Episode Report Card Niki: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Wake Up, Little Susie
By Niki | Season 2 | Episode 1 | Aired on 10.23.2000
Cut to Cafeteria Row. Different day, same story. Grace watches as Jessie searches for a seat. G.I. Jolie disinterestedly informs the gang that the food is made with motor oil, and they're going to give off fumes after they eat. They laugh like she's Janeane Garofalo. She's not. Grace then asks her when her parents got divorced, and G.I. Jolie starts regaling the gang with yet another jaded, world-weary tale. She's wearing a work shirt -- the kind with the embroidered name patch over the pocket -- because she's supposed to look tough, but the thing is brand new. Sorry, but it's just not bad-ass to sit at home, deliberately sewing a patch with someone else's name onto your shirt. Yes, I'm a used-clothing snob. It's part of the pedigree. Anyway, G.I. Jolie goes on about her father's seemingly endless stream of wives, including "Psycho Cindy." As a result of his busy lifestyle, G.I. Jolie has "steps, halves, half-steps." The last one is a new one for Grace, so G.I. Jolie sighs and explains it means her father's wife had step-kids from a previous marriage and they still act like they're her kids. G.I. Jolie (has anyone actually said her name yet? If they did, I missed it) changes the subject to tell them about a house-wrecking party that night. The place is going to be destroyed anyway, so a bunch of kids are going over to have a little fun smashing things beforehand. Grace flushes and says it "sounds great." Oh, and if any of you didn't figure it out yet, G.I. Jolie is a bad influence. She's going to drag Grace down, baby.
Cut to Grace at home, approaching Lily to ask permission to go the wrecking party. Lily says no, because she invited Rick and his kids for dinner. Grace is unimpressed. She says they just saw them, and demands to know if this is the way it's going to be now, if they have to see them every night. "It's just for one night!" Lily says, surprised by Grace's reaction. "And yesterday, it was just for one day," Grace retorts. Lily puts on her soothing voice and starts talking to Grace about how tough it is for kids...But Grace cuts her off, basically telling Lily not to insult her with that lip-service. Oh, god, I am having flashbacks to me and my own mother, ten years ago. We had this very conversation, over and over again. Grace takes a breath and says, quite reasonably, "It's fine. They can come over, and I'll go out with Carla." Aha! So G.I. Jolie does have a name. Good, I was getting sick of typing the other one. "You'll have your life, and I'll have mine," Grace concludes. Lily puts the kibosh on that plan by informing Grace that she's part of a family. Grace retorts, "And you want me to stay with the little kids and go upstairs and play games or baby-sit, and I don't want to do that." Grace squares her shoulders and informs Lily that she's not going to be there later. Lily looks like she's swallowing a bug and says, "Well, I'm sorry, but you will be."