Episode Report Card Niki: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Acting Out
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 4 | Aired on 10.18.2001
Sam: Uh, yeeah!
Judy: I have to go, Lil.
Lily: Me, too.
Rick: Good.
Sam: Good.
Everyone clicks off their respective phones, looking disgusted. I'm disgusted that they missed a perfectly good opportunity to do one of those sliding-split-screen telephone things. I love that. ["Just like in When Harry Met Sally..., from which this scene seems to have been ripped off." -- Wing Chun] Anyway, the mood at Judy's is now anything but supa-freaky. She and Sam shoot each other flaccid, guilty looks.
Meanwhile, at the high-school cafeteria, Grace is sitting with Cynthia and A.J., trying to convince them and herself that she'd be happy getting a role other than Rosalind. Cynthia laments that she knows she screwed up, and moans that she has no singing ability. Jessie walks up to the table, smiling hopefully, and says hi. Grace says hello back, but makes no move to invite Jessie to sit. Jessie stands there for a few seconds, her smile growing strained and uncomfortable, until Cynthia asks her to sit down. Grace looks like Cynthia just invited the plague to lunch. "What's your name again?" Cynthia asks, and Jessie reminds her. Cynthia and A.J. both tell her she was amazing in the audition. Smiling down at her lunch tray, Jessie insists, "I don't think so." Grace immediately changes the subject, asking whether anyone looked at the lyrics on the song sheets Creepitri handed out. Jessie looks rebuked, but Grace doesn't care. She talks to the others at the table without ever looking at Jessie. Because Jessie must be punished for being talented. Cynthia notices Alexa walking past the table with a clipboard, and calls out to her. Alexa stops but warns, "Callbacks will be posted at 3:30. That's all I can tell you." Grace affects an unconcerned air and says, "That's fine." She adds, "Love your sweater," for good measure. Alexa couldn't care less. She's about to walk away when she notices Jessie sitting there. She makes a point of saying hi to her before walking away. Don't think Grace doesn't notice it. She's positively simmering in sour juices.
Cut to Judy arriving at Booklovers, where she's pleasantly surprised to find Karen going over some papers. Karen says she was in the neighborhood, so she brought by the Booklovers contracts for Judy to sign. Judy insists that she's paying Karen this time. "Oh, well, that's good, because I enclosed a bill," Karen says lightly, pulling it out. "You okay?" she asks, giving Judy a sidelong glance. Judy says she just woke up late. She pauses from signing the papers and says, "I mean, I didn't wake up late. I was...up late. I was with someone." Karen's intrigued. "Well, you gonna tell me who it was?" she asks, leaning in with a conspiratorial smile. "Sam Blue," Judy tells her, looking very pleased with herself. This wakes the sleeping ass-pole, and Karen stiffens. "Judy!" she says, trying to recover, and adds that she had no idea they were seeing each other. Judy says they're not; they "just have this incredible connection, you know?" Yeah, it's called "coitus." The giddier Judy gets, the more restrained Karen grows. She says, "Judy, I guess I'm just a little floored." Now there's a word you just don't hear anymore. Unless you're hanging out with my mom, that is. Karen tries convincing both of them that she thinks it's great. Judy claims she just "want[s] to live in the moment, you know?" Um, this is a new development for Judy? Karen kids -- yes kids -- that she's "heard of that. [She's] never actually tried it, but --" Judy says she's relieved she can talk to Karen about it, since Lily just doesn't want to hear about it. Judy, still grinning and gushing, goes back to signing the contracts. Karen finally gives in to the ass-pole and casts a disturbed sidelong glance at the love-addled other woman.