Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A+ | 348 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Parting Really, Really Is Sweet Sorrow...
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 13 | Aired on 2007.10.18
Betty's doorbell rings, and it's a freezing Francine, who Betty notes is wearing her slippers. Francine is upset and discombobulated in a way we've never seen from her, and she sits on the couch and berates herself for being stupid. She babbles about how her mind hasn't been so sharp since she had the baby, and she accidentally threw away some bills, resulting in the phone being cut off and forcing her to go to the phone company and pay in person. When she did, they gave her the bill, and there was almost eighteen dollars in long-distance charges to Manhattan. She goes on that she "called one," implying, I guess, that Carlton has more than one city port, and a woman answered, so she told her she was calling from Carlton's office. "I said, 'He wants to have dinner tonight at the usual place.'" Well, if she thought of that on the fly, her mind hasn't dulled that much. Betty, however, insists on not getting it, so Francine cries and asks what woman he could have been calling who answers her own phone. Betty: "Maybe it's a caterer. Maybe he's throwing you a surprise party." Well, Betty, your pitches may need work, but you've certainly got some imagination. Francine laughs the laugh of Those Who Are Disappearing Around The Bend, and tells Betty that Carlton spends two nights a week at the Waldorf. Betty says that Francine is assuming the worst. Francine: "The worst is that I'll poison him. He's so stupid, he'd drink anything. I'm gonna have a house full of people. I'll poison them all." Anne Dudek, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you House viewers truly appreciate what you're getting. And only now, at the end, have I come to the realization that she was the lead in The Book Group, which was one of my favorite shows when I was living in England. (If you're not familiar, think of a much, much, much better written Footballers' Wives.) No wonder I love her insanely.