Episode Report Card Niki: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Taking Sides
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 11 | Aired on 01.03.2002
Soliloquy Beach. Everyone is still laughing, still recounting the story of Karen swimming. It's really not that interesting, so I'm not going to bother with transcribing any of the details. Basically, Karen swam far, far away all by herself. Rick noticed that she was in trouble, and dove in after her without thinking. Karen sighs, "Isn't that romantic?" and rests her head on her knight's firm chest. "I'm thinking, 'Which one of these two is stupider?'" Sam says. I'm thinking, "The person who chose to use a word like 'stupider,'" but that's just me. Sam says he grabbed Eli's raft -- "because [he's] smart" -- but he doesn't get to finish his tale of heroic smarts. Karen interrupts to ask us sarcastically, "Isn't he smart?" Janine snides, "He's cunningly smart."
Back at the office, Rick asks how Sam left things with Melissex. Sam says she liked the work, she's going to pass it along to the "web dopes," and he's seeing her again tonight. Rick whips a ball of paper at Sam's head. It hits, but not nearly hard enough.
Over at Booklovers, Karen and Judy are finally getting together. For lunch, that is. Karen remarks at the size of the crowd, and Judy jokes, "Thank god for all the lonely single people in the world." "Hey! Watch it!" Karen yips. Judy offers to add Karen's picture to the singles' board, but Karen's not too interested. She asks how Sam is. Judy tries to play it cool, and insists that Sam is just her friend. Karen laughs, and Judy complains that no one believes her. "So tell me about your life, I'm bored with mine," Judy says. Karen sighs with a faraway look and crams a piece of lettuce in her mouth.
Fade to a pair of hands setting down dessert as Karen complains, "It's like I'm losing them to that house. It's not Lily's fault, per se, but I feel like I barely see them anymore." She pauses and continues, "Naked stepmothers, kids getting stoned, babies being born...How could my house compete with that?" Midget wrestling? The world's biggest bong? Free porn? I'm just saying. She laments, "I feel like I need to invent special occasions just to lure them out."
Fade to a pair of hands replacing the dessert plates with two huge cups of hot chocolate. Judy muses, "Do I like him? Yes. Do I have fantasies? Yes. But I'm just being very grown up and living my own life." If by being "very grown up," she means "deluding herself like a five-year-old," then yeah, that about sums it up. Karen surveys her with a knowing look. "What?" Judy asks. Karen sips her cocoa and insists, "Nothing."