David is on the phone with Kira, telling her that his roommates are all very excited about their relationship. He says that Lindsay was shaking, and then she said, "It really does happen." In a confessional, Lindsay says that she likes Kira a lot, and that Kira has a "huge impact on everyone in the house." David says that Irene is the same way, and that she gives him a hug every time she sees him. Then we see footage of David and Irene hugging, but I think it's from the "Irene is crazy" series later on in the season. In a confessional, Irene says that when she found out David was dating Kira, it made her want to know David more because she really trusts and values Kira. In an interview, Nathan says that he's in awe and can't believe that someone would give up her job and friends for David. I know he meant that in a nice way, but it sounded like he was saying he can't believe anyone would do that for stinky old David. In an interview, Janet says that Kira took that risk because she thought it was worth it, and that Kira feels that David is the man she's been waiting for. That is just so sad. Also, what is up with the parade of roommates vouching for Kira? You'd think the producers would want us NOT to like Kira, since she broke the B/M rules and all. I haven't even heard two words out of Kira's mouth, and yet they want me to form an opinion based on everyone else's testimony. What's up with that? On the phone, Kira says that it's nice to be able to think about David. Wait, B/M owned her thoughts too? They are the devil's spawn. David says he thinks about Kira and only Kira. Oh, gag. Kira floats, "That's why I'm in love." Okay, how long have these two even known each other? And they are already claiming the greatest love of all time? In an interview, Janet says that it's "all very passionate." Then we see the Space Needle.
In an interview, Stephen tells us about an event for their radio station job called "Snow Patrol." They're going to a local ski resort to hand out radio station tchotchkes. In an interview, David tells us they get to go to the K2 factory and pick out jackets and other outdoor gear. For free? So, they get to live in a house, rent-free. They get to go on a vacation for free. And now they get completely outfitted in ski gear, for free? Where is the justice in that? They all try on ski boots. David voice-overs that none of them know how to snowboard. In an interview, David explains what they will be doing on the mountain, and admits that it's "not a painstaking job." Irene tells the K2 guy that she is "trying to meet her husband" so she needs to "look cute." Isn't this the same woman that I was applauding last week for her stance on how it matters more what's in a girl's mind than what she wears? Yeah, I thought so. I realize she is mostly kidding, but I thought the juxtaposition was interesting. Stephen holds his snowboard up to Lindsay's, and she has to make some completely unnecessary comment about the size of the board. I don't get it. Why would it matter if the board was big or not? Then she runs her hands over it, and says, "Look how big the head is!" I'm not sure what that means. Lindsay's humor is so subtle.
Janet and Irene talk while sitting outside of the house. Janet is talking about how she's seen people fall while snowboarding and tumble all the way down the mountain, and that it's hard to learn how to turn. Irene is scared, and says that Janet caused her to have "a pictorial view" of herself tumbling down the mountain. Then, we see four shots of completely unrelated people falling while snowboarding, in case we couldn't provide our own pictorial view in our heads.
Space Needle shot #39. David is at the fish market. You know the one, even if you haven't seen this season. They throw the fish. In an interview, David says that two days a week, he gets up at six and goes to throw fish. He got a job because he likes to have "a hard day's work" (at least that's what Heartbreak Harry said). He works with cool guys who put one hundred percent into what they do, and if you can cut it and be on time for work, you're all right. We see some shots of David working. So, basically, he's saying that his other job is embarrassingly easy, so he got this job in order to do some actual work? I almost admire that, except that I think David is largely doing it to look good for the cameras.
Kira is on the phone with David again, talking about when she is going to come visit him. In a confessional, David says that Kira is coming up tomorrow. David tells Kira that he's working Saturday and she can come and see him throw fish. Well, sign me up. Kira thinks that is "so cool." David tells her that he'll hit her with a salmon if she gets out of line. No, he really said that. In an interview, David says that "women love to be hit with salmon." That is like the one humorous thing David says in this episode. Well, intentionally humorous.
David is at the airport to pick up Kira. In an interview, he tells us that he wasn't even nervous, and his only concern is Kira, when she gets off the plane, "if she's nervous, [he] wants to be there to hold her hand." Thus, the drama begins. Kira gets off the plane, but David is totally looking the other way, so she kind of sneaks up behind him. Aw, she's wearing the necklace he bought her. David hugs her.
Space needle shot #40. I feel like we should have some sort of anniversary party. It's like a milestone. Okay, I'm over it. Janet buzzes David and Kira through the gate. Janet is totally excited to see Kira, and runs out and gives her a big hug. In an interview, Janet tells us that when you meet Kira, you can tell that she's a "solid, confident person," and that after talking to her for five minutes, you feel comfortable. This is a classic case of what my college writing professor used to call, "show, don't tell." Stop telling me how great Kira is, and show me that she's great. Janet says that David is on cloud nine. In an interview, David says that Kira "sets [him] at ease in [his] soul" and "regardless of what happens, if she's by my side, it's nice." Seriously, did he fall in a puddle of Richard Marx, or what? David calls a cab for them to go somewhere. In an interview, David says that Kira didn't expect to meet him, and that it turned her life upside down. Yeah, we got that the first ten times you said it in the episode. It's all very dramatic, Olivier. Can we move on? David and Kira head outside to wait for their cab. In an interview, David says that all these emotions are bound to cause animosity, even though we haven't seen any animosity yet. Instead, they are wrestling on the sidewalk. Kira has really long legs.
An alarm clock goes off, so I guess it's the morning now. Janet and Irene wake up. Irene voice-overs that it's 4:30 AM. Most of the roommates are busy in the bathroom getting ready, and yawning. In a confessional, David says that everyone was getting ready, and he just didn't go. We see a shot of David and Kira in bed (sleeping) to explain why he didn't go. David says he didn't tell Aubbie -- he was just dead set on not going. To break up the drama, we get a Space Needle shot. All the roommates but David are in the van with Aubbie, who is lecturing them. Aubbie says that she understands David's attachment, but that they signed up knowing that it was a five- or six-month commitment, and they can't use the excuse that their guest is only here for three days. While she's correct, why is she yelling at them? Save it for David, man. Were the rest of them supposed to drag him out of bed? ["Seriously. Way to show AMERICA what a crappy manager you are, Aubbie." -- Wing Chun] In an interview, Nathan recaps what we just saw -- that Aubbie is "pissed off because David chose a friend over work without properly telling her, which is totally unprofessional." It's a good thing we have Nate around to keep us up to speed. Aubbie continues with the lecture, saying that they have an obligation to get out of bed and pay back what K2 gave them. Well, that's true as well. But again, misdirected. Maybe Irene needs to have a discussion with her about anger displacement. We see another shot of David and Kira snuggling in bed, then a shot of the radio station van struggling through the snow. They arrive at the ski resort, and Aubbie gives them a bunch of crap to hand out. They hand it out. Rebecca makes some guy eat an entire doughnut in one bite in order to win a CD. Hey, if part of their job is humiliating people for worthless trinkets, maybe I should look into that.
Oh, no. Again with the "Truly, Madly, Deeply." What is this, Dawson's Creek? If the word "soulmates" is uttered at all, I will throw my television out the window. Well, in reality, my television wouldn't fit through the window (it's big and the window isn't), but you know what I mean. David and Kira sit outside, and she's on his lap like rubbing against him and I wonder if this is where they got the idea for that scene in Cruel Intentions where Buffy promises anal sex to Ryan Phillippe. Regardless, ew. Back on the mountain, we see Lindsay take a digger. (That means fall down. I used it in another recap and got questions about it.) Then, Nathan falls. In a confessional, Janet says that she has never snowboarded before, and she's afraid of heights, and she sucks at skiing. I would stay in the lodge, then. She could still hand out stuff in the lodge, couldn't she? In an interview, Irene says that she wouldn't say she was "the best snowboarder out there," and then reveals that it should not be called snowboarding when it relates to her, it should be called "kamikaze boarding." She says that there is no way to fall lightly, and we are treated to yet another "Agony of Defeat" montage of all the roommates falling on the mountain. Then we see Irene take a particularly vicious fall, and Lindsay stops to help her, and realizes that Irene split her lip. There's blood on the snow, even. Irene laughs it off. Can you imagine if that happened to Amaya? They would have to call one of those helicopter rescue teams and strap her to a board and airlift her to the nearest hospital. After recovering a bit, Irene tells Lindsay that she's telling everyone that she did it while trying a jump. Then we see some snowboarders jumping off a ramp and doing stunts. In case you weren't sure what Irene meant by "trying a jump."
The roommates arrive home, and David asks whether Aubbie yelled about him. Stephen says seriously that David is in trouble, and that Aubbie reported it to Phil. Dun dun dun. Not Phil! Who's Phil? David blows it off, saying that it's "comical" and that he'll talk to Aubbie tomorrow. Kira does some dishes and says that she's nervous about it and wishes David were more nervous. If she's so nervous about it, maybe she could have kicked David's ass out of bed. A bunch of the female roommates sit with Kira in the living room and discuss the David/Kira relationship. Irene mentions that there is a phenomenal amount of pressure on them at the beginning of the relationship, especially the distance factor since it's the first time they've been together for more than twenty-four hours. David sits at the computer desk and listens in with his messy hair. Kira says that "nothing that happened was natural or normal at all" and that it was in fact, "disruptive." In a confessional, Irene says that Kira gave up a lot in the beginning of the relationship, and now there are huge questions and a lot of think about. Does anyone else find it creepy how involved the roommates are in the relationship at this point? Kira continues her little storytelling session by saying that "everything no longer looks familiar" and questions if she's supposed to trust David, but points out that he's all she's got. Um, he's sitting right there. Should you really be talking about how you have a hard time trusting him? ["Well, it is David. He's probably over there going, 'Hell yeah. Don't count on me. I still might turn out to be gay.'" -- Wing Chun] In an interview, David says that he doesn't get to see her much, and so when he did, a few issues that he wasn't aware of came out. He says that Kira asked him to leave (the show, I guess) and he did want to, and he contemplated packing his bags. But, he also feels that while there is a time for sacrifice and compromise, he does want to be there. He continues by saying that Kira sees potential scenarios (and aren't all scenarios potential?) such as she gave up everything and then loses David, or she gave up everything and he leaves her, or she gave up everything and he wasn't the man she thought he was. What if she gave up everything and then realizes he smells really bad? That's a scenario for you. What if she gave up everything and then realized he's insane? What if she gave up everything and then realized his accent was both comic and annoying? Kira and David are in the bedroom. David is sleeping, or laying on the bed resting, while Kira cries prettily for the cameras. Come on, she's totally doing it for effect, and to try to get David to sit up and ask her what's wrong. In an interview, David says that he would love for this to be all different and more blathering about how their relationship is so right, but so wrong. Kira and David are now walking outside, and she has a bag, so I guess she's leaving, but we never saw them discuss that, or anything. It just kind of happened. Kira pulls away.
The phone rings and David answers it. Of course, it's Kira. She says she can't do this anymore. So why is she calling? If she really couldn't do it anymore, she would leave and stay gone, right? Kira says she doesn't know why David needs to be there, and that he isn't doing anything to "save it." In other words (and there was some confusion over this in the forums), Kira gave up her job and everything for David, and now she wants David to give up the show to prove his loyalty to her. Which kind of makes sense, but is also kind of fucked up. ["I agree. Kira went into the relationship knowing that it would have to be on hold for a while. It's petulant of her to get pissy about it now." -- Wing Chun] David says he wanted to talk, but she wouldn't. Kira says he wasn't talking, which is true from the clip that we just say. David asks her to come pick him up outside the house, and it's on.
Suddenly the cameraman is sprinting out of the house, down the pier, just in time to see Kira's truck pulling away. Unfortunately, David forgot to take off his microphone, so we have audio the whole time. Actually, I think I read that he tried to wrap his microphone in a sweatshirt so that the sound would be muffled. ['That he would give it that much thought just proves, again, what a camera slut David was. If he really wanted privacy, he'd have ripped it right off!" -- Wing Chun] Regardless, they are screaming at each other, so we get to hear the whole thing. David asks what he can do. Kira says her love "cost her everything." Well, not her life. I mean, sure -- her job, her friends (supposedly). But I'm sure she still has family, and she's still alive and kicking and wearing her skanky cardigan sweater. David points out that Kira has made sacrifices, but his job is to be there for her, and he is, but now that's not enough for her. He started out that sentence just fine, but it soon degraded into dramatic yelling, such as, "I must not be enough!" I really can't convey in print how emotional he is at this point. If you've seen the episode, you know. Kira screams her own self, saying that David doesn't see what she goes through. Oh, for crying out loud. She quit her job. People quit their jobs every damn day. Stop blaming David for your own second thoughts, Kira. Sometimes we can see the two of them silhouetted in the back panel of the pickup truck, and sometimes the oncoming traffic obscures them. At one point, the camera totally zooms out to show a shot of steam coming out of a manhole, for no apparent reason. Focus, people! What if something exciting happens? I watched this scene many times, but I still couldn't figure out what was happening. I think at one point, someone was shaking someone else, but who was the shaker and who was the shakee was impossible to determine. There was also the sound of David hitting something, probably the dashboard. David just loses it and yells out, "It kills me, honey! I want to reach out and just be like, 'Love me, Carol!'" Who the fuck is Carol? He doesn't even know his soulmate's name? Kira says that she shows she loves him just by being there. Wasn't that David's argument a few minutes ago? David is still screaming that he carries these feelings all the time, "All the time!" and Kira doubts him to his face. As the camera zooms back, we hear David scream, "I LOVE you! It KILLS me!" Wait for it...wait for it..."You don't even KNOW!" Ah. Commercial. I need a cigarette.
Back from commercial, David is on the phone with the guys at the fish market. One of them asks where he is, and we find out that it's Justin, who will gain some measure of fame later this season as Janet's stalker/boyfriend. David was supposed to be there at 6:30 AM and it's now noon, and he's just calling. David has a little problem with getting to work on time, or at all, doesn't he? The camera makes a point of focusing on David's hand, which features some extremely bruised and scabbed-over knuckles. ["I guess they teach you how to punch walls at VMI." -- Wing Chun] David arrives at the fish market and the guys give him a hard time. One guy scolds him because this guy got David the job, and by blowing off work, David is making this guy look bad. We discover that David has only worked there for two days, which doesn't really jibe with the whole timeline they've got going here. So, his first day at work was the day Kira arrived? That seems weird. ["It also kind of contradicts David's self-image as a salt-of-the-earth workingman. In fact, he is just a regular slacker. Who is surprised?" -- Wing Chun]
Now, David is at the radio station. Aubbie motions him into a meeting with the Great and Powerful Phil. Phil gives him the standard Real World employment lecture -- if you're going to blow off work, at least call first, but we'll give you just one more chance, because B/M would kill us if we fired you. Aubbie has developed some very 1997 blonde chunky highlights in her Rachel 'do. David makes some excuse that he didn't think it was a big deal, and then at least has the grace to apologize to Aubbie.
Space Needle shot #42. David is walking somewhere. Now he's on the phone with Irene, and he says that he's losing his mind, and he never lets girls get to him in any way, but that he can't pay attention and he has no direction. Irene asks if David is able to get in touch with Kira. David says that he doesn't want to right now. In a confessional, Irene says that this experience is probably good for David, because he's never been so in love with a woman. David tells Irene he doesn't want to be tortured. Irene says that perhaps Kira is scared, and she would be in her position. David says that he can't "pet someone's fears" and he wants Kira to believe in him. Irene says that clearly, Kira does, and she's beating herself up. David goes all courtly love again, saying, "All she would have to do is hold out her hand."
Nathan answers the phone, and tells David that it's "Kay-licious." I think that's going to be my new nickname. In an interview, Nathan says that he advised David to "keep his heart open" and to always remember where and who his heart is with. Also, he should treat her with respect. Yeah, I'd take advice from Nathan. His relationship with Stephanie is so healthy. David tells Kira that it's been killing him all day, and that he couldn't sleep last night, and that he didn't go to work this morning. He realizes that what he said in the car was nuts. Which part? Well, all of it, but I wonder which part he thinks is nuts. Kira agrees that it was "intense" and asks to talk to him in person.
David and Kira are sitting in the house. David voice-overs that "Kira needs to go be her own woman for a while" and he respects that. Kira says that not everybody knows him, and starts crying. In an interview, David says that she's being hurt and torn apart inside, and he can't watch that be done to someone he loves, because it leads to madness, and losing her, and it scares him. Seriously, I think at this point he is just talking to hear himself talk. That doesn't even make any sense. This whole relationship doesn't make any sense. My only guess, if it was completely real, was that the furtive nature of the relationship was what made it exciting, but then when it became "real" and they could actually pursue it, one or both of them got scared. Everything else is just window dressing. Kira and David continue talking, and it continues to make no sense. David still has scabs on his knuckles. Kira says she's just looking for some peace. In an interview, David says the doesn't know if this relationship will last, but he hopes to God it does. Kira prepares to leave, and David gives her a hug. In an interview, David says that they "meet each other's needs" but they're "not going to fill the void in each other" and that all he wants is for her to be happy. She apparently accomplishes that by driving away from him.