Episode Report Card Niki: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Acting Out
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 4 | Aired on 10.18.2001
The scene's a little different in Judy's bedroom, where she and Sam are naked and sated. Sam trails his fingertips up Judy's arm and asks whether she saw Rick's face when he caught them in the kitchen. "No, but I saw Lily's eyes narrow into two disparaging little slits," Judy says. They're very pleased with their nekkid, naughty selves. Sam kisses Judy's shoulder and asks her to hand him his underwear. He's a Jockey man, if you're interested. He slides them on as Judy asks whether he's hungry. He asks whether she wants to get some food. When she says no, he says he'll "just go home, then." "Oh," she says, surprised and trying to hide her disappointment. He watches her and asks, "What?" She says she doesn't want him to go. "Judy...." he whines. "Hey, Jude," he says more softly, climbing onto the bed. "Penny Lane, whatever your name is..." Judy laughs and says it's okay; she knows he has to go sometime. He kisses her. As he goes to pull away, she grabs the back of his head and clings for a longer kiss. He continues moving away from her even as she's attached to his face. See, she wants to hold onto him, but he wants to be free. Finally, she lets go, and he breaks for the edge of the bed to finish dressing. Judy watches him, trying to fight the sadness creeping over her.
After commercials, we return to a disconcerting close-up of Grace's lips puckering as she sings, "Do...do re mi" and so on up the scale. She's holding one of those pitch pipes in her hand. Think she's serious about this part? She paces around her room, singing scales over and over again like a Broadway diva on speed.
Cut to Jessie, pacing around the attic and thumbing through the song sheets. Grace's singing is wafting up through the floor. Jessie cocks an ear and looks a little disturbed by it.
Back to Grace, who's still pacing around and singing. She's up on her tiptoes now, moving her hands with each new note she sings. I need her to stop before I put my foot through the screen.
Back to Jessie, who starts singing one of the songs, thereby kicking off the equivalent of a dueling-banjos montage.
Back to Grace, who sings, "Me may my moe moo." Okay, my foot's getting dangerously close to the screen now. She struggles to find the right key, unnerved by Jessie's singing. Frustrated, she slams the little pitch pipe into its case and grabs the play off her dresser. She begins reciting lines as loudly as she can, trying to drown out the sound of Jessie's voice. First, though, she clears her throat and pompously fastens the top button of her blouse, trying her damnedest to be a thespian. Rick, at the bedroom computer, looks up and listens intently to the competing voices. Lily comes into the bedroom and also cocks her head. If they had any sense, they'd know it doesn't bode well for their familial bliss. Grace pauses and hears that Jessie's still at it, so she kicks up her own volume a notch. Jessie's singing gets louder as the camera cuts to her belting out the same song onstage at the school. The camera pans the kids in the auditorium, who are listening raptly. Grace looks like she could use a Gravol.