Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT The Deep End Of The Ocean
By Jacob Clifton | Season 5 | Episode 13 | Aired on 08.31.2009
Downstairs, Nancy's back in Andy/Nancy mode, which is the best mode for anybody to be in, and she's like, "You... did it." He's giddy, it's sad: "She's a doctor, I'm marrying a doctor," he says, as though his dead grandmother were alive and he were female. It's a nice little nod to the way in which Nancy's always played typical female/male gender stuff to her advantage, while Andy's disinterest in/confusion by these things -- up to having things in his bum that time, which, try to convince Esteban to go near that zip code -- has given him (and the boys) so much more benefit, not to mention sexual prowess, as a man. Down there, you want a Jew. On the other hand, he's still a little boy, so who knows what kind of misogynist he'll be when he grows up, but right now he's as comfortable being Audra's wife as he was being Judah.
Nancy asks if Audra's actually said yes, and he's sure she will: "She's hooked." I'm inclined to believe him, because the one thing Nancy and Andy are both adept at is seeing people's weak spots and how to make them love you. As if to point out his fallacious aging process, Nancy offers him a Ding-Dong and he immediately scarfs it. She sits down, pretending it's innocent musing: "Adelita's a junkie." Andy points out that it should be pronounced yunkie, and she nods. Boarding school, three languages -- all the thing that make her better than Silas -- "but a neglected child is still a neglected child."
Which could be breezy hypocrisy, but is in fact a willing self-indictment: her children are such a foregone conclusion she's saying she's got to be satisfied by the fact that his kids came down to the level of hers. That when he said she kept hers close and he sent his away, it wasn't the whole story. She did neither, she did both. Neglect isn't about distance, it's about realizing too late that you have children you've never met. It doesn't matter if your kids are with you or not, when the plane is full of snakes: A neglected child is only ever the accessory to a neglected life.
When Andy points out that she's gloating, Nancy grins and protests lightly, as though they're talking about something inconsequential. Which they are. "You're a little glad Esteban's daughter is a drug addict. More than a little." She reminds him that Esteban will be heartbroken, which is obviously just more gloating. She admits it, then retracts her admission, making him smile: "He did put down my children," she admits, and Andy wonders if the bloom is off the rose. He doesn't even know about the War Of Deodorant that's powering this bullshit. He asks if she's sorry for pledging "eternal love and devotion," but she's not. She's got that much of the glue figured out this time.