Episode Report Card Niki: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Wake Up, Little Susie
By Niki | Season 2 | Episode 1 | Aired on 10.23.2000
Sincerely,
niki
Lily glances around the kitchen with a disturbed look on her face as Grace and Zoe enter, bitching about some Monopoly game they're playing. Zoe accuses Grace of cheating and moving the pieces, while Grace vehemently denies it. Bitch, bitch, snit, snit. Ah, this is more like it, isn't it? Apparently it's the first day of school, since Lily admonishes them to stop or they'll be late. Grace points out that Jake isn't even there yet to pick them up. A horn honks, and Lily shoots Grace an I-told-you-so sneer.
Cut to Rick's place, where naturally, the same essential scene is unfolding. Because he and Lily must lead parallel lives. It's in their soulmates contract somewhere. Rick hollers for the kids to hurry up, and from the kitchen counter, Jessie snaps that she is. She looks a little uneasy...
...And we cut to B/W Rick. Welcome back, man, it's been too long. Wait, what am I saying? More like, nice to have you back as long as you're willing to contribute something to the class. He admits that it's harder for him to see Jessie troubled than Eli because he knows that things will roll off Eli's back. Jessie, he's not so sure about. He says that "any shadow on that face...it just...slays me."
Back in the kitchen, Rick assures Jessie that "it's all right; anybody would be nervous." But Jessie fervently denies being anxious. Eli enters just in time to refute that, telling Rick that Jessie spent two hours the night before trying to decide what to wear. Eli blows back out of the kitchen, saying, "I don't know what you're worried about; no one pays attention to freshmen anyways." Awww, he always knows just what to say, doesn't he?
B/W Rick admits that he's "always looking for the things that'll throw her, and [he's] not helping her -- [he] knows that."
Rick strolls out of the kitchen, saying over his shoulder, "Honey, it's going to be great. Just maybe not the first day." Karen's just come through the door, and she wants to know "what's not going to be great." Eli chimes in, "Jessie's freaking out about high school." From the kitchen, Jessie steams, "I'm gonna kill you! I am not freaking out." And with a tempered, reasoned response such as that, who would doubt her? Karen pipes up that she's freaking out (but when isn't she, really?) about Jessie going to high school, and Rick says that he's freaking out about Jessie going to high school, and niki admits that she's freaking out about Jessie going to high school, and everyone in the forums adds that they're freaking out about Jessie going to high school. But I suspect the former are freaking out for different reasons than the latter, since the former actually know (we presume) why Jessie is starting high school when she was only in grade seven last year. Jessie looks at her parents' earnest faces, shakes her head in disgust, and resumes tying her shoelaces.