Episode Report Card Heathen: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Falling In Place
By Heathen | Season 3 | Episode 13 | Aired on 03.03.2002
An old man with a rolling IV stand ogles Lily in the waiting room, so she gathers up her coat and hightails it to Karen's room, having gone long enough without butting her rather prodigious nose into the action. Karen is asleep, while Jessie sits wistfully at her bedside and Eli slumps glumly into a chair. Jessie voices her irritation that they got there too late to spend quality time with Karen. Eli figures she's out for the night, and complains that he's hungry and thinks they should leave. Jessie disagrees. "She might wake up," she says desperately. Lily agrees with Eli, though, which pushes Jessie even further in the opposite direction. She snaps at Lily. "I'm not going anywhere, Lily. This is my mother," she says fervently. "I'm not going to leave her. " Karen hears voices through her sedated fog and rolls slightly toward Jessie. "Lily?" she calls weakly. "Hi, Karen, how are you feeling?" Lily replies awkwardly. Karen babbles that she loves "those cookies with vanilla icing," and pats Jessie's face absently before falling asleep again. Jessie is crushed. Lily, sensing she should relent, tells Jessie she'll send Rick to pick her up later and exits with Eli. Jessie gazes at Karen, troubled, and strokes her hand lovingly.
The next morning, Lily presents Jessie with a package of cookies from the store. "Those have vanilla icing," she points out, proud of herself. Jessie's gaze barely flickers toward the proffered cookies before she deems them the incorrect kind. Lily wants to pick up the right kind, but Jessie blithely tells her she only knows them by sight and will take care of it herself. She breezes out of the house, leaving Lily stunned, speechless and mildly wounded. We hear screams...
...and it's Karen, lying in her hospital bed screeching herself into oblivion. The roars emitting from her battered body sound eerie like labor pains. Her right hand tenses, throbs, trembles, until Henry eases off on her leg. "That's how we know when to stop," he says jovially. Karen laughs bitterly. Henry notes that the swelling has gone down in her leg, which is a good sign. "Stay with me," he urges. Karen clenches her fists and raises her arms above her head in anticipation of agony. He asks her to bend her knee slowly while he supports it. "It really hurts," Karen whimpers. "Here we go," Henry persists gently. "Knee up, and slide your foot toward your butt-ocks." I love when people pronounce "buttocks" as if it's two separate words. It sounds so silly. Karen is moaning like crazy, squeezing her pillow around her head, as if it will swallow her up and deliver her from Henry's horrors. "Okay! Wonderful," Henry chirps, relaxing her leg. InnerKaren tenses. "Stop it," she whispers. In the scene, Henry says, "One more time, and I promise I'll give you some rest." InnerKaren is going nuts, desperately aggravated at being physically helpless and under someone else's control. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!" she chants, grabbing her head in frustration. Finally, the actual Karen acts on her inner impulse. "Just stop," she shouts weakly, her voice thick with the promise of tears. "I can't stand to be talked to like I'm a mental patient!" Henry doesn't appreciate this. His face darkens. "Try it again, okay?" he says emotionlessly. Karen exhales hard.