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
Meanwhile, Jessie's been hanging out around the corner eavesdropping on them the whole time. She cuts in to stop their bickering by reminding Karen that they still have to get a present so they should leave now. Karen says she thought Jessie had homework, and Jessie says it wasn't as much as she had thought. Karen basically tells her to scram so that she can finish "talking" to Rick. She then starts running down the itinerary of the party, but Rick cuts her off by snapping that he knows what time the party ends and he'll be there.
B/W Jessie gives us the story behind the picture she'd been looking at earlier. They'd been out on the lake when a storm rolled in and it got really cold. They raced back to the cottage and lit a fire and roasted marshmallows -- in the house!
Cut to Jessie brushing her hair in front of a mirror. Karen stops outside the doorway to prod Jessie into getting ready. They have a short tussle over what Jessie's going to wear, with Jessie rejecting the dress Karen's laid out on the bed for her because "it's so ten minutes ago." Karen reminds her it was also "forty-five dollars ago." And people wonder why I don't have kids.
Back to B/W Jessie and the tale of the summer storm: She recalls thinking it was like a holiday, everything was so perfect. The look on her face as she recalls that day is pure wistfulness.
Jessie tells Karen she doesn't want to go to the party, and Karen starts in on a nag: "You know that when you make a commitment--" "--you always follow through," Jessie finishes, and adds, "but sometimes you just can't," thinking, no doubt, about her parents' divorce. Karen wisely changes the subject by suggesting they go for that "hooray-you-got-your-period" smoothie before the party. After she leaves, Jessie returns to brushing her hair, shaking her head sadly as she looks at her reflection in the mirror.
B/W Jessie picks up where she left off: She remembers that she fell asleep in front of the fire and woke up shivering. She wandered into the kitchen and found Rick sitting there, drinking coffee even though it wasn't even light outside.
"Jess, what's wrong?" one of her young friends asks, interrupting the reverie. They're at the cinema, approaching the candy counter where the birthday girl's mother is doling out the popcorn. "My mother," Jessie responds, which satisfies the girl, whose name is Bailey. Chrissy, the birthday girl, is just ahead of them saying emphatically "So I told her I want a Kate Spade bag. It's, like, a goal." Again, people wonder why I'm in no hurry for kids. Bailey quite rightly points out that "wanting a Kate Spade bag is not a goal -- world peace is a goal." You tell her, my sage little friend. Chrissy haughtily snarks, "I'm not having a Zen birthday. Do you mind?" As the little fashion victims walk away, Jessie and Bailey hang back a little. Jessie says she doesn't really want to see the movie so she's going to go for a walk instead, and she asks Bailey to cover for her. Bailey asks if she's okay, and Jessie says she just wants to be alone.