Party of Five (TV Series)

Analogies (1995)

Matthew Fox: Charlie Salinger

Quotes 

• [Bailey goes to the basement and finds Charlie] 

  Bailey Salinger : Hey. You hiding down here?

  Charlie Salinger : I'm looking for the waffle iron. Ellie woke up with a craving, bless her heart.

  Bailey Salinger : So... So I was thinking that... I don't think I'm gonna take the SATs over again.

  Charlie Salinger : How did you do?

  Bailey Salinger : Nine hundred. Combined.

  Charlie Salinger : I think that's about what I did. Yeah, so you took it. Don't put yourself through that stress again, man. Who needs it?

  Bailey Salinger : So that's it? You're not gonna... You're not gonna give me a hard time?

  Charlie Salinger : Nah.

  Charlie Salinger : Hey, Char. When you dropped out of school, did anyone, like, try and talk you out of it?

  Charlie Salinger : Are you kidding, man? You could hear Dad yelling from across the bridge.

  Bailey Salinger : Yeah, I do, kind of remember that.

  Charlie Salinger : It was like he was... He was expecting me to disappoint him. And... dropping out was just one more item on the checklist. But, Mom, she... She knew the Berkeley thing was just about me running scared. She left me alone for a couple of months. I don't know how she did it.

  Bailey Salinger : Did what?

  Charlie Salinger : I was gonna re-enroll for the spring semester when the accident happened. But you knew that, right?

  Bailey Salinger : Yeah.

  Charlie Salinger : Mom, she... She had that complete faith thing going. Well, you remember.

• [first lines] 

  [Early at the morning, Charlie and Kirsten are talking in bed] 

  Charlie Salinger : How would you describe that?

  Kirsten Bennett : Really, really...

  Charlie Salinger : Be honest.

  Kirsten Bennett : Adequate.

  Charlie Salinger : Adequate.

  Kirsten Bennett : Adequate's good, though. Adequate gets the job done. Adequate's right up there.

  [doorbell rings] 

  Kirsten Bennett : Who could that be?

  Charlie Salinger : It's probably the paperboy.

  [he makes her stay] 

  Charlie Salinger : No, no, no. Come back here. Bay'll get it. We've never gone 11 days before.

  Kirsten Bennett : Yeah, well, we've been busy. We've been stressed.

  Charlie Salinger : I'm never that stressed. Okay. I'm gonna make up for a little lost time here. Try to get that pleasure barometer back up over adequate.

  [they kiss] 

  Bailey Salinger : [from downstairs]  Kirsten, could you come down here?

  Kirsten Bennett : In a minute!

  Charlie Salinger : In a minute. You know, I'm not 16.

  Kirsten Bennett : Come on, Charlie. Bailey's...

  [he makes her stay] 

  Charlie Salinger : Bailey can wait. Okay?

  [she giggles] 

  Charlie Salinger : Doesn't this worry you? The fact that we, like... Lately, we... God, we recycle more often than we make love.

  Kirsten Bennett : That's not true.

  Bailey Salinger : [from downstairs again]  Kirsten!

  Kirsten Bennett : Charlie...

  [she finally gets up and leaves] 

  Charlie Salinger : Kirsten.

  Kirsten Bennett : Bailey, I'm coming. God, Bailey, what is it?

  [she sees her parents standing at the doorway] 

  Kirsten Bennett : Mom? Dad?

• [Gene and Charlie talk in the airport before he and Ellie return to Chicago] 

  Mr. Gene Bennett : I'm sure you'll be relieved to know for the wedding weekend, Ellie and I have already booked a room at the Fairmont.

  Charlie Salinger : [jokingly]  Really, Gene, are you sure? Can I confirm that reservation for you?

  [both of them laugh, and then they see Kirsten and Ellie sobbing] 

• [Charlie, Kirsten and Gene are talking in a chinese restaurant while Ellie is in the bathroom] 

  Mr. Gene Bennett : Maybe it was the wontons.

  Kirsten Bennett : It wasn't the wontons.

  Mr. Gene Bennett : Could have been the Peking duck.

  Kirsten Bennett : It wasn't the Peking duck.

  Charlie Salinger : Maybe it was that beige stuff.

  Kirsten Bennett : Oh, look, it wasn't the beige stuff, okay? The beige stuff is their specialty. The beige stuff was delicious. We all had four helpings of the beige stuff, and you don't see the three of us parked in the toilet for 30 minutes, do you?

  Mr. Gene Bennett : You know what a sensitive stomach your mother has.

  Kirsten Bennett : Come on, Dad! Let's not pretend we don't know what's happening. This is her revenge for letting you pick the restaurant.

  Mr. Gene Bennett : Well, I'm worried. She's been in there too long. Since you refuse to look in on her, I just hope she didn't faint.

  [he goes to check on Ellie] 

  Kirsten Bennett : [to Charlie]  You know what this means, don't you?

  Charlie Salinger : We shouldn't bother taking the leftovers home?

  Kirsten Bennett : The Dee Young exhibit starts at three. We're never gonna make it in time. And plus, she's not gonna wanna schlep all the way to Chez Panisse for dinner after this.

  [sighs] 

  Kirsten Bennett : Okay. Okay, here's what we do. We get a dinner reservation at Kuleto's for nine o'clock. If we leave in 15, provided she's not dead, we hop a cable car down to the wharf, check out Ghirardelli, go back home, nap a couple of hours before we head out to dinner. What do you think?

  Charlie Salinger : What do I think?

  [he sees Ellie and Gene coming to the table] 

  Charlie Salinger : I think you sound exactly like your mother.

  Ellie Bennett : Feeling much better now.

  Kirsten Bennett : [whispers to Charlie]  What? What's that mean?

  Mr. Gene Bennett : She's fine. Not to worry.

  Ellie Bennett : I am so sorry. You know, they had the loveliest mural in that ladies' room.

• [Charlie and Gene are playing golf, while Kirsten and her mother talk on the cart] 

  Mr. Gene Bennett : Why don't we just find some great local joint that isn't overrun with tourists.

  Charlie Salinger : Sounds good to me.

  Mr. Gene Bennett : Hey, remind me to send you all our Mexico guidebooks before you take your honeymoon. Ellie's got a whole shelf. All the good places circled.

  Charlie Salinger : I kind of wish we were going someplace a little further away. We really wanna go to Europe one day. Maybe when Owen's a little older.

  Mr. Gene Bennett : Don't just talk about it. You gotta set a date, Charlie. Even if it's years away. Otherwise, I don't know, it just... kind of gets away from you. March, '96. That's my date.

  [he hits a golf ball] 

  Mr. Gene Bennett : Employees of the good old Sevenson Insurance Company are gonna give me a gold watch and a cake. I'm gonna clean out my desk. And then we are off.

  Charlie Salinger : Off where?

  Mr. Gene Bennett : You follow baseball, Charlie? I wanna see a game in every major-league park in America. We're gonna do it.

  Charlie Salinger : Really?

  Mr. Gene Bennett : Yeah.

  Charlie Salinger : That sounds great.

  Mr. Gene Bennett : We'll have a general plan, sure. A vague sense of the route, absolutely, but no schedule. We'll just see where the road takes us.

  Charlie Salinger : Detours. Detours are where it's at.

  Mr. Gene Bennett : You're a man after my own heart, Charlie.

  [both chuckle] 

  Mr. Gene Bennett : You're away, kiddo.

• [Gene is reading a magazine on the couch, and Charlie approaches] 

  Charlie Salinger : Hi, Gene.

  Mr. Gene Bennett : Getting some tips on bathroom placement. Ellie and I are adding on to the house. Space for the grandkids.

  Charlie Salinger : That's great. After you get back from all those ballparks, huh?

  Mr. Gene Bennett : I don't think that's gonna happen.

  Charlie Salinger : It's a good idea. You gotta do it. Come on. You've been working for what, 30 years? You deserve it.

  Mr. Gene Bennett : Charlie, listen. Every month, National Geographic comes. I sit in my chair, and I read. And there's some article about, I don't know, state fairs in America, or floating down the Mekong River. And in my mind, I sell the house, I cash in my jumbo CD and I'm gone.

  [he sighs] 

  Mr. Gene Bennett : A few weeks of daydreaming. That's... That's good enough.

  Charlie Salinger : Why? Why does that have to be good enough? I mean, it's not inevitable that you're gonna have to give up on every idea. So it's a little crazy. So what? And this one is possible, Gene. This one you could really do.

  Mr. Gene Bennett : This is better.

  [he points to the magazine] 

  Mr. Gene Bennett : This is what Ellie wants. She's right. Charlie, there are worse things than growing old in the house where your children were born. Why does it matter to you so much?

  Charlie Salinger : I don't know. It just does.