Episode Report Card Niki: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT If You Love Something, Let It Run Free
By Niki | Season 2 | Episode 18 | Aired on 04.03.2001
Rick, meanwhile, is dropping off Jessie at Karen's place. Jessie can't wait to get away from Karen, who's working in the dining room, so she excuses herself to do homework. "Did she eat?" Karen whispers after Jessie leaves. "A salad," Rick says. "A salad?" Karen repeats scornfully. Rick cuts her down: "It had tofu on it. She did fine, Karen." Karen backs down, saying, "'Fine.' I don't even know what that means anymore." Rick says he thinks they should let her go on the ski trip. I'll wait a second while you pick yourself up off the floor. He adds that he "sees her trying, and [he thinks] she should be rewarded." Karen stares at him in disbelief and then sighs, "You're letting her manipulate you." Rick insists that Jessie's not manipulating him. Karen says that this new approach might be working, but only if they stick with it. Rick repeats that he thinks Jessie should be rewarded. Karen throws her hands up, and says that Jessie's "not ready to handle this on her own"; five days away from home is just too much. Rick argues that if Jessie doesn't try "these adult scary things," she'll never know that she can do them, and that he thinks Karen is wrong. "I think I'm right," she says, and her ass-pole hoots and cheers her on. He asks how they're going to decide this, then, since they're obviously at an impasse. "I've already decided," Karen says. Rick shakes his head in disbelief at her arrogance, and says that they decided they'd handle raising the kids jointly. "We are talking about her health, not your prerogatives," Karen snaps. Rick just looks at her, calls out, "Good night Jess!" and then spins on his heel and heads for the door. But not before tossing Karen a disgusted look.
Cut to Jessie in her room, sitting among the debris of tossed-aside clothing, hangers, shoes, and slippers. She's reading the book that Judy gave her, and it turns into a voice-over, as Soliloquy Jessie reads the words aloud: "For her, it was like there were two places: the inside room, and the outside room. School and the family and the things that happened every day were in the outside room. Foreign countries, and plants, and music were in the inside room." I just noticed that Jessie got her braces off. She looks absolutely stunning here in black and white. Soliloquy Jessie jumps at the sound of a knock and tears her eyes off the page.
Back in her room, Jessie jumps at the same knock and tells Karen to come in. Karen marches in with a pair of sneakers pinched between her fingers, and sarcastically thanks Jessie for leaving them in the middle of the stairs. Karen notices the mess and asks, "What is all this?" Poor Jessie just wants to read, and I know her stomach is totally clenching right now as she gears up for a nagging instead. Jessie mutters that she's cleaning out her closet. Karen asks about a pile of clothes in particular. Jessie says they're "to go." Karen latches onto a sweater at the top of the pile, and my heart sinks for Jessie. Karen picks it up and says, "Jess, you love this sweater!" Jessie assures her that she does, in fact, hate it. Karen gripes that she just bought it for her, and announces that Jessie is not going to throw the sweater away. Jessie says she's going to donate it. Karen says she knows that, in two weeks, Jessie will want the sweater back. Jessie's voice is shaking as she asks Karen to please leave. Karen grabs for a drawer, saying that Jessie should just put the sweater aside. Jessie waves her hands and screams, "I said I didn't want it!" Oh, this kid is so frustrated. And Karen just doesn't have a clue how to relate to her. Karen looks at Jessie as if she's never seen her before. Jessie stares back, astonished at Karen's inability to process language.