Episode Report Card Niki: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Disoriented
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 14 | Aired on 03.10.2002
Katie schlumps in (well, as much as a statuesque woman is capable of schlumping), and Creepitri launches into Donne. On the blackboard behind him, he's scrawled "Donne," "Shelley," "Yeats," and "Keats," along with the admonition, "Do your homework." I hope he brings his own chalk if that's the kind of useless crap he feels compelled to scribble up there. Anyway, while he tries to goad the class into responsiveness, Katie hunches over her notebook and scratches feverishly. When she's finished, she tears out the sheet, folds it urgently and writes "Jessie" across the front. Creepitri asks the class what a paradox is. Grace answers that it's something "that just doesn't make sense, but it's still true." Creepitri is about to move forward in the lecture, but Grace asks if she can say something. She holds up the book of Donne's poems and says that they're supposed to be love poems, "but he just seems so detached." Creepitri explains that that's what it meant to be a poet back then: "To be a scientist of the human heart." Grace interrupts again to say that that's not what she thinks poetry is meant to be. Maybe she should hop in her time machine, zoom on back a few hundred years, and let Donne know he got it wrong. She smiles shyly at her desktop and says that she just "read these poems by this other person, and they just showed you, like, his entire life. How he thought and felt about everything. And it made you realize how you felt about everything." She stares at him earnestly. The bell rings, and Creepitri gravely tells her she made an interesting point. You know he wants to say more, but he spots Katie hovering behind Grace, and says they'll continue the conversation another time. Something tells me Grace won't like what he's got to say. Katie asks if Grace can give the note to Jessie. She emphasizes that it's "extremely personal." Well, it's a good thing she folded it twice, then, or there'd be no stopping people from reading it. She ducks her head and rushes out, leaving Grace with the note and an overwhelming temptation. Grace waits until she's gone, then starts to unfold the letter. She stops herself before she sees anything and stuffs it into her backpack. I assume she realized it would be much safer to snoop in a more private location.
Close-up of the letter, opened. The camera pans up the hands and arms clutching it, and -- surprise! -- it's Jessie, not Grace, who's reading it. Jessie's face is dismal. She closes her eyes and shakes her head, trying to keep from crying. The camera pans fully back, and we see that she's sitting next to Karen's bed at the hospital. Strange place to read that particular letter. Karen stirs, and Jessie jumps and stuffs the letter away. Jessie tries to hide that she's upset. Karen reminds her that she'll be coming home the next day, which brings a soggy smile to Jessie's face. Karen asks how Katie is. Jessie tries to sound steady as she says that Katie's fine. Karen says that she's thrilled Jessie has such a good friend, and that she wishes she had one in high school. She turns the knife, saying, "I had friends, but I don't think we were ever honest with each other." Jessie stays silent, trying not to cry. Karen mistakes her reaction for stress over her accident. Jessie admits that that isn't the problem. She can't meet Karen's eyes as she explains, "There's this person...I mean, I just want things to stay the way they are, but, uh, what they want is...to sort of...take that next step." "Jess, I think I know who you're talking about," Karen says. Oh, I bet you don't. Jessie freezes, staring at her with wide-eyed terror. "You do?" she asks, unblinking. Karen says that Judy stopped by earlier and told her all about Tad. Jessie laughs a little, as much from relief as from the absurdity of imagining herself with that lunk, I assume. She doesn't set Karen straight, but just asks what she should do. "Do you want the person to like you?" Karen asks. Jessie says that she doesn't know what she wants. "Just because a person has feelings for you doesn't mean you have to return those feelings," Karen sagely advises. The nurse enters with Karen's food tray. Karen makes a joke, and Jessie smiles weakly, her eyes brimming.