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
Fade over to Lily opening her front door. Miriam's father is waiting on the stoop. He reminds her who he is, and she invites him inside.
Cut to Mr. Miller and Lily sitting down to tea in the living room. Mr. Miller asks her what Aaron was like before he became ill. She falters and laughs self-consciously at how long ago it seems. She says that Aaron was "wonderful." "Mmm-hmm," Mr. Miller says, sipping his tea. "Was he?" Lily says that Aaron always seemed like a hero to her, and that she envied his "depth of emotion." Mr. Miller reminisces that people used to stop him and his wife in church to tell them they had a beautiful daughter. "Of course, we knew something was wrong by the time she was three," he adds. He rhymes off the list of characters he's represented to Miriam over the years, including the Lion King, Rocky, and Robin Hood. "Well, that's not bad company," Lily smiles. Mr. Miller cuts to it, asking if she thinks Aaron is capable of living on his own. Lily looks thoughtful for a second, not wanting to voice what she really feels. Finally, she mutters that he's been on some good medication lately. Mr. Miller blurts that he doesn't think Miriam is capable. Lily asks how he can be sure, and he tells her about what happened when Miriam was on her own once: "I'm a retired cop, and I know every street in Chicago, and it took me two months to find her. And she'd been raped, shot up with drugs, beaten." Lily murmurs in dismay. Mr. Miller says that Aaron may be ready for independent living, but that Miriam is not: "She's the most important thing in the world to me, and she will never be ready to live on her own."
Time passes, and Lily and Mr. Miller fade into the kitchen. Mr. Miller is seated at the counter while Lily gets dinner ready. Judy, Aaron, Miriam, and the rest pile through the back door, and Mr. Miller stands. Miriam cowers into the fridge at the sight of him. He fetches her gloves and says he brought them for her, since it's so cold. He tries to hand them to her, but she just stares at him. Aaron shrinks behind her, nervously shifting from one foot to the other. Lily breaks the tension by making a round of introductions. Mr. Miller holds out the gloves again, telling Miriam to put them on. She says she doesn't want them and starts rambling, "Alligator, carburetor, masturbater..." Her father says her name impatiently. "Herb," she shoots back immediately, challenging. He says he brought her meds, and she screams, "No! I don't want my medication! I want Aaron!" She clutches a reluctant Aaron, who seems to want nothing more than to disappear into the wall. The two of them wedge themselves behind the fridge, and Mr. Miller, embarrassed, apologizes for the scene. Miriam starts shrieking repeatedly for Aaron to "tell them." Somewhat mechanically, he utters, "One person is just a room..." Mr. Miller doesn't have time for this kind of nonsense and demands, "What do you mean?" Aaron doesn't know how to answer him. Mr. Miller advances toward the couple, asking Aaron what he means. Judy tries to intervene. Mr. Miller cuts through the namby-pamby: "He wants to live with my daughter. Can I ask him how he plans to do it?" Judy doesn't know how to respond to the mean man. Mr. Miller starts to rhyme off all the responsibilities life with Miriam would entail. Judy finally finds her voice and tells him not to talk to Aaron that way. Mr. Miller looks pained as he delivers the reality check: "That's the problem. People will." Miriam whines and screeches from the space behind the fridge, still clinging to Aaron. Judy says, "Lily, please. Aaron needs Mr. Miller to leave." She barely glances at the man in question and says she's sorry.