Episode Report Card Niki: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Letting Go
By Niki | Season 1 | Episode 21 | Aired on 04.16.2000
We don't have long to ponder the old "talk is cheap" adage, however, as the camera shifts to a close-up of Grace's bristol board exhibit on the effects of global warming. I sense another sermon's brewing. Zoe tells Grace that she's really freaked out about all the environmental stuff, and then we slide into the public-service/after-school special segment of this week's episode (buckle up, kids, we're going on a guilt trip). Zoe asks Grace if we're all going to starve and be the end of civilization, and Grace says she doesn't know, and that the weird thing is that kids have to depend on grown-ups to sort it all out, and they don't seem to know what's going on. Anyone feeling guilty yet?
Jake calls to talk to Grace, and she reluctantly takes the phone from Zoe while making a snarly face at her. Jake says he wants to talk about "last night," meaning Tiffany's unexpected appearance. Grace tells him that it's okay, and then blows him off. Again.
Judy's in the bookstore office going over the books with Nelly. Lily comes in and Nelly asks her how things are going with Rick. Speaking of Rick, Lily wonders whether he called the bookstore -- she hasn't been able to track him down -- but they say they haven't heard from him. The conversation turns to the bookstore, and Lily clues in that Judy's thinking of selling it. Nelly tells her that they won't "lose much" if they decide to sell soon. Lily starts whining at Judy that she "thought the way [they] worked it out" left Lily owning part of the business as an investment. Judy points out that she can take her cash -- fifty percent -- and invest it in something else. Lily jumps in to snap that Judy's share was only thirty percent, which "daddy put down for" her. Judy counters that she's been working there full-time since the store opened -- for which she was paid, Lily bickers. Judy says she doesn't want to work there anymore because it's too lonely, and Lily demands to know what she's going to do instead. See, there's the biggest flaw in Judy's little "plan" -- she hasn't really got one. She tells Lily that Sam has a bunch of artist friends -- he may be able to set her up as a photographer's assistant. Lily's got her back to us, but her face must be pinched somehow, because Judy tells her she "hates that face. [Lily] look[s] just like [their] mom." Lily starts in on Judy, telling her snidely that selling the store because she's lonely isn't exactly sound business. Then she snarks, "Maybe if the man you're seeing were around a little more, you wouldn't feel so lonely." She proceeds to criticize all of Judy's life choices, ending with, "How much weight have you lost?" Then she storms out, still muttering sarcastic comments about the state of Judy's life (because her own is perfect, after all), when her cell phone rings. It's Eli, letting her know that Rick's okay, but he's at the hospital.