Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT The Way We Were
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 17 | Aired on 02.25.2007
... and then the baby is still cute but more grown-up, and also pissed as hell as she asks her dad if he made her the way she is as some sort of experiment. I don't know if this is a lucky coincidence or clever planning, but from Claire's point of view, he could have done the same thing to her as he did to Parkman and Sprague, only she wouldn't have the marks because her skin would have regenerated. Mrs. Bennet tells her not to talk to her dad like that, but she snarls, "He's not my father." Well, Claire, despite all he's done, he's a better dad than your biological father would have been. Although it's true your bio-dad would have been able to give you the most awesome piggyback rides anyone's ever had. Parkman is now trying to get Sprague to cut their losses and go, but Sprague is insistent that they get the cure they came for. Parkman asks what happens if there isn't one, and hears Sprague's thoughts: "I'll kill us all." Parkman gapes for a moment before Sprague tells him to get inside Bennet's head and get some answers, "or we're all gonna have a really bad day." Not the Daniel Powter kind, either. Parkman then realizes that Bennet is thinking at him in Japanese. Ha! But I think Bennet should have done it in Pig Latin. Yes, Parkman would have been able to translate it, but that's more than made up for by the fact that it would have been ten times as annoying. Sprague is not having any of this, and he menaces Bennet until he mentally gives up that there's a safe in the bookcase in the den. Sprague goes to check it out, but we get a view of the fireplace, and then the camera moves lower and tilts up to reveal a gun taped underneath the mantel. Bennet moves for and grabs it, but Parkman decks him, and then Sprague gets back in there, grabs the gun, and kicks Bennet in the ribs a few times until Parkman pulls him away. Sprague seethes that he's calling Bennet's bluff, and grabs Sandra and points the gun at her. Claire heartbreakingly whimpers, "Mom?" Parkman, gun drawn as well, tries to talk Sprague down, but Sprague offers, "He killed my wife. Only fair I kill his." Well, it doesn't sound like all that great a solution to me, but I suppose Hammurabi would approve. Claire and Parkman yell at Bennet to give up some information, and then she gets in front of her mom and tells Sprague to shoot her instead, but Sandra pushes her out of the way. Sensing that this standoff isn't going to remain Mexican a whole hell of a lot longer, Bennet mentally tells Parkman to trust him and fire at Claire. So apparently the catchphrase has evolved into "Shoot the cheerleader, save the world." Sprague makes it clear that he's about to render Bennet a widower, and Claire joins in on the mental badgering as she tele-yells at Parkman to shoot her. Just before Sprague can make good on his threat, Parkman shoots, and there's a really cool subtle expression of relief on Claire's face as she hits the deck. God, I love Hayden Panettiere. There's also a nice brief delay as Sandra doesn't initially react because she was expecting to be shot, but then she rushes to Claire, shrieking, and Parkman looks like he's about to completely fall apart. You've got a lot of work ahead of you, dude -- use the commercial break to pull yourself together.
We zoom back up to the front door, and then we get an overhead angle of the bit we just saw with Mrs. Bennet rushing over to Claire and yelling at Parkman. Sprague is aghast at Parkman, and Bennet takes the opportunity to mentally tell Parkman to gain Sprague's trust. Parkman, thinking fast, says that now Bennet knows how far they'll go. Bennet then thinks, "Right hook coming," and telegraphs his windup, presumably so Parkman can merely make it look like he got clocked. However, either he doesn't get the message, or the Foley guys forgot they were supposed to sit this one out. Bennet yells about how Parkman killed his little girl, but Sprague menaces him with the gun, and then he goes over to his distraught wife, who cries, "Tell me it's not true!" I'd tell you, but then I'd have to Mindblow you. Bennet yells at them not to leave Claire there, and then mentally tells Parkman to move her body before she heals. Parkman tells Sprague that they don't need to see her like that, and they should move the body...