Episode Report Card Niki: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Chaos Theory
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 7 | Aired on 11.22.2001
For a change of pace, they've employed a plucky piano player this week. The guitar guy must be off for the holiday. So plinky, plucky piano playing carries us over to the next scene, which is a montage of Lily in an epic battle with pie crust. Lucille Ball, she ain't. And apparently, the tradition is for everyone to have their own pie for dessert and one to take home, since there's about thirty of them strewn around the kitchen. Grace enters the kitchen and cuts short the plucky piano. She grabs her knapsack and heads for the door as Lily, injured, wonders where Grace is going and when she'll be back. "Ask Dimitri," Grace grumbles, and then shouts, "Jessie, come on!" Jessie sighs into the kitchen, griping that she hasn't finished her homework yet. "Can't you do it in the car?" Grace snaps. Jessie stares at her. "What?" Grace demands. Jessie throws up her hands and relents, bitchily wondering whether Grace can wait two minutes while she grabs her stuff. Lily looks up from her mixing bowl and says, "Of course she can, can't you Grace?" Grace glares at her. Jessie frantically asks whether Lily's seen her sweater. Grace nearly rolls her eyes right out of her head. "He's gonna kill us," she grits. Jessie sighs and mutters, "Forget it." She slumps out the back door, and Grace shoots Lily a phony, sarcastic smile before following. Too bad the pies aren't done yet, because Grace really needs to get one right in the face.
The phone rings, and Lily answers it with, "Help!" Rick, calling from the office, asks what's wrong. Lily blows it off, but then cuts her finger and yelps. She blows off the injury, too, and wearily asks what time Rick will be home. He sighs that he still has to meet with Sam and then with Ian, "Colin's evil henchman." Lily states that he hasn't answered her question. "Late," he finally admits, just as the doorbell rings at the Manor. Rick quickly assures her not to worry, that he'll be there for "dead bird day." Zoe calls out that the plumber's there. "Who's there?" Rick asks. "My secret lover," Lily deadpans. She clicks off with a terse "I gotta go," as the plumber and Zoe appear in the kitchen doorway. Lily squints at the name patch on his shirt and says, "Hi...Raoul...hi." She leads him to the sad, sad sink. Raoul tackles the rumbling while Zoe starts putting her hands all over the pie stuff on the counter, asking if she can help. "Of course, sweetie," Lily says distractedly, just as the phone rings again. Lily hands off the phone to Zoe, who disappears out of the kitchen with it. Lily turns her attention to Raoul, who lets her know that the plumbing under the sink is kaput. She's incredulous when he suggests replacing it, pointing out that she's in the middle of getting ready for Thanksgiving. Raoul smiles and says that his sister's been cooking "since Monday." He flips on the faucet and tells Lily it's perfectly safe just to leave it as it is; it's just a "little dirty." The sink growls. "And loud," he adds. Lily asks if he could possibly be finished the work before three o'clock the next day. By way of an answer, Raoul asks how big "the bird" is. He then asks after the stuffing, and Lily lights up, saying that she's using garlic, lemon, and walnuts. Raoul's partial to "blood oranges and cloves." He does the turkey-roasting math and figures that Lily needs to get the carcass in the oven by 6:30 AM. He adds that he'll get started right away, and then come back with the rest of the parts he needs tomorrow to finish the job. Lily claps her hands together in a silent prayer of thanks for this angel of an emergency plumber.