Episode Report Card Niki: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Losing You
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 18 | Aired on 04.07.2002
We return from commercials in the middle of the night. Lily's in the throes of a bad dream, tossing and murmuring restlessly. Rick is awakened by it, and nudges her on the shoulder. When she finally gets oriented, Lily appears relieved to be awake. She mutters that she was "back at the old house," and she "wanted to see [Bea] so badly." Rick pulls her against him, and she snuggles into his chest, saying that she "had to tell [her mother] something important, but she wasn't there, and [Lily] knocked on every door and looked in every room, but she wasn't there." You don't exactly need a shrink to figure that one out, do you?
Cut to Lily doing some more middle-of-the-night emotional eating. She twists apart an Oreo and, defying all known science, looks absolutely distraught even after putting it in her mouth. "You used to eat the other half first," Phil says, actually managing to startle her for once. She denies it. She gets up off the floor, where she'd been huddled, and moves to a stool at the counter, saying, "I'm so glad you're here, even though you're not really." "Oh, I am if you need me," he assures her. Lily glumly says there's a lot going on. He agrees that there is, saying he never knew before just how much is going on. "I never really knew before how everything connected. Do you know we are all made out of star dust?" Lily gets misty and says that she thinks something is wrong with Barbara. She says she wishes he were still there, because he'd know what to do. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, sweetheart, but I might not. I might be so in love with her that I'd try not to see it right away." Lily asks how she can talk to Bea, and get her to admit that she needs help. Phil points out that no one likes to admit that. "And you know your mother," he adds, "she likes to do everything herself." Lily rolls her eyes playfully and teases, "Daddy, you can't be dead and in denial." He chuckles and says, "You'll see, Lilibet. You'll see." He moves to the cupboards as Lily asks him to explain what he means. He says she'll know what to do. She asks how. But he can't tell her that because he's dead, and saying it straight just isn't in the job description. Phil opens a cupboard and tells her they did a good job with her kitchen. The camera cuts back to Lily to give Phil time to skeedaddle. "Daddy?" she says softly. When the camera returns to the cupboards, Phil is, of course, gone.
Fade to a hoity-toity dining room, later that day. Judy, Lily, and Bea are seated around a table, having high tea. Uncomfortably, Judy remarks on how great it is that green tea is becoming so universal. They chatter about it for a few seconds before Lily jumps in and says there's something she and Judy need to talk about. Bea sets the deflector shields to high and waits for the onslaught. With a lot of flinching and apologetic squinting, Lily says they were wondering if Bea has been forgetting things lately, little things like appointments and, oh say, members of her family. "Absolutely not," Bea says stolidly. She asks why they're asking. Judy tries to make light of it, saying that it happens to everyone. She use herself as an example, saying, "I've forgotten...to get married." Heh. Except not. The spinster humor's getting old, Judy. Lily looks at her like she can't be freaking serious. Bea asks if they're trying to tell her that she's incompetent. No, they're worried about her. "Worry about yourselves," Bea snips. Lily asks if she's had a check-up lately. Bea defensively answers that she has her check-ups. Lily asks when she had the last one. Bea squeals that she doesn't know and asks why they're "ganging up" on her. She says she "does very well" for herself, and tells them to see how well they do at her age. Lily leans forward and softly says they know Bea can take care of herself; Lily starts to say something more when the waitress arrives with their tray of tiny sandwiches and pastries. "Is everything all right?" she asks. They choose to ignore the loaded question and smile their thanks. As soon as she leaves, Lily whispers, "You wandered off. It was very frightening." "Is that what this is about?" Bea asks, all pish-posh. Lily stares at her plate and Judy shreds a sandwich while Bea sternly proceeds to inform them that she has lived alone ever since Phil died. "And yes, it's been very hard, but I have managed very well without you," she says. Lily doesn't back down, saying that she has a very good doctor, and she thinks Bea would love her. "What did Zoe tell you?" Bea asks, getting paranoid. Lily tries to say something, but Bea cuts her off to say, "You're making too much of this. You always have. When you were a child, I used to call you 'my little drama queen.'" Lily busies herself with forcing a smile to keep herself from strangling Bea. She glances around uncomfortably and bites her tongue as Bea changes the subject to Judy's "café."