Episode Report Card M. Giant: D+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Same Old Argument
By M. Giant | Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired on 09.15.2007
Palek catches up to Carolyn outside the building, and she's pretty pissed at him. "If you feel that way, tell me, not her," she yells. Yeah, what does he think he's doing, talking during therapy like that? Palek says he's trying to save them from what's happening to them. Carolyn shuts down, and Palek can tell that something's up. She starts to cross the street, as he harangues her to tell him what's going on, and she finally admits, "I already got tested last week." "I fucking knew it!" Palek angrily yells, and asks why she didn't tell him. Carolyn says she was afraid. "Of what?" Palek says, which is a valid question considering they're pretty much standing in the middle of the street. "That there was something wrong with me!" Carolyn yells. "Is it that fucking hard to figure out? Jesus." Which doesn't explain why she didn't tell him after the fact, when she knew she was fine. But rather than getting into that, she leaves Palek standing there. She sadly fails to get plowed over by a car in the process.
Meanwhile, Dr. Foster seems to have found a way to fill up the time that Carolyn and Palek should have taken: she's leaving a voice mail message for John, the figure I can't in good conscience call "mysterious" because "mysterious" implies any curiosity whatsoever on my part. Taking roughly forever, she explains that she wanted him to hear her voice and to know that people care about him. Oh, and also, time heals all wounds. Blah, blah, blah. By the time she's done, the remainder of Carolyn and Palek's hour is pretty much up and her day should probably be back on schedule.
Dave sits in his cubicle at work, looking distracted. He checks his watch and then picks up his desk phone. The call rings through to Katie's cell phone, just as she's about to go into her therapy appointment. Dave pretends to not have already known that and asks, "You excited?" Of course Katie isn't; she's nervous. "It's not easy, and you would know that if you were here," she points out, totally wasting a level-three glare on the phone. Dr. Foster comes out of her office and smiles at Katie, who tells Dave she has to go. Stupid Dave tries to get her to tell him he loves him before she hangs up, but she's in too much of a hurry to get off the phone. Denied! Dave couldn't make the therapist hear Katie say that she loves him. Loser.
Back in the office, Dr. Foster is making Katie talk about the last time she and Dave had sex. It comes out that it was on their anniversary, which makes it almost a year now. I kind of figured that, since last week seemed like the first time they'd talked about their dry spell, and you'd think it would have come up before then if their anniversary had fallen somewhere in the middle. "That's a long time ago, isn't it?" she asks nervously. Dr. Foster says that depends on what else happened during the year. Well, I wasn't there, but I'm sure the year was jam-packed with Dave moping around looking exhausted and miserable while Katie kept her glare-dial moving at all times. My next question would be when the second-to-last time was, and if it was on the previous anniversary, then get into that. But instead, Dr. Foster asks why it was the last time. Katie says it just kind of stopped. She doesn't think they even noticed with everything going on, and then when they did, "It was easier not to do it than to do it." Dr. Foster asks if they still kiss. Katie says they do, and indeed we have seen quite a few pecks. Dr. Foster thinks that's good, and asks if Dave still makes her want sex. "Very much, yeah," Katie says, glancing down. Dr. Foster takes the opportunity to start positioning to plug her book: "Many couples who don't have sex dread going to bed. They find those moments when they lie next to each other and they can't touch each other very lonely." That seems to resonate with Katie. Dr. Foster wonders whether Dave has asked what they talk about in therapy. Katie says yes, but that she hasn't answered. She figures she's punishing him for not being there, and Dr. Foster suggests that feeling separate from Dave may make her feel stronger. But that, she says, is no way to fix the distance. They have to realize that they're individual sexual beings. "Not when you met. Not before you had children, but now. Can you spend a little time this week thinking about that?" "I'd like to spend some time not thinking about it," Katie says. Yeah, so between this and her performance with Carolyn and Palek earlier, maybe Dr. Foster isn't quite as good a therapist as I originally thought.
Carolyn comes home with a big shopping bag full of frou-frou groceries. But instead of actually doing anything with them, she just calls her sister to ask if she's still seeing the guy who owns the Italian restaurant. "Well, did you fuck him over?" is her follow-up question. Basically, all she wants is for Mason to have the guy send some good eats over to the house. "Whatever he wants. No piccata. No veal. And no white sauce. But whatever he wants." See how easy it is to not be a control freak when you really want to?