Episode Report Card Niki: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Scarlet Letter Jacket
By Niki | Season 1 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.04.1999
Eli comes banging into the school and pauses at the end of the hallway with an uncertain "Dad?" Rick assures him he's on his way. He quietly promises Lily that they'll talk later and touches her shoulder before heading down the hall.
Soliloquy Lily finishes her sordid little tale, recounting that she was supposed to meet Robby at the beach the next night. With a huge smile, she recalls that she couldn't sleep all night -- she "couldn't even breathe." But even though "all of a sudden he had become [her] whole life," she just couldn't go through with it. It mattered more to her what other people thought. She gets all misty, saying she could just hear everyone talking about her, and it didn't matter how good she tried to be; they were just going to hate her anyway.
Karen's back at the balloon booth, and Lily approaches, looking from Karen to Rick.
Soliloquy Lily claims that she doesn't think about this all the time, "but, you understand, [she] never went." She looks into the camera as if she finally realizes the lesson she should have learned all those years ago.
Back in the shoolyard, determined guitars strum as Lily marches in slow motion right past Karen and the balloon booth without another glance. She's got her eye on the prize. Grace, Naomi, and the dour Goodies all stare as Lily strides over to claim her man. We get a close-up of her hand slowly making its way to an unsuspecting Rick's shoulder, the movement emphasized so that we know what a big freaking deal it is that Lily finally grew some balls and decided not to care what other people think. Rick looks pretty happy about it. So does Naomi. Karen, not so much, and the Goodies look as though someone plugged them with a fistful of horseradish. But it doesn't matter, see, because Lily doesn't even notice them. All she sees is Rick.
Sigh.