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You're watching The Grinder. For justice?

For justice!

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Addison.

Madge. How long have I been out?

You've been in a coma for almost two years.

And I've slept here every night.

Alone.

You know me too well.

What did the doctors say?

You're not going in. Do you mind turning that off? Oh, why? Do we have to? Listen

to me.

Defeat is a temporary condition.

Giving up is what makes it permanent.

I think deep down what kept me alive was knowing that you were out there.

Grinding. And what kept me grinding was knowing that you were in here, being

kept alive.

So, for you, it's about the... Yeah, it kind of is. Okay.

Oh, will you say Grind-a-Rest?

Grind-a-Rest!

Hey, you guys got a second?

Yeah, what's up, buddy? Just working something out in my head, and I wanted

to get your spin on it. Okay.

Shoot. Her name's Bree.

And I don't know, I was thinking about pulling the trigger and asking her out?

Uh, no, I didn't realize you liked somebody. Maybe bring her over to watch

a movie?

Uh, yeah, sure.

We look forward to meeting her. Yeah. Cool.

Thanks, guys.

Are you kidding me? Ethan is allowed to date and I'm not? Why? Why is that? Is

it because he's a boy? No, honey. No, I mean, he's a boy.

He is a boy. But he's also... He's Ethan.

You know, like, it's... He's Ethan.

I need to go calm myself down.

He's not asking to go on a date. No.

It's like a play date. He's like... He's got a little friend come over. A

little... You know. You know. Make popcorn or something.

You. He's like a little... He's like a little me.

You know? Yes. And when I was that age, I didn't try things.

No. You know? I didn't have moves. Oh, God, no. I'm sure you did not. I don't

have to be so definitive about it. No. I developed moves.

No, I'm just... Not long after that. Yeah. Oh, you got moves. I got moves.

How did my arm get here?

That's a move. I didn't even realize that went up there.

That's the move. What else? Come here. I'll show you more. Oh, yeah?

I will never have what you two have. That was terrifying. Wow, just right

there. Do you think that some people are destined to never find love?

Because you had a couple of bad dates?

No, I've had one bad date. The same bad date that I've been having ever since

the grinder became a staple of the culture.

You think it's a staple of the culture?

The whole culture. These women don't want to make love to me.

They want to have a filthy one-night stand with a grinder so they can tell

their friends about it.

What a nightmare that must be for you.

It's a nightmare you're never going to have to endure.

You lucky son of a bitch.

You know, I do actually feel sorry for him. I'm sorry. What was that? It sounds

like you said you feel bad for Dean? Think about it. Every woman he ever

meets, he has to wonder if she only likes him because he's famous.

Oh, that's not true. I'm sure a lot of women like him because he's absurdly

handsome and rich.

But think about it this way. The sooner he finds love, the sooner he moves out

of our house.

Now that I like. Right? That was good. Yeah, that brought you right in. Honey,

why didn't you open with that? I just thought of it. Well, babe, that, I mean,

how do we do that? I want to do that. What's the first step?

Can we, like, set him up with someone? Is there someone from before he was

famous? That's a great area. Let's explore that. High school? Like, someone

from high school?

Gail Budnick. Gail?

They went to prom together.

That is perfect.

And then, you know, he went to L.A. and became the grinder, and she stayed here,

and she got married, but then her marriage fell apart, and we handled the

divorce, and, honey, she holds up.

She holds up. Does she hold up? You gotta see her. I mean, she looks shit. I

gotta see it? Her body, it's like... Tell me more.

Just, I'm excited for Dean. I'm excited for Dean. You seem very excited. I'm so

happy for him. Oh, my God. This is perfect, honey.

Hey, Dean, uh, what are you doing?

That is the question, isn't it? Yeah, that's why I asked it.

Todd, why are you here?

I'm here in case he wants to bounce ideas off of me.

Dean, I have someone here who I think you'll be excited to see.

Gail? Hi!

Gail Budnick! Yes!

What? Oh, my goodness, Dean. Did you do this? I did. He did. He did.

Wow, what is happening?

Oh, a million years ago, Dean and I were kind of an item.

More than an item, right? I mean, I gave Gail my virginity, Todd. He did.

I still have it. Keep it.

You look exactly the same. Thank you. So do you.

Really, in kind of a scary way, the same.

Thank you.

So what are you doing back here? I heard you were in Hollywood.

You became a big ol' actor, right?

Dean has been the grinder for the past eight years.

A grinder? What a... You haven't seen the show?

Oh, that's a show.

Not just a show. It's a friggin' staple of our culture. It's called The Grinder.

That's the title of it? The Grinder. Yeah, yeah. Was that always the title?

Yeah. I'm sorry. I don't own a television, so...

I'm more of a book girl. Did you hear that, Stu?

She's more of a book girl.

Doesn't own a television.

Yeah, I've been standing here the whole conversation.

Yeah, you have.

You know, Dean, our firm handled Gail's divorce.

Oh, that's very unfortunate.

It was for the best.

Todd, I think it's time we go.

I'm doing good.

I think we have a little work to do in the office we were talking about.

I like watching.

I think we should get to work.

I feel warm. We should leave the room, Tyler. Let's go, please. Thank you. All

right.

They really hit it off. And she's never seen the show. Never even seen it.

Doesn't own a television.

Oh, she's one of those.

Yeah, but like in a cool way. Yeah? Hon, I'm telling you, it worked.

Okay, Dean is all in. And she's all in? Mm-hmm. It's kind of fast, right? I

mean, does that seem a little desperate? Yeah, don't poke holes. This is good.

Okay. This is what we want. I mean, we like her. All right, I'll take your word

for it. Thank you for not putting a damper on what's been the best day I've

had in weeks.

Actually... What? No, what actually?

Just a thought.

Are we being unfair to Lizzie? Because she pressed me on the whole double

standard thing today, honey. And I gotta say, she made some really good points.

But... It's Ethan.

Did you tell her that? Of course.

Of course I did. But she kept hammering me. And, you know, after you say, it's

Ethan, a couple dozen times, it starts to feel pretty thin.

Deb, you have to stay strong.

Hey, I'm sorry to bother you. Stu, do you have a second? Uh, yeah, always.

No time is inappropriate.

Okay, because I hate to spring this on you. But is there any way that you could

cover for me at work? I'm thinking a whisk and gale away for a couple days.

Wow, that's serious.

Wow. Uh, well, that's gonna be a big loss at the office. And I'm so sorry. I

don't want to leave you in the lurch. No, no, you won't. Let me just, uh, give

me a second. If I figure it out, Claire could cover the thing there, and then

Todd could do the other thing, and then I could stay late a couple of nights,

and then I think it could work. Because I could hold off. No, don't hold off. He

could hold off. We'll make it work. We'll figure it out somehow. We'll all

pull together to make this happen for you. Great. Great.

Thanks. And you know what? How about this?

Next week, I cover for you. Don't do that. Ah, no.

I insist.

Oh, thanks, Dean.

Hey, now, you better listen to me, every one of you.

We've got a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of work to do.

Terrific. Thank you very much.

Got it.

Okay,

no clock.

All right, we'll see you on Tuesday.

Nice!

Woo!

Before we get started, just a huge thank you for a super productive week. It was

very refreshing to get back into the rhythms of an actual... Good morning.

Tino, where you been? Yeah, I've been texting you all week, player.

And I've been avoiding your texts all week, player, because now when you're in

love, texting the third banana at work just seems sort of meaningless. I get

that. So it's going well, huh?

Let me put it to you this way.

Love is a tapestry furnished by... I'm sorry, Claire. Is this weird for you to

hear? Well, not at all. Because of our thing. I want to be respectful. We never

had a thing. You're being so cool about all this. So very cool.

And, Stu, thank you for reintroducing me to the love of my life. This is the

realest thing that I've ever felt.

You know, I'm getting the chills just hearing you talk about it. Me too.

And thank you for popping in to tell us about it.

Where are you off to now? Are you going to go back to Gail's or maybe on another

trip somewhere?

Oh, no, no, no. I want to start pulling my weight around here. I feel terrible

about how much time I've been away as it is. What are we into?

Well, we're talking about this civil suit. Oh, there was nothing civil about

the suit Gail had on the other day. We went up to the lake, and I'm so sorry,

Claire. It's totally fine. I could give up. You're being so cool about this. You

really are.

I mean, sure, he hijacked a staff meeting and then went on and on about

her bathing suit, but, honey, I don't think we're really headed in the right

direction. I mean, he's, like, a week away from legitimately moving in with

her. Oh, great.

Maybe he can buy her a TV.

Babe, we are Team Budnick in this house. Um, excuse me.

Lizzie just downloaded me on this whole dating thing, and I gotta tell you, it

doesn't sound like equal treatment to me.

I think you better let her go on the date with Zadok. You think that. Or

either that or cancel Ethan's date with Bree. That's a non-starter over here.

I got Bree locked down for Friday.

So I'll say it again. I think the Zadok date needs to happen. Thank you, Uncle

Dean, for being the only one who understands me. Guys, Uncle Dean does

not get to weigh in on this because Uncle Dean is not a parent.

All right, this is not the way I wanted this to come out.

But since you've backed me into a corner, I will move my announcement up

to right now.

Everybody.

I'm going to be a father.

What? What? I know. It came as a total surprise to me, too.

Wait, Gail is pregnant?

When did this happen? Stu, Gail's not pregnant. We've been together for a

week. How does that timeline even work? It doesn't work. No, she has a son from

her previous marriage, and she's decided that it's time for me to meet him and

essentially raise him as my own. Oh.

So you just chose to phrase that in the most misleading way possible. The most

dramatic way possible.

Oh, no. Dean, are you okay?

I'm so sorry. I should have been here. I'm fine, Todd.

I'm just exhausted. This parenting thing is rewarding, but it takes it out of

you. You want to knock off early?

Sounds like that kid you met three days ago is really running your ragged. No, I

can't let a law firm go down the tubes just because my son had a fever and I

was up all night with him. So you're calling him your son now? Claire, you

have been so ridiculously cool up until this point, but to imply that Toby can't

be my son because we're not related is...

hurtful that's out of bounds that's not what i said and i would never say that

because i'm adopted bulletproof response i'm back i don't know i was just

surprised that you felt such a strong bond so quickly but if you're serious i

guess that's great i feel like if i had stayed in boise this is the life i would

have had maybe it's not too late for me to have a life like yours too that's

nice dean and i got to be the grinder so i got to have all that other stuff

almost better in a way right get away now that i'm a parent

I have loads of new respect for what you guys do. It is the hardest job in the

world. You know, you don't always make the right decisions, but you're in

there, and you're just... Yeah, what do you mean? Debbie reached out to me,

still conflicted about the Lizzie thing, and she did. So I bounced it off Gail,

and she felt exactly the same way. You gotta give them both equal treatment.

That's what Gail felt? We all felt it, yeah. Uh-huh.

Okay. I'm gonna take a nap in your office.

Hey, please hold my calls.

Has he ever even gotten a call here?

I've called him here.

What? You said equal treatment, and that's equal treatment. You know that

that is not what I meant. I did not mean for Lizzie to babysit Ethan. Well, what

I heard from you and Lizzie and Dean and Gail Budnett was that it had to be

equal. And what I see in there is an equal double date. I'm gonna go see how

they're doing on popcorn.

Great.

Whoa!

What is going on?

What? What's happening? They were making out!

Ethan! What? What?

This is not supposed to happen.

No, no, no. I made my intentions pretty clear. Yeah. I knew what it was all

about. What were you... But, hey, it's Ethan, so... This whole thing, this is

over. Brie, you need to go call your mom because you're going home. Sorry about

this, Brie. Go call Judy and I'll sort this out. Are you going to sort it out?

Call Judy. Get upstairs. We're going to talk about this later. And you, Zadak,

go home. He didn't do anything.

Why do I have to leave? Because you do.

Let's go.

Kids got some moves, huh?

Say that!

Go home. Say that!

How are you so happy right now?

Were you not just in the same house with me where we caught our child making out

with another child?

Oh, I was in the same house as you, Deb, and I am not happy about that. But,

honey, I've left that at home. I've brought my happy face tonight.

We are so close. We're not here to pull threads. We're here to have a nice

dinner and watch Dean fake parent his pretend kid.

Hey! There they are.

Oh, Gail is cooking up a storm, and Toby should be up from his nap any minute.

Oh, oh, oh!

No shoes.

We are a socks-only household.

Seriously? Yeah.

We read an article.

Oh, thank you.

So we were in the middle of the fair, and Toby just had a meltdown. Well, he

wanted to ride that scrambler again and again, and I had an appointment. I said,

you go.

Then I took the boy on the scrambler three more times.

Don't tell mom.

I'm not hearing this. It's my baby. That's my baby. Then we just met back

here. Well, I thought your car was back at the house. We used Toby's car.

Toby has a car?

If you can call it that, because that, I don't even know what that is. I thought

Toby was your son.

Yeah.

I'm sorry, I don't understand. What up?

God, I slept forever.

It was a crazy day.

Oh, this is Toby.

Last I checked.

This is an adult man.

Right. Pop, why don't you wake me? You need to rest.

And you look so adorable when you sleep.

Oh, he's the cutest.

Sucks I overslept. I was looking forward to meeting you guys, but now I gotta go

to work. Stu, Deb, we'll do this another time? Yes! Looking forward to it, Toby.

Wait for that, Toby.

Chill. Chill. Chill. Plants and that.

So how old is Toby?

23. He's 23.

Years old.

I did not expect that.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned it. No, you definitely did not.

Regardless, it's a fun age.

You just want to freeze them.

You know, he's a bit of a handful, I have to say, though. But you know, you

never, ever give up on your kids.

No, in this house, we never give up.

No. Because defeat is a temporary condition. And giving up is what makes

it permanent.

Oh.

What did you just say, honey? I like that.

Is that from something? I'm not... You know, I probably read it in a book.

What book, babe?

I'm not... I'm not sure.

Excuse me.

Revan.

Dean, are you all right?

Not anymore.

Cheesecake. It looks great. Oh, wow. Thank you. Beautiful.

Yeah.

Gail. Oh, God, don't. Dean, don't.

You're not really a book girl, are you? Yes, I am.

I'm a book girl.

You said Toby was going to work? What kind of work does he do? He's explained

it, and I don't understand.

So... Unusual way to arrange your couches, Gail.

all focused on a wall with one single painting on it.

But that painting doesn't sit flush against the wall, does it?

So it's bothered me.

But I let it go.

I suppose for fear of what it meant.

Dean, from here, it looks flush.

I think it's good.

I think you're standing at an awkward angle, so it's... Stewart, remove that

painting from the wall.

I mean, you're up.

Just do it.

It's on there real solid. Stu, is this hard enough as it is?

The painting, please.

There appears to be some sort of bracket. In fairness, Dean, this could

be anything. The kind of bracket that one might use to mount a television.

Judging from the dust pattern, it might be as much as 50 inches of plasma.

Hey, Dean, this could have been here before she moved in.

Gil, this was here when you... when you moved in, right?

No. No, it wasn't.

You didn't get that line from a book, did you?

You got it from a little show Entertainment Weekly called one of the

more competent legal dramas in quite some time.

Oh, she's seen the grinder.

We're so close.

I have just one question.

Why? It was my only chance.

I had read in this interview that you said no one can be a fan and a

friend. I'm so, so sorry.

No, I'm sorry.

I can't say that I enjoyed grinding you like that.

I deserved it.

Are we sure this can't still work?

I feel like it may be good.

No. Look at him.

Never trust me again.

Who's gonna tell Toby?

That we're breaking up?

I honestly don't think he's gonna give a crap.

Then you tell him.

Hey, um... Could I just... ask you for one more favor?

You wanna have sex with me while we watch The Grinder?

If it's not too much trouble.

You guys, would you mind? No, I would prefer it. Thank you for a lovely night.

Thank you.

Bye. Oh,

so we're doing this at home now.

Dean, I don't want to get up on that.

All right, okay.

Nice, right?

Yeah, this is amazing.

Yeah.

Look, Dean, I'm sorry things didn't work out with Gail.

I really wanted that for you.

Yeah, and it's just so much harder when there are kids involved.

Yeah, kids are a fully grown adult, man.

And I'm sorry that I got involved in that whole Lizzie thing. I mean, I'm not

a better parent than you.

At most, I'm equally good. Yeah.

I'm just never going to have what you have.

That's not true, Dean. You will.

You just need to start a little slower.

I don't know.

It's like I have it all figured out. Look at this Ethan thing.

I always thought he was so much like me, and then I see him with this girl, and

he's... He's more like me.

Scary as that is. So are you asking me to be a third parent?

To talk to him. To talk to him.

And work my way to him. Well, let's see where it goes organically.

Oh, man, thank you.

This is gonna be great.

Ethan! Dean, it's the middle of the night. Ethan!

Okay, all right, hold on. I guess we're gonna do it now, then?

Hmm.