer, and maybe they can go to the beach. I'm not sure France is that big, Drew. You're in knit hats and coats in Paris, so I don't think you'll be in swim trunks at the Chateau. They're on their way.