Episode Report Card Niki: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Unfinished Business
By Niki | Season 1 | Episode 17 | Aired on 03.05.2000
We come back from commercials to find Judy propped against a waiting room wall looking blown away. Jake comes striding in like the superhero he thinks he is and goes to Lily to get the scoop. She fills him in and motions toward Grace, who's sitting off by herself. Jake sits next to Grace, who is clearly not dealing, and says he knows it's scary, they're all scared, and Grace takes off. Lily and Jake follow her into the hallway, where she tells them it was her fault. She noticed something happen at her rehearsal and she didn't say anything because she knew Phil would get embarrassed. Jake and Lily assure her that no one would have taken it seriously, and no matter what it's not her fault -- no one could have prevented what happened. They give her double-team hug.
Cut to everyone back in the waiting room. Jake is talking loudly into his cell phone about some food order and reminding us that the restaurant is a demanding mistress. She stops for no man. The doctor comes into the room and everyone gathers around him. He tells them Phil is stable but that he had a large stroke in the left side of his brain. He's able to make some sounds, but it's not clear yet how much his speech has been affected. The doctor warns them that Phil probably won't be able to relate to them very much. Jake asks the inevitable: What are his chances? The doctor basically says there's no way to tell. Judy leaves to pick up the Mom at the airport.
Cut to Phil's hospital room, where he's all hooked up to tubes and monitors. Lily and Jake come in, but the kids hover in the doorway, unsure of what to do. Phil keeps making little sounds like "yeeah." From his bedside, Lily tells the girls that "It's okay. It's still Grandpa," and they venture closer. Lily holds Phil's hand and talks to him.
Black-and-white Lily interrupts to tell us that Phil used to read to her every night, even after she learned how to read on her own. She figures it's how she developed her love of books.
Cut to a montage of Lily keeping Phil company: She's staring out the window pensively, adjusting his blankets, and finally, sleeping in the chair next to his bed. He calls out and wakes her up. Somehow, she understands that he's asking for a pen, and when she gives him one, he draws a one with a whole string of zeroes after it. "Hundred thousand?" Lily asks, but she doesn't understand what he's getting at. He's able to say "lend Jake" clearly enough for her to understand. She's incredulous and scolds him for worrying about business. Judy and the Mom walk in and Phil's sounds get louder. The Mom looks stricken to see him in this condition.