Episode Report Card Niki: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Unfinished Business
By Niki | Season 1 | Episode 17 | Aired on 03.05.2000
Black-and-white Lily sums up the nature of her relationship with Dad in a nutshell. She says that when she was a kid, Phil loved helping her with her school projects. The only problem was, he never knew when to stop.
Black-and-white Phil, all defensive but smiling, says "What? A man can't help his daughter? Isn't that what it means to be a father?"
So to review, Phil likes to take control. He's overbearing and overprotective of his kids and grandkids, but only because he has their best interests at heart. Now let's move on, shall we?
We next see Lily sitting in an office with funky lighting and hip, retro touches. A YOUNG woman sits across the desk from her. You can tell she's a hip young thing because she's sporting a Friends haircut (not that there's anything wrong with that), she's dressed all in black, and she has a big latte sitting on the desk in front of her. She's reading over Lily's resume and pauses to gush over the bookstore, it's such a valuable service Lily's providing. People "need to remember what books are!" Who's forgotten? She may be young, but I'd wager her Dr. Seuss came bound between two covers. She then twists the knife by letting Lily know that she buys all her books on-line. After glancing at Lily's resume again, the unnamed interviewer -- let's just call her Idiot, yes? -- looks up and blurts that Lily's "sooo pretty!" It appears Idiot has taken her acting cues from Clueless (not to besmirch that fine film). She tops this wholly inappropriate remark by asking Lily where she gets her hair cut. Now, I get it that the "modern workplace" is changing, especially in creative industries, but I don't think things have changed so much that this obvious bubblehead would be put in a position not only to hire and fire, but to make editorial decisions.
So how is Lily reacting to her grueling interview? Not surprisingly, she's sitting in her seat looking absolutely stunned. She pats her hair self-consciously before trying to stammer out an answer. She stumbles and laughs and can't remember the name of her salon right away and basically looks like she'll fit right into this workplace. Of course, she's nervous, so she has an excuse.
Idiot continues reading the resume and notices that Lily graduated in Seventy-nine. Somehow, she manages to do the math in her head and figures out that this would make Lily about forty. She says the number like it's a disease. Lily crosses her arms defensively but Idiot's not on the attack. She is simply astonished Lily could be that old: "Omigod! Most people [she] knows who are forty-one are, like, yerg." The last bit is the sound she makes while pulling her face down to simulate the ravages of time. Then she giggles. Sensitive gal. I HATE her. And no, I'm not over thirty. Idiot then goes on to ask if Lily has any kids and "are they really CUTE?" This girl doesn't just speak, everything she says is obnoxiously exaggerated, including the faces she makes to punctuate every dumb-ass comment. Idiot then admits that she wants kids but worries she'll never get married because her longest relationship lasted, like, three months (how did somebody stand her that long?). And then it hits me -- it's like this person has been transplanted straight off Blind Date and Lily is the poor, unsuspecting slob they've dumped her on. This chick is THAT irritating.