Episode Report Card Michael Neal: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Sickos
By Michael Neal | Season 3 | Episode 8 | Aired on 01.15.2009
Jack goes to see Elisa at the old man's apartment. "I brought some dinner and Monopoly. We can have a fun, low key night, unless I lose." Elisa is worried she'll get in trouble but Jack playfully reminds her that the old guy has dementia, by introducing himself as Matlock. As he rubs Elisa's neck she recounts the zero times in New York she has had the chance to take in a Broadway play or eat at a restaurant that didn't have a TV in it. She tells Jack that he can stay, but that it's not all fun and games. "Mr. Templeton's foot is still healing," she says while lifting up his shawl to reveal them to Jack. He is horrified. "What is wrong with it? Is that a beak?"Tracy and Jenna are an ever-emerging tag-team comedy combination. They run into Lemon in the hallway while in the middle of an argument about which island is better, Kiwai or Maui? Lemon tries to corral them so that they can shoot show promos, but then she notices that Jack gave them both flu shots. Lemon scolds them with a reminder as to how sick the rest of the crew is. "If I were you two, I would be thinking up ways to thank them."
Jack offers Lemon the flu shot, again, and she declines. "If my crew can't get the shot, I'm not getting the shot." The members of the crew overhear her and one yells out to her in support. It pumps up Lemon, and soon she's Norma Rae inside of a textile factory. "We've got to fight the power! Fight the powers that be!" The crowd cheers her. "This makes me want to shoop!" Suddenly, the whole crew is chanting "Shoop! Shoop!"
Kenneth finds Tracy and Jenna in the dressing room. They both want to thank the crew "you know, for being sick." They want to buy them all soup. That means Kenneth, who is horribly ill too, has to go get hot soup for the entire crew. Kenneth is not so sure. All the other pages have already gone home sick. "Maybe you two can get the soup?" Tracy and Jenna look at him like he's a math problem. It takes some coaxing but Jenna finds enough motivation of self-gratitude to convince Tracy that they should go out and buy the soup on their own.
Jack and Elisa sweet-talk over the phone while she tends to Mr. Templeton. Jack tells her he'll be late coming over because of a special charity performance of The Lion King. Elisa gets emotional. She would love to go with him but the job won't allow it. "Why can't I have fun like an upper-middle class person?" Jack tells her she can. What follows is a romantic comedy montage of Jack and Elisa, and Mr. Templeton in his wheel chair, enjoying an evening out in Manhattan. A song called "Mr. Templeton" plays in the background. The three have a fancy dinner. They attend The Lion King, and they make out in Central Park. Jack and Elisa's lips stay pressed together as Mr. Templeton, in his wheelchair, rolls away. Jack leans over to pull him back into frame.