Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT All Aboard The Crazy Train
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 2 | Aired on 06.11.2005
Later, Brenda's back in her huge office, packing up after a draining day of reading files and going to a staff meeting. The boss comes in and asks if she's okay. Brenda says she is, but then adds, "No, I mean, whew." Those files must be in really small print or something. The boss says you have to be in a strong place to work there. "I'm in a strong place," Brenda insists, so unconvincingly that we can see that the boss immediately realizes she'll never see Brenda again.
Speaking of not seeing people again, Rico has schlepped all the way over to Sharon's apartment building, where he's now stalking her answering machine from the security gate. Another tenant comes out, and Rico pleasantly surprises me by not darting into the open door. Instead, he asks the other guy if he's seen Sharon today. The guy hasn't. Whatever. We already know that Sharon has only lived in L.A. for four years, so there's no way one of her fellow tenants would even know who she is. Rico checks his watch, and then pulls out his cell phone to call Vanessa and say he can't take the kids tonight as planned. Vanessa's irritated, but Rico says Sharon's "missing." "What do you mean, she's missing?" Vanessa asks. Rico says she's just disappeared. "Have you started calling the hospitals?" Vanessa says with some concern. Rico says he figures he'd better start doing that. Vanessa tells him not to worry about the kids. "I hope you find her. And I'm sure she's fine." I can't believe she's not angrier. They hang up, and Rico calls directory assistance to get the number to County Hospital. Until now, I didn't think Rico actually believed that Sharon was really in trouble, but now I see that he does. That's the great thing about Rico: five seasons in, he can still be even dumber than you think he is.
Ruth and Maggie are camped out in front of the TV (the one clear image on the screen is that of a passenger jet, an ironic commentary on Ruth's isolated, housebound existence, which is also being underscored by the fact that every scene she's in also has George and, except for Maggie, nobody else, even though the entire rest of the cast and a whole funeral's worth of people are trooping through other parts of the house all episode, and I'm going to close this parenthetical already because look at all the flies I'm letting in), George fast asleep and snoring between them. Ruth comments on the exotic tea Maggie has brought, and gushes enviously about Maggie's "adventures." Maggie downplays it, saying all she ever sees are hotel rooms and the inside of doctors' offices. Ruth asks if Maggie is dating anyone. In the uncomfortable silence, she adds that Maggie must have doctors lined up for her. "Like they're such prizes," Maggie grumbles. "I guess men are the same everywhere," Ruth tells her tea. Rather than letting the downer just hang there, Maggie finally admits that she's been seeing someone, and Ruth begs for details like a drowning woman. Maggie seems pretty noncommittal about the whole thing. "I'm in no hurry to get married," she explains. "Good for you," Ruth says. She offers some advice: "I think you should know exactly what you're getting into before you make that jump. Marriage is hard." Finally acknowledging the elephant in the room after having to be steered into it so many times that her nose has gone all squishy, Maggie says it must be difficult for Ruth. Ruth thanks her for saying so: "Sometimes it's all I need to hear. That someone understands." Maggie has her own advice: "I think if you look hard enough, you'll see that the man you fell in love with is still in there." Oh, come on. All Ruth does anymore is give him hard looks. Ruth makes a "whatever" face at George's sleeping form.