Episode Report Card Niki: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT My Brilliant Career
By Niki | Season 1 | Episode 20 | Aired on 04.09.2000
As they're leaving the restaurant, Jared tells Grace that he thinks Jake is "cool." Grace is incredulous. Jared walks her through the situation: Jake obviously wanted Jared to like him because of Grace. Jared thinks that is "pretty cool." Grace sees his point.
Lily's at home on the couch, editing. She takes a break to call Zoe at the restaurant. Zoe tells Lily that everything is fine, but Lily's obviously lonely. She tells Zoe she can come pick her up, but Zoe says she wants to stay. So Lily asks to talk to Grace. Zoe tells her that she's out with Jared. Lily wants to know why she wasn't told about it. Zoe doesn't know, but reminds Lily that they're not supposed to call her at work. Lily holds the phone away for a second to get a grip on her temper. She then asks Zoe to put Jake on the phone, but Zoe says he's in the middle of something. Defeated, Lily hangs up, and you can just tell she's wondering what the hell she's doing with her life.
Grace is having a decidedly better time. She and Jared are walking up the sidewalk to Jake's house, bonding over their parents' divorces, and he gives her a big ol' kiss. Then another. Then Zoe and Tiffany catch them by accident. There's embarrassment on all sides, except for Zoe, who's unabashedly staring at them like they're a circus sideshow. Tiffany drags her into the house.
Inside, Grace shoos Zoe off to bed with a sisterly threat, and then she and Tiffany bond over boys and other complicated stuff. Tiffany agrees to show Grace some make-up tricks the next day after school.
Somehow, Rick's managed to slip on-camera for a few more seconds as he and Lily make out on her couch. Three...two...one. Lily tells him she has something else to do. This time, it's her work. She tells him he can hang out and wait for her to finish -- he "can go watch TV or sit and stare at [her]." Yes, she actually said that out loud. Like a good little boyfriend, Rick doesn't make any fuss at all but heads off to watch TV. Hey, he's learned his place by now (somewhere around fourth or fifth, depending on the week).
The next morning, Crusty warns Lily that she's "not fit for human company." She's just figuring this out now? She goes on to explain that she's got a raging case of PMS. So what's her excuse the rest of the time? Crusty tells Lily she just came from her acupuncture session, which is supposed to help, and that her acupuncturist gave her some "little bags of dirt" which is supposedly tea. She tells Lily it has to be brewed exactly the way the instructions describe (which means it's a colossal pain in the ass, no doubt) and then shoos her off to brew it. Lily tries to get Crusty to look at her work, but Crusty dismisses her.