Episode Report Card Niki: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT My Brilliant Career
By Niki | Season 1 | Episode 20 | Aired on 04.09.2000
Jake calls up from downstairs as Lily's giving Zoe a big hug. His arrival means Lily's free to bail. While she's fleeing the scene, she tosses out reminders to Jake, but he's on top of the situation. He's already gotten Zoe's lunch out of the fridge, and he's ready to help with her globe. Which, it turns out, is one of those big exercise balls with paper continents and melting ice caps taped all over it. Zoe proceeds to bash Jake in the head with it while wrestling it through the doorway of her bedroom. All signs point to the fact that we're in for one of those light-hearted episodes. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying.
After taking a planet in the head, Jake goes off in search of Grace -- or "Graciousness" as he apparently likes to call her. He finds her in front of the bathroom mirror, and instead of chipping away at the purple glaze like Lily told her to, Grace is busy slapping on yet another coat. Jake stops dead at the sight of her.
Black-and-white Jake intrudes. Okay, it's taken many recaps to hit this point, but I've finally had enough of typing "black-and-white whoever" all the time -- especially since there's so damn many of these stupid "interviews." From now on, anyone who shows up for one of these black-and-white gigs is going to be called BWwhoever. As in BWake for Jake. Everyone clear? Good, let's move on. So BWake gets all misty as he reminisces about the first time he held his baby girl, "she was so tiny and so bald" that he "stopped breathing."
Apparently Grace's freakish appearance has had the same effect on Jake again. Although I guess it's because he's struck by how "grown-up" she looks. He tells her she looks "beautiful -- very sophisticated." The purple shadow seems to have blinded Jake to the fact that Grace is still sporting that damn center-part-clamped-down-with-barrettes hair. But he is naturally biased, and his sentiment is sweet, so we'll just let it go without too much of a fight.
We cut to Lily, walking with extreme trepidation through the entrance of her new workplace, the headquarters of an online magazine. She looks around nervously, like she's in a bad part of town and expecting to get mugged. We can tell this is a young, hip, creative workplace because it's all open-concept and they have inflatable furniture. And all the requisite urban retro styling is on display, from the deco wall sconces (which I really like) to the giant, ironic mural of an old-fashioned telephone (communication in the "old days" before the internet). The this-is-not-your-average-workplace effect is completed by the two twentysomething guys having a shoot-out with their Nerf guns. Lily of course gets caught in the crossfire, and gets one of the little velcro-covered balls stuck to her, um, bosom. Which one of the young men points out in silent embarrassment. When they learn that Lily is the boss's new assistant, terror fills their eyes and they begin to quiver. Now, for those of you who don't remember, Lily's new boss Christy Parker (aka Idiot) is an asinine young woman with a penchant for pigtails. She inspired many things the last time we saw her -- contempt, ridicule, derision -- but not fear. Not even a hint of intimidation. Could there be another side to our seemingly empty-headed editor-in-chief?