Episode Report Card Niki: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Pictures
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 10 | Aired on 12.13.2001
Meanwhile, the instant potatoes are still coming down hard, slowing the traffic to a standstill. Jake stares through the clear spot on his windshield, looking defeated. "So, why don't you want to marry her?" Tammy asks. Jake snaps, "Do we have to have this conversation now?" Tammy reasons they'll never see each other again, so why not? Jake takes a breath and lets her have it: basically, he proved that he was a pig way back when Lily was giving birth to one of their kids, when he went down to the cafeteria and started flirting with some doctor. In short, he's "a bad man," but a "good father." Tammy "a-ha"s knowingly, and sums it up: "You like being ambivalent so you can keep going on dates and then sweep in and be the dad when you want to be. And when a woman needs something, you have a perfect excuse built right in, which is that you're bad." She kicks ass. Jake insists that it isn't an excuse; he really is bad. "Nah. You're fourteen," Tammy says, unimpressed. Jake snaps, "Did I make this blizzard? Did I plan this baby?" Tammy considers it, then calmly answers, "Nope. You still gotta deal with them both, though, don't you?" Game, set, and match.
Rick wanders into the kitchen, where Lily is gathering supplies. Looking dazed, he mutters, "I've done this twice already. You'd think I'd be used to it." "You did it?" she mocks. She says she went through it twice before, and she still can't imagine how it happened. "Yeah, and I'm sure you'd love to go through it again," Rick says, rubbing the back of his neck. Lily freezes and says, "No. I guess not." Brrr. She marches off to the bedroom, as Rick trails, pleading, "Lil!" Seeing Grace, Lily pauses on the staircase to demand, "Where's your dad, anyway? Has anybody heard from him?" Grace says they haven't in a while. Lily orders Rick to go get a midwife. He points out that Jake already has one. Plus, where's he supposed to find one on a moment's notice in the middle of a blizzard? Midwives R Us? Lily doesn't like this whiff of mutiny, and storms, "Jake is a non-committal passive-aggressive bad driver. He's probably stuck in a ditch making out with the midwife!" Heh. Except that Tammy has way too much sense for that. Lily fires up the steps, muttering, "Who knows if he'll even be here? He barely showed up for me when I was married to him..." She trails off when she sees Tiffany standing at the top of the staircase. Tiffany asks if she can take a bath. Lily smiles weakly and says sure.
Over at Karen's, Jessie's control-freaking all over the gingerbread house. Jamie globs a line of icing down an eave, and she complains that she was "going to do a gumdrop trim there." Judy glances over from the kitchen. Jamie apologizes, and Jessie says it's okay. "I don't mean to be obsessive, it's just..." …that it's in your genes? Judy carries the dessert and plates out to the living room with Karen. Alone, she whispers, "What's up with Jamie?" Karen sighs that it's a long story. Judy stammers around what she really wants to ask, saying that "maybe it's because of the divorce," but the kid "just seems really --" "Really what?" Sam demands, standing in the doorway. Judy, to her credit, doesn't cringe away. Instead, she cringes through an explanation of her curiosity, saying that she "had this little moment" with the kid, and "it was a little difficult." "Yeah, well, they're all difficult," Sam says defensively. Karen leaves them to talk, and Sam explains that Jamie is a difficult kid. Judy protests that she thinks "he's a lovely kid." Sam says he's been in and out of special schools "and on a boatload of medications, none of which have worked, so...merry Christmas." Judy absorbs this information and says she's sorry. Sam says, "I just wanted you to know, this is who he is. This is my son." Judy says she thinks he's wonderful. Sam acts as though he didn't hear and continues, "In case you have a problem with that." Judy asks, "Why would that matter?" Sam doesn't answer, but instead gets up and walks away, leaving Judy looking troubled.