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
Miriam whispers for Aaron to get out his list. Snuffling, he obliges and runs his fingers over the soothing words.
Later, Aaron's lying on the couch with his head in Miriam's lap, blissfully calm. In the kitchen, Judy and Lily are talking as Lily wipes up the sink. "What do you mean, they remind you of you and Sam?" Lily asks, no doubt worrying that she's now got two unstable siblings on her hands. Judy smiles and says dreamily, "You know, when it's working with someone, and you start to get your own list of dreams." Right, like Janine getting full custody of Jamian, and Sam actually becoming a grown-up? Lily flings the sponge in the sink with a dismissive flick of the wrist and declares that it's not the same at all. Judy asks why. Because Aaron's dreams are actually possible compared to Judy's? Lily says that Judy has no idea what happens to Aaron when he gets attached to someone. Judy asks what she means. Lily catches herself and tells Judy to forget it. She lowers her voice and says that she just doesn't want to see him hurt. Judy points out that he already is hurt, and that this is the first time he's been able to want things, and that she thinks Miriam "is helping him get there." Judy gives voice to what we've all been thinking, admitting, "Okay, maybe she could use a bit more shampoo, a little less makeup." She adds that she thinks they should "thank god" for Miriam nonetheless. Lily doesn't look so sure.
Later, Lily ventures hesitantly into the attic, where she finds Miriam seated on the floor, pulling things out of a shoe. Don't ask me. Lily asks if Miriam has everything she needs, and offers her extra blankets. "You don't like me," Miriam says without looking up. "What do you mean? I like you very much," Lily lies, taking a seat in the nearest chair and sounding concerned. Miriam insists that she doesn't and adds, "I'm not very likable." She bares her teeth in a semblance of a smile.
"I, of course, had already imagined the girl that Aaron would marry. I even had a name for her: Caroline." Lily smiles at the fantasy, saying that Aaron and Caroline would "meet at Oberlin and travel to Europe and read Steppenwolf to each other in trains."
Lily leans forward and chides, "Oh, Miriam, how can you say that? I know Aaron likes you a whole lot." Miriam's eyes leap to Lily, wanting so badly to believe her. "You think so?" she asks. Lily assures her that it's true, and Miriam grimaces self-consciously.
Soliloquy Lily continues to contrast Miriam against her fantasy, saying that Caroline would be a pediatrician, and every year she and Lily go to New York together for three days to "see some shows."