Chris Marquette Message Board

I have something to say about Bonnie....I hated the part.  Hated the story line.  There wasn't anything to like about it for me; however, the actress was good.  I've only seen her in one other thing "When in Rome", and she was adorable in it.   For JOA, they made her skanky and dark.  They didn't give us anything to like about her really but I was always trying to find the story behind the story, if you know what I mean.  She always seemed so sad to me in a disturbing sort of way and I always wondered what her real story was.  You only see the brief interaction with Joan, Adam, and Helen.  You never see parents.  You do; however, get that one brief moment when she's riding the bus looking at the art book that Helen gave to her and she always seemed conflicted or sad or something in that scene.  I always wondered if there had been a third season, if she would have entered into the story again at some point.  Hard to say, but.....I guess I just would have liked it better if we knew more of her story, or knew what motivated her to go after Adam the way she did.  It just happened too fast and it felt incomplete and just wrong to me.  In fact, Deb, when you get back to reading my stuff you'll find that I do give her a complete storyline because what they gave us in the show always felt a bit phony to me.

Amen to that....I don't think I've ever seen her in something that I didn't love her in; she is one of my favorites.  But there was really something special about Helen's connection with Adam and I think the chemistry between Mary and Chris was almost as sweet and convincing as the chemistry between Amber and Chris.   That's part of the reason why Adam's betrayal of himself made no sense to me.  Just the episode before that he had that sweet conversation with Helen where he said that he didn't want to mess things up with her because he didn't have anyone in his life like her, Helen.  Why would he then a week later cheat on Joan and screw things up so much for himself.  There was no logic to it.

I don't think I know the movie Time after Time.  I'll have to look it up. I remember her first as the schoolteacher who falls in love with Doc in the Back to the Future Part III movie.  Then after that, Parenthood.

Wasn't crazy about that movie either.....but Amber's always pretty.   For the great cast that they put together for it you'd think it would be a better movie.  Oh well.

Well, didn't say I particularly liked her creating an obstacle for Joan and Adam.  The writers of the show chose to do that and I didn't say that I liked that they did that.  And her personality was a bit abrasive to everyone except Adam...though you have to admit Joan wasn't very nice to her.   It's just that most commentary I've read about this episode really cuts her down and the issue for me is she did not chase after Adam, he chose to date her.  She asked Joan if it was a problem, Joan said no denying her true feelings.  Once Adam dumped her for Joan, she was actually pretty great about it.  The writers of the show notwithstanding, I don't see any reason for the personal attacks against her.   

I love, by the way, the scene where Joan is in the kitchen letting all of her thoughts, feelings and emotions come out in front of her mom, but she refuses to let her mom talk to her.  One of my favorite Joan and Mom moments.  My teenager does stuff like that to me all the time.

And, sadly again, I may be in the minority here.   I didn't really hate Iris.  It really wasn't her fault.  In fact, if I remember right she even went to Joan and asked her about her feelings for Adam before she even accepted the date.  Joan is the one who denied her feelings.  And I believe Adam was just a bit confused.  Joan talks him into buying concert tickets then backs out of the concert.  What does that say to him?  Iris just got caught in the middle of that and in the end she was the one who got hurt.  Just saying.   

I always wonder why God put Joan in that position of backing out of a commitment.  What was the point of that?  Didn't really seem fair to Joan or Adam either one did it, and it certainly ended up not being fair to Iris.  I guess it's just as someone above said and the writers were just prolonging the inevitable couplehood of Adam and Joan but in every episode I'm always trying to find the underlying point behind God's instructions to her and in this episode, I have trouble finding it.  Yeah, she was supposed to work with the kids, but couldn't she have done that and still gone to the concert?  Just never understood why working with the kids meant having to sacrifice the concert and losing Adam in the process.  Anyway, maybe I'll re-watch that episode and try to figure it out.

Thanks, Deb.  Great to have a place to express things like that.

I may be in the minority here but I really didn't have a problem with the storyline shifting to the Good vs. Evil thing.  That being said, I hate what they did to Adam.  Thought it was complete unnecessary.  They could have found a way to cause a rift in their relationship without destroying who he was as a character.  But to me, the battle between good and evil was inevitable.  It is a story about God and with God you have to acknowledge that there is also Satan.  It was a completely unique show and with clever writing, they could have had their battle and still found ways to give us the spiritual life lessons that we loved.  That would have kept the show unique and set apart from the other good vs. evil plots out there.  They dropped the ball on it and tried to make the show something it wasn't and in doing that they killed it and that is truly a shame.  I really wish that we could know where Barbara Hall had intended for the storyline to go. 

Think that Adam needed to become a more central character because they were setting him up to get caught up on the wrong side of the battle.  I always found it interesting that so often whatever she was going through had some kind of affect on him.  Their connection was so strong that it seemed unbreakable despite all of their problems.  Even after it seemed broken, she still had to admit that it really wasn't.

I used to go to this Bible Study where the leader would hand out a three chord braid to represent the bond that we can have with God.  As long as we are connected with God through prayer, through the reading of the Bible, through fellowship with other believers the bond could stay strong.  If one breaks, the other two help you stay connected.  If two breaks, you at least are still connected by the last chord.  If the third breaks, well then that's when you need to get your life back on track.

That's they way I saw Joan and Adam.  They were deeply connected and their chord was in place even though there was trouble in their relationship.   I believed their relationship was important to her experience with God.  She has a unique gift and Adam was brought into her life for a reason.  But Adam broke a strand when he cheated on her.  Her anger at him maybe caused a second strand to break.  But the third strand stayed in place because she chose to forgive him.  Because she did that, its possible for their chord to be completely restored.  But there would have to be a battle for his soul to make that happen.  I think the ultimate battle would have been about much more than just Adam though.  Adam was getting caught in it, but it would have been about much more than just him.

Deb, as you know I've put lots of thought into this.  Not sure if that made sense to anyone, but there it is.

I'm not a fan of Weeds at all and I only saw his episodes for him.  Though he's always good, thought it was a waste of his time.  Disappointed with how little screen time he had.  Just really dislike the show.  Both my girls actually watched that episode of House.  We all enjoyed it...I thought he was brilliant in that and loved the one scene with Amber where he thinks he's dying.  I loved that Miracles episode with him...it was fantastic acting and a really interesting show.  I am a fan...really, I am.  Adam Rove may have turned me into a Chris fan for life.

This is probably the wrong place to be commenting on it but since you brought it up...I watched the giant bug movie with low expectations cuz I usually hate movies like that and found myself pleasently surprised.  Great to see him play a grown up and not a kid.  I didn't really know much about him before Joan of Arcadia but I've seen some of his stuff now.  Can't say I've loved every movie, but I always am impressed with him.  Got some great talent....too bad he's so underrated.  The one thing that I appreciate about him the  most is its really  hard to find news about him.  That says a lot, if you know what I mean.  Doesn't get lots of attention for bad behavior.  Some of those guys do stuff on purpose just for the media buzz.

My favorite episode during that time was Do The Math but no one ever talks about that one.  They always talk about No Bad Guy cuz that moment at the end is priceless.  And they always talk about The Gift because that scene in the hotel room is fantastically acted by both of them.  But I love Do the Math because there is so much going on it.  Ya know, you get to see a bit into Dad's history.  She gets to really help the piano teacher.  You get to be exposed to Russ Tamblyn as the Dogwalker...he was one of my favorites way back when - but most of all, you have several tremendously sweet moments between Adam and Joan where they both are trying not to say what they obviously feel until she finally blurts it out in the hallway at school that she keeps seeking him out because she needs him and then immediately wants to take back the words but she can't because they're out there.  And then, of course, that sweet moment on the porch where they share their second kiss and you know that they finally have crossed that line.  The Collide song was the perfect song choice.  I can't hear it on the radio without seeing Adam and Joan sitting on the porch sharing that sweet little kiss.  I'm so glad when they messed with the music on the DVD's, that one stayed.  Any other song in that moment would be just wrong.

Not much to tell really.  I'm a 48 year old mother of three who lives in North Carolina.  Discovered this fansite a while back after becoming a bit obsessed with Joan of Arcadia.  Didn't actually know about the show when it was airing because my kids were so young and we didn't watch a lot of network TV then, but after discovering it I became a huge fan.  Love that it gives me so many teachable moments for my kids.  Love when my 11 year old daughter watches an episode and then spends time trying to figure out the point.  It's a great show for making you think about life and faith and science and how it all connects.  Anyway, not much more to tell than that.  Nice to find a place to talk to others who love the show like I do.