Episode Report Card Niki: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Losing You
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 18 | Aired on 04.07.2002
Lily's had enough and lays it all out, saying that she's always felt like Bea is angry with her, but she has no idea what she did to make her upset for all these years. Bea whips her head around to look at her, emphatically saying, "Oh, no, Lily! It wasn't you. It was just...it was life. Life did something to me." Lily absorbs this for a second, staring at her mother's hands. Snuffling back her tears, she moves next to Barbara and takes her hand. She teases, "What have you been doing? Scrubbing floors?" Bea checks out her hands and chuckles that they are a mess. "Come with me," Lily says, leading her by the hand. She plants Bea at the foot of the bed, pulls up a chair, and says, "Give it up." Bea protests that it's silly. Lily grabs a tube of hand cream and starts rubbing some into her mother's hand. "You don't have to do this!" Bea insists. After a second, she relents, admitting, "It does feel nice." Lily takes a breath then tells Barbara she wants her to think seriously about moving into the Manor. Bea can't believe the nonsense she's hearing. Bea says she always said she didn't want to be a burden, and she meant it. Lily tells her to stop. "No, I won't stop it!" Bea exclaims. She says Lily's "plate is full," and that Lily doesn't need one more thing to worry about. Lily, exasperated, snaps that Bea doesn't get to make this decision. Bea snaps that she does. Lily says, "I'm not always going to do what you want me to do." "You never have," Bea shoots. Lily shakes her hands like they're covered in red ants, and whines, "Mo-o-o-o-om!" Bea is stunned into silence. Lily, holding back tears, says she doesn't know how to make it any clearer: "I want to take care of you. Will you or won't you let me take care of you?" Bea is at a loss. After a second, she confesses, "I forget things. I do know that. We'll drive each other crazy!" Lily's steady, now. "Okay. So maybe it's not perfect." Lily leans in and emphatically whispers, "I'll remember for you, Mom." She adds, "And I think by taking care of you, I'll be taking care of me. And, you'll drive me crazy." Bea, overcome, needs a second before she can say, "Well, god knows you'll drive me crazy if I keep saying no!" They smile at one another, and Lily returns to rubbing her mother's hands. The camera pans back, out the window, and we leave them chatting happily.
The show ends with a PSA for the Alzheimer's Association. If you need information on the disease, the number is 1-800-272-3900, or go to their website.