MONDO EXTRAS

We get a card that reads "343, 989 hours ago." Do you remember the B-Sharps episode of The Simpsons, where Skinner told the other members that the name of their barbershop quartet should be witty at first, but get less funny each time you hear it? That's how I feel about these cards -- funny at first, eye-roll-inducing over time. (Speaking of time, that's a little over 39 years, for anyone too lazy to open up the Calculator application on your laptop.) [I can't express enough how glad I am that they ditched this idea. -- CB 2008] Anyway, as Peter Krause tells us that his dad led an amazing life, we fall into a flashback, wherein a young boy is watching his WASP-y parents have a fight about the fact that the dad spends too much time attending to the Darling family. The mother storms out, but the dad gives his son a wink, although he still looks chagrined.

Back in the present, Peter Krause tells Naomi that after his mom died, he became close with the Darlings as well. He tells her she had a stroke...

...and then, back in overexposed flashback, we see young Peter Krause running down the hall holding a large paper snowflake; he opens the already-ajar bathroom door, and his eyes widen when he sees his mother lying dead over the bathtub, one arm reaching out to expose blood trailing away from her wrist, an empty bottle of wine nearby. Well, they had to get the prop blood from somewhere. Young Peter Krause lets the snowflake fall to the floor, where it starts soaking up the liquid. Might as well not bother, kid -- nothing gets blood out of grout. Or, you know, I'd imagine. [In retrospect, I can get behind them ditching some of the darkest elements of the original pilot, but in doing so, they certainly made some plot points a lot weaker. Nick really never tried to contact his mom? -- CB 2008]