Episode Report Card Niki: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Can you say "anticlimactic"?
By Niki | Season 2 | Episode 14 | Aired on 03.06.2001
One of the busboys says, "Hey Grace. I see your dad has you working over there." She answers, "Hi Benny." He asks if she's doing a good job, and she says she thinks so. "Oh, I bet you are," he says, and carries away his bin of dirty dishes. "Benicio!" the chef barks. "Breeng me some plates." Benny stops with his bin, which is clearly heavy, and says that he has to clear table nineteen. The chef, who like all good television chefs is arrogant and foreign (French? Italian?), doesn't give a rat's ass what Benny has to do -- he told him to get plates. Benny sidles up to the chef's station, looking puzzled. He asks why the chef talks to him "like that." "Just get me de damn plates!" the chef yells. Jake rushes up and touches Benny's shoulder, telling him that he needs to clear table nineteen. The chef stares intensely as Benny cautiously backs away. Jake turns his attention to the chef. "Giancarlo, what are you doing?" he demands. "Notheeng!" Giancarlo claims, gesturing angrily after the busboy. "You're picking a fight with a busboy during a rush?" Jake says incredulously. "Well, ah need plates," Giancarlo says in his own defense. "Well, go get them," Jake says. "Ahm the chef," Giancarlo whines. "What are you, twelve?" Jake snaps. Giancarlo whips his towel on the counter and storms into the kitchen for his damn plates.
Grace is still at the computer. She snags Jake to tell him she can't get it to work. He handles it in a second, puts a hand on her shoulder, and leads her toward the door, suggesting that she seat the next party while he delivers the guest check. Grace checks the reservation book and calls out, "Lewicki, party of..." as it dawns on her who the Lewicki is. "Hey, Manning! I didn't know you worked here," Spencer grins, shoving his hands in his pockets. She insists that he did, because he overheard her talking to someone at school about it. Unfazed, he tells her she's "delusional, clearly." All traces of the smiling hostess are gone as she leans forward and hisses, "You're not actually gonna eat here!" Spencer smiles, assures her that he is, and then puts his arm around the smiling white-haired lady next to him. It's his grandma, whom he's taking to brunch for her birthday. Her seventy-fifth birthday. Because we need an elderly lady and one of Grace's friends to lend even more "tension" and humanity to the hostage situation we all know is about to unfold. Her smiling hostess persona returns as Grace addresses the grandma, who has the unlikely name of "Nana." Grace wishes her a happy birthday and then says it's her dad's birthday, too. "Well, then, it's kismet," Nana declares. Grace doesn't look so sure. Spencer asks whether their table is ready. "Absolutely, sir," Grace snots, then smiles at Nana and adds, "Right this way." Jake looks up from a table as Grace and the Lewickis walk past. He smiles proudly, and a little knowingly, as he recognizes Spencer. A loud crash and raised voices in the kitchen interrupt everything, and Jake sighs, excusing himself from the customers he's been schmoozing.
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