Episode Report Card Kim: D | 3 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT The List
By Kim | Season 2 | Episode 2 | Aired on 10.02.1999
Knoll walks into Epstein Bar and looks around, trying to act casual. He sees the waitress from the other day and strolls over (and I thought Scott Foley did a great job of acting like someone who is nervous, but trying to act casual, if that makes sense). He walks up to her and says, "Hi, I'm Knoll..." and really says Knoll instead of Noel, more than any cast member I've heard thus far. Before he can go any further, the waitress starts frantically waving her hands and shaking her head no. Knoll says, "What?" and she says, "No." Knoll: "No?" Waitress: "I don't date customers." Knoll: "But..." Waitress: "I've got a boyfriend," and she walks away. I was wondering how they would make Knoll seem sympathetic after he acted like such a dick last week. I guess I know now.
Knoll walks into his apartment looking a bit shell-shocked, and tells Elena he didn't just strike out; he was thrown out of the game. Then there's a whole scene where Elena is trying to teach Knoll how to pick up women by approaching them in stages, but it involves each of them pretending to be Gwyneth Paltrow, and I can't really talk about it yet. The point is, Elena decides that Julie's party will be the perfect opportunity for Knoll to try out his new techniques.
Felicity is sitting on her bed, looking at her pictures from the summer, when she hears a knock at the door. It's Burkey, and he asks her out again. Bad timing, Burkey! Felicity tells him he's a pest, like an incessant, annoying gnat. Burkey says, "Gnat with a 'g'?" and then there's a dumb Dr. Seuss joke and she tells him she's not ever going out with him and he leaves. She goes back to looking at pictures.
Ben is sitting outside, looking at a picture of Felicity from the summer. He smiles and then does the Forehead Rub of Reconsideration.
Felicity is sitting at her desk and Ben walks into the room and says they should talk. He doesn't know where to start so Felicity asks if it's just her, or did they have an amazing time on the trip. Ben says it's not just her. Felicity asks what changed, because she's trying to understand and she started to blame herself. Ben interrupts to say that he feels pressured, and he's worried that he won't be able to live up to her expectations. Felicity says, "All I want is to be with you." Ben pieces together more words in a row than ever before when he says, "I think you want more. You want someone who's going to be focused on you, long term. Someone who will talk to you about everything and I'm not really good at that. It's got a lot to do with knowing that you think this might be love...or whatever." Oops, I bet he didn't mean to let that part slip out. Throughout his little speech, Felicity looked like she was going to throw up. She says, "Who said anything about love?" Ben sheepishly admits, "You did...I listened to your tape. It just sorta happened," which is the lamest excuse ever. Felicity says, "You broke up with me because of what I said on my tape? That wasn't even thinking, it was stream-of-consciousness..." and Ben channels Sean by saying, "Which makes it worse because it was totally honest." Felicity says, "So I can't be honest?" and Ben says, "Can we just forget it? This is exactly what I'm talking about." When Felicity says she deserves an explanation, Ben says, "Everything has to be the hugest [sic] deal with you." Felicity tells him that he listened to her thoughts, and to her that is a huge deal. Ben finishes with, "This isn't gonna work. I thought maybe it could, but it can't," and he leaves.