The context is about to change
Miles informs Rick and David that the scale of their involvement is increasing because of interest in expanding the project to be an industrial part anchored by the Drentell building.

The Look

Rick silences Lily at the dinner table with a brief but obvious reproachful look. This lead to a follow-up conversation later when he takes her home.

It'll never happen again
When she is dropped off at home by Rick, Lily comes to his car window and tells him in no uncertain terms that she did not appreciate the "look" he gave her at the dinner table. He immediately apologizes. Then, as she turns to her house, he jumps out of the car and apologizes again, reiterating that it'll never happen again.

Worrying about the future
After several brief conversations, Rick suddenly seems to recognize that Eli wants to pursue music as a career. Eli is on his bed playing his electric guitar, and Rick sees behind him a small keyboard, then glances over to the desk covered in CDs, finally ending at the wall with the acoustic guitar.

Suiting Up

Miles surprises Rick by sending a car to bring him to a tailor to have a suit made. It is typical that the suit is cut in the very same style that Miles wears, and is clearly not one that is particularly flattering for Rick.

Red Handed
David finds out that Miles' delaying tactics since May were because he (Miles) lost his foreign funding for the building. Rick, armed with this information, confronts Miles who easily disarms him. This clearly frustrates David who sees Rick changing into something he's not sure he likes.

The small matter of our young David
The final scene of the episode as Miles and Rick are pacing out their empire, Miles casually asks if Rick can handle David. Surprisingly, Rick does not protest, rather, he simply says yes.

Looks like this took place over one whole week.

Wednesday Evening: Rick and Eli discuss Eli's poor perfomance on the SAT's. Rick doesn't believe Eli's scores reflect the kid he knows.

Thursday Morning: David and Rick stop to pick up coffee before heading into the office and discuss Miles' upaid bills. Arriving at the office, they discover that Miles is already there for an early morning meeting. He unviels his grandiose plans for 'Atlantor' and suggests a dinner party on Saturday night to woo the Atlantor people. Rick calls Lily to ask her to be his 'unit' at the dinner. Shortly thereafter, the party planners show up and Rick is whisked away to be measured for a new suit. (BTW: He dresses to the left). Lily drops by Booklovers with lunch and Judy teases her that she is Rick's 'trophy'

Saturday Evening: Rick and Lily attend the dinner for the Atlantor people at Sammler/Cassilli. During the dinner conversation, Lily dares to voice her opinion and Rick silences her with 'the look'. Suddenly finding that he is expected to 'sell' himself to the Atlantor people, and feeling unprepared, (he only found out that the context' was about to change 36 hours prior), Rick, after a shaky start, dazzles the Atlantor people. Meanwhile, at home, Eli is getting more and more frustrated with studying for his SAT's. (He does an amazing rendition of the O&A theme song on his guitar while the action switches between Rick and Eli). After dinner, Rick drops off Lily and she confronts him about 'the look'. He apologizes and tells her how important this job is to him. He says it will never happen again. When he arrives home, Miles calls and informs him that he has won over the Atlantor people and the project is his.

Monday Morning: First day back to work after the Atlantor dinner and Rick fills in David about the evening. David breaks Rick's bubble by announcing that he has discovered that Miles' delay in paying his bill was because he did not have the financing behind him. Rick goes to Miles' office and confronts him about lying and using him to get the money. Miles offers to release Rick from his contract and get another architect. Judy drops by Lily's for coffee. Lily tells Judy that not everything went well at the dinner. Judy wonders if this is just a speed bump, or something more substantial. Rick, back at the office talks to David about whether or not they can trust Miles. Rick thinks they can, although David is leery. Rick asks David to watch his back for him.

Monday Evening: Hearing Eli practicing his music, Rick goes to Eli's room to remind him that school work comes first. Music is the reward for after. Eli tries to explain to Rick that his music IS his work and Rick finally realizes how important music is to Eli and that college may not be in Eli's future.

Tuesday: Rick and Miles meet at the construction site and pace off the kingdom. Rick informs Miles that he can handle David.

Scheduling
This episode was originally scheduled as 204

Network
"I am closer to the end than to the beginning," is a line from the movie, "Network."