Episode Report Card Niki: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Two Makes a Home
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 16 | Aired on 03.24.2002
Cut to the kitchen at Manning Manor, where Lily's making dinner and Judy's hanging around. Lily asks whether she knows Miriam. Judy says, "I think she is so beautiful. Go, Aaron!" Lily whines, "Why didn't you warn me? He says that he loves her!" Judy gushes that it's great. "Judy," Lily tsks. "What?" Judy asks, sensing a battle. Lily tightly says to skip it. Judy insists that she just go ahead and say it, and half-jokes, "I already judge you." Lily frets that Aaron doesn't know what he loves, and that Miriam doesn't even look like she can take care of herself, let alone Aaron, and that Aaron's going to need a lot of help if he's going to live on his own. "Yeah, isn't that where we come in?" Judy asks, refusing to see the obstacle.
Later, in the bathroom, Lily's kneeling in front of Rick so he can put in her eye drops. He casts an imaginary spell as the drops fall, saying that when she awakens the next morning, she'll fall in love with the first person she sees. Obviously, he's hoping she looks at him before the mirror this time. Lily asks whether it bothers him that she has "a crazy brother." Easily, he says, "It doesn't bother me that you have a crazy sister." Lily drapes herself over an exercise ball and moans that Aaron claims to love "this girl." She complains about the list Miriam has Aaron writing, saying he'll never get to do most of the things on it. Rick makes a little joke, but Lily's not in a laughing mood. Sighing, she sits up and says it's bad for Aaron to get "unbalanced." "So, love is bad," Rick muses, pondering the dollop of toothpaste on his brush as if it contains life's answers in addition to dentifrice. Lily mutters that Aaron is the most sensitive person she's ever met, and that he has "no sense of proportion" when he falls in love. Rick scoots over and wraps his arms around her from behind, murmuring that he has no sense of proportion when it comes to her. Rick manages to kiss Lily and hold the toothbrush in his mouth at the same time. No mean feat, that.
Cut to Zoe giving herself a pedicure. The doorbell chimes in the background, and Lily calls for someone to answer the door. Zoe bellows that she's doing her nails, so Lily yells for Grace. Grace throws open the door and experiences a moment of sheer terror, convinced that she's about to be the victim of a home invasion. Miriam stands on the threshold, a Big Gulp in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and enough charcoal on her eyes to charbroil a side of beef. Miriam exhales a huge cloud of toxic shit in Grace's face and then asks, "Mind if I smoke?" Grace scrinches up her face and says, "Excuse me?" Miriam stammers, "It's polite to ask, right? It's good manners?" Grace is at an utter loss for words. She's saved when Aaron comes bounding up, also clutching a Big Gulp, and explains that he took the long way. Relieved that there's an explanation for this woman's presence that doesn't involve Grace's being chopped up and stored in freezer bags, Grace smiles and welcomes them inside.