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
We see Karen with Jessie in the bowling alley, popping a Cheeto or something into her mouth. Jessie's hitting the junk food, and Karen warns her not to eat too much of it because they're getting pizza. Jessie pops more crap in her mouth and smilingly says she hates the bowling alley pizza. Karen wants to know what she's going to eat. Jessie says it's okay. Karen snatches the munchies bowl away from Jessie and holds it out of her reach. She tells her that she can't just eat junk food all night. Jupiter Christmas, at least the kid's putting something in her stomach. And it's not like she eats bowls of crap every day. Oh, and it is her birthday! "Honey, it's wonderful to have a party, but you've also got to take care of yourself," Karen lectures. Man, she's a blast. Grab Karen and a box of Ritz -- you've got yourself an instant partay. Don Leo starts mugging for Jessie, doing his best Godfather and saying he'll "make [her] a pizza [she] can't refuse." He play-wrestles with her and everything's cool until Jessie spots Rick walking into the alley. She immediately tells Leo to stop and, when he doesn't, she gets sharp with him. Jessie runs to greet Rick, and Leo turns to Karen with a tiny wounded look. Karen watches Jessie and Rick very closely.
"Karen, this isn't about establishing blame," we hear Dr. R. saying. We're back in his office. Karen's being hyper-defensive and wants to know what it's about, then. He reminds her that it's about helping Jessie. He says he needs to figure out if Jessie can talk to them, and to do that, he needs to know "the unwritten rules of [their] family." They both clam up. The doc tries to get things started by asking about their "involvements with other people. How does Jessie feel about that?" Karen looks guilty.
We cut to the bowling alley, where Jessie's seated next to Karen. They look like they're having a good time. We pan over to see Rick helping Zoe bowl. She gets a strike (or something good), and Rick lifts her triumphantly into the air. Karen turns after rolling one to find Leo filming her. She laughs into the camera. Grace is sitting down, watching the hilarity, and actually smiling. We cut back to Jessie, who's munching sadly on her pinky nail.
Cut to a videotaped clip of Jessie blowing out the candles on her cake while everyone sings. A little later, we find Jessie watching as Grace bowls one. Grace sits behind Jessie and leans over the seat. She wishes Jessie a happy birthday and commiserates with her over how annoying and embarrassing parents can be when it comes to parties. Grace confesses that she's "actually starting to like birthday parties again, now that none of [her] friends have them." She says she wants pony rides at her next birthday. Which provides a segue into, "You know, I have this weird feeling that growing up is overrated." Jessie says that, at least when she's grown up, she can decide things for herself. Grace observes, "It's like your parents want you to be grown up in the really boring ways, like school, and in the cool ways, like being on your own, they try and keep you a kid." Jessie says, "That's totally my mom," and wins the prize for understatement of the year. "I guess all that's hard to figure out," Grace says. Jessie asks what she means. "Nothing. It's just hard for anybody to talk about that stuff," Grace says. "It would be hard for me." "To talk about?" Jessie asks, uncertainly. You can almost feel her stomach sinking. Stop there, Grace. Seriously, swallow a bowling ball if you have to, but do not go any farther. Oh, Christ. "To talk about with somebody," Grace says. Jessie's face falls. She looks at Grace suspiciously for a few seconds, then stands up and says it's her turn to bowl. Grace watches her leave, closes her eyes slowly and looks like she wishes she'd taken my advice and swallowed that bowling ball.