Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT I Am Highly Flammable Right Now
By Jacob Clifton | Season 5 | Episode 4 | Aired on 06.29.2009
ncy stares.Silas and Doug sign the lease; the old lady wants it month-to-month, three months down, but their cop buddy gets twelve months with two months down, because he beat up her cat. "I like your style!" says Doug, and the three of them sign, cheering. "Partners!" they yell. "Faggots!" she yells. They are bemused.
Judah was Margaret's first love, first boyfriend, first... You know. Then he left, and her life became a bucket of shit. Andy can identify.
They sit quietly for a while, and she praises him for the scam: no estate tax, no probate. He asks if she couldn't help him out, and she considers it. On the one hand, she could get fired. On the other, the bank's closing anyway. "You sorta look like him," she says. The same kind eyes. "Tell me more about my eyes," he says in some kind of sultry voice, and she breathes like Zoey would. "Here's the deal. Go out with me, and I'll get you into that account." He lies transparently that he was going to ask her out anyway, and she corrects him: "Only it has to be as Judah. You're Judah, and I'm me. And you have to love me, and treat me nice." There's a long pause while he puts his eyeballs back in their sockets, and then he smiles. "Well, there's nothing weird about that!" He calls her Margaret, and she goes very still and serious. "Mags. Judah calls me Mags." He nods, terrified, and she laughs again.
Nancy's in the upstairs hallway when Esteban approaches, and when he asks if she's okay she stares blankly at nothing. "As I see it, yes. It is certain. It is decidedly so. Most likely. Outlook good. Signs point to yes... Reply hazy, better not tell you now, don't count on it... My reply is no. My sources say no. Outlook not so good." She sighs. "Very doubtful." If she speaks, she'll break. He stands up, looking down, and she shakes her head, with the sound of the waves breaking far away. He heads for the door, and stops, turning. He knows her well.
"What's going to happen in there is not right or wrong. It's not good or bad: It is. It's what happens next," he says, looking into her eyes. She finally looks back. "We chose," he says. "You and I. When we came together, we chose. A life. This life. For you, for me, for our son. There is nothing I will not do to protect that life." Everything seems so simple for him. She stares at him, almost angry: how easy this is, and how insane. He heads into the bedroom, and she sits in the sun.
And later, downstairs, turning the Magic Ball in her hands, Nancy sits. Having listened, you see? Having heard. He pats Ignacio goodbye, and stands behind her where she stares at the ball. She barely jerks when he caresses her arm, her shoulder, comforting her. They go walking on the beach, and she stares at the ball, barely standing, begging it for answers, until he takes it from her hands and throws it over the waves. She watches it go. He holds her tightly and kisses her, first her neck and then her mouth. She likes it, it feels good; she loves him, she hates herself. He drops to his knees, kissing her belly even more passionately, and for a moment she's jealous. Then she just holds onto him, to keep standing. He rests his head against her. Out in the harbor, there are little boats.