The Baby-Sitters Club (2020) s02e07 Episode Script

1
Some people
are obsessed with coffee.
They need an AeroPress,
or exactly a half an inch of foam,
or it has to be made from beans
that were already digested by an ocelot
or something.
But at my house, my Mimi is all about tea.
It's one of her favorite things,
and she's pretty much
my favorite person in the whole world,
so I'm learning how to make it for her,
the old, traditional Japanese way.
But like a lot of things
that are old and traditional,
it looks simple,
but it's really pretty complicated.
Much like Mimi herself.
Do over.
What? It's perfect.
You did not warm cup first.
Does it feel cold?
It doesn't matter how it feels.
It's important to do.
Important now
to show guest you honor them.
Warm, fresh.
It'll taste exactly the same.
- Yum. Perfect.
- It's not about perfect taste, my Claudia.
It's about doing correctly.
Mimi had a bad stroke last year.
She leaves words out of sentences
and seems a little confused sometimes,
but she'd never forget to warm a cup.
Still, she's definitely the least
judgmental person in my family.
for a seminar to
And here comes the most.
as a workshop for learning IDE for AR.
Hey, Mimi. Hey, Claudia.
So typical of my sister
to interrupt my quality time with Mimi.
Not typical?
That Ashley Wyeth, the coolest girl ever,
was still hanging out with her.
We're going to head upstairs
and concentrate on Python.
The code. Not the snake.
Okay. Upstairs.
And in a moment,
Claudia will bring you special tea.
Oh, that sounds great. Thanks.
Yeah, of course.
I have to bring Janine tea?
What am I, her maid? Why doesn't she
just learn how to do it herself?
Because you are learning
how to make it for the whole family.
Don't forget to warm cup first.
Mimi! Everything okay?
Yes. Okay.
Keep going. Keep painting.
I go now.
Don't want to confuse the muses.
Okay. Goodnight, Mimi.
Goodbye, my Claudia.
I was painting,
Janine was annoying,
Mimi came up to say good night.
It was a night like any other night.
Until it wasn't.
That's the thing about life.
You never know when it will change.
Mom?
Claudia. You're up.
Good.
We didn't want to wake you.
What's going on?
Uh, maybe we should get Janine?
Tell them together?
Yeah.
Tell us what?
Girls,
Mimi passed away last night in her sleep.
But
I was making tea with her yesterday.
She was fine.
- She was 85.
- So what?
- She had a series of strokes.
- One stroke.
- There were aftereffects.
- Girls.
Please.
She had health problems.
But she died peacefully in her own bed.
It was her time.
No one could ask for more.
We were lucky that we had her
for as long as we did.
My parents were saying
all the things
people always say when someone dies.
She had a long
Stuff that sounds nice,
but nobody believes it.
wonderful life.
It's just something to fill
the air when you feel like screaming.
But then one thing cut through.
She already made
most of the plans herself.
They told me she ordered her urn
from Japan months ago.
She wanted everything done,
uh, the old way.
The funeral will be in a few days.
And, uh, no visitors to the house
until afterwards,
out of respect to Buddhist tradition.
Okay, girls?
Then Mom started talking to Dad
about death certificates
and obituary stuff.
But all I could think about
was spending the rest of my life here,
alone, in a house with no Mimi in it.
And that I couldn't do. Not yet.
My mom said you can stay
as long as you need to.
You can just take it easy.
Chill, watch movies. Anything.
Thank you.
Um, I'm just glad to be out of the house.
It'll be good for my parents too,
to have me out of their hair.
There's just so much to do. So
I can't believe it.
When my great-grandpa died, it was sad,
but he just lived
in the nursing home upstate,
staring at the wall
and drinking Sprite Zero all day.
Mimi was so alive.
Yeah, well, everything is temporary.
Claudia. How are you doing, sweetheart?
I'm okay.
I'm so, so sorry.
You know you can stay here
as long as you want.
- I told her that already.
- Good.
What else can we do?
Can I send some food over?
I could have one of those appetizing
platters sent in from Zabar's in the city.
Well, we don't really do that
until after the funeral.
Mom, she told you.
None of that happens until later.
This is like a meditative period.
- What if we go to the mall?
- The mall? Like in Stamford?
I know it sounds crazy, but I just want
to take my mind off of everything.
You know what? So do I.
There is a new Glossier pop-up shop
at Nordstrom's
and we could go to the Forty Carrots
at Bloomie's for some froyo after.
Maybe I can get that cartilage piercing
at the Piercing Pagoda
while everyone's too distraught to notice?
Absolutely not.
Nice try.
I was trying to bury my feelings
in ethically manufactured beauty products
and overpriced soft-serve. So what?
I had the next 80 years of my life
to be sad about Mimi.
In the meantime, I just wanted everything
to feel as normal as possible.
Are you hosting a support group?
Claudia can't have guests
until after the funeral,
so we're hosting the club meeting here.
Trying to make it feel
as much like her room as possible.
She always hides candy all over the place.
Here. Let me.
The best hiding places are in plain sight.
Nobody ever thinks to look.
Baby-Sitters Club, Dawn Schafer here.
Alternate Officer.
Hey! Come on in.
Take your seats.
Ooh, gummy worms.
Plain sight, huh?
Sometimes I think you forget
that I'm only eight.
Right.
Think anyone will call?
Well, the clients have my number,
and this is what Claud said she wanted.
For us to have a meeting.
For everything to feel normal.
I can't believe Mimi's gone.
I didn't even get to say goodbye.
It's okay, let it all out.
It's healthier that way.
Toxins go. Endorphins rise.
What happened? Did someone die?
I know. I should be comforting you.
Oh, it's okay.
You can just comfort me by acting normal.
But Mimi, she
Just pretend this is a normal meeting.
Kristy, can you call us to order?
Please?
Okay.
I hereby call this meeting to order.
So
Stacey. How's the treasury?
Um
Fine.
Great.
H have we gotten any new business?
Not since the last meeting.
Does anyone have anything
they'd like to share?
I was gonna start shaving my legs.
But then my mom said if I start too soon,
the hairs will grow back faster
and thicker, so I didn't.
That's really helpful. Thank you.
Mimi came to me in a dream last night.
Karen, not now.
She was wearing a white gown.
Not like a ghost. Like a bride.
She told me she'd met the spirit
of my great-grandfather, old Ben Brewer,
and now they're in love
and getting married.
So maybe they'll both haunt our attic
and you can visit her.
- Stacey and I are gonna go.
- We are?
Uh, no one's calling anyway. And I
I don't want
to talk about any of this.
And I don't like everyone staring at me
like I'm a walking tragedy.
I really have to catch up
on some make-up homework for the week.
Claud, wait.
Let her go.
She's not yet ready
for the truths of the spirit world.
Do you want to play a board game?
Or we can bring up your mom's
'90s Vogue issues from the basement.
I guess so.
You know we could do
a cool vintage wallpaper decoupage
on one wall of your closet.
Do you think she'd let us cut them up?
I doubt it. My mom has been hoarding
those magazines since college.
Well, should we bake something? Cookies?
My sugar's been weird today.
Well, there's gotta be
something we can do.
We could talk.
I knew
she was going to say that.
But what was there to say?
Mimi was gone. I didn't want
to go in my house until she was back.
But she was never coming back,
so I never wanted
to go inside my house again.
Claudia, honey, your dad just called.
The funeral is tomorrow.
I know.
Your mom got you a dress to wear.
And I think she was kind of hoping
you would go home and make sure it fits.
It'll fit.
Are you sure?
It'll be fine, and if it isn't,
there's no time to exchange it anyway.
I just wanted one more night.
One more night before it was all real.
It was beautiful.
It was. I really felt close to her.
Well, I didn't. I felt numb.
That's koden, Japanese mourning gifts
of money sent by family and friends.
Now my mom will have to send notes
and return gifts
back to the people who sent it.
And with each note and gift,
Mimi will be a little more gone
to everyone who knew her.
I'm going back to Stacey's.
Stacey can come here now, honey.
If you want.
All your friends can.
Yeah, but I think, um,
these flowers are giving me allergies.
You've never exhibited pollen-related
rhinitis before. I have some anti
It's fine.
Just, I don't want to be here right now.
Because of the flowers?
Because I just don't.
Um
Can I go now?
Please.
If that's what you really want.
You know when you know
something is the wrong thing to do,
but you do it anyway
because it kinda feels good?
Like yanking on a hangnail.
So I found myself back at Stacey's
that night, eating ants on a log.
Okay, so I actually
started using dark chocolate chips
mostly because they taste better,
but then I learned dark chocolate
actually has less sugar than raisins.
Dark-chocolate therapy.
Almost as good as retail therapy.
Or actual therapy.
- hours ago.
- I had a late meeting.
This is not a good time.
- When, Edward?
- I don't know.
It's been like this for a while.
He's on a new account at work.
And this happens every time he comes home
before we go to bed, which isn't often.
Guess it might not be the best night
for another sleepover.
Well, do you wanna talk about it?
- What is there to talk about?
- I knew the feeling.
And I knew it was probably time to go home
and deal with my own family.
Probably.
But as I got closer,
I imagined walking into the house.
Quiet. Empty.
No Mimi there to ask me about my day,
or praise my new artwork,
or correct me when I'm making
the special tea the wrong way.
When she said, "Goodbye, my Claudia,"
that last time, she meant it.
Janine, dinner's ready.
Goodbye.
She was ready.
But I still wasn't.
Your dad said
your mom sounded kind of sad.
Yeah, well, we're all sad. Aren't you?
Yeah.
So it's good that I'm here.
We can cheer each other up.
Maybe I could stay for a few days
and we can rearrange your room.
You know what? Maybe we can
even do, like, a wallpaper accent wall.
Or I can fake one with stencils.
We could do like an art nouveau vibe.
I like my room the way it is.
Okay. Well, we can just hang out then.
But those cushions
are in the wrong color order.
- Claudia
- Let's start over and do primary colors.
Wait, no, let's do cool tone Mm, no.
Ooh, contrasting colors!
That will look really cool.
Hey.
Sorry. I just
I needed to get your attention somehow.
Please listen and stop trying to
distract yourself from feeling your grief.
I don't want to feel my grief.
My grief feels horrible.
- My grief feels like
- Like what?
Like my chest is going to explode!
Like I can't breathe.
Like everything is over and nobody
Nobody understands.
I do.
Hm. You were just a baby
when your mom died.
Yeah, but my dad wasn't.
He kept his grief bottled up for years.
He froze in time.
He almost froze me in time too.
- Remember the braids?
- How could I forget?
Exactly. But finally, he let it all out.
Started talking about my mom.
Moved on.
And now I think
I can finally say that he's okay.
It hurts.
I know.
But it has to.
Remember in third grade when you fell
off the jungle gym and broke your wrist?
I think I blacked out when that happened.
Well, I didn't.
I remember you screaming
and crying through the pain,
yelling about how
what if you could never paint again.
If you'd ignored it,
maybe that would've been true.
But instead, your mom came
and took you straight to the hospital.
They snapped your bone back into place
and put a cast on it right away,
and it healed correctly.
Stronger.
Now it's something
that you can talk about.
Maybe even smile about.
Grief is the same.
You have to deal with it so it can pass.
And then you're stronger.
Part of me just wanted to nod
and smile and flee to the next house.
But it was getting pretty late
to go all the way to Kristy's.
And deep down, I knew Mary Anne was right.
I had to go back.
I had to walk into my house
and face my grief.
Hey, Claud.
What are you doing?
Looking through Mimi's jewelry.
Don't be alarmed.
Mom is amenable.
Mimi set aside
a few specific things for us.
This was earmarked for you, Claudia.
I came in here to grieve
and be alone with my feelings
and here you are stealing her stuff?
Nobody is stealing anything.
- She was my grandmother too.
- Then what's she doing here?
Uh, I'm gonna go upstairs
and give you a minute.
You have no right
to speak to her like that.
She has no right
going through my grandmother's stuff
like it's a garage sale!
Are you out of your mind?
You have no idea what's been going on.
What it's been like with Mom and Dad.
You just took off!
I've been all alone with them.
Trying to support them.
But it's been very difficult.
Mom is unresponsive.
Dad gives all his emotional energy to her.
The only one who's been here
for me has been Ashley.
So what, you're so grateful,
you're giving her Mimi's jewelry?
I'm not grateful to her!
I'm in love with her!
She's my girlfriend, Claudia.
I
I didn't know.
It's still pretty new.
Mimi figured it out a few weeks ago
because she paid attention.
She asked me and I told her the truth.
It made her happy.
She immediately wanted to give her a gift.
She was always kind of
romantic like that.
Yeah. She was.
I'd been planning on telling Mom and Dad,
but I just couldn't seem
to find the right moment.
And then, Mimi
Died.
Mimi died.
Jiji gave this to her
when they first started dating.
I think he won it
at some carnival or something.
Is this what she wanted Ashley to have?
But I won't give it to her
unless it's okay with you.
Of course I'm okay with it.
Jiji loved Mimi and
you love Ashley.
It's like a return gift.
Like with koden, but
with love.
I already miss her so much.
Me too, my Janine.
Me too.
Mimi was the person
who always brought us together.
We belonged to Mimi,
and Mimi belonged to us.
But now, we had to belong to each other.
And it was my job
to pull us back together,
with string,
and tradition,
and love.
Oh. Habit. Sorry.
Yeah. It's not a club meeting.
Yet. Until 5:00, then all bets are off.
Kristy, come on.
I'm sorry.
So sorry to interrupt,
but we got an invitation.
Yes, please. Come on in.
So did we.
Welcome to my room.
I don't think we've been in here
with your friends before.
Well, you're always welcome.
As long as you knock first.
You all got your envelopes,
so you know that I invited you here
to talk about Mimi.
To remember her. But first,
I'd like to offer some refreshments.
Ho Hos?
Tea.
Oh.
It looks perfect.
Remember the time
Mimi was at the biker bar?
- Wait, like Hells Angels?
- It was her birthday.
She wanted to go to this really authentic,
new Japanese restaurant
about an hour away.
But we got a late start and Dad got lost
Uh, the GPS got lost.
Oh!
And finally we got there,
only to find out it was closed.
We were starving.
So Dad pulled into this creepy dive bar
off the highway that said it served pizza.
Not a family place,
let alone an Asian family.
Everyone was staring at us.
We just sat there, feeling them stare.
Finally, the pizza came.
Mimi took a bite,
then stood up and announced
really loudly to the whole bar,
"Best Japanese food I ever tasted!"
I remember one time
I was in the car with Mimi
and we got stuck behind an ambulance
and she decided to chase it.
It sped. She sped. And we followed it
all the way to our house.
That's what happens
when you try to fix the roof yourself.
Yeah.
I loved how no matter what, Mimi always
made time to tell me about my mom.
What they used to talk about.
She even helped decide what to name me.
I thought you were named
after your great-aunt.
I was, but she helped decide which one.
It was either this or Linda.
- Linda?
- I cannot see her as a Linda.
Uh-uh.
She always made me feel so welcome.
That's because you are.
My stepsister Karen,
she thinks that Mimi is in love
with her great-grandfather,
Ben Brewer, up in heaven.
Good for Mimi.
My dad's been gone a long time.
She deserves some fun.
- Wait, but isn't Jiji there too?
- OMG, it's a love triangle.
I wish I could tell you that day
made me stop missing Mimi so much.
The truth is,
I think I'll always miss her.
But what that day showed me
is that that's okay.
Because as long as I miss her,
she's still here with me.
Endless twilight ♪
If only stars
Would show their faithful stare ♪
In this world of fading memories ♪
We'd cease to be ♪