Episode Report Card Niki: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Kind Of Blue
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.11.2001
Sam strolls into the hotel lobby, snagging Fleisher's attention away from Rick. Hands shoved in his pockets, Sam lazily drawls, "So -- we fired yet?" Fleisher tells him not yet, and as we hiccup edit to Sam reaching the top of the stairs, Fleisher snarks, "How come you're late, Sam? Turning tricks in the park again?" "A girl's gotta make a living somehow," Sam retorts. They shake hands slickly and Fleisher informs Sam that his wife finally moved an old sculpture out of the bedroom to make room for one of his. "Oh, well, that doesn't bode well for your marriage!" Sam oozes. He quickly changes the subject to the hotel and wanders off toward a bank of windows, marveling over the building. Fleisher, suddenly humorless (although that implies he was humorous to begin with, doesn't it?), demands, "Where are the sketches, Sam?" He sounds like he's addressing a delinquent child. Sam's taking it all very lightly, laughing out some response in the distance, so Fleisher turns a hardened eye on Rick, grating, "He said he'd have sketches for me today. Where are they?" Sam takes the heat off Rick, loudly saying that he needs to "be tense to work." Fleisher is "too nice" to him. Fleisher sarcastically announces, "Oh, he wants me to be mean to him. I'll call mean people, I'll bring them here. They'll rip your heart out, just for fun!" Sam's prattling on in the background. Fleisher turns to Rick, pointing over his shoulder at Sam, and mutters, "Artists, huh? He's the artist?" Rick confirms it. Fleisher says, "I never argue with the talent. I own the talent, but I never argue with the talent." Sam offers to take Rick on "a little tour." Fleisher warns them, "Don't break anything," and looks distinctly unimpressed as they walk away.
Later, back at the office, Rick and Sam are doing battle across a ping-pong table. The camera cuts back and forth from Rick's determined, almost angry face to Sam's overwhelmed expression. He misses a shot and as he bends to retrieve the ball, calmly says, "You're, uh, you're pissed. About Colin." Rick sends the ball back over the net, past Sam, and declares, "I don't get mad, I get even." Oh, please. Although I have to give Billy Campbell props for getting that out with a straight face.
Cut to Rick and Sam standing around the water cooler. Sam concedes that he was a "jerk." "Considering he was a client, yeah," Rick agrees. Sam explains that his artistic temperament is such that he can only perform under pressure. He says, "In second grade, I'd always hand in those little projects days late; still got the best grade. I'd work on it in therapy, but I can't seem to show up on time." He smiles into his water cup and scuttles away, very pleased with himself. Rick? Not so pleased. He follows Sam and finds him sitting on the floor bouncing a ping-pong ball off a paddle. Rick snatches the ball out of the air and informs Sam that he has to "get something on paper." Sam hangs his head, and Rick says, "I don't need him mad at me, after the year I've had." Sammler Pity Party, table for one. Sorry, man, but you've only got yourself to blame for the year and a half you've had. Sam goes back to bouncing the ball. The editor's finger spasms and cuts out ten seconds of tape, so we suddenly see Sam angrily knocking the ball away.