Episode Report Card Niki: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT There Be Dragons
By Niki | Season 1 | Episode 5 | Aired on 10.18.1999
Cut to Jessie strolling through the mall, intently observing all things womanly: a display in a lingerie-shop window; a young woman making out with her boyfriend on a bench; a new mother lifting her infant and kissing it.
B/W Jessie says "It was weird. [Rick] never let [her] drink coffee before, but that morning [he] poured her a cup, and [they] just sat there for the longest time."
Jessie bumps shoulders with an older teenaged guy traveling in a herd. He and his friends turn and smile at her backside more than once, the perverts. Welcome to womanhood, kiddo.
B/W Jessie continues: "Then [Karen] came in, and they told [her] that they were getting divorced, and [she] was like...'What?'" Her eyes tear over as she remembers the bombshell.
Cut to Jessie standing in front of a bank of televisions showing the same smiling woman in a commercial. The two sets in the center are hooked up to a video camera, so that Jessie sees herself in them, surrounded by the giddy model. She stares at herself and adjusts her hair, then lets her arms fall to her sides. She stands there transfixed as the camera pans back. She gets smaller as more and more TVs fill the screen with that laughing woman.
Cut to Lily juggling grocery bags and preparing to unlock her front door. It swings open, and she gasps as Jake stands there smiling at her. "Hi. I'm your husband. Well, sort of." Yeah, tell it to the cops, pal. "What are you doing here?" she snaps. In the kitchen, she plunks the bags on the counter and Jake plucks a carton of milk from one of them. He asks if he can "steal it" since he and the kids ran out. He moves to unload more of the groceries, but Lily raises her hands. "Please. Don't help me," she says. Then she sighs and asks what he wants. He arranges his face into a boyishly wide-eyed expression before answering that he wants her. She sighs again and turns her face away from him, but he reaches out and grabs her face with both hands. Turning her to look at him, he plants a big wet smacker on her until she pulls away. She sighs again. He snatches the milk off the counter and then heads for the back door, lightly calling, "Thanks!" over his shoulder. I'm not sure what he's thanking her for -- the milk, the lip service, or both.
Cut to the mall, where the girls are emerging from the cineplex and approaching their respective rides. Rick asks Bailey where Jessie is, and she stalls, trying to cover for her. It doesn't take long for the truth to spill out, and Rick rushes into the mall. Synthesizers set to "panic" heighten the tension as Rick speeds down the escalator, scans every face in the crowd and, ultimately, almost grabs the wrong girl. Finally, he spots Jessie sitting serenely on a bench. Angrily, he snatches her arm and orders her to the truck.