Episode Report Card Niki: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT 'Til The One Day When The Lady Met This Fellow...
By Niki | Season 2 | Episode 15 | Aired on 03.13.2001
After commercials, we find Lily brooding in the living room, curled up on the couch with a cup of tea. Jake and the girls spill in the front door, giggling. The girls spot her and ask if she's okay. Lily asks how dinner was. Grace, still laughing, says, "Great," and waits for Zoe to deliver the punch line, "We had waffles." They bust out in another fit of hysteria. Now they're just being mean, and I get the feeling they've been laughing at poor Rick with Jake. Lily doesn't crack a smile but wearily tells them they need to get ready for bed. Before going, Zoe leans in and asks if they can have waffles for breakfast. At least Grace knows the joke's gone too far, and she tells Zoe to get going. Jake surveys the window and apologizes for the mess. Lily waves her hand distractedly and says it's fine. He notices that she's all curled up and asks if she's sick. She says she's not, she's "just a wounded animal." Jake says, "Sorry," and slumps onto an ottoman with a heavy sigh, musing, "Life is a large and unpredictable, unmanageable..." Lily ruefully tells him to stop right there. Jake says they used to be on "the same boat" but now he "just sees [her] running lights disappearing off in the distance." Lily looks at the back of his head and asks if he's happy. "Well, that's the question, isn't it?" Jake says, turning to face her. He ponders for a few seconds before answering, "Not as much as I once was." Lily is a little taken aback and touched, but manages a thank you. Jake turns the question back on her. She says that if he'd asked a couple of days ago, she'd know the answer without even having to think about it. Jake surveys her face for a second, then leans in and says, "I think he's a good guy." Lily chuckles a little and smiles, saying, "I don't know what to do with that information." Jake hauls himself up off the ottoman and pats her arm as he heads for the door, saying, "Just...have it." He spreads his arms grandly and adds, "Maybe by tomorrow, everything will be better." Lily asks the question that's been on all our minds, "When did you get nice?" Strolling to the door, he tosses out, "I try to hide it best I can." She leans over the couch and looks toward the front door, then calls out a soft, "'Night, Jake." The door closes.
Cut to Karen's front door, the next morning. Jessie barrels out the door with Karen in hot pursuit, still pulling the rollers out of her hair. She reminds Jessie about her permission slip. Rick does some weird robotic voice thing about permission slips that I think is meant to be funny, but Jessie says it best when she says, "You're so weird, Dad." Rick climbs into the truck next to her and Jessie asks when they're going to move in. "Not today. I can tell you that," he answers. Jessie's face lights up: "You guys had a fight." Rick tells her not to sound so hopeful. "Just let me know so I can pack," she says, resigned. Rick says he knows how she feels. She tells him that "saying that should be against the law." Rick relents, saying that she's right, and that he's just guessing how she feels based on how he feels. "How do you feel?" she asks. Rick sighs and, shaking his head, answers, "Like the house is full already. Like there's no place, not even a corner, that's mine, that'll ever feel like mine." Jessie looks at him earnestly and asks why they're doing it, then.