Episode Report Card Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Strangers And Brothers
By Niki | Season 1 | Episode 18 | Aired on 03.12.2000
Here's black-and-white Judy's take on the scene: She can't believe how beautiful the two of them are at that moment, standing there like a single unit.
Back in the hallway, Judy notices Barbara and calls out to her. She leads Aaron over to their mother, but when Barbara moves toward him, Aaron heads for the wall. He presses up against it and shields his face with his hands. The more Barbara tries to talk to him, the more he withdraws. She looks very sad. Barbara takes a step back from Aaron to ask Judy how he's doing. Aaron pipes up that "[they're] a team. Phil Brooks." Barbara starts to cry.
What follows is a series of short cuts between the family at the cemetery, and people trying to be upbeat as they give eulogies. It begins with a shot of the cemetery, where the day is very gray and bleak, and the burial is about to get underway. People are still moving around, and as the camera pans closer, we see Lily move to Rick for a hug and kiss. Jake is right behind her to shake Rick's hand.
Cut to Manni, standing next to a portrait of Phil smiling and raising his glass as if in a toast. Manni says Phil would hate to see anyone looking morose, and remembers a Phil-ism: "When you're down in the dumps, don't order the fish." Everyone laughs, and the camera cuts back to the cemetery. We pan the family as the rabbi begins to sing -- he has a beautiful voice, by the way -- and the camera finally settles on Barbara, who looks stricken.
Manni's voice continues over the cemetery images, and he introduces Phil's favorite song, which was played "at his wedding to beautiful Barbara: I Can't Get Started [by] Bunny Berigan." The sounds of a melancholy trumpet begin, and the song continues to play softly as the rabbi sings and Phil's casket is lowered.
We cut to Phil's hostess from the restaurant, who's tearfully joking that "Phil's not gone, he's just late for his reservation" or something to that effect. Again, everyone laughs.
Almost immediately, we're back at the graveside, where Barbara tosses the first dirt onto Phil's casket, followed by Lily. Zoe is next, and as she drops her dirt, we hear her voice-over remembering all of Phil's nicknames for her. There were many of them, and they were all food related.
Cut to Grace, in the midst of her eulogy. She's recounting some of Phil's favorite openers for jokes: A rabbi and a priest, yada yada. She remembers how funny he was, and how "when you were with him, you were funny too" just before she chokes up.