Shout-outs to Wing Chun, Glark, Sars, and the rest of the Mighty Big TV gang, just because I feel like it.
The episode opens in Lily's kitchen, where she's pulling lasagna from the oven. Zoe expresses surprise that Lily's cooking during the week. Lily cheerily defends herself and tells Zoe that it's a "special night -- Aunt Judy's coming over for dinner for the first time since --" "Since Rick started living here?" Zoe concludes. "Since Rick started sleeping over occasionally," Lily corrects her. Grace rushes in panicking because she can't find her skis, and she, too, is surprised that Lily's cooking during the week. See where this joke is going? Lily gives one of her patented exasperated eye rolls and asks why Grace needs her skis tonight. Grace duhs, "The ski trip?" and adds that she needs to get the bindings adjusted to fit her new boots. She heads off to search some more as Rick slips through the back door. He asks what smells so good, and Lily tells him it's lasagna. Everybody say it with Rick: "During the week?" Lily gives him a stink-eye, but it's pretty half-hearted. She announces that the person who says anything about her cooking isn't getting any. Zoe smiles at Rick over the bundle of placemats in her arms and informs him that Judy's coming to dinner. Rick is decidedly less enthusiastic about it than Zoe. Judy, on cue, comes flying into the kitchen and ends up being the person to say something about Lily's cooking during the week. Zoe giggles that Judy doesn't get any, but Judy's unfazed, since she's given up dairy and only wants salad anyway. Lily looks absolutely thrilled to have spent hours cooking Judy's favorite dish. On a side note, Judy's gone and spent a lot of time curling her hair into a mass of ringlets. She really shouldn't have. She and Rick give each other a phony kissy-kiss hello. I hate those things and everything they stand for. Grace returns, full of piss, because she still can't find her skis. Lily snarks that they're in the closet, and Grace snarks right back that she looked. Lily heads off to help Grace in her quest, leaving Judy and Rick alone. And uncomfortable.
The two of them stand on either side of the island, Judy smiling at Rick as she tosses the salad, and Rick tossing some little yellow vegetable-y things into the salad. Without washing them first. Judy continues smiling sweetly as she systematically tosses out every last yellow thing. They're some tiny vegetable I've never seen before -- kind of like a small, squash-shaped yellow tomatoes. Damn, I'd throw those out of my salad, too. They look like a genetics experiment gone awry. Anyway, Rick obviously notices the rejection of his contribution, but he just bites his tongue, takes a deep breath, and says, "So? No dairy, huh?" Judy tells him she learned that she's allergic, and proceeds to lecture him on the downsides of dairy, informing him of all its nasty effects on humans. She concludes, "And we're giving all this milk to children? I mean, they're human, not little cows." Rick forces a laugh, and his Soliloquy Self pops up to say, "She is so...out there!" He says it distastefully. In-colour Rick jokes that he thinks he's allergic to half his life. Judy smiles and asks which half. He says he wishes he knew. She fakes a wide smile and goes back to tossing the salad as Soliloquy Judy says, "He's so...contained!" She says it distastefully. Do you think maybe these two don't really like each other?
Lily returns just in time to save the last little bit of enamel left on Judy's and Rick's teeth. She remembers that she's been meaning to ask for Judy's help finding "a place for the wedding." "Already?" Judy asks. Lily informs her that the wedding's only five weeks away. Five weeks? Good luck "finding a place" that doesn't have Chuck, E., or Cheese in its name. And, five weeks? Is there a shotgun somewhere in this equation? Because that's the only explanation I can imagine for the big rush to the altar. The ink on Lily's divorce papers (which we can only assume exist) isn't even dry yet. Lily doesn't seem to care, though, as she excitedly squeezes Rick and they giggle, while Judy glances uncomfortably from them to the salad. Lily says that she and Judy can look at a couple of places, narrow it down, and then take Rick to look at the finalists. Judy teases that Rick's time must be valuable, implying that hers isn't. Lily says that Judy is just so good at these things. Sure, always a bridesmaid...you pick up things. Judy hedges that she'd love to, but she's really busy these days. Lily says they'll work around Judy's schedule. Judy smiles faintly, sinking. Rick ooohs and asks if Judy remembered to get "that number from [her] friend." He's referring to a photographer Judy knows. Judy waffles, saying she's "not sure he does weddings; he's more of...uh...an artist." Lily and Rick look disappointed while Judy looks guilty and sprinkles something on the salad. Rick's cell phone rings, and he springs to answer it. Judy mutters that she's never seen him without "that phone." "What?" Lily asks, when she really means "pardon." Judy just smiles and waves it away.
Cut to Judy and Grace snuggling on Grace's bed and flipping through catalogs of books. Lily and Rick pop into the doorway so Rick that can say goodbye, because he's been called away by Miles. Rick asks what Grace and Judy are doing, and Grace explains that Judy's helping her with the book fair to raise money for the school's teams. Rick eagerly says that Grace should ask Jessie to help, and then says goodnight, but gets in a parting tease, asking Judy if there are any other food groups he should be worried about. She smiles and says she'll let him know. He pops back to say, "Oh, and don't forget!" Judy's already forgotten. "The photographer," Rick reminds her. Yeah, yeah, she'll get to it. Rick and Lily smooch and he's off. Lily wanders in to join them on Grace's bed, muttering, "That project is so hard on him." Without looking up from her catalog, Grace mutters, "Well, no one's making him do it." Lily chastises Grace for pointing out the obvious, and Judy says, "Well, you're very supportive." Lily takes it as an insult, and asks why she shouldn't be. Judy clarifies that she's not criticizing, and that Lily should be supportive. Judy adds that when she's criticizing, Lily will know it. She smiles and goes back to her catalog.
Cut to the girls' locker room. The camera pans across rows of lockers and benches, with girls in various states of undress. The camera finally settles on Jessie, who's sitting on a bench pulling off her running shoes. Grace rushes down the aisle and hops on the bench behind Jessie. She smiles and seems genuinely friendly as she asks whether Jessie would like to help with the book fair. Jessie says sure, and Grace rhymes off the work schedule to get it organized. Jessie's eyes glaze and she seems to zone out for a few seconds, like she's having trouble focusing on what Grace is saying. She catches herself, squeezes her eyes shut for a second, and then says she "can do that." Grace asks if she's okay. Jessie says she is, and repeats, "Monday and Wednesday? I'll be there." Grace says, "Great!" and takes off up the aisle again, running past some chick she seems to know who's standing there in her underwear. The camera hangs on the panty queen far longer than it needs to. Seriously, I know the show's a little pinched for ratings, but please. I'm pretty sure fourteen-year-old boys are not really its target demographic.
Jessie watches Grace go and then stands up to start changing. The camera angle slides kind of sideways, and zooms in on Jessie as her eyes roll and she collapses. Her friend Marney rushes over to see if she's okay, and Jessie pushes herself up, looking woozy and disoriented but insisting that she's fine. The camera pans the other girls in the room, who are staring at Jessie with expressions of "oh my god!" and "what the fuck?" The panty queen stares along with the rest of them. Jessie moves unsteadily to the bench, saying she just needs to sit for a minute. She almost freaks when Marney suggests getting a teacher. Marney backs off, and the camera pans back to Panty Queen, who is still staring at Jessie, even as she finally -- finally! -- pulls a shirt on. So you know this is getting back to Grace immediately.
Right on cue, Panty Queen -- now fully clothed -- walks down the hallway. She heads straight for Grace's locker and blurts, "That Jessie girl fainted!" She sounds oddly thrilled about it. Gossipy bitch. Grace is shocked, and doesn't immediately register what she's just heard. The chick to her does, though, and comes over to get the full story. Panty Queen thinks that Grace isn't answering immediately because she's having trouble figuring out who Jessie is, and reminds her that Jessie is her "mother's boyfriend's daughter." Nosy Beeotch butts in to correct her: "Fiancé." Panty Queen gets confused, and Grace gets fed up. "Is she okay?" she asks, grabbing Panty Queen's arm. P.Q. says she guesses. Grace looks pissed with her nonchalance. P.Q. says Jessie got "dizzy or something" and then "passed out in the locker room." "Just now?" Grace asks, looking over P.Q.'s shoulder. "What is up with her?" P.Q. snipes, rolling her eyes at Jessie's pathetic display. She and Nosy Beeotch start off down the hallway, as N.B. bitches, "It's obvious. I mean, just look at her. She's so anorexic!" Wow, what a stunning display of sympathy. Grace watches them skank off down the hallway, and sighs heavily. She looks like she could, just maybe, cry.
Cut to Booklovers. Judy's just flipping the sign in the window to "closed." She turns and starts throwing off some ideas to Grace about the book fair. Judy is apparently ordering all the books for them, and she's offering to suck up whatever's left over to sell at the store. Grace says she was thinking they should have a "psychology or self-help" section. Judy thinks it's a great idea. Grace elaborates: "You know, like teenage issues..." Judy supplies, "Divorce, peer pressure..." Grace says, "Actually, I was thinking more like...eating disorders." Judy's taken aback. After a second she says, gently, "Honey, you're not...are you having a problem?" Grace looks at her like she's crazy and denies it. She adds, "Someone I know." Which, of course, Judy interprets as anyone would. Grace knows how Judy's interpreting it, and insists that it's really not her who has the problem. "I mean, please," Grace says. "We're talking about anorexia. Do I look anorexic to you?" Judy examines her for a moment and then says, "You look perfect to me." Aww, go Judy! Grace acts embarrassed. Judy asks if she knows Grace's friend. Grace purses her lips and looks away before whispering, "Jessie. Rick's daughter." Grace says it's been going on for a while, and adds that Jessie passed out after practice that afternoon. Judy's immediately extremely concerned because...well, Judy rocks. She asks if Jessie is okay, and Grace says she guesses so, but now Grace feels like she has this "information" and she doesn't know what she should do with it. Judy suggests that Grace tell Lily, but Grace immediately quashes it. She says Jessie would know that she had blabbed, and then Jessie would hate her. Which actually says a lot about how Grace's attitude toward Jessie has changed. Go Grace! Is it wrong that I'm just loving everybody right now? Whatever, just enjoy it while it lasts. Judy assures her that they'll figure it out and tells her not to worry, and then she gives Grace a big hug. Grace sighs and smiles with relief, while Judy looks extremely pensive.
Cut to Karen's kitchen, where Jessie's doing her homework at the table. Karen pulls out the stuff to set the table, and goes about arranging everything around Jessie without saying a word. Jessie watches her and finally blurts, "Mom, what? Why are you staring at me?" Karen moms something about how long Jessie's hair is getting and asks if Jessie wants her to make an appointment. Jessie hunches over and suddenly looks miserable. I was the same way when I was Jessie's age, but you know, I'd love to have someone taking care of all that crap for me now. Maybe then I wouldn't end up with inch-long roots and have to skulk into my stylist's chair and remind him who the hell I am. Karen suggests an appointment for the following weekend, and Jessie immediately negates it: "Ski trip." Karen returns to the table with plates and breaks the news that she and Rick haven't exactly decided whether Jessie can go. Jessie immediately sets her features to Pout. Karen quickly says that it doesn't mean "no," but Jessie's not buying. Karen tries to explain, but inadvertently ends up speaking Naggingcontrolfreak. Jessie knows very well how to translate, and interprets Karen's "five days away from home" to mean "five days where I can't control everything you do." Karen insists that she doesn't need to watch Jessie, but Jessie's not listening. She's suddenly engrossed in the textbook in front of her.
Soliloquy Jessie pops up. She's wearing a little camo t-shirt, which I think is really cute for some reason. She starts to reminisce about the first time she went skiing. She was six, and Rick took her to the top of the hill. He stood behind her, with his skis on either side of hers, and they "just flew down the mountain." Which sounds really freaking hard -- not to mention terrifying -- to me. I tried skiing for the first time over New Year's, and I didn't want anyone near me. I kept thinking I'd get skewered by a ski pole or something. Jessie, however, looks blissful at the memory.
Back in the kitchen, Jessie looks not so blissful. In fact, she looks downright pissed. Behind her, Karen mentions something about the book fair, and Jessie acts like Karen's knowing about it is the biggest invasion of privacy ever. She asks, indignantly, "Dad told you about that?" Karen honeys that Rick just mentioned that Grace might call, and Jessie rolls her eyes and sullenly says, "Yeah, she talked to me." Karen asks whether she's going to help, and Jessie snaps that she will. She watches Karen warily out of the corner of her eye, like she can't wait for her to leave. Karen notices, sighs, and says, "How about I call your dad tomorrow and we talk about it some more?" Jessie stares straight ahead, gritting her teeth. "Okay?" Karen prompts. "Okay," Jessie grits. Karen moves back to the stove, and Jessie turns back to her books. Her eyes don't really seem focused on the page, though.
Rick's life, meanwhile, is all wine and roses, as he joins Lily at the bar of a restaurant where they're waiting for a table. Lily slinks her arms around his neck and purrs, "I can't believe we have the whole night alone." She asks if he has his phone with him. "What phone?" he says innocently. He says that maybe he should go with her to look at places for the wedding. Lily says he's "so busy" and besides, she's just taking Judy for granted...I mean, "with her." "Ah, she doesn't want to do that," Rick says, waving his hand dismissively. Lily asks why he'd say that. Rick points out that Judy's not exactly thrilled with "the whole idea of the wedding." Lily is adamant, "That is so completely not true!" Rick says, "It's not a crime." Apparently, that glass of wine in front of Lily isn't her first, because she claims, "[Judy's] very happy we're getting married!" Rick just pops bar nuts into his mouth and mutters something. "She is!" Lily insists. After a second she asks if Rick thinks Judy is resentful. He says it must be hard on her, considering it's Lily's second marriage, and loser Judy hasn't even had one yet. Lily scarfs some nuts and goes back to lalaLilyland, saying, "You're wrong. She's happy for me. I can tell." Because Lily is, after all, so finely attuned to what other people are feeling. Lily just keeps on talking: "Even if she had an issue, she wouldn't let it affect her...She just -- she just wants me to be happy." Rick munches nuts. He says, "You're right. She's actually a far better person than you are. [suppressing a burp -- like we wouldn't notice] I think I'll marry her." Dude, you're not good enough for Judy. Lily obviously knows he's kidding because no one would pick Judy over her, and she smiles a satisfied little smile. "Just you wait," she promises. "It's going to be a perfect wedding." Rick concurs, "Except for the sullen teenagers, the withholding relatives, the exes in the parking lot with their voodoo dolls [oh, don't flatter yourself], the threat of legal action over my entire --" Lily shuts him up with a kiss.
Karen and the kids have just finished dinner. As she scrapes their plates, she asks who wants dessert. Eli counts himself out, saying he's going to go practice. Karen moms about his paper. "I blew it off," he says, just to yank her ass-pole. Of course it works. Before she can launch into a lecture, though, he assures her that he's finished it already. The phone rings.
"Hi, Karen?" Judy says softly. Karen says it's her. Judy whispers (why is she whispering?), "Hi, this is Judy." Nothing. "Judy Brooks." Karen clicks and asks how she is. She wonders if she forgot to pick up an order at the bookstore. Weren't they just at lunch, like, the other day? Suddenly Karen's all business again? The hell? No wonder she has no friends. Judy says that she actually has to talk to her about something "kind of personal." Karen watches Jessie anxiously. Judy asks if it's a good time, and Karen distractedly says, "Sure," as we fade to commercials.
When we return, Karen's hanging up the phone. She braces herself against the wall and tries to stay calm. She takes a breath and tentatively says, "Jess? What happened at school today?" Jessie quickly answers that nothing did. Karen's voice has an edge: "Jess?" Jessie's "nothing" isn't so sure this time. Karen chokes out, "Did you faint?" Jessie spins around and asks who was on the phone. Karen doesn't answer, but asks again if Jessie fainted. Jessie looks overwhelmed and says that she just got dizzy. She asks again who called. Karen tries to hold Jessie's head in her hands, pleading with her to admit that she fainted. Jessie shrinks away from Karen and looks repelled. Again, she denies fainting. Karen studies Jessie's profile closely, and her eyes are full of worry as she asks whether Jessie ate lunch. Jessie doesn't answer, so Karen asks again. Jessie closes her eyes, grits her teeth, and says that she just got dizzy for a second. Then she's off, pacing away from Karen and inventing some excuse about not having a drink before the game like she's supposed to; in fact, she didn't have anything to drink all day. Karen is reeling. Her voice shakes when she finally asks why Jessie didn't tell her. Jessie's voice is quavering, too: "Because it's nothing." Karen swoops over to Jessie, shouting, "Fainting is not nothing!" Jessie flips out. She shakes her fists up and down in frustration and bounces as she screams, "I didn't faint! Why do you have to make such a big deal about everything?" She gets hold of herself when she sees Karen staring at her looking wounded. Karen sinks against the table, shaking her head sadly and breathing heavily. Jessie watches, contrite, and says in a small voice, "Mom, I'm okay." "Okay," Karen says, getting up and walking over to the sink to distract herself: "Okay." But she doesn't look convinced. In fact, she fights back the tears as she scrubs the dishes with her back to Jessie.
"She's not getting better," Karen tells Dr. Wise-Ass. She and Rick are seated in the good doctor's office, as far from each other on the couch as they can get. Karen's arms are clenched across her chest, and her foot jiggles in agitation. Rick is absolutely sprawled out in comparison. Dr. Wise-Ass asks Karen what she means. Karen's foot shakes furiously as she says that she can't know whether this fainting spell was "an isolated incident" and declares that Jessie's not making progress; "she's not eating." Dr. Wise-Ass asks Rick what he thinks. Rick glances at Karen and says, "I actually think she's doing better." He says that when Jessie's at his house, she's eating more. "Junk food," Karen grates, looking off angrily to the side and in serious danger of launching her foot right off her ankle. Rick quickly protests that it's not junk food. Karen swings her head to level him with a glare, demanding, "Are you saying she's eating with you and not with me?" Rick tries to placate her while at the same time making it clear he thinks she's overreacting.
Karen hops on the Soliloquy Stool to share, "Rick's parenting? Has always been so...casual." As proof, she offers, "When the kids were small, they'd be teetering at the top of a jungle gym, ready to fall flat on their face, and he'd hold me back and say, 'Let them fall. So they break a bone -- once.'" Or they knock themselves into a coma -- once. Karen's disdain for this approach is obvious.
Rick hops up on the Stool to launch his own attack: "Karen approaches parenthood like it's a trial. You have the evidence, the arguments, uh, the verdict...And if it's not all just right, [sneering] you're in contempt." I think it's pretty obvious who's holding whom in contempt here.
Back in the doctor's office, Karen's fuming to Rick, "She moves her food around on her plate. It only looks like she's eating." Rick snarks, "I think I can tell when she's eating." Of course you can. That's why she had two grody pieces of pizza moldering away in her desk a few weeks back. These two are so fucking dysfunctional, locked locked in this parental tug-of-war. I don't know how Dr. Wise-Ass manages to stay as calm and cool as he does. But I guess that's why he gets the big bucks, and I'm just an armchair analyst. He earns his paycheck one more time by gently interrupting their volley: "Guys, look. She still has a problem. And she's going to have this problem for a while." Karen's not thrilled to hear this. "So, what?" she demands. "We're supposed to just sit here and watch her not eat and then rag on her 'til she screams at me and basically become the food nazi?" Dr. Wise-Ass just nods sagely and utters, "Basically." Karen makes it clear that she's not impressed with the approach, and she's "not interested" in it any longer. Dr. Wise-Ass -- who I'm now convinced is a master of Zen -- soothingly reminds her that "this profession has yet to become an exact science. If you tell me our way is not working, I believe you. There are other ways." He tells them about a new approach he's been reading; "it sounds like an old approach," but "it's basically behavior mod. You set up a few rules, and this becomes Jessie's job. In order to earn her keep, a certain amount has to be eaten." Karen glances at Rick while the doctor searches his desk for the file with the information. The doctor elaborates that if Jessie keeps up her end of things, she gets to keep up her life: phone privileges, trips to the mall, martial arts. If she doesn't, she loses them: "Not as a punishment, just as part of the deal. She didn't earn it that week." Dr. Wise-Ass specifies that the most important part is they do not discuss it: there is no "cajoling" or "arguing." Rick looks less and less thrilled as the doctor speaks. He tells the doc it "sounds like training a dog." Dr. Wise-Ass makes a crack about a rolled-up newspaper, and tells them this approach is a lot harder than it sounds: "For some reason, nobody in our generation wants to be the, uh, bad guy. In other words, parents. This makes kids really uneasy, because the truth is, they really want parents. Even if it means parents they get to hate sometimes." Karen flinches. She shakes her head, unconvinced. He holds out the folder and tells them to take a look at the articles and tell him what they think. The two of them just stare at the folder like it's a severed hand.
Cut to Lily carting a laundry basket through the kitchen, with the cordless tucked under her chin. She tells whoever's on the line not to "make it too late, they still have homework to do." She clicks off as she reaches the dining room and glances up to see Judy coming through the front door. She's got a stack of order forms for Grace for the book fair. Lily folds a towel and says that Jake took Grace to buy new ski clothes for the trip. Dude, I thought Jake was courting bankruptcy. How is he paying for all of this ski stuff? Judy rhymes off the joys of skiing: "New boots, new clothes..." Lily says she heard someone describe skiing once as "standing in a cold shower tearing up hundred dollar bills." Exactly. See my point above. Lily asks if Judy is free on Thursday to go look at some places for the wedding. Judy clenches. She mutters that it's a bad week, and that she's really busy. "So I've heard," Lily says, a tiny edge creeping into her voice. Judy asks what that means. Lily tries to make her voice light, but fails, as she says, "Rick said you called [raising her voice yet another octave] Karen about Jessie." Judy looks uncomfortable and focuses on folding a towel. Lily continues, "I didn't realize you knew her so well." Judy's towel is suddenly very interesting. She mutters, "Yeah, from the bookstore." Lily asks if they're friends. "Well," Judy hedges, still avoiding looking at Lily. Lily answers her own question, "Well, I mean you're obviously close enough to call her." Remembering Karen's sub-zero phone manner, Judy pshaws, "I don't know how close we are." Lily: "Close enough to discuss her daughter with her. Instead of calling Rick, with whom you actually have a relationship." Her voice has turned accusatory. Judy digests this and looks almost amused, wondering, "Is that what we have?" Lily asks what she's talking about. Judy says, "I wouldn't say we have a relationship." Lily is agape. She stares uncomprehendingly at Judy for a second, then looks down, forcing out an indulgent laugh. She says, in small words, and nice and slow, "Judy, I'm marrying him. You're about to be his sister-in-law." Judy smiles that if Lily broke up with him tomorrow, Judy'd probably never see him again. Lily looks like she can't believe this -- how could anyone not want to see big, wonderful Rick again? She purses her lips, exhales loudly, and moves a step closer to Judy, asking, "What exactly is the problem?" Judy says that there isn't one. Lily tells her to come on. Hi, Lily? Quit trying to bully Judy into liking Rick. She's a big girl. And you are too. Just reminding you, because you seem to have forgotten. Anyway, Judy says it "honestly didn't occur to [her] to call Rick about" Jessie. Lily, shocked, asks why not. Judy says they're just "not very connected yet." She adds that Lily "can't just expect two people --" "I'm not expecting anything," Lily interrupts. Oh, please. "You're not?" Judy asks, unconvinced. "Oh, Judy," Lily snits, moving further down the table. Judy changes the subject, asking whether Jessie's all right. Remember her, Lily? Your soon-to-be stepdaughter? The one whose problems with an eating disorder pale in comparison to the fact that Judy didn't call Rick? Yeah, her. Lily says that she seems to be. She presses her lips together and angrily folds a towel. "Good," Judy says, with eight hundred pounds of sincerity behind it. She says she'll check her schedule and get back to Lily about Thursday. "Okay," Lily says, emotionless. "That would be good." Sometimes I could just shake her.
Cut to Grace hanging a book-fair banner in a hallway at school. Apparently, she's in charge of things, as she gives orders to the other kids helping to set up. She strides over to a table where Judy's drawing big signs. "That looks good," Grace says, tapping Judy's work. "Oh, thank you, boss," Judy teases. Grace walks past Panty Queen, who's perched on a table just waving a marker back and forth. Grace asks what she's doing, and P.Q. answers that she's waiting for Greg: "He said he absolutely had to talk to me. Why are guys such drama kings?" Grace is entirely unimpressed and uninterested. She turns away just as Jessie approaches. Grace leads Jessie over to Judy and asks if she'd mind helping with the signs. It might be my imagination, but I think that Grace gives Judy a look over Jessie's shoulder before she leaves them alone. Judy breaks the ice by asking what position Jessie plays. Jessie talks a little soccer until the camera cuts to the doorway, where some jock type in a basketball uniform has just entered. "Here we go," says P.Q. with inflated importance as she shoves off the table. Judy watches Jessie watching the two of them talking. "Do you know Kimberly?" she asks. Aha! So P.Q. has a name. Not that I care. Panty Queen, by the way, is wearing a cute widdle pink baby tee, giving me just one more reason to hate her. Jessie says, "Sort of." Judy throws out a testing "she seems nice." Jessie doesn't respond. Judy adds, "Of course, when I was your age, girls like her were my worst nightmare." Mine too, Judy. And they still are. Jessie can't believe it, but Judy insists she was "this completely gawky, awkward type." Jessie is shocked and grins. Judy says that high school for her was "a disaster" and that she "got hives" just walking in there today. Jessie laughs and colors a bit more of the sign. Judy sneaks a glance at her and says, "The problem is, when you're in it, you can't see." Jessie asks what. "That all this stuff isn't real. You know, who's popular, who's pretty, who gets mean when they're scared...When you're eighteen, you know, this is over. All of it. And everything's different." Word, Judy. I wish more adults would tell kids that, instead of making them think that high school is the high point of existence. How sad would it be to peak in high school? Actually, I know the answer to that, having come from a small town where all the people who thought they ruled in high school have never left. The town, and that mentality. And the group of friends they had. And the boyfriends and girlfriends they had. Now, they just spice things up by screwing around with one another's spouses and, once in a while, an outsider. Sad? Dude, don't even get me started. Judy looks over at the young lovers again, and sardonically begins a commentary on P.Q.'s predictable body language. She and Jessie laugh over the accuracy of it. Judy rocks.
Cut to Karen's kitchen, where she's tapping away on her laptop. The lighting suggests that it's fairly late. Jessie comes in and grabs the phone. Karen matter-of-factly says, "I'm sorry Jess, there's no phone tonight." Jessie protests that she needs to talk to Marney. Karen doesn't pause in her typing, saying, "I'm sorry, but we discussed this. If you eat what we agree on at dinner, then you can use the phone." Jessie fibs that it's about homework. Karen's too fast for that, though, pointing out that Jessie said her homework is already done. Jessie stares at her for a minute, formulating a new strategy. She says, "You can't just do this out of nowhere." Karen makes understanding sounds and then turns back to her computer. Jessie slams the phone on its hook, griping, "Rosenfeld is such a jerk!" "Hey!" Karen protests. Jessie strides over, hair flying out, and demands, "And why are you talking to him? He's my doctor!" Karen says that they're trying to help her, and Jessie says it's not helping. Karen coolly says she's sorry Jessie feels that way, and Jessie tosses out, "And I'm not going to talk to him anymore." Karen levels her with a look, and says, "Well, you don't have to talk to him. But you do have to go to him." Jessie challenges, "And do what? Just sit there?" Karen is unfazed: "If that's the way you need to do it. But then, of course, there wouldn't be a ski trip." Jessie stares at her, open-mouthed at the outrageousness of it all. "This is so unfair," she complains. Karen says she knows it feels that way. Jessie's face is a mask of contempt: "You don't know anything about how I feel." She storms out, tossing Karen one more look of disgust. Karen shakes her head uncertainly, sighs, and rests her forehead in her hands. We go to commercials.
After commercials, we find Lily at the bookstore, seated on a kid's chair and flipping through books. She selects one on cakes, complaining, "There's just so much to think about. All I want is this small, quiet thing." Judy, in her boss plaid pants, sidles over and takes a seat near Lily. They're eating take-out. Lily, ever so sensitively, gripes, "You know, you'd think a second wedding would be easier." Judy's unbothered, though, and just laughs. Lily goes on, "Even on this scale -- dresses for myself, for the girls, who to invite, who not to invite..." Judy smiles and suggests that they just elope and avoid all of it. Lily categorically refuses even to consider it: they have children, Zoe would never forgive her, blah blah blah everything's-a-trial cakes. Lily adds that she wants Judy to be there, and Aaron, and their mom (she thinks). Judy assures her it's okay to want a wedding. Lily smiles, embarrassed, and confesses that it feels ridiculous at her age. Judy tells her that's ridiculous, and that she's "entitled to every bit of happiness." As if Lily needs reminding that she's entitled to anything. "Really?" Lily says. "Mm-hmm," Judy responds. Lily excitedly tells her that she thinks "this chapel is going to be the one." Judy's smile fades and she looks down at her lap. Lily rattles on and then asks if Judy can go. Judy hedges that she's expecting a shipment that afternoon, but she'll see if she can get someone to cover for her. Lily says, "Oh, that would be so great! Thank you," and pecks Judy's temple. Judy just stares at her food. Suddenly, she's not so hungry anymore.
Cut to Jessie and Rick at a sports store, where Jessie's trying on new shoes. Her friend Marney bumps into them, and Jessie asks what she's doing there. Marney holds up a pullover and says she's getting new fleece for the ski trip. "Gotta have that fleece!" Rick says with an idiotic grin. I don't know. Maybe Billy's hoping for a gig with Old Navy? Marney asks if Jessie's going on the trip, and Jessie says an uncomfortable, "Uh, I don't know yet," boring her eyes into the back of Rick's head. Rick senses the look and flinches. Marney leaves, and Jessie flops down to Rick on the bench, staring at him intently. He sighs and looks at her, knowing what's coming. "I promise I'll take care of myself," Jessie pleads. "Jess," he says reluctantly. "I promise!" she insists. Rick says she needs to show them that. "You always take her side," Jessie mutters, sulking. Rick says that he's not taking sides. Jessie complains that Karen treats her "like a baby." Rick defends Karen, saying that she's worried about Jessie, and that she's trying to do the right thing. Jessie begs, "You could talk to her." Rick sighs, "I am with her on this." Jessie's face falls. "Who is this strange new man with a backbone?" she wonders. "And what has he done with my father?" Rick tells her that when Jessie shows them that she can take care of herself, she'll get all of her freedoms back. He holds out the shoebox and says that they'd better get going, or they'll be late. Jessie just gets up and sullenly walks away, pointedly ignoring the box. Rick sighs again, thinking how hard it is to be a parent who actually says no. I hope he didn't buy those shoes after that little snit fit.
Dr. Wise-Ass's arm reaches out for a glass of water on the table to his chair. Jessie sits across from him, arms folded, looking petulant. She smiles a tiny, antagonizing smile at him, rolls her eyes, and sighs loudly. He just looks back at her, a pleasant, patient look on his face. It's a standoff, folks. I notice that Dr. Wise-Ass got rid of that super-loud clock he had. It's totally quiet in the office. Jessie finally breaks the silence, suggesting that he make phone calls or do paperwork, or whatever else he has to work on. He declines and says that this is her time. "Okay," she says, smirking and looking into her lap, knowing that she will beat him. She turns her head toward the window so she doesn't have to keep staring at him.
Grace is clapping her hands and barking orders. Looks like the book fair is underway. Judy hands Jessie a stack of books and asks her to set them up. She pulls the pile out of a box and exclaims at the sight of one, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. She passes a copy to Jessie, asking if she's ever read it, and saying that "it's great." Judy thumbs through it affectionately, and adds that she "must have read this four times in high school. She explains that it's about these "people in a southern town, kind of...outsiders." She says that the book "saved" her from herself. Jessie asks what she means. "I had a lotta problems in high school," Judy says with a wry smile. "What, like drugs?" Jessie asks, looking worried. Judy blinks a few times, thinking it over, and says, "Well, I was...bulimic." Jessie is stunned. Judy elaborates, saying that she used to feel like she "was allergic to high school," and she'd wonder why no one else seemed to "feel it." It made her "feel like [she] was allergic to everything. And [she] didn't want to keep anything in [her] body." Jessie listens thoughtfully, staring off at something, and feeling Judy's words resonate. She looks back at Judy, earnestly studying her face. "You know what I figured out?" Judy asks. "I finally learned that all these people who pretend to be fine -- they're not." The camera cuts over to a group of kids with Panty Queen in the middle, holding court with a copy of Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. She looks as if she's mocking it. Too late, P.Q. I still hate you. Judy continues, "They just have other ways they deal with it: they drink, or they act obnoxious, or they, you know, do anything to be popular." Judy and Jessie stare at our cases in point, and then look at one another, somehow empowered, somehow wiser. Judy hands a copy of the book to Jessie and says she wants her to have it. "Really?" Jessie asks. "Yeeeah," Judy says, smiling warmly. Judy rocks. Love me some Judy. So does Jessie, it seems. Good, she needs a role model.
The camera pans down a chapel's peaked ceiling over the pews, to where Lily is standing, arms folded, surveying the scene. The door at the far end of the aisle clangs open, and Lily spins in its direction, arms still crossed. Judy races up the aisle, sputtering apologies. "Judy, they have to lock up!" Lily bitches, waving her arms. Judy apologizes again, saying the shipment was two hours late. "Fine, I'll get the lady," Lily grates, moving away. Judy asks her to let her catch her breath first. Lily waves her arms at her some more, angrily flapping at the wall of stained glass behind the altar, and gripes, "Y-y-y-you know what? The light is gone. You can't even see the stained glass!" She sounds like she might cry. What a fucking baby. Judy looks at her watch and says, "Because I'm fifteen minutes late?" Lily snaps, her voice choked, "No, 'cause you're half an hour late." She stomps her foot. I swear. Judy shrills that she's "twenty-two minutes late." Lily glares at her and says, icily, "Fine. You know, you shouldn't have come at all." Judy rolls her eyes and asks what that's supposed to mean. "You had plenty of time to help Grace with her book fair and hang out with you new friend Karen." "Oh, please!" Judy says, echoing my sentiments exactly. Did I mention that Lily's being a baby? Lily just stares at Judy, too angry to speak. She points and waves her hands and huffs out a couple false starts and then finally says, all condescending, "I'm sorry Judy. I, I know I'm getting married for the second time. This is not an easy thing." Judy sucks in her cheeks, insulted, and nods her head sardonically. "You really think this way, don't you?" she asks. "I mean, whatever anyone's problem is, they must be jealous!" Lily denies it vehemently. "You wanna know what my problem is?" Judy hisses. "What?" Lily asks. Judy stops herself, saying that she doesn't even want to "go there." Lily snaps, "No, you're there, Judy. What?" "The groom!" Judy blurts. "Oh!" Lily gasps, throwing her arms wide. She paces a few steps, turning from Judy, and finally mutters, "I knew it." Judy gets all squealy, shrilly asking why Lily made her say it, then. "What do you have against Rick?" Lily grits, getting ready to kick Judy's ass in defense of her man.
Judy takes a deep breath, jerks her hands around a bit like she's trying to get hold of the words, and then says, "First of all, you never gave me a chance to have my own reaction to him, okay? 'Isn't he wonderful, isn't he --'" Lily protests, "I have done nothing but tell you my doubts since the beginning!" Judy's been ranting on in her imitation of Lily, and we cut back to her saying, mockingly, "'I'm so scared to be with someone so wonderful!'" Lily tells her she's "so hateful!" "And you are just blind sometimes!" Judy spits. "You don't like Rick because I like him too much?" Lily says, clutching her chest and looking stunned. Judy says that's not it; it's that "he's distant and preoccupied and he's...he's repressed." "How would you know that?" Lily demands, adding, "What, you get to decide what qualities I should fall in love with?" Judy rolls her eyes and says, with exaggerated patience, "I know it is none of my business, but I don't trust him. Okay? I don't think he knows himself. I don't think he's at all clear on who he is, or who he's going to be." Ahem, Will Gluck, anyone? And also, project much? God knows I love Judy, but she's not exactly the most together person, either. Lily just glares at her, shaking her head very slightly, and sticking her tongue in the corner of her mouth. Finally, she says, "You're right. You should not come with me to find a chapel. And you should not come to this wedding." You know, I haven't said something like that since I was, oh, six years old, and my cousin and I got in some stupid fight so I uninvited her from my birthday party. And then an hour later, I re-invited her. And, can I just point out, Lily, you asked for Judy's opinion. You pushed her to do this with you. And you did behave as though Judy has nothing better to do than make all your wedding-day dreams come true. So suck it up. Don't ask a question if you don't think you want the answer. Lily flounces off down the aisle and Judy grovels after her, pleading with her to believe that things didn't come out right. She says she "didn't want to say any of this." Lily stops, spins around, and hisses, "Too late!" before sailing out of there like the fucking queen she is.
Rick, meanwhile, is dropping off Jessie at Karen's place. Jessie can't wait to get away from Karen, who's working in the dining room, so she excuses herself to do homework. "Did she eat?" Karen whispers after Jessie leaves. "A salad," Rick says. "A salad?" Karen repeats scornfully. Rick cuts her down: "It had tofu on it. She did fine, Karen." Karen backs down, saying, "'Fine.' I don't even know what that means anymore." Rick says he thinks they should let her go on the ski trip. I'll wait a second while you pick yourself up off the floor. He adds that he "sees her trying, and [he thinks] she should be rewarded." Karen stares at him in disbelief and then sighs, "You're letting her manipulate you." Rick insists that Jessie's not manipulating him. Karen says that this new approach might be working, but only if they stick with it. Rick repeats that he thinks Jessie should be rewarded. Karen throws her hands up, and says that Jessie's "not ready to handle this on her own"; five days away from home is just too much. Rick argues that if Jessie doesn't try "these adult scary things," she'll never know that she can do them, and that he thinks Karen is wrong. "I think I'm right," she says, and her ass-pole hoots and cheers her on. He asks how they're going to decide this, then, since they're obviously at an impasse. "I've already decided," Karen says. Rick shakes his head in disbelief at her arrogance, and says that they decided they'd handle raising the kids jointly. "We are talking about her health, not your prerogatives," Karen snaps. Rick just looks at her, calls out, "Good night Jess!" and then spins on his heel and heads for the door. But not before tossing Karen a disgusted look.
Cut to Jessie in her room, sitting among the debris of tossed-aside clothing, hangers, shoes, and slippers. She's reading the book that Judy gave her, and it turns into a voice-over, as Soliloquy Jessie reads the words aloud: "For her, it was like there were two places: the inside room, and the outside room. School and the family and the things that happened every day were in the outside room. Foreign countries, and plants, and music were in the inside room." I just noticed that Jessie got her braces off. She looks absolutely stunning here in black and white. Soliloquy Jessie jumps at the sound of a knock and tears her eyes off the page.
Back in her room, Jessie jumps at the same knock and tells Karen to come in. Karen marches in with a pair of sneakers pinched between her fingers, and sarcastically thanks Jessie for leaving them in the middle of the stairs. Karen notices the mess and asks, "What is all this?" Poor Jessie just wants to read, and I know her stomach is totally clenching right now as she gears up for a nagging instead. Jessie mutters that she's cleaning out her closet. Karen asks about a pile of clothes in particular. Jessie says they're "to go." Karen latches onto a sweater at the top of the pile, and my heart sinks for Jessie. Karen picks it up and says, "Jess, you love this sweater!" Jessie assures her that she does, in fact, hate it. Karen gripes that she just bought it for her, and announces that Jessie is not going to throw the sweater away. Jessie says she's going to donate it. Karen says she knows that, in two weeks, Jessie will want the sweater back. Jessie's voice is shaking as she asks Karen to please leave. Karen grabs for a drawer, saying that Jessie should just put the sweater aside. Jessie waves her hands and screams, "I said I didn't want it!" Oh, this kid is so frustrated. And Karen just doesn't have a clue how to relate to her. Karen looks at Jessie as if she's never seen her before. Jessie stares back, astonished at Karen's inability to process language.
Cut to Soliloquy Jessie, reading from the book: "She could be in a house full of people and still feel like she was locked up by herself." She lets these words wash over her.
Back in her room, Jessie's at the end of her rope, asking Karen again to please leave. Karen looks at the sweater in her hands and starts folding it, saying, "Jess, I know you're angry about the ski trip, but --" "But what? You're not going to change your mind no matter what I do," Jessie says through clenched teeth. "You get to decide everything!" she spits. From her seat on the floor, she looks even smaller and more diminished as she glares up at Karen. Karen says that's not true. "Yes, it is," Jessie insists, tears brimming. Her voice is scratchy and unsteady as she continues, "You act like you trust me, but only when I'm doing what you want!" Karen looks down at her, and her eyes are a mix of surprise and regret as she searches for something to say. Jessie turns her attention back to her book, shutting Karen out. Karen looks at the sweater still in her hands as if she can't remember why she's holding it. She starts to refold it, stops herself, and looks at it helplessly. Jessie raises her head a little, but still doesn't look at Karen as she asks her again, urgently, to leave. Karen drops the sweater onto the pile and pads out, defeated. She pauses in the doorway to glance back at Jessie, but Jessie keeps her eyes glued to the book. Karen slumps away.
When we return from commercials, Rick's pushing open the door to the bookstore. Judy glances over at the sound of the bells, and is surprised to see that it's him. "You want a book?" she manages. Rick takes a few steps into the store, then stops, puts his hands on his hips, and looks around, shaking his head slightly. He sighs, "No," and looks directly at her. He shoves his hands in his pockets, purses his lips, and cocks his head, implying that she should know why he's there. "Oh," Judy says, understanding. Rick presses his lips together in a tight-assed stab at a smile. "I hear you don't want me to marry your sister," he says, his voice mild. "Is that what she said?" Judy asks. She must want to press herself between the pages of a book right now. "More or less," Rick says, leveling her with a look that demands to know why. "You're entitled to your own opinion," he continues, "but I...I have to admit, I'm curious about the specifics." Judy lowers her eyes and stammers, "I just, I just worry about her." Rick nods, saying, "I understand that. You've seen her hurt." He takes a few steps toward Judy, adding, "But I don't want to have to stand here and assure you that everything is going to work out because how can I know that? We're going to do this, and I want your good will, but if we have to live without it, we can." I'm sure it's not supposed to, and I'm not even sure why t does, but that statement really bothers me. It's like he's saying Lily doesn't need her, and that if Judy can't be happy about their wedding, then there's no room for her, period. Which may be true, but ouch. Judy looks around, uncomfortable, and musters up the nerve to ask, "Does this mean you're going to hate me now?" Rick smiles a little and admits, "It's not as if I've been your biggest supporter." Judy looks surprised that he actually confessed it. He asks, "Does this mean you're going to hate me more?" "Not possible," she deadpans. Ah, there's the tension breaker we've all been waiting for. They chuckle, and Judy smiles somewhat shyly and says that she just wants Lily to be happy. "And to the extent that you can help that, you and I should do...fine," she adds. Yay, a truce is called and peace and joy and love return to lalaLilyland! Rick smiles and looks as if he's ready to leave, and then says, emphatically, "Thank you...by the way, for speaking to Jessie." Judy gives an "aw shucks, it was nothing" head bob and says, "It was easy." Rick says, "For her to see someone she admires that's okay, she...she needs that." Judy smiles up at him, "Well, she's a great kid." Then she deadpans, "Must've been her mother's influence." Rick laughs and agrees, "Absolutely." Judy smiles back. He says goodbye and turns to leave. Judy stops him and hands him a business card. It's for her photographer friend. Rick seems to appreciate the gesture's significance and thanks her. "No problem...Rick," Judy says, testing out his name as a friend. He smiles and leaves, giving her a little wave from outside the door.
Cut to Karen apprehensively tucking her hair behind her ears and taking a seat. We're watching her through the blinds at Dr. Wise-Ass's office. The camera cuts inside the office as she asks if it's okay for her to be there alone. He holds up his hands, teasing, "Let me check the rule book." Karen sits in a chair across from him, lower than him, and looks like a little girl. She admits that she doesn't know what she's doing, "if any of this is right," and finishes by saying that she doesn't think Jessie is ready to be away alone for five days. "So, don't let her go," Dr. Wise-Ass suggests. Karen says, "Everyone thinks I'm wrong." Dr. Wise-Ass knowingly says, "'Everyone' meaning 'Jessie.'" "And Rick," Karen says, fidgeting with her fingers. "Two against one," Dr. Wise-Ass says. "Maybe that's why you're here, to try to even the odds?" Karen looks thoughtful and nods her head, looking into her lap. Dr. Wise-Ass gets Karen to admit that Jessie has been eating, maybe even "microscopically larger amounts." He suggests that Karen is afraid the progress will stop if Jessie goes away. She finally admits it. Karen then starts going on neurotically about the "school people" and how they don't care about Jessie as much as she does, and how she can't count on them to make sure Jessie's eating the "right portions" or to stop her from eating tons of junk food. "It's not my imagination. This is a life or death issue. And I'm responsible for her," she insists. "You're her mother," that sneaky Dr. Wise-Ass says. "Yes!" Karen agrees. She righteously rhymes off all the times she's saved Jessie in the past, and her ass-pole does a happy dance of vindication. But then Dr. Wise-Ass pulls out a big shiny pin and pops the bubble: "And if her bus crashes, are you responsible for that too?" She angrily asks, "What?" He tosses off a list of disasters, all of them beyond Karen's control, which of course, is making the ass-pole spin and splinter. Karen shuts her eyes against the pain. "Thank you very much. You know I can't control those things," she says. He asks what kinds of things she can control. "Whether she eats," she says. "Can you?" he challenges. She asks whether he's saying that she's too controlling. "You tell me," he says. Oh, she's mad now, and that ass-pole is chafing. "No. If you have something to say to me you say it, dammit," she orders. He looks at her. She asks, "What do you think?" He answers, prodding, "From Rick." She looks away, teary. "From before Rick," he pokes. She can't look at him. She nods and takes a deep breath, asking, "So this is all my fault? Karen the control freak? Karen who needs everyone to follow her plan?" "Karen who's afraid the world will fly apart if she's not there to take responsibility for everything that happens?" Dr. Wise-Ass adds. She asks who will take responsibility if she doesn't. "Karen, I don't know you, really, but I've got a feeling you've been asking yourself that question since way before Jessie was born," Dr. Wise-Ass says gently. She clenches her jaw and looks around, trying to hold in her tears. She nods slightly. After a few seconds, she reins it in again, and says, "But this is Jessie's therapy, not mine. Right?" Dr. Wise-Ass nods his head and says, "Okay." He asks what they should do, and Karen says she can't just "do nothing." We fade out, but it's clear their conversation is far from over.
We fade in on Judy at the bookstore, moving boxes of books. Lily pokes her head around the door and says a tentative "hey." Judy gives one back. Lily saunters in, sarcastically, saying, "Well I was hoping I might find Karen. I wanted to ask her some things about Rick's problems." Huh? Was that a joke? Rick's weird non-humor is rubbing off, it seems. Judy puts down her box, and the wariness slips from her eyes. She smiles a little. "Okay," Lily says, tossing her coat on a stool at the coffee bar, "you're right. I have never really asked you what you thought about Rick. And maybe that was selfish [did that word just escape her lips in the context of self-awareness? Or is this all a beautiful dream?], but I'm not sure I really wanted to know." Mmm, sounds more like denial than selfishness, but whatever. Judy says, "That sounds fair." Judy starts shelving books, her back to Lily, as Lily starts in on one of her condescending spiels, likening Judy's reaction to Rick to her reaction to dairy: she's "just so sensitive. To everything." Lily says "sensitive" like it's a serious character flaw. Judy somehow manages to hold her tongue. Lily admits, "I know Rick has problems, but there's so many remarkable things about him that you don't know." Judy looks like she's swallowing a dictionary's worth of words, and Lily prompts, "Judy?" Judy looks a little petulant as she confesses, "It's hard for me not to worry about you." Lily smiles at the sentiment, and Judy moves a pile of books to the coffee bar. Lily asks what she's worried about. Judy stares intensely at the stack of John Grishams, avoiding Lily's eyes. She admits, "I'm worried that he'll sit in my chair. Or drink from my coffee mug." She looks shyly up at Lily. "Oh, Judy," Lily sighs. Judy says she's afraid she won't be able to call Lily at 2 AM when she's had a bad date. Lily points out that she doesn't do that now. "Yeah, but I could," Judy says. "Of course you could," Lily says hoarsely. Judy is also getting misty. Lily looks at her, sighs with a mix of frustration and love, and grabs Judy's head to plant a kiss on her forehead. "Oh," Lily sighs again, in mock exasperation as she pushes away from Judy. She grabs her coat and heads for the door, pausing to say, "And I do want you at the wedding. As long as you don't have a very good time." Oh, so many things could be said to that, but this recap is already way too long and my shoulder hurts from typing. Judy, however, just smiles and goes back to shelving her books.
Cut to the high-school parking lot, where Jake and Lily are sending Grace off on the big ski trip. The three of them joke around, and have a warm separated-family moment. Jake hugs Grace so hard he threatens the health of her spine, and when he sets her down, Grace heads for the safety of the bus. Rick watches the fond farewell from his truck. Is that odd? Or a little rude? I'm not sure. Once Grace is gone, Lily and Jake glance at each other, realize they have no reason to stand there any longer with one another, and split. Jake moves off past Rick's truck without acknowledging him, which, again, strikes me as odd. Unless they're both still mad about the whole attic thing. Karen's van slides into a space, and she and Jessie are wearing almost identical blue jackets. Karen sits there gripping the steering wheel and takes deep, anxious breaths. Jessie must already be out and around the back o the truck, because we hear Rick kiss her hello. Karen pulls it together and joins them, while Rick gets loaded down like a mule with Jessie's bags. He lurches off toward the bus, leaving Karen and Jessie alone. Karen finally forces herself to tell Jessie to have a good time, and Jessie smiles at her. But addictions aren't broken in a day, so of course Karen has to shove Jessie's hat into her hands with an admonition to wear it. Jessie says that she will and then throws her arms around Karen -- the first genuine and spontaneous display of affection toward her mother in a long time. Jessie breaks for the bus, and Karen watches as a sad song kicks in. Thanks to Sean for emailing to let me know that it's "On Saturday Afternoons in 1963" by Rickie Lee Jones. Rick sees Jessie onto the bus, then turns and glances at Karen, but makes no gesture of acknowledgment. He just turns around and walks away, into Lily's waiting arms. Karen stares at the bus with burning intensity, watching Jessie move along the aisle and find her seat. Karen waves urgently once Jessie is seated, and Jessie looks back at her with appreciation, and finally waves as the bus starts pulling away. Karen stands there, staring after the bus and looking smaller and smaller as the camera pans back. She really needs a hobby. Or a pet.