Episode Report Card Wing Chun: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Scribbling Rivalry
By Wing Chun | Season 2 | Episode 9 | Aired on 01.16.2001
Manning Manor. Grace arrives home, and Zoe, futzing with the PC, tells Grace that she assembled it for her. Zoe apparently read the recap over my shoulder because she assembled the new computer downstairs. Grace asks why, and Zoe offers to help Grace take it upstairs. Grace suspiciously asks whether this is a way to make Grace give Zoe the computer; wounded, Zoe mutters, "Forget it," and starts to walk away. Grace follows, asking, "Are you trying to make me feel guilty? It's a logical question, Zoe!" Zoe looks like she may cry any second. Grace reaches out to touch her on the arm, and Zoe screams, "Don't touch me!" and runs upstairs.
On the Stool, Grace says that, frequently this year, she's found herself "being a much more horrible person" than she actually is: "And since you know you didn't mean to be that horrible, you kind of hope that everybody else knows, too." She glances to the side, and the camera cuts to a black-and-white Zoe, who appears to hold Grace's gaze a moment, and then look away, bitterly. Cut back to Grace, who guiltily looks down at her hands.
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl...I mean, "Lily and Crusty" track Artie down at a bowling alley, where he's playing a videogame. Lily manages to broker a peace between them, and Artie agrees to take his job back. Artie smiles. He's kind of cute.
At the meeting, buzzwords are flying fast and furious. D.B. Sweeney runs the meeting using a very slick PowerPoint presentation. Apparently the strategy they've worked out in the past...day is to reposition PagesAlive as a portal for e-commerce affiliates. Wuh-huh? That makes no sense, but whatever. D.B. Sweeney winds it up by saying that the Clavan and Fosdick should be able to exit within nine to twelve months. Nine to twelve months to make this top-heavy webzine profitable? Even Amazon hasn't done that. Now I know PagesAlive isn't Salon. Crusty looks placid, and slightly tense. D.B. Sweeney adds, as an apparent afterthought, "Oh, and here's some cool graphics," launching a truncated version of the crappy Flash movie, "which is why people come to the site, after all: content." Oh, the flat-screen TV is displaying the presentation. They couldn't get an opaque projector? Why am I still complaining about this crap? This bastard recap is already too long as it is.
D.B. Sweeney and Crusty shake the investors' hands at the elevator; one of the venture capitalists remarks that Crusty and D.B. Sweeney "seem like a good fit." Not as good as Crusty would like, if you know what I'm saying, and I think you do. D.B. Sweeney tells Crusty that he has someone lined up for the webmaster job, but Crusty tells him that Artie wants to stay: "He's high-maintenance, but brilliant. No learning curve." D.B. Sweeney relents, and suggests that they all go out for drinks; Crusty agrees, and Lily -- political again -- begs off. D.B. Sweeney looks disappointed; Crusty can tell, but as we already know, she doesn't care when people dislike her.