Episode Report Card Heathen: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Falling In Place
By Heathen | Season 3 | Episode 13 | Aired on 03.03.2002
Jessie is sitting with Karen when they hear a knock at the door. It's Eli, toting Karen's pillow from home and a small pink box. Karen eagerly grabs the pillow, fluffs it and stuffs it behind her back. "You have no idea how much I've missed this," she sighs delightedly. Eli hands her the box, which Karen opens to discover the vanilla cookies she loves so much. "Those are the ones, right?" Eli grins. Karen is utterly touched, as well she should be, because the gift of sugar is the greatest gift of all. They each take a cookie, and while Jessie nibbles half-heartedly at it -- but seems to be in a much better mood -- Karen chomps down on the cookie and listens as Eli perches on her bed and tells her about his job at Booklovers. Karen glows with pride. "When are you getting out of here?" Eli asks, still slightly ill-at-ease. Karen isn't sure, but has a favor to ask: "I was wondering if [when I am released] you would pick me up?" A gleam of hope flickers in Eli's eyes. He agrees. Next, Karen nervously asks Eli to move back in with her so that she has someone there to help her negotiate the stairs, and any unexpected obstacles. Eli's jaw is tense, which is Shane West's signal for "I am moved beyond belief." He agrees again, and Karen grabs his hand in loving gratitude. Eli can't handle the emotion, so he lightens the moment by picking on his sister for eating too many cookies. That's right -- his anorexic sister. Who is notorious for not eating anything. Way to be sensitive. Whenever I have the slightest feeling of sympathy for this character, he does something boneheaded to obliterate it. Eli grabs Jessie and picks her up, and the trio laughs together while the siblings engage in horseplay. It should be touching, but it's kind of stupid, because all he does is spin Jessie around and she's squealing like he's poking her with hot forks.
Time passes. A new day dawns in Karen's room, and she's listening to her CD and writing in a journal when Henry arrives with a wheelchair. He stops it in front of her bed and plops down in it. "How are you feeling?" he asks, cautiously. "Better," Karen nods. "What do you have in store for me today?" Henry suggests that she take her first steps with the walker, and then gazes curiously at Karen, waiting for her refusal and her rapid-fire protests, insults, or anything else she's apt to spew. What he gets instead is pleasant compliance. Henry thinks she can do it, so she'll do it. Cue the uplifting singing ovary.
As Henry helps Karen out of bed, she spots his full name stitched on the pocket in some fairly absurd, thick cursive. "Higgins?" she reads. "Your name is Henry Higgins?" Henry clearly hasn't heard that joke enough, but he lets Karen have that one, because it's the first time he's seen her laugh. Henry Higgins, by the way, is the character in Pygmalion (or My Fair Lady, starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison) who takes a "common" street vendor and turns her into a lady. Heavy-handed? Why, yes, and the palm print is still on my back.