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
"I want to be the one," Judy says, meaning that she thinks the news about the job should come from her. Lily agrees. Judy stares at her hard, and Lily swears that she won't tell.
"Promise me," Sam demands. "I swear," Rick says.
I swear, too, but it's only because I'm sick of this already. Move on!
Sam whips a fortune cookie at Rick's ass, and through the miracles of modern editing, it turns into a Nerf football the two are tossing back and forth. There's a hiccup edit, and suddenly Rick is flipping through a pile of papers, and Sam is holding the football, hesitantly trying to bring up a question. He tells Rick that he's in a "little trouble here." He asks Rick whether he knows a hotelier named Colin Fleisher. "Groovy lobbies, Matisse headboards," Rick replies, which I guess means he's heard of him. Well, it turns out that Fleisher bought four of Sam's sculptures, and then he bought a "dump" in Lincoln Park, and he wants Sam to design it. "What do you need me for?" Rick wants to know, moving across the office. Sam trails after him and says, "Well, I need an architect, and a partner, and I just...really need your help." Rick expresses his enthusiasm over the prospect of an actual job by asking, "You still using people, Sam?" Because as the whole Miles thing showed us, Rick doesn't like to be used. Sam assures Rick that he's out to exploit him and sarcastically insults Rick's abilities. "I'm touched and flattered," Rick mutters, flipping through a file. "So, you gonna do this, or what?" Sam asks. Rick says, "Tell me more."
Cut to Lily in the bathroom of Manning Manor, cutting her toenails. Rick echoes my shock and dismay by observing, "You have toenails. That grow." She assures him it's only the one foot that's like that, which is good, because that's not freaky at all. Rick asks her what she thinks of him and Sam working together. "I think it's a great opportunity. I think you could have a lot of fun," she replies, sounding like a bad actor on a promotional video. "But...?" Rick asks. She assures him there isn't one. "I need this, Lil," he informs her, in case she's somehow missed the fact that there's been no money rolling in. He adds, "And then it literally comes out of the blue..." Oh, please tell me he didn't just say that. He needles some more until Lily finally states, "He's a married man."
Soliloquy Rick pops up to pull a face and let us know that he has no idea what she's talking about, either.
Lily explains that Sam's a married man who had an affair with her sister. "Which means I can't trust him?" Rick asks. He tries to argue that you can't judge a person's character by how they act in a marriage, but Lily's not really buying it. She pulls a few Kleenexes out of the box, rubs her hands, and walks away, basically letting him know that he's wasting his breath. Rick keeps on talking. Finally, Lily levels him with a look that shuts him up, and simply says, "You're an idiot." She shuts off the bathroom lights on him. That's the kind of love and support that'll make a marriage work.