JoA Recaps for Season 2

TeeJay · 26 Oct 06 :: 18:23

I just realized that my net income right now is more than the gross income I earned when I started working with my previous company about three years ago. (And in Germany your net income is about 50 - 60% of your gross salary in the tax category that I'm in right now.)

My new boss is a woman, though. But a nice one, everyone's pretty friendly, so I can't complain at all. Not everyone is on the same wavelength with me, but they don't have to be. I really like my "roommate" Hellen, though. She won't become my best friend, but I do love the occasional chat with her. She was really excited when I told her about the Meeting Chris story. Even though she's not much into TV shows at all. That was nice. My colleague Jörg just indulged me and shook his head in confusion. Well, I don't blame him. He's still a nice and very funny guy. Such a dry sense of humor. But I love that. We tease each other a lot and he can really make you laugh by telling his stories. I guess he's a little like Joe, Deb, although I'd trade five Jörgs for one Joe (and, yes, you can tell him that, the little cutie pie). May his head explode. LOL

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 26 Oct 06 :: 19:19

I like your insights about Adam in Friday Night, Shrams. I kind of take Adam's side in most things too. Mainly because Joan's a total flake and he's well, he's Adam.

Deb

domesticelefant · 26 Oct 06 :: 20:11

shrams, I am glad to hear that your job interview went well. I am jobless at the moment and I am looking for an internship now. I have a degree in media design and I want to collect some work experience, so I hope to find an internship in an advertising agency or a graphic design studio. (Hey, does that sound familiar? LOL )

shrams · 27 Oct 06 :: 05:16

Yes, Joan is a flake! I can't stand that in a real person, or a TV character.

I heard today, from someone who spoke to the woman who's going to make the final hiring decision, that all of us from our office did very well in the interview. Things are moving ahead quickly now, in that they're really pushing myself and one of the guys who's been there the longest, to learn the final stage of the job. They want us to work as a team, for a while, and help each other out. It's good, because I can spot things he can't, and vice versa. If one of us forgets something, the other remembers. However...I work a lot faster than he does (maybe because he's still a hunt-and-peck typist, and I type 73 wpm), and the only mistakes we were told about, that we didn't figure out ourselves...probably happened while I was briefly out of the office. He's a heckuva nice guy, though, and I hope he gets one of the jobs.

Good luck, Samsy-Marie! It can sometimes take a while to get a job in the field one's trained in, no matter what that field is, but hopefully you can find something soon.

In the novel I'm working on where Adam is a character, I gave him a nice, highly-paid job as a graphic designer, making three times as much as he'd make anywhere else, with excellent benefits. He also gets a furnished apartment, rent-free, and has recently moved up to a huge apartment he's sharing with three other guys. The apartment includes, get this, a home theater that's actually one of those miniature deals that looks like an actual theater, with a regulation-size screen, many, many speakers, 12 seats in three rows, stadium-style so you can see the screen from any seat. He also got a promotion to the architecture department; he's the one who designed the plans for the apartment, minus the theater. I treat my beloved characters well! Er, some of them, at least.

TheCentralScrutinizer · 27 Oct 06 :: 05:51

Joan's a flake, but she's kind of an endearing one because she's always trying to do the right thing. Most people don't. Even those who conduct themselves way better than she does. I do love her. I couldn't write her as I do if I didn't. But she's not my favorite person in the Joaniverse. We know who that is.

Having spent a year and a half unemployed and having my credit wrecked by it, I can only wish that no one in the world has to endure that. Being under-employed sucks too. I'm happy where I am right now. The money's fine, but I need a roommate to help with expenses so I can pay my debt back. But just try finding someone quiet, stable and close to my age who needs to share a place and doesn't have horrendous baggage.

Shrams, I want that apartment! It'd be a great Dorquette pad. We could watch all our Chris stuff in that theatre.

Deb

shrams · 27 Oct 06 :: 05:57

I want that one, too! Or I'd settle for the second-best apartment, which has its own library. That's one fun thing about fic, you can create your own universe, and give your characters things you want for yourself but can't realistically have.

TheCentralScrutinizer · 27 Oct 06 :: 15:24

Yeah, I know all about giving my characters something I can't have, right TeeJay?

Deb

shrams · 27 Oct 06 :: 18:13

Heh, yes, it's true in many contexts!

TeeJay · 27 Oct 06 :: 18:22

Oh yeah, I know all about things in fanfics that you can't have in real life. I know all too well about that.

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 27 Oct 06 :: 18:23

me too.

TheCentralScrutinizer · 27 Oct 06 :: 18:52

Yeah, what I wouldn't give for A/J's fabulous sex life in Butterflies. Damn.

Deb

domesticelefant · 27 Oct 06 :: 18:57

LOL I keep my mouth shut here.

shrams · 27 Oct 06 :: 19:02

I'll definitely have to read that fic, as soon as I have time. Sound familiar? I haven't read any fic in the last year. I need to finish that one project I'm writing, then I'm done for quite a while. My characters usually have fabulous sex lives, probably better than is realistically possible!

TeeJay · 27 Oct 06 :: 19:12

shrams wrote:

My characters usually have fabulous sex lives, probably better than is realistically possible!

I think you may want to talk to Deb about this one. LOL (But, hell yeah, don't we all want to be Joan in our story?)

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 27 Oct 06 :: 19:17

TeeJay wrote:

shrams wrote:
My characters usually have fabulous sex lives, probably better than is realistically possible!
I think you may want to talk to Deb about this one. LOL (But, hell yeah, don't we all want to be Joan in our story?)
-TeeJay

Like I said before ... I'll keep my mouth shut. :D:D

TheCentralScrutinizer · 27 Oct 06 :: 20:41

But, hell yeah, don't we all want to be Joan in our story?

Yeah, I'm quite fond of projecting.

Deb

TheCentralScrutinizer · 27 Oct 06 :: 20:43

Shrams, I'd love for you to delve into Butterflies someday. Your take as a grown-up would be very interesting, I think. It seems like a lot of the people who've read it on FFN are quite young. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just curious what you would think.

Deb

shrams · 28 Oct 06 :: 03:36

I'll try to print it out soon. I can't read things on the screen for very long, and I really need to give my arms a break. I'm going to try to cut down on the time I'm online, for a while, but I'm looking forward to it. I'll be happy to give you my perspective.

shrams · 28 Oct 06 :: 06:12

Joan of Arcadia -- No Future (209)

Another excellent episode! This one was written by Barbara Hall, the show's creator, which may account for a lot of it. Well, we didn't learn everything about Kevin's accident, but we learned enough to realize that Kevin made a distinct clear choice (as did Judith last episode). That changed his life. It didn't kill him, but it may have made him a better man. Kevin was pretty much a jock jerk before the accident, and his father had been on his case all day. After the Homecoming game, Kevin went to a party and had an argument with his girlfriend, Beth. She confronted him about cheating on her and he didn't want to deal with it. So while she was in the bathroom, he tried to leave with his friend Andy, who was drunk. Kevin told Andy to give him the keys; Andy insisted he was fine and could drive. Plus, he said it was his dad's car, and Kevin wasn't insured to drive it, so his dad would kill him. Kevin tried to insist, but a bunch of "the guys" were around, laughing at him, and Andy was taunting him, attacking Kevin's masculinity. Well, we all know what that means... common sense and brain cells evaporate. Beth ran out of the house and tried to talk Kevin into staying and talking to her. He seemed undecided, but did make the choice to leave.

All the other Gerardi's gave their depositions for the trial; all their memories are slightly different. Okay, that's understandable, but what doesn't make sense is that the date given for the accident is November 9, 2002. Which means two years ago. At the beginning of the series, in 2003, we were told Kevin's accident had happened about 2 1/2 years before, so probably early in 2001. The ads for this episode said, "three years ago, their lives were changed for ever." That makes sense if it was November 9 of 2001. I don't know whether Barbara Hall made a mistake or changed her mind, but that's a glaring error that so far doesn't make sense.

One thing that's nice about the deposition scenes are the way the flashbacks are handled, like the transition scenes of water being poured into a glass to rain outside a window etc.. Joan and Luke look about two years younger, but really Joan should be about 13, almost 14, and Luke about 12, almost 13, and he definitely looks older than that. They do a great job of playing younger, and there are the visual amusements of Joan's hair in pigtails and Luke's trendy headgear for his braces. The two of them are watching the Three Stooges on TV, and Joan is teasing Luke about the kite he wants for his birthday. Luke's birthday is on the 19th, 10 days after Kevin's accident. This will be important later. Luke extols the aerodynamic values of this particular kite, but Joan isn't impressed. They fight over a bag of cheese puffs, which pretty much explodes when they hear their mothers anguished wail. She's just heard the news about Kevin.

In the car on the way to the hospital, Joan recalls that Luke seemed pretty calm, but she noticed him counting on his fingers. She knew he's counting the days till his birthday, but he's a math whiz; he shouldn't have to use his fingers. This indicates to her how upset he is. We don't see any hospital scenes; maybe the scenes of Judith in the hospital last week were deemed sufficient for the viewer's monthly quota. More likely, they wanted to save the time and budget required to make Kevin look all broken and gory, so I'm sure some viewers were grateful to be spared that sight.

In the beginning of the episode Joan is in Dr. Dan's office talking about this sort of imaginary childhood friend, a magical sea turtle. Dr. Dan points out that Judith was real. Joan continues to talk about the wonderful qualities of her imaginary friend, and we finally get some insight into what Joan saw in Judith. She saw her as a free spirit, sparkly and fun and magical. Okay. She's angry at Dr. Dan for not listening to her, but he says she's projecting her anger at Judith (for dying) onto him. He says God isn't real. He (Dr. Dan) took God away from her. "I destroyed that magical and exotic friendship." Joan says lots of people believe in God, (Isaac Newton, Bono, and everyone who wins an award), and they're not crazy. He says they don't all talk to God, and people who do are crazy. He asks if Joan is seeing God again. She doesn't verbally answer, but her smile lets us know what she wants to say.

But what about Adam and Joan? Thanks for asking. They seem pretty happy for the moment, amazingly enough. They were waiting outside VP Price's office on a little bench outside the window. Adam is talking about maybe going to a second tier school, maybe the University of Texas, and talks about some of the filmmakers from thetr. He only gets to Wes Anderson before he's interrupted. Joan is leaning against Adam's shoulder. The source of their interruption by a male, slightly effeminate, secretary, who tells Joan that Price is ready to see her. Adam and Joan kiss before she stands up, but they are admonished by the Secretary about PDAs (public displays of affection). Oh, and, Adam is seriously cute in this episode.

Joan goes in to see Price, who's even more of an asshole than usual. He sneers at Joan's criteria for picking a college; "weather" isn't a good enough reason, apparently. She says she'll go wherever Adam's going. Price, in an amazing turnabout, tells her Adam is a gifted student, and she doesn't want to drag him down, does she? He says most colleges require an indication of working brain cells, which she lacks. He points out the fact that she's flunking Physics. She's upset about the F she got on the first semester final, but the rest of her grades have been B"s. Price isn't impressed, and tells her she doesn't have what it takes to go to a four-year school, and gives her a brochure for the local community college. Joan is crushed. Now, not to dis my TV boyfriend, but when did Adam become "gifted" instead of a troublemaker who's barely getting by? That seemed to be Price's opinion before this episode. Whatever. I'm happy to accept that Adam is brilliant and gifted, I just wish there had been a little more build-up of Price slowly seeing there's more to Adam than he thought.

Somewhere in here, Joan goes to see a psychic. The psychic, naturally, is another God avatar. Joan tells her she looks like she's wearing a wig from Cher's reject pile. Fortune teller God takes Joan's money, but the tarot cards she turns up are blank. Joan is alarmed, but God tells her it doesn't mean she has no future, but that the present is more important. Joan is not impressed overall, and gets up to leave. God emphasizes that it's important Joan remembers the present.

In gym class, Friedman endangers his future progeny by falling onto the gymnastic bar. instead of balancing on it. Ouch! Glynis goes to comfort him. Friedman was talking to Glynis about Harvard. Adam says it's like they are all possessed about college, and Price told him he should put in more hours at the design studio if he wants to be accepted at Stanford. Joan is shocked. "What about Texas?" He tells her Price said for what he's doing, Stanford is better. He assumes it's on her short list, too. Jonah lies and says, of course it is.

Helen is furious when Joan tells her what Price said, so she marches into his office, Joan in tow, and demands that Price apologize. She tells him he has no right to ruin students' dreams and crush their spirits, and tells him he's going to hell. It's hard to say whether he's moved by that threat, but he does sort of apologize. Mama Bear Gerardi stomps out, followed by Joan, who looks over her shoulder and flips her hair at Price in an amusing gesture he will easily be able to interpret.

During Joan's deposition, she mentioned Luke was counting the days till his birthday. She mentioned he wanted a kite. The court reporter asks her to clarify what he wanted. Then she asked when his birthday was. Joan answered, then a light bulb seemed to go off. "Oh my God." The court reporter just looks at her expectantly. "You weren't talking about the present, you were talking about...the present. I bet it was both, because that's what you do." The odd thing is, neither attorney seems to find this conversation unusual or distracting. Kevin's attorney had to get Will, Helen and Luke's attention at various parts of their testimony, because they were lost in thought, but he doesn't try to get Joan back on track. Court reporter God says she's back on the record, and suddenly both attorneys look up and things continue. Some fans doubted the court reporter was God, but if it wasn't God, she would've asked Joan what she was talking about, and would have made more of an effort to get back on the record immediately. She shouldn't have asked the question, "When he is Luke's birthday?" in fact, court reporters don't get to ask questions on their own, just clarification or repetition of something they missed. Both attorneys should have jumped down her throat for that, and they didn't even notice. It's not like they were frozen in time, either; they were both looking down, taking notes or something. Weird. Another example of God being present (ha!) and nobody but Joan actually sees Who it is.

Luke had asked Grace to come to dinner for his birthday; she refused. He got upset, and told her it was the deal breaker. Later, she agrees to come, but says she won't sing or wear a dress. That's fine with Luke. Will has invited Lucy, his boss, over for dinner, which Helen has reluctantly prepared. I still think the boss is Lucyfer, and Helen probably agrees. Luke and Grace come in, and he's surprised to see a stranger there. He notices the dinner isn't lasagna (which his dad traditionally fixes for him). Will and Helen have obviously forgotten his birthday. His 16th birthday. Shades of 16 Candles! Luke says he's not hungry, and goes out of the room. Grace looks stricken, then gives a fake smile and says they both have studying to do. I can't tell if she's wearing makeup, but she's obviously made an effort to look nice. Her voice sounds funny, a lot more girly than usual. I think she's trying very hard to be perceived as a "normal" girl who wants to impress her boyfriend's parents. She really was making a concession there!

A bit later, Joan finds Luke and Grace in the garage, obviously not studying. She gives Luke is present, the kite he wanted. He is thrilled that she remembered. She tells him to cut their parents some slack, with the depositions and all. Grace decides to give him her gift, too. She shows him a well-worn piece of paper. Luke recognizes it. "Our confidentiality contract!" She tears it up, then puts her hand up to his face and kisses him. We see Joan, standing near and basically between them, her total confusion plain to see. ([img]"Luke and Grace? Kissing? This doesn't make sense. And, ewwwww!"[/img] They go outside to try out the kite, and are having fun when Will and Helen come out, having finally remembered what day it is. Luke tells them it's all right, but now they owe him a car. Helen says it's not all right, but Luke very maturely says it is. He's gotten some unexpected things that night, the kite Joan remembered, Kevin's okay, and they are all there and everything is all right. Then we focus on the kite, which Luke has finally gotten up in the air. It turns into Andy's keys, which he's thrown into the air in the final flashback of the night. The camera pans down to Kevin's feet, on one side of the car, and the keys on the ground on the other side. Andy is laughing. Beth gives Kevin one more anguished, pleading look, and he seems torn, but he gets into the car. The last shot is of his brand-new shoes, which they will have to cut off later that night.

I wish Barbara Hall would write more episodes. Not enough Adam, but still, an excellent episode.

TheCentralScrutinizer · 28 Oct 06 :: 06:22

Yeah, I used to always print out the fics and take them to lunch with me when I was just reading. But then TeeJay and I started writing together and I began to grab lunch, go back to the office and work on them while I eat. But I actually prefer reading things on paper.

I'm also interested in your perspective as an Adam fan. Man, I'm just so sick of the way a lot of people write him. I guess it's mainly in the G/L shipper fics that he's so completely pathetic. Mind you, he does start this fic in a very vulnerable position. And he still has his issues. But our hope is that our adult Adam is the manifestation of the who he always had the potential to be. Despite the character assasination. And both he and Joan are still growing up, so you'll probably still get frustrated with them on occasion.

And be advised that there is ample smut, but it's not casual or gratuitous. It's very loving and hopefully fairly realistic. At least that's the intent.

Deb

shrams · 28 Oct 06 :: 06:33

I have no problem with reading smut! Or writing it. Trust me on that. Quite a bit of my fic is NC-17 or beyond.

I read a few J/A stories on ff.net, but I have to say I wasn't impressed. I don't remember the titles or authors, but the Adam they were writing was definitely not "my" Adam. I'm sure my Adam is somewhat different from everyone else's. I'm thinking about posting some Adam scenes from the huge fic I'm writing, but I'm not sure they'll make sense out of context. I think there are a couple that will make sense. But again, it might be a while before I can do that. Stupid pain.

TheCentralScrutinizer · 28 Oct 06 :: 06:58

There are some great A/J fics listed in our JoA section on the main page. The ones by namewithheld blew me away. She had Adam down pretty good. Wish she hadn't stopped writing. And TeeJay's stuff got me started writing JoA to begin with.

Hey, you write smut? Cool!

Deb

shrams · 28 Oct 06 :: 08:44

I found 18 scenes in my novel that feature Adam pretty heavily, or where he's important to the scene. He took on a much bigger role than I expected.

Most of my fan fic is smut, except the above-mentioned story. The board it's posted on is rated PG-13. Bleah. I hate trying to water everything down, because most of the movies the book is based on are rated R or above.

shrams · 31 Oct 06 :: 06:21

Joan of Arcadia - "The Book of Questions" (210)

This was the long awaited Bat Mitzvah episode. It wasn't really what I expected, but it was still pretty good. I think something very important happened at the end of the episode between Joan and Adam, but I think it's up for interpretation now.

The whole episode was about questions to life's difficult problems, and nobody got any easy answers. As expected, Joan wanted to know why Judith had to die. Female-Student God told Joan she needed to help Grace with the bat mitzvah. Joan asked why there are so many religions, and God said that there are so many people and they all need to relate to God in different ways. That's all that religion is, people trying to find ways to relate to God. That didn't seem to be a good enough answer for Joan.

The episode started out with Joan being outraged about flyers offering counseling for students who wanted to talk about Judith's death. Grace very quickly and casually announced to Joan and Adam that she was having this thing on Saturday, with food and stuff, and they could go if they wanted, but she didn't care, it was no big deal. Joan wanted more details, and Grace reluctantly told them it was her Bat Mitzvah. Adam was surprised, because he knew she was supposed to go through this several years ago. She told him to drop it, and left.

Adam seemed to think they should go see the counselor, but Joan vehemently disagreed. She got angry at him for even suggesting it, because of her own unfortunate experience with Dr. Dan, the incompetent psychiatrist she had been seeing. I had the impression that Adam wanted to go for counseling, and maybe he wanted Joan to go with him. I think he was also trying to prevent her from having to go through everything he went through regarding his mother's death, keeping everything inside instead of confronting it head-on and talking to someone about it. Joan didn't want to be reminded of Judith's death, because it makes it all too fresh for her.

Grace later ran into Luke and invited him to the Bat Mitzvah, and he seemed more excited about it then she did. Meanwhile, Will had been trying to get answers from a witness to Judith's murder, one of her friends who was with her. The guy, Ryan, doesn't want to talk, he's afraid of incriminating himself. (I don't suppose there's any connection to Ryan Hunter, who appears much later, but it's worth noting: On this show, guys named Ryan are bad.) This lawyer backs him up, which pisses Will off. Later in the day, or perhaps the next day, Lucyfer walks into his office, and leans against the door, wishing Will a happy birthday. He says it's not his birthday, and she tells him she got him something anyway. The whole scene is very smarmy. She has had Ryan, the witness, picked up on a flimsy charge. She says he looks like a surveillance picture they have of someone who robbed a store. Will can see that Ryan bears little resemblance to the man in the picture, but goes along with it, because Lucy assures him she's done this before and it will work out. Later, Will gets home and tells Helen about getting Ryan to talk. She wasn't happy that he's using tactics he didn't used to do, and he said that's the way things get done. Helen still has trepidations about Lucyfer, and so do I. I think she's trying to entrap Will into doing something ethically and legally wrong.

Joan and Adam are in the bookstore, looking at books on Judaism. Heh, Adam is actually reading "Judaism For Dummies". Joan is telling him some of the things she has learned. He looks over her shoulder and points out that it says that the Torah contains the wisdom of life, and comments that would be pretty handy. Then he looked nervous and awkward, and very hesitantly asked Joan if, last year, when she was talking to God, she learned anything important, like about death. I got the feeling he was thinking of both Judith and his mother. Joan was very upset with him for even asking, and she reminded him that he promised he would never bring the subject up again. He just wanted to know if she learned anything useful. She tried to explain, and after several false starts, said it just doesn't work that way. She doesn't have any answers. He hugs her, and at this point Sammy v 2.0 walked by and looked disapprovingly at them. He said he hoped this was work-related. Adam said it is, and holds up the book he was reading, and said Joan was just showing him a good book. Then Grace showed up, and Sammy v 2.0 asked if anybody is actually going to buy anything. He walks off, after asking plaintively why they don't just hang out in an arcade like the other delinquents. Hm, he doesn't get an answer to his question either.

Grace was there to ask Joan for help in buying a dress. They have to go shopping the next day. Adam perked up at this, and repeated, "Dress?" Grace essentially tells him to mind his own business. Apparently he's very used to her bossing him around. Joan was all excited at the prospect of having some way to help Grace.

The next day, while they were shopping, Grace complained about wearing a dress, and all of the ways it opresses women. Joan wasn't really paying attention, and held up a red dress and said something about it being very sexy. Grace was disgusted that Joan obviously isn't listening to her. Joan found a cute, sleeveless black dress. A blond woman came in, and called out, "Gracie!" Grace looked very alarmed, then tried to smile. Her mother turned to Joan, and said she's been wanting to meet her. Joan said she was beginning to think maybe Grace didn't have a mother. Sarah, Grace's mother, said she knows she's not supposed to be there, but it's obvious to the audience she was very excited. She looked very attractive, sophistocated, and together. Joan and Sarah talked somewhat awkwardly while Grace went to try on the dresses.

Kevin is waiting in some kind of the lobby. Beth shows up, and he tries to act real casual, but he says he wants to make sure she's all right. She had told him that she was going to be deposed for the case, and she doesn't want to mess things up. They go for coffee, and it seems like Kevin is still somewhat interested in her.

Joan goes to Adam's shed, and finds him painting a portrait of Judith. It's kind of a Warholian piece, and he tells Joan he's using a photo he took of Judith the day of their date. He went for coffee, and Judith was telling him what kind of flowers to get for Joan. Joan thinks Adam is a little bit obsessed, but he thinks this is a healthy way of dealing with his feelings. He tells Joan she should try doing the same thing. She gets angry, and says she doesn't paint. He tells her she should write, then, and try to get some of this stuff out in the open, so she can look at it. Joan says she can't do that. She suddenly remembers she needs to help Grace pick out some shoes, and leaves in a hurry.

Later we see her in her bedroom, writing in a notebook. There are a lot of the words written very large and bold, and the word "why?" is very prominent. She's muttering to herself, then throws a notebook across the room in frustration. There's a knock on her bedroom window, and she opens it to let Grace in. Grace returns Joan's shoes, and says she won't need them, and Joan won't need to help her with the makeup, either. She's canceling the Bat Mitzvah. Joan is shocked, but Grace refuses to answer her questions, and leaves.

Earlier we had seen Joan in Grace's bedroom, waiting to see what Grace looked like with the dress on. Grace came out of the closet she'd been hiding in, and she looked great. Her father came in, and was thrilled to see her in a dress and high-heeled shoes. She warned him if he cries on the dress, the shoes will become lethal weapons. He grinned, and hugged her, and it's apparent that Grace is fairly close to her dad, despite frequent arguments on the subject of religion.

We see Joan in the bookstore again, and she's trying to get hold of Grace. Apparently she has called a number of times, and Grace isn't returning her call. A large, heavyset man walks into the bookstore, and wants to find "Sense and Sensibility." He tells her how much he enjoyed "Wuthering Heights", and Joan seems very surprised that a man who looks like him would be reading those books. He tells her that sometimes a tough exterior can hide a tender heart, and calls her by name. She realizes this is yet another God avatar, and once again asks about Judith. He tells her it's not about finding answers, but about asking the right questions. He mentions that it broke his heart that, in "Wuthering Heights", that heroine almost ruined her relationship with Heathcliff mind not being honest about her feelings. Joan doesn't see what that has to do with anything. She really should learn to pay more attention to everything God says, in my opinion. She persistently asks again why Judith had to die, and he walks away, with the book in his hand.

Joan goes over to Grace's house to look for her, but she's not home. Sarah tells her that Grace will be home soon. Sarah is wearing sweats, no makeup, and is unsteady on her feet. She's very friendly, but it's obvious that she has been drinking. She tries to hide the bottle from Joan, but Joan has already figured out what's going on. She decides not to wait for Grace, and leaves. Later, in Joan's bedroom, she is berating Luke for not telling her about Grace's mother. He says he was trying to protect Grace's privacy. Grace shows up and yells at both of them, Joan for daring to come to her house, and "Freak!" for telling Joan about her mother. Again with the name-calling, tsk-tsk. Luke denies he told Joan anything, and Grace says that's it, it's over, she's breaking up with him. She runs down the stairs and Joan stops her. Joan tells her what she's gotten out of this whole Bat Mitzvah thing is that it's about taking responsibility, taking a stand. Luke tells Grace he already got her a present. For some reason, that seems to get to her.

At the Bat Mitzvah, Grace looks very attractive in the black dress. Joan is wearing a red dress and looks pretty as well. Adam is in a suit and tie, and Friedman, Glynnis and Luke are there as well. Grace sings the portion of the Torah she memorized, and everyone is happy for her. Then Grace gets to make a speech of sorts. She talks about arguing with her dad, until she finally realized, that very day, that it's all about questioning things. The Torah doesn't provide answers, but it's a book of questions. It's all about searching for the right answers, and she thinks it's a great way to approach adulthood. Her parents seem very proud of her.

At the reception afterwards, Grace's another comes up to her to tell her how proud she is. At Grace's look, she says she's drinking ginger ale. Grace says she's not going to go there, and tells her mother she loves her. Joan has a conversation with the party guest who appears to be a middle-aged aunt. This is another God avatar. Joan once again asks God why Judith had to die. God's tells her again it's not about the answers, but about asking the right questions.

Luke wants Grace to come outside with him and look at something. They look up at the stars and Luke points out the Perseid meteor shower. Grace is suitably impressed, and asked him how he got them to do that.

Joan is sitting at a table in the back of the room, surrounded by empty glasses. Adam sits down next to her, and gives her a drink. Joan wants to tell him something, but seems to have a little trouble phrasing it. She finally says she was scared to ask about Judith, because she didn't want to find out Judith died because of their date. She didn't want to find out that maybe they shouldn't be together. She says she didn't want to lose to people she loves so close together. Adam puts his arm around her and let's her rest her head on his shoulder. He'd looks thoughtful.

This is the first time she is actually told him that she loves him, but more importantly, it's an oblique way to let him know she is still talking to God. The episode ends with grace and Luke still looking up at the stars.

I hope this means that Joan will talk to Adam again about God, because I think that's a huge barrier between them, and until they get past that, they will have trouble really being comfortable in their relationship.

TheCentralScrutinizer · 31 Oct 06 :: 07:00

Wasn't the first time Joan told Adam she loved him, though.

Chris Marquette Message Board

#26 26 Oct 06 :: 18:23

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#27 26 Oct 06 :: 19:19

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#28 26 Oct 06 :: 20:11

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#29 27 Oct 06 :: 05:16

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#30 27 Oct 06 :: 05:51

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#31 27 Oct 06 :: 05:57

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#32 27 Oct 06 :: 15:24

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#33 27 Oct 06 :: 18:13

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#34 27 Oct 06 :: 18:22

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#35 27 Oct 06 :: 18:23

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#36 27 Oct 06 :: 18:52

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#37 27 Oct 06 :: 18:57

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#38 27 Oct 06 :: 19:02

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#39 27 Oct 06 :: 19:12

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#40 27 Oct 06 :: 19:17

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#41 27 Oct 06 :: 20:41

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#42 27 Oct 06 :: 20:43

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#43 28 Oct 06 :: 03:36

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#44 28 Oct 06 :: 06:12

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#45 28 Oct 06 :: 06:22

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#46 28 Oct 06 :: 06:33

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#47 28 Oct 06 :: 06:58

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#48 28 Oct 06 :: 08:44

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#49 31 Oct 06 :: 06:21

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

#50 31 Oct 06 :: 07:00

Re: JoA Recaps for Season 2

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