Episode Report Card Aaron: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT It's My Body And I'll Cry If I Want To
By Aaron | Season 3 | Episode 12 | Aired on 05.17.2003
Fade up on Father Jack, eulogizing the not-very-dearly departed DGDJ. He does a pretty good job of balancing respect for the dead with an acknowledgement that the deceased wasn't a very nice guy, and Blondie seems to be quite touched. She's also got a prime seat up there in the front row, and I'm wondering whether that's because she's the daughter, or just because she slept over and got there really early. In the back of the room David whispers that he knew Blondie when he attended St. Bart's, and that "she was pretty fucked up." "Seems like it," replies Nate, without adding that he was fucking her up himself just a few hours ago.
Once the service is over, David walks Father Jack out to his car. Given the fact that he was already desperate enough to ask Rico for relationship advice, it's probably not surprising that he's begging Father Jack for help as well. "Truth and relationships don't make life better," preaches Father Jack. "They make life possible. I think you should do whatever brings you deeper into the reality of your life. But not the life you think you can have, the life you've got." I don't even know what that means, and I have a sneaking suspicion that David doesn't either.
Back inside, Nate is sitting in the office when Blondie sashays back in to join him. "I had a really good time last night," she flirts. "I think we should do that again." It's an enticing offer, but she didn't say the word "fuck" even once, which is why Nate doesn't have a hard time turning her down. He is pretty rude about it, though, which may explain why she starts bawling right there on his desk. "Are you serious?" he bitches. "Are you going to cry? Come on! Have you seen what kind of fucking world this is? You've seen what people do to each other, what your fucking father did to people. And you're going to cry?" He goes on to mock her with a poorly executed impersonation of her (though not as poor as that "executed" pun probably was): "'Oh, fuck me, fuck me, fuck me!'" he shouts. "You don't get to cry! And you know why? Because it's all about me. Me! Me me me me me fucking me! If you're going to cry, cry because my wife is fucking missing! Cry because my hair is more hideous than it's ever been! Cry because this is rapidly becoming the longest recap Aaron has ever fucking written!" He stomps out of there, leaving Blondie alone with her sobs, her unfortunate purple blouse, and the words to "Rip Her To Shreds" running on an endless loop in her head.
Cut to later, with Nate sitting alone in the slumber room. Claire finds him there, and answers his question about where she was the previous night by simply saying she was busy. She also looks a little hurt when he reveals that he was only looking for her so that she could watch Maya. She notices an arrangement of purple flowers on a nearby table, and asks if she can keep them because "Russell always used to say the whole house smelled like the color wheel. And also Pennzoil 10-W30, for some reason." They both soften their tone a little bit at this point, and Claire tries valiantly to repay Brenda's kindness by trying to convince Nate to go easy on her. "Things between me and Brenda," he answers, "they're a whole lot more complicated than you might think." "I'm sure I could never imagine," replies Claire, and I honestly can't tell whether she was being sincere about that or not. She seems to be indicating that her life is just as complicated, which would make sense, but there's also a little hint there that she's getting frustrated with the way her big brother is always patronizing her. I guess that just means it's a really good acting job by Lauren Ambrose. Aww. She's even cute when she's building an Emmy reel.