Episode Report Card Kim: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Future Shock
By Kim | Season 4 | Episode 12 | Aired on 03.19.2002
Ben sits in the loft, staring into space. Felicity arrives home. Ben asks how it went, and Felicity sarcastically says that the waitress at the pizza place thinks she has a lot of talent. Ben pulls her onto his lap. For the rest of this scene, I was totally distracted by the way Ben was rubbing her stomach for two reasons. One, it made it look like Felicity was pregnant, so maybe that was an actorly choice to let us know what Ben was really thinking about. Two, he was coming really close to touching her boob, and I was fascinated to see if he would, and wondering how Keri Russell could keep delivering her lines. Anyway, Felicity repeats Owen's line that it took years before anyone would look at Cezanne's paintings. Felicity notices Ben's expression and asks what's wrong. Ben says that he just has a lot going on, and he doesn't think he can have dinner with Felicity and her mother. Felicity quickly accepts this. Ben tells her that Prof. Snark asked him to be a research assistant. Felicity is impressed. Ben confesses that he doesn't understand much about the experiment other than that he needs to check it every twelve hours. He apologizes for not going to dinner because he knows that Felicity doesn't like being alone with her parents. Felicity says that it's fine, because it's just her mom, and she's kind of looking forward to having some mother/daughter alone time. Felicity again exclaims how great Ben's new job is, and adds, "Things are really coming together for you." Ben sadly agrees.
Sean invites Noel to dinner with him and Meghan. Noel declines. Sean points out that if Noel doesn't leave the apartment, he won't ever meet anyone, and takes off. He's such a yenta. Noel takes his TV dinner out of the microwave and sits down at the table. It's still completely frozen. He puts down his fork, and thinks for a moment, and then picks up the phone and calls Information to get Zoe's number.
At dinner, Mrs. Porter looks at Felicity's slides without comment. Felicity quickly says that you can't really tell much from the slides, but Mrs. Porter says without much enthusiasm that the slides are "terrific." Felicity's hair situation has changed slightly -- she now has a single small braid in the front of her hair, which is very Fast Times at Ridgemont High and makes her look about twelve years old. Which may have been done purposely, to indicate how it makes her feel to be around her mother. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. Mrs. Porter asks about the process of taking her slides around. Felicity explains that most galleries won't even look at new artists' work. Mrs. Porter sympathetically says that it must be discouraging. Felicity agrees that it is, especially when she thinks that this is how she wants to support herself. I have two words for Felicity: day job. Just about every struggling artist needs a day job, especially in the beginning. Mrs. Porter points out that Mr. Porter is worried about that, too. Felicity looks upset at that comment and then trots out her Cezanne example. All Mrs. Porter has to say to that is, "I love Cezanne!" Felicity switches tracks by asking how things are with Mrs. Porter at home. Mrs. Porter says that she's studying to get her real estate license. Felicity is surprised, since this is the first she's heard of it. She pauses, and then asks Mrs. Porter about her writing. Mrs. Porter quickly says that her writing wasn't anything big. Felicity insists that it was, and that Mrs. Porter was really excited about it. Mrs. Porter says that it wasn't very realistic to think that she could do it as a career, and then adds that maybe Felicity should think about it. Felicity asks what she means. Mrs. Porter extols the virtues of a real estate career, including the fact that they could do it together. Felicity is incredulous. Mrs. Porter gives Felicity a card with a phone number of someone that Felicity could call to get set up. Felicity insists that she's not going to be a real estate agent, because she's doing art, as if the two are mutually exclusive. I can tell that I'm old, because I'm understanding Mrs. Porter's position much more than Felicity's in this scenario. Although I can sympathize with Felicity a bit, since my dad still asks me when I'm going to get a "real job," i.e. one with benefits and a pension plan.