Episode Report Card Chuck: C- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Naked and the Dead
By Chuck | Season 5 | Episode 1 | Aired on 01.05.2002
Galileo, says Hill, all ponced up in more velveteen and some Princess Leia-like hairbuns, was jailed and forced to recount his theory that the earth revolves around the sun, rather than the generally accepted other way around. Few things suck more, he muses, than being forced to stand in public and disavow those things which one holds to be of deepest truth, as he tosses a big book into a sizzling fire for effect.
Though Mrs. Arif is quiet, Jewel isn't having any luck with her nap and continues to wail, while Annette puffs on a cigarette, all defiant and long-nailed. Father Mukada, smelling smoke, turns around and looks snippy, but doesn't bother to drag his sorry ass back and tell her to quit. Flash to Carrie, who's sewing something, and Jewel, who is completely silent (obvious consistency patrol slackage), and then Mrs. Hill (a.k.a. Eugenia) starts talking about how seeing the baby reminds her of her own Augustus. She muses about his very first steps, the inevitable what-ifs. Mrs. Arif maintains that Allah "guides our every step," and while Eugenia agrees that God is indeed strong, He can't stop her mind from wondering. She goes on about Augustus, his first suit, his first day of school, his wedding day to Annabella. Then she lost him to crack, although he's now been clean for three years. Eugenia is a bit worried on that front, however, as she's got some bad news; turns out that today, she must tell her son that his wife wants a divorce (she hopes to soften the impact by delivering the news in person). Annabella got a fella and now she wants her freedom; while Eugenia tried to talk her out of it, her mind is set. Then wise Mrs. Hill reveals that she's always blamed Annabella a bit for her son's downward spiral, as she was there the night he shot the cop, the night his spine was snapped; she should have taken better care of Augustus. Eugenia starts to cry (tears for her little emperor) but recovers herself quickly, and says that while her son is cooped up in a little cell, "half his body dead," all she can think about is his first step. This competent scene, by far the longest one of the episode (at almost four minutes), conjures the appropriate amount of emotional investment (through expert manipulation) necessary for the wave of death and destruction that is certainly about to visit the bus; Mrs. Hill makes a convincing subject for sympathy, even if she's doing the shop-worn, burdened-but-resolute strong black mother thing.
Back at the ranch, Redding says he never gets mail (in response to Hill's question) because no one ever sends him any (clever!); Poet rips up a donation solicitation from the United Negro College Fund, and Hill discovers that his wife wants out -- via a letter from a lawyer. Obviously shaken, Hill tries to downplay the news, saying it was not unexpected. Redding says that seven years is a long time for any girl to keep candle lit, which Hill knows, but thinks that, as they loved each other, she could have at least come to say goodbye. Poet wanders off with a supportive shoulder squeeze, and Redding tells Hill he'll survive this -- if he can survive Oz…Hill says that losing Annabella kind of destroys his last shred of hope, makes him feel like his entire life outside is gone.