Episode Report Card Niki: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Chew on This
By Niki | Season 2 | Episode 6 | Aired on 12.04.2000
Cut to Rick clambering out of his truck in what appears to be the same parking garage we were in earlier. His cell phone rings. It's everybody's favorite business droid. Rick is less than thrilled to hear from Miles -- who, by the way, is seated at his desk wearing a headset and crafting a fishing lure. Anal-retentive hobby #2. Remember the first one -- clipping bonsai trees -- from last season? Anyway, he's got this clampy contraption rigged to hold the lure under a light and a magnifying glass, turning the lure while he slowly, deliberately adds one strand of thread at a time. Rick asks if he can call Miles back in an hour. "Certainly," Miles says, but of course he doesn't mean it. He just plunges in, telling Rick that he called to relay a "piece of intelligence that came [his] way." He doesn't mention how many agents he had to torture to get it. He asks if Rick has heard of the law firm Harris, Reigert, Sammler. Rick, who's been walking, stops dead. He looks like he just got kicked in the crotch. Miles informs him that the firm has agreed to "take up the cause" of the neighborhood fighting the development. "You're kidding me," Rick says. "Oh, yes, I love to kid," Miles says flatly, "when millions of dollars are at stake." He knots something on his lure and bares his teeth in a death's-head smile. As he fiddles with the lure, Miles asks whether "the Sammler in question is indeed [Rick's] ex-wife." Miles remarks on how amusing the "strange workings of fate" are and asks, "Might you have a word with her, or would that just make things worse?" Rick tells him he has a meeting and he'll call him back.
Dr. Rosenfeld is showing Karen and Jessie into his office just as Rick comes through the outer door. Rick apologizes for being late. Karen karens that she thought he might not make it. She asks if there's a problem at work. Rick says tersely that he'll talk to her about it later. They head off-camera, and we watch Jessie watch her parents, looking worried.
The doc kicks off the session by asking Rick and Karen to talk a little bit about their lives together. As he sits, he pulls a stuffed animal from under his ass and then settles in. He asks them to "fill out the picture of this clearly difficult and unattractive young person here." Jessie smiles shyly. Rick and Karen stumble over each other, as usual, in their rush to prove that they're good parents. They sing Jessie's praises unabashedly, which clearly embarrasses the kid. The doctor nods and squints as they ramble. When there's a pause, he tells Jessie, "Parent propaganda. Don't believe a word of it." He turns his attention to Rick and Karen, saying, "Okay, We agree that Jessie's perfect." His mocking tone elicits another smile from Jessie, who seems to enjoy seeing the parentoids in the hot seat. The doc asks them to describe some details about their day-to-day lives. He asks if either of them is remarried. He then asks if they're seeing anybody significant. Bueller...Beuller.. Jessie visibly inhales and holds her breath. Finally, Rick slowly says that he has been seeing a woman for just over a year. "Do you live together?" "No, not -- no." Rick says, catching himself. "Thinking about it?" "Not really. I mean, not exactly. I mean, not actively." Rick stammers. Uh-huh. Veddy intereshtink. Jessie watches him with terror in her eyes as he squirms. The doctor wants to know how Jessie feels about "this person who, so far, remains nameless." "Lily," Jessie answers. "She's okay, I guess. She has two daughters." The doctor picks up on that, saying, "Ooh, now that's an adjustment." "I guess they're okay," Jessie says.