Episode Report Card Wing Chun: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Scribbling Rivalry
By Wing Chun | Season 2 | Episode 9 | Aired on 01.16.2001
We get a shot of a full-page Booklovers review, which Judy "Literaryenta" Brooks reads in voice-over: "'Booklovers is a community of readers and seekers that's making the bookstore of the same name a favourite hangout'!" She and Lily are at the store; over Judy's shoulder, we can see that the bulletin board is crowded with ten times as many Polaroids and favourite-book cards as it was the last time we saw it. Lily distractedly tells Judy, "Oh, that is so great!" and then tells Judy she forgot to sign one page of the document in her hand. The papers selling out Lily's stake in the store? I guess. Judy asks, "Aren't you impressed? I am!" She walks over to a shelf, from which more Polaroids and cards hang. Judy adds, "I mean, look at all this, Lil! The cards? I mean, people are buying books! They're coming back!" Lily says, "I know, sweetie! I've read them all." I assume she means all the cards, and not all the books in the store, because I know she's a superwoman, but no one has that kind of time, particularly since we know that as soon as Grace got off the computer, Lily got on to goof off and about the new Queer as Folk. Lily goes on, "I think it's a great idea. I'm really proud of you." Judy thanks her, and Lily can't resist mooching around for a little positive reinforcement herself: "And all it took was for me to leave." Judy scoffs that Lily has "a great job" (yeah, a great job getting Crusty's coffee), and Lily dismissively agrees that her job is great, then looks at her watch and books.
Over at PagesAlive.com (to which I would link, except that the short-sighted producers of O&A reserved the domain but haven't posted anything there yet...although, if I were Ed Zwick and Marshall Herscovitz, and my first show on ABC had been murdered, I might hesitate to pour any of my budget into building a fake companion site that might turn out to be obsolete in a matter of weeks, too), Lily strolls into the office, which is very sombre, indeed. People are whispering to each other that it's going to be okay; others carry banker's boxes and eye Lily suspiciously. Lily approaches a young woman we've never seen before, who's putting personal effects into a box. Lily calls her "Gwen" and asks her if something happened; Gwen haltingly says that Crusty laid off a whole bunch of people this morning, and asks Lily whether she knew about it. Lily says she didn't, and she really seems gobsmacked so for once I will give her the benefit of the doubt. Gwen tells Lily that Crusty sent interoffice emails to the unfortunate staff members who got the boot, and adds, "Good luck." Lily trepidatiously approaches her desk. Through the glass walls of Crusty's office, Lily sees a young, messy-haired dude angrily gesticulating at Christie "Crusty" Parker, telling her that he can guarantee her "a certain amount of output," blah blah. (Some other guy, whose back we can barely see around a post, and who doesn't seem to be doing much, is standing between Crusty and Messy Hair.) Crusty tolerantly but impatiently replies, "I understand that." Lily looks like she's going to vomit. We can hear the rest of Crusty's conversation as we watch Lily make for her desk; the guy asks how he can guarantee Crusty the same output now, and Crusty calls him Artie and says that they're "caught between a rock and a hard place." Oh, Crusty. Using a hoary cliché like that, and you call yourself an editor -- nay, a writer? Artie calls Crusty on her clumsy choice of words, and, after some more blah, asks Crusty how she can "compensate for [some unknown third party's] loss." Crusty apparently doesn't know. Lily opens her email and finds no new messages. Overnight? Not even spam? Oh, as if! As if. Internet employees communicate more by email than they do in person, even if they're sitting in the same room. Glark's sitting not twenty feet from me right now and I just sent him an ICQ. Anyway, Lily breathes a sigh of relief as Artie and the third guy stumble out of Crusty's office. Crusty sticks her head out behind them and, with an impatient head flick, asks Lily to come into her office. Lily braces herself.