Something Old, Something Blue

Good luck as well to the fellas who meet up with Jamie, whose best qualities so far seem to be her blithe intention to be a good, healthy person and those magnificently crafted eyebrows. I've come to the conclusion that I've been too rough on the character. Such a Kleenex of a thing, always constructing simple fantasies about the lives of others, doesn't merit such lip-curled scrutiny. She's young, she's lost, she means well. She's a dope, in other words. She had a by-the-numbers make-out with Nick tonight. She was accosted by his aunt Rose, the lost Golden Girl, at a family gathering. She hid in a bathroom — not cool, girlfriend! Is Aunt Rose supposed to use the backyard? — and dithered on about her place in the world.

She later got dragged to Carolyn's open house by Mason, who confessed to a creepy secret attraction to Palek. Jamie padded around the house, looking for a window onto happily ever after. When Carolyn found Jamie lurking in their bedroom, she looked for a second like she might eat her. (Yes! Yes!) But Jamie reminded her of their connection, Carolyn snapped to and said right, right, and you were engaged to some dude who shares a name with my favorite author. Jamie, swirly eyed and empty headed, drew a blank. Carolyn, her brain on Victor Hugo, her eyes narrowing with derision, looked like a senior sorority sister stuck in the corner with a dud rushee. When she half-heartedly asked her sister's little friend what her wrist tattoo meant, Jamie announced her intention to ''heal.'' Carolyn seemed both touched and tickled that this young girl in her bedroom believed that she'd already suffered from any real wounds.

Maybe it was the show's tacit acknowledgment that Jamie is a young, well-meaning ding-dong that made my heart swell tonight. Maybe it was the killer Killers song ''My List,'' which ended this fully alive episode. Or maybe, most likely, it was the sublime line May said to her old flame over lunch. He was nosing around, looking for an alley back into her life. ''I had a marriage, too,'' he told her. ''A good one. But it wasn't a love affair.'' May, with her inimitably cool gaze, responded, ''Most marriages aren't. They're much more than that.'' Honey, put that sad, true, truly romantic snatch of dialogue on wedding invitations, and maybe then the divorce rate will finally drop.

But what about you, faithful viewers? What was your response to the Sex Scene of the Season? What do you think was the mysterious unuttered advice that was given to May and her husband all those hard years ago? Does your hope for Katie and David grow with every episode? I want to scream when I see Jamie with her feet on May's sofa. What or who on this show drives you bananas?

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