JoA Recaps for Season 1

TheCentralScrutinizer · 30 Oct 06 :: 04:20

Well, I wasn't into those shows so I don't know why I wasn't watching it.

Deb

shrams · 30 Oct 06 :: 04:56

Well, for one thing, ABC didn't do a great job of promoting it. Also, it had the most irritating theme song ever forced upon viewers. Great show, however, if one had just the right quirky sense of humor. If not, I suspect everyone was as annoyed by it as my parents. My grandmother started getting into it just before it was cancelled, of course.

TeeJay · 01 Nov 06 :: 20:37

Recap for episode 1x18 just in:

1x18 Requiem For A Third Grade Ashtray
by TeeJay

Joan, Grace, Adam and Iris are shopping for party accessories in a grocery store. Grace asks if they want mini pizzas or mini burritos. "Burritos is always mini, because burrito means little donkey," Adam explains. Thank you for the trivia, Adam. And why do you sound so cranky? Baby-Voice getting on your nerves? Hm, no, obviously not, because when she coos at Adam, "That's so cool, you know, the Español," he smiles at her.

Joan explains she needs to stay up all night because not only does she have to study for the Chem test on Wednesday, she also has to finish reading Kafka's The Metamorphosis (which she describes as "a book about a guy who turns into a bug"). Grace tells her not to sweat Chem, she's got Luke's lab notebook. Yeah, that's very helpful. Because you'd still have to transfer its contents into your head, Grace.

Grace's cell phone rings, and she answers it, sounding unnerved with the caller, saying something about not forgetting something. Adam and Joan exchange a confused look, but Iris butts in, "I know what we need. Soy jerky." Joan and Adam's eyes meet. "Is she gonna be, like, the Yoko Ono of our study group?" Joan says. Adam sighs. "Don't worry about it."

When they wanna check out, Adam asks the guy behind the counter (who turns out to be Cashier-God) if he can hang a flyer. It says "Café Ennui - art show, poetry reading, coffee pastries - open daily 'till 2:00 am". Joan thinks it's cool and asks Adam if he's in it. He explains, modesty in his voice, "It's just a little coffee shop thing. I mean, they basically let anybody put up their stuff." But Joan thinks it's really special. "Adam, this is your first art show out in the world." But Adam won't hear it. "It's really no big deal," he says. Just then, Baby-Voice comes back. "Isn't it cool?" she asks Joan, "Your mom started, like, a whole movement."

In the background, Grace suddenly yells into the phone, "We've already been over this, I'm not gonna pretend to care about something that I don't. That's called hypocrisy!" She hangs up. Adam and Iris step closer to Joan again and stare at Grace. "Who is she yelling at?" Iris asks. The phone rings again, but Grace just throws it into the cooler. Of course Adam and Joan know better than to ask. (And Adam is wearing a Cuba Libre t-shirt. We've been asking ourselves if Chris's dad, Jorge Luis Rodriguez, is Cuban because Chris was born near Miami and he said he'd love to play Fidel Castro when he's older. Who knows?)

Next morning, in the Girardi kitchen, Helen is a little hectic. There are items strewn all over the table, old memorabilia from the garage. Helen tells Kevin to grab anything he'd like to keep, otherwise it will end up being smashed in an art project at school. Joan comes in, and grabs the first thing she sees. "Hey! My turtle ashtray." Helen asks her if she would mind if she used some of that stuff for a class project, but Joan wants to hang onto her ashtray. "You can't smash Archie," she tells her mother in a begging voice.

Since Luke's not at breakfast, they ask Joan to check on him. She does, grudgingly. Luke's in bed, all sweaty, mumbling, "Can't move. Head's too big. Full of air. Possibly fluid." Uhmmm.... All right, Luke, just stay in bed.

Burgundy hoodie alert! Adam's wearing his burgundy hoodie in school! Okay, sorry for getting all excited. I just love that hoodie. Joan's raving on about the Kafka novel, ridiculing it. But Grace is cranky for some reason. "It's called literary symbolism. And didn't anyone ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full?" she snaps at a breakfast-eating Joan. As if that wasn't already clear, Adam says to Joan, "Something's going on at home. I didn't ask." No, you wouldn't, Adam. You know Grace too well.

He's putting up some more of the Café Ennui flyers in the school hallway and asks Joan if she could help him unload some of his stuff there tonight. Which Joan would love to do, but she wonders why he didn't ask Iris. Adam explains, "I told her not to come. Said I would be too nervous." Oh. Why is that, Adam? Of course Joan immediately jumps on the bandwagon. A night with Adam without Baby-Voice? Who could say no? "I'm happy to be your roadie."

Adam walks off, and just then Goth-God makes an appearance. He asks Joan to share her parents' burden and take care of Luke in her free period and lunch break. "Let's not forget the last time you asked me to share the laundry burden, and I ended up on crutches," she quips. But she already knows she will do what He asks anyway.

In art class, Helen explains that she wants everyone to smash the memorabilia they brought and set the pieces in wet plaster in a wooden box. Adam looks really freaky with his burgundy hood over his head and the huge safety goggles with the elastic strap over both. On Helen's cue, everyone starts bashing their old toys with a hammer. This is really kind of a bizarre picture.

Joan comes into the classroom, offering to check on Luke for her mom. Helen is touched. Yeah, well, she doesn't know that Joan isn't exactly doing it voluntarily. Helen mentions that she also wanted to make meatloaf and already put the meat out to thaw, but forgot the faculty meeting that night. Joan offers to make the meat loaf. She's not thrilled. Joan, I mean.

At home, Luke is on the couch, not very alert. But the he realizes that he still needs to type up an essay for his application to Space Camp that's due that day. And it's in his lab notebook. Which Grace has. Joan tells him it's no biggie, she'll get it from Grace.

Back in school Joan is trying to figure out when she can study Chemistry with Grace and Adam. Grace says she has a "family thing—don't ask" and Adam has the art thing. And Joan's life suddenly turned into this one, hectic blob where she figures she can't do everything at the same time. But she promises Adam she will still come to the art show and help him. She needs Luke's notebook back and will meet them to study in an hour. Good luck, Joan!

Of course things get messy. Joan's at home, making the meatloaf. But Will's stuck in an elevator and she hasn't gotten Luke's notebook back yet and then Adam calls and asks where she is. She tries to explain to him that she's running late and can't leave Luke at home alone (Why not, exactly? He's 15, for God's sake, and it's not like he's on his deathbed!). Apparently, Adam's mad. He hangs up on Joan. Joan looks up at the ceiling. "Are you there, God? It's me, Joan. You suck!" Just how much becomes clear when Joan tries to switch on the dishwasher and blows a fuse that makes the house descend into darkness.

On her way to the hardware store to get a new fuse, she runs into Adam, who's putting up his sculptures at the café. Joan's about to walk off when he addresses her, but then she realizes she can't just leave Adam with all the work, so she offers to help out. While they set up his sculptures inside, Joan asks him, "Why do I feel like we're cheating on Iris?" He tells her that's crazy. Is it? He told her he didn't want Iris there, but then invited Joan? That is a little like cheating, if you ask me.

It's kinda cute how Joan mistakes three people in a row for God who are not. Typically flaky Joan. And majorly embarrassing, especially to Adam, who has to watch Joan publicly address a poetry reader on stage in front of everyone. She walks out on a very confused Adam, telling him she'll explain later.

Of course there's still the matter of Luke's notebook, so she decides to go by Grace's house. Her father tells Joan that Grace will be back later because she's at Hebrew class. Joan can't believe it. The rabbi also tells Joan that Grace put off her bat mitzvah for three years, a Jewish ceremony to mark when a young woman becomes an adult. Just then Helen calls and orders Joan's butt back home. Because when Joan blew the fuse, she left the house in a mess and Helen is less than happy to come home to find a bomb having gone off in her kitchen.

But Joan decides that her priority is not the blown fuse or the messed up kitchen, it's her brother and his notebook. So she waits in front of Grace's house for her to come home. When she does, she hands Joan the notebook. Of course Joan has to ask about Hebrew class. "I was supposed to do all this when I was 13, but I refused. Now my dad's using my sick Grandmother to guilt me into it." They both agree all of this sucks. Yeah, well, it kinda does. But wait till you become real grown-ups, kids. The problems will only become bigger.

The Kevin storyline in this episode is also more interesting than others. He felt something in his belly that seemed to be gas. Which hasn't happened since the accident. So he has it checked out at the hospital without telling anyone, hoping they're the first signs of nerve regeneration. The doc tells him they aren't, there's no change to his physical status. Luke is the first person Kevin tells about it. And at the end of the episode, it does turn out Kevin's newfound sense of digestive processes (which is kinda gross, really, if you think about it) is indeed for real. Is this a tiny ray of hope for him?

Turns out Luke's notebook didn't help that much for the AP Chem test. Adam thinks he pretty much bombed. It's really funny when Glynis comes out and, frantically worried, asks Joan, "How is he?" Joan pretends she's really serious. "Luke? He's sick, but he's gonna pull through."

Adam asks Joan what happened last night, but she doesn't wanna go into it. She mentions Grace's bat mitzvah class, but Grace shushes her. Oops, too late. Friedman already poked his nosy head in. And Adam asks what a bat mitzvah is. Wouldn't he know if he's known Grace for so long? Or was Grace that close-lipped even to Adam all these years? Friedman puts his arm around Adam's shoulder, lunging into a lengthy explanation for Adam that we only hear the beginning of as they walk away: "Well, you see, Adam, even before we were slaves in Egypt, there was this tiny baby floating around in the bulrushes. Now, the little tyke's name was Moses. Now, Mo, as we call him, he apparently was a stutterer..."

Joan remains at the lockers and Goth-God walks up. He tells her to get cream of wheat for Luke, but she doesn't want to because she thinks it'll never end. "It's a black hole of never-ending worries and responsibilities." God tells her, "It's called growing up." Joan thinks it's scary. It is, honey. And God tells her that. What He also tells her, as He fishes her turtle ashtray out of her bag, is that she's not alone.

Joan walks into the art room where she finds her mother, cleaning up some of the smashed bits and pieces from their plaster project earlier. Helen apologizes for having been so hard on Joan the night before, giving her a verbal whipping when she was only trying to help. In reply, Joan takes out the turtle ashtray and says to her mom that she can use it. But that's not what Helen wants. So Joan puts on the safety goggles and starts hacking away at the ashtray with a hammer.

They have a very grown up talk about adulthood. "I always thought once you were an adult, you just sort of wake up with all the answers," Joan says. "Yeah, that would be nice. There's hardly ever any answers. Just more questions," is Helen's reply. And she would be right. I mean, yes, you get some answers, but not all of them. And wouldn't it be kinda boring if you did?

The episode ends with the Girardis at the dinner table, having a few good giggles over Kevin's game of "pull my finger". And Luke and Kevin share a knowing look. "Does this mean…?" Maybe. A nice, upbeat way to fade to black and let the viewers wonder if Kevin might someday get out of that wheelchair.

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 01 Nov 06 :: 21:55

Good job!

Deb

TeeJay · 01 Nov 06 :: 22:18

Thanks. The more recaps I write, the easier it flows. It's actually a lot of fun to go through the episodes again in meticulous detail.

-TeeJay

TeeJay · 31 Dec 06 :: 23:09

1x19 Do The Math
by TeeJay

Joan walks down the street, reading some math homework notes. The talk about hexagons and triangles makes no sense to her, but a skateboarder comes to her rescue, bumping into her, making her notes scatter all over the sidewalk. As she is picking up the loose pages, DogWalker-God comes along with his pack of dogs, making one of his "suggestions": She is to take piano lessons. Her piano teacher is an old lady who looks kinda run down, Joan has to come to her house for the lessons. (And I may add that the teacher is played by Louise Fletcher, and I just keep seeing her as Kai Winn on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. -TeeJay / While to us old folks she'll always be Nurse Ratched. -Deb)

In the Girardi household, Kevin asks Luke to poke his butt with a dart, to see if he's maybe really regaining some sensation. Seems that he is, because he can feel what Luke's doing. Kevin and Luke are both very thrilled.

In school, Joan walks into the classroom where Adam and Iris are already waiting for math class to start. Adam is wearing a shirt. A really weird shirt. A really un-Adamy shirt. It's black with these huge square patterns all over. It's loud. It's hideous. And it's just not Adam. Joan cannot keep her mouth shut about it. "What's this, crazy shirt day?"

Adam looks at Joan with that reproachful look. "Uhm, Iris gave it to me?" Joan can't believe it. "So, this is a choice?" Iris tells her, "It's vintage. Still has the original tag." Joan looks at Adam again. "You look like an escapee from a VH1 special." Iris turn around again to face Joan. "You think the J.C. Penney hoodies were a good look for A?" Oh yes, Baby-Voice, there were. And Joan nails it. "They were Adam. This is not."

The reproachful look of Adam's is back. "I like it, Jane," he tells her with conviction. Iris smiles. Joan can't let it go. To Adam she says, "No, you don't. You can't. Unless you're blind. Or—" She points at Iris and mouths, "Her." Iris gives her a last look. "I can't help it if you don't get fashion." Adam and Joan exchange another look before the bell rings. Joan tells Iris, "I just think you should let A be Adam, okay, I?" (Heh. I love that! -Deb) Just then the math teacher butts in and orders Joan to the board to tell the class about the Pythagorean theorem. Which Joan is just helplessly lost with.

At home Joan goes through her old stuff that her mother put away, hoping to find her old piano books. Grace helps her, pointedly asking if this is also about Adam and Iris. Joan goes off on a little rant about how he could let Iris pick out his clothes. Joan has a problem with Adam's disco look. Understandably. Adam and disco don't really belong in one sentence, do they? Joan tells Grace that Adam and her are over. Yeah.... right. Grace thinks so too. "Yeah. That's why you don't care what he wears or, uh..." Joan is annoyed. "Don't you have a Hebrew class you should be at?" Grace looks at her. "Why do you think I'm here?"

Then Joan finds a letter from her grandfather to her father. It talks about a Richard. When Helen walks in and Joan asks her who Richard is, she tells Joan that she doesn't know. Hm... Both Joan and Grace suspect that there's more to this mysterious Richard, though. During family dinner Richard comes up again. Will tells the family he's a distant relative, but evades the subject when Joan can't stop pushing to know exactly who.

In school, Joan finds Adam sorting through some old records in the music room. When she asks him what he's looking for, he explains that he wants to play Iris some Miles Davis because she's never listened to him. The upside of schools not having any money is that they keep all the old vinyl records, Adam says. "Is that that trumpet guy you played me?" Joan asks. Then she tells him she has to practice the piano. Adam is about to leave with some records.

As he walks up the stairs, Joan tries to apologize for attacking his shirt. Of course she can't really find the right words. "But the shirts look great. Makes you easy to find in a crowd." Adam looks at her, a little put off. "What are we, Jane? I mean, we're not together, but it seems like we are sometimes." That, dear boy, is because you both want to be, but don't want to admit it. Joan tells him that she doesn't want to mess things up with him and Iris. It's like she wants to add something more meaningful, but stops herself at the last second, lamely saying again that she has to practice the piano. Adam can't seem to wipe that frown off his forehead. He just doesn't know what to do with the situation, it seems.

In the meantime, Luke did some research and came up with the information that Richard Girardi is Will's brother. Well, half-brother. He is ten years younger than Will and lives in Baltimore. And has a doctor's degree. And then Joan picks up the phone and calls Richard. Kind of a stupid thing to do, right? She leaves a message that she called when she learns he's not there.

Later, Joan is in Adam's shed. Since he's the only one she knows who has a record player , she had to rely on him to play the old records of her music teacher Eva Garrison. (Which is not true, BTW. The Girardis have one in their living room. Continuity error, or fib on Joan's part? -Deb) It's Bach, very heavy and sad. Adam is a little self-conscious about the colorful Iris shirt he's wearing, so he tries to hide it by zipping it up in his red hoodie. It's so cute.

Joan holds the record cover, sitting down, talking about how her teacher used to be so beautiful and now is so sour. From the inside. "Maybe it's all the scotch," Joan suggests. "Or, you know... bad ripples," Adam adds in that quiet but somehow seductive voice of his. He sits down next to her and they listen for a few quiet moments to the piano music. It's getting a little awkward, so Joan gets up. "I'll let you go back to Miles Davis."

It's clear that Adam doesn't want her to leave. Joan turns around with a worried frown on her forehead. Adam can read that she wants to talk about something but isn't sure where to start. But when he asks her flat-out what's up, she tells him. "I just found out that my dad has a brother he never told us about. I found this letter and I asked my mom and she totally denied it. Then I asked my dad, and he said he was, like, some distant cousin." She sits back down next to Adam, finally being able to vent. "My parents, lying to face. What's so hard about telling the truth?" she asks. Adam doesn't have any answers. "I don't think we'll ever understand it."

With the lulling music still in the background, this is a very intimate moment. Even more so, when Adam's fingers slowly seek out Joan's hand on her thigh. He threads his fingers through hers, slowly, gently. The gaze into each other's eyes, they share this soulful look and he says just above a whisper, "Let's never be like that." Joan studies his face and asks, "What if it just happens? Like, skin getting all wrinkly..." He answers, "We won't let it." They lean in, little by little, and there's just that longing for a sweet kiss that they both want, which is about to happen—until we hear a familiar but not so pleasant voice from the door. "Coocoo, Cherie."

When Iris enters the shed, Joan and Adam both jump up, clearly having been interrupted at... something. She realizes that and says, "Sorry," taken aback a little. Adam tries to hide it by smiling at her, greeting her with a cheerful, "Hey!" Joan bails, explaining that she was just listening to A's turntable. The look on Iris's face says that she's not happy or consoled. The situation is more than awkward and Adam will have some explaining to do.

The next day in school, Iris catches Joan as they're leaving Math class. Iris wants to talk to Joan, trying to explain that she's okay with her and Adam being friends, but then she asks Joan to be straight with her. "Is something going on?" Joan tries to explain. "Look, Adam's my friend. I needed someone to talk to. You have friends like that, right?" Iris gives her a look. "Yeah. One. And I'm going out with him." Oh. That's sad, Iris.

Just then, Joan's cell phone rings. It's her uncle Richard calling back. We don't get to hear what they're talking about. But during family dinner, Joan suddenly blurts, "Richard called me today." Will is appalled. But Joan confronts him and Helen about lying to her. Finally, Will explains that his father left Will and his mother to live his new life with his new family, leaving his old family behind. "A kids doesn't like to feel replaced," he finally shouts before throwing down his napkin and running upstairs. Helen goes after him; Joan, Luke and Kevin are left sitting at the table, stunned.

Next morning in school, Joan seeks out Adam in the hallway. "Hey, do you have a minute?" He reluctantly agrees. She starts going on about what went wrong the night before and how her father now hates her, and then she takes another look at him. "Hey, how come you're wearing your old shirt?" He just shakes his head, mumbling, "I don't know." "I'm sure he doesn't hate you," he offers half-heartedly. Joan says that he should, she's to blame—and mentions how she was just supposed to pass Geometry. "You're losing me," Adam says. "It's okay, there's nothing to say, it's just... I... needed you."

He stops, looking at her. She realizes that maybe she shouldn't have said that. They keep walking, she keeps bubbling up words. "It's one more thing that's wildly out of control now. Us. Or at least me, the human wrecking ball." He has a frown on his forehead. "It's not just you."

She makes him stop, look at her. "Adam, I know I've been such a flake with you." He looks up. "Unchallenged." (Adam, you're not supposed to say that!) "It's just... our first kiss. The one that was just supposed to go away." He's a little thwarted by that, but then he collects himself. "Iris and me are together, Jane," he tells her. She's close to tears now. "I know. But last night..." He doesn't know what to say. He felt it too.

They share another long, silent look when Iris comes up, kissing Adam on the cheek. "I always seem to be interrupting you two," she comments. Adam tells her it's just "stuff". Joan adds that it's kinda personal, family stuff. "Yeah, nothing weird," Adam says oddly. What did he mean by that? Iris drags him away when Joan says she has to leave. But why do I get the feeling he'd rather go after Joan, who still seems upset?

At the Girardi house, Richard suddenly turns up. Will's ready to throw him out, even though Joan protests, but then Richard gives Will his father's old police badge. Joan tells him she's sorry, and she and her father hug.

A while later, Joan sits on the front porch with a blanket around her shoulders. DogWalker-God comes up. She thinks she messed up, but God tells her that she made her father find the missing note in a long song. Seems like the good ripples were there after all. Just how good, she is going to see in the next few moments, because Adam almost trips over one of the dogs in God's pack, walking up to Joan on the porch. "Can I sit?"

He does and he looks at Joan. "Hey, you've been crying." She smiles. "Don't worry, not because of you. But I'm sure you were in there someplace." You can see that he's troubled somehow, wants to say something. (In the background, one of the most beautiful Adam/Joan songs starts playing: Howie Day's "Collide".) Adam draws in a breath. "I talked to Iris. I told her how I felt." She gives him a long look, "How is that?" He looks back into her eyes. "Same way you feel. I was just scared, Jane. Got kinda hurt before and I thought... about you. And... being scared didn't matter that much." Her eyes fill up with tears again and he softly strokes her arm. "Hey, you're crying again." She smiles at him through her tears. "Yeah." They lean closer, and closer, and closer, and finally kiss while Howie Day sings, "Even the best fall down sometimes. Even the wrong words seem to rhyme. Out of the doubt that fills my mind, I somehow find you and I collide." And this time, they mean it.

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 31 Dec 06 :: 23:36

Great ep, great recap.

Deb

domesticelefant · 01 Jan 07 :: 01:32

Dito.

TeeJay · 01 Jan 07 :: 01:46

Thanks guys! Deb, thanks for the edit.

-TeeJay

TeeJay · 12 Feb 07 :: 00:29

1x20 Anonymous
by TeeJay

It's the old routine in school, things seem totally normal. Joan has her arm slung through Adam's as they walk down the hallway, discussing how the cafeteria offers creamed chicken today. Suddenly Iris walks in on them, greeting them. Joan flinches and removes her arm from Adam's. A conversation between her and Adam about their art class ensues, both trying to be completely cool, but both sounding really awkward at it.

Adam tries to explain to Joan what they're talking about, since Joan doesn't know the first thing about drawing techniques. It's even more awkward now because Adam and Iris seem to be off into their own little world (meaning art class) and Joan is left on the outside, not only physically. But Adam makes it all up to her by asking her to meet him on the roof after class. "I got this life sketch and I was hoping I could use you." Iris turns away, clearly hurt. "Very Titanic," she says as she walks into the classroom. Adam tries to reassure Joan. "She's really okay with this."

Grace is clearly put off by all this new shared intimacy between Adam and Joan, so she tries to tell Joan that she doesn't think it's cool they do the whole cute couply giggling thing all the time. Joan tells her, "It's hard enough to find things we have in common. I should at least be able to enjoy them." Grace quips, "Tongue wrestling getting old already?" Joan grows more serious. "No. No. It's just... Adam's an artist and Iris is too. I'm, like... nothing. How can I compete?" Grace tells her that Adam broke up with Iris to be with Joan. "You got what you wanted, and you're more of a mess than you were before." Grace doesn't really get it.

Enter PudgyGirl-God. And I love it that they used a pudgy girl to play Her, because people are never all The-O.C.-perfect in real life. PudgyGirl-God tells Joan to help with the yearbook, and Joan's all excited because she thinks that will be her "thing", her way to have something that will make it easier to connect with Adam.

Brian Beaumont, the yearbook editor, directs Joan to help with taking photos for the yearbook. And the person overseeing the photo project is... Iris. Oops. Iris hands her the camera manual and Joan asks, "Is this gonna be weird?" Iris answers, "No." She didn't know Joan was into photography. Yeah, well, Joan didn't either.

Up on the roof, Adam meets with Joan. She's trying to familiarize herself with the camera, not really looking very adept at it. Adam watches her fiddle with it. "I didn't know you took pictures." She dismisses it. "Sure. It's my thing. Did you know I'm one of the photographers for the yearbook?" she asks him. His expression becomes more grave. "Iris is doing that." Joan smiles at him. "Yeah. But for me it's more like a calling." Who are you kidding, Joan? Adam says he didn't know that. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Mr. Rove." She gives him the sweetest little kiss and he's all smiles.

"So, what are you shooting?" he asks. Somehow he's a little in awe. He leans his head back on one of the metal bars behind him, his gaze becoming dreamy. "It's really cool, you know, what you can do with a camera. Catching passing moments in time, freezing life." Joan's overcome by the sweet moment. When she looks at him, he asks, "What?" "I like this. Talking like this," she tells him. But then she has to run. "Well, I guess I'll sketch you later on, then?" he asks. "Okay," she says as she leaves.

Next thing Joan is taking pictures of various clubs and people, some at very weird angles. It's gonna be a disaster. And it is, once Joan sees the developed pictures. They're no good. At all. She seeks encouragement from Helen, and Helen tells her that she thinks Joan can do anything she puts her mind to. It does restore Joan's faith in herself.

At the yearbook, Brian is all brusque with Joan about her crappy photos. Joan tells him she can improve, but Brian needs the photos now. Unknowingly maladroit, he compares Joan's photos with Iris's and fires Joan. She runs out of the room, passing a waiting Adam in the hallway. In a teary voice, she tells him, "Please, don't follow me, I'll see you later." Adam can only stand there, frozen, watching her walk away.

A little intimate talk with Kevin prompts Joan to go back to Brian the next day. She asks for another chance, she just wants to help out with the yearbook, not necessarily taking photos. After some good begging, Brian offers her the job as all-purpose handy(wo)man. Run errands, keep the paper stocked, take out the trash. Joan grudgingly accepts.

While Joan is standing at the copy machine, Iris comes walking up, arranging some photos. Joan asks sarcastically, "Enjoy telling Adam about my nose-dive from yearbook grace?" Iris tells her, "I didn't say anything." Could it be that Iris has more decency in her than we thought? She tells Joan that she had it bad enough with Brian firing her, how would it help her if she badmouthed Joan? Wow. Thank you, Iris.

Brian comes running, his voice urgent. They're missing the poetry submissions. Hm... Looks like Joan threw them into the trash. Oops. When Helen sticks up for Joan in front of the whole yearbook staff, things get a little tense because Helen resigns her position as yearbook overseer and expects Joan to do the same. But of course Joan is on a Divine mission, so she knows she has to stay. Sorry, Mom.

Next thing, Joan is going through the dumpsters, trying to find the poetry submissions. When she successfully returns with them, she shows Brian this one poem she thought was the best of all of them. He agrees that it's excellent. Only problem is that they don't know who wrote it. And that's enough for Brian to say he can't publish it. Joan pleads and pleads, but Brian doesn't budge. Joan tells him she'll find out who wrote it.

Up on the roof, Joan is reading the poem again as Adam enters and walks up to her. They greet tentatively, Adam seems a little unsure what to do with the situation. In his sweet, soft voice he tells her, "I've been looking everywhere for you." Apologetically, Joan explains, "I was on a search, I smell, everyone's yelling at me." He breathes in through his nose. "You're kinda ripe." He means the smell, of course. "So, uhm, were you gonna tell me?" he asks. She explains why she had to go dumpster diving, but Adam meant why she ran out on him the day before. She stammers a half-truth story about pulling her photographs from the yearbook.

And why is it that Adam maybe senses she's not really forthcoming? Because he says, "You know, if something's wrong, Jane, whatever it is, you know you can talk to me." She assures him, "Of course." Adam asks about the poem she rescued from the trash and she explains that she's "sort of the literary editor now" but that Brian doesn't want to publish it unless she finds out who it's from.

It's called Sewer Walking, she starts to read it to Adam:

You and me, we used to talk,
Like a river underground, this sewer
Where we used to walk.
The hole at the end empties out to the pier.
Where paper boats disappear.

Me, I try to send this note,
Float it like a paper boat.
The paper sinks and words are weak.
I try but I don't speak.

After the first few lines, Adam's gaze becomes distant, contemplative. It's like this means something to him. Joan realizes that when she looks at him after she stops reading. "Are you okay?" she softly asks him. He wakes from his reverie. He is clearly moved, sighs deeply. "I know who wrote that," he tells Joan, "Sewer walking and paper boats. Grace. Grace wrote that." And that makes a smile form slowly on Joan's lips.

Joan turns up at Grace's place, and Grace is not happy about her coming over unannounced. Joan tells her that her poem will be featured in the yearbook, and Grace is clearly baffled. She didn't submit the poem, she just threw it away. And, excuse me, is Grace putting banana and chocolate sauce on her buttered toast? Ew! Of course Grace doesn't want her poem put in the yearbook, as much as Joan tries to tell her she has a great talent for writing. Grace finally relents and tells Joan she can publish it, as long as Grace's name doesn't go with it. Joan doesn't understand Grace's reluctance.

An honest talk between Helen and Joan makes them realize that Joan's growing up and Helen seems to have a hard time with her doing so. They both end up crying, but Joan tells her, "You have to trust that what I'm doing... There are reasons. And it's all gonna be okay." They hug, the temporary rift between them mended.

Up on the roof, Adam is sitting on the floor, sketching on a sketch pad. Joan puts down the cardboard box she's carrying and sits down next to him. "What are you drawing?" He shows her the pad with a pencil drawing of Joan. "Uhm... You." She smiles. "I never got a chance to sit for you." He keeps drawing. "Well, I didn't need you to," he explains. He's lost in the sketch, and after few silent seconds, Joan prompts him to look at her. She feels it's time to put her cards on the table. "You know how you said I could talk to you about anything and I said I knew that?" she asks. He says yes. "I lied. I think I've been afraid to talk to you about almost everything." He has this worried and confused frown on his forehead. "Why?" "I don't wanna mess up what we have. I didn't take back my photos from the yearbook, I got fired. I'm not a photographer, or an artist like Iris. I'm not a literary editor or a science geek. Or anything. I mean, I tried to be, but I'm not. I'm really just digging around in the garbage, trying to find something that matters," she finally confesses.

He has been listening to her, rapt, and now puts away the sketchpad to turn to face her. Almost in a whisper, he tells her, "That's what I love about you, Jane." "Yeah?" she whispers questioningly. "Yeah," he whispers back. They lean in for a very sweet kiss and they both smile after they separate.

Joan takes a few colored paper sheets out of the box and tells Adam, "Grace can still be anonymous. But everyone's gonna see her poem. Like Notre Dame. Come on." She gets up and Adam follows her with a confused frown. What's she talking about? He soon realizes as Joan starts to throw the yellow and blue and green and pink sheets of paper with Grace's poem off the roof. They watch them gravitate down and spill into the school quad, the milling students picking them up and reading them as Adam and Joan keep throwing them from the roof's edge.

In the quad, Grace arrives, picking one of the sheets up herself, realizing what it is. She looks up to the roof and realizes what her friends are doing. The episode fades out with Adam and Joan waving down to Grace, and Grace smiling and happy.

--------------------------------

Thanks for the beta-read, Deb!

-TeeJay

TeeJay · 08 Mar 07 :: 19:34

1x21 Vanity, Thy Name Is Human
by TeeJay

The episode starts out with Kevin, Joan and Luke doing some grocery shopping for the family. They unexpectedly run into Beth, Kevin's old girlfriend from when he had his accident. Major awkward moment because they haven't been in touch ever since Kevin's back was injured. Beth tells Kevin she now goes to college nearby and works in Arcadia to finance her studies.

Helen rediscovers her love for painting. Will is oblivious and very inept at trying to hide that he doesn't know the first thing about the painting she created. "It's nice." Helen was obviously hoping for more detailed feedback. "Forget it." Will tries to redeem himself. "No, I love it." Helen shoots him a look. "What, it's great," he underlines.

In AP Physics Joan is showing Adam the air balloon giraffe God handed her when he gave her the assignment to join make-up class. "I'm not seeing a giraffe," Adam says. Joan's already past the giraffe and wants to go to the mall to have smoothies. Adam doesn't do the mall. Grace has Hebrew class. Friedman wants to go, though. Yeah, right. Joan looks at Adam again. "You're really not gonna go with me?" He frowns at her. "The mall gives me a rash, Jane. The aesthetic is rude."

Mrs. Lischak hands out information sheets for "The Ancient Ritual of Cosmetology". Joan doesn't get it. Adam explains it to her: "It's make-up." A-ha! So Joan has no choice but to join, much to the dismay of her subdefective friends.

Make-up class is a freakshow. And the biggest freak among them is Friedman.

Helen shows her painting to an old friend who runs a gallery. He is very impressed with it. He asks Helen if he can make a series of three or four of them, he's pretty sure he can sell them.

After make-up class, Joan and Glynis are walking down the school hallway, showing off their new looks. Glynis, now without glasses and with make-up, gets a lot of attention from the boys, and clearly enjoys it. Luke looks on. Is that jealousy we detect? Joan walks up to Adam, wanting so desperately for him to notice her make-over. Her very apparent make-over. She bats her eyelashes like she never has before. He's so totally Adam-y clueless, his eyes are glued to the paper he's holding. "Oh, they're showing Night Of The Hunter at the Rialto. Classic film night with Robert Mitchum. Wanna go?" He looks at her.

She does a lot of showing off, fumbling with her hair. She couldn't be more obvious. "I don't know, is it in black and white?" He glances at her. "Yeah. Yeah, it's Noir." "I don't know. I have a lot of homework," she stalls. He looks at her with confusion written all over his face. "Are you mad at me 'cause I wouldn't go to the mall?" At least he realizes something's not quite right. "No," she replies, smiling, shaking her hair once again. "What?" Adam asks. Joan's fed up. "Notice anything?" she finally asks. He gives her a once-over. "Uh, yeah... Jane." She's done. "Okay. Just wondering." Sarcastically she adds as she walks away, "Enjoy your Noir." Adam's eyes follow her, clearly taken aback.

In their garage, Helen tries to come up with more paintings for her series, but it doesn't look like she's very happy with her work. Beth comes by for an unexpected visit to talk to Helen. Kevin surprises them when he comes home and they are sitting down at the kitchen table, talking. Oh, he's angry! He throws Beth out, mainly because he feels humiliated by her sudden intrusion into his home, his safe zone.

In make-up class, Joan is told that the trick is to redirect the eye to your best features. "What if I don't have any best features?" Joan asks herself. Goth-God tells her, "Everyone has a best feature, Joan. I saw to that." Joan's annoyed that Adam doesn't seem to really notice her, notice the drastic visual changes in her. God asks her to look in the mirror and tell Him what she sees. And she realizes that the girl with tons of make-up on her face is not who she is.

At home, Joan is cleaning out her closet, throwing away a lot of items of clothing, wearing some old, baggy jeans and a very low-key brown top. Her hair does not look very groomed. When Kevin asks her what she's doing, she explains she's spring cleaning.

In the garage Joan and Helen end up shouting at each other over Helen's inability to get back to that burst of paining frenzy that produced the painting everyone's so fascinated with. Then she realizes Joan stinks. She obviously hasn't showered in a while. Joan explains, "Mom, I'm freeing myself from the media's ideals of feminine beauty." Helen is confused. "And you're doing this by stinking and looking like hell?"

Kevin gets over his pride and asks Beth to meet him at a coffee shop. They talk about old times and his accident. It feels like something's being mended.

In school, Joan's wearing this really old flannel shirt. She looks like she hasn't seen a shower or hair brush for days. She and Grace talk about beauty and the importance of it. Grace asks her, "So, Rove liked your new look?" She pretends she doesn't care as she explains, "He hasn't said anything. Yet. But I'm sure he will." Grace tells her he won't notice, hasn't noticed before. "Look, we're both about more than just superficial appearances," Joan says. Are you really, Joan?

Over a conversation about fakeness and make-up, Luke and Glynis break up in the school hallway. Luke thinks Glynis should be able to enjoy all the new attention, the freedom.

Up on the school roof, Adam is sitting down, reading the cinematic section of the newspaper again. Joan joins him on the roof, still wearing the dingy clothes from before. "Hey," she greets him. "Hey," he greets back, asking, "You ever seen Touch Of Evil, it's playing at the Rialto tonight." Joan has to ask again, "In black and white?" Adam explains, "Yeah, it's Orson Welles."

Joan lets her hands drop to her sides, she's had enough. "I want color," she tells him. "But the way he shot it in black and white, you know, it gives the images this rich texture, and—" Joan interrupts him. "Adam, it's the 21st century, okay? I want color and THX and stadium seating and cup holders. The Rialto smells like a nursing home!"

Adam still thinks it's about the movies. "Yeah, but you have to learn the visual language of film if you wanna—" That settles it, Joan goes into rant mode. "How can you be so observant when it comes to some movie made during the Civil War, but when it comes to me, I could grow a mustache and you wouldn't notice!" Okay, something's clearly amiss here, Adam finally notices it. He puts the paper away and gets up to face Joan. "Did I miss something?" Oh, Adam! You have no clue, do you? Joan spells it out for him. "I've been wearing the same clothes for two days. I haven't washed my hair. My face is so unadorned, I could be killed by the Aztecs."

Adam just shrugs. "It's cool with me." Really? You dig a smelly girlfriend? Joan wonders the same thing. "So the rank, stinky slob thing, that's a turn-on for you?" He shrugs again. "If it's who you are." Joan tells him that the last few days she was wearing a ton of much make-up, asks if that turns him on too. "Appearances are superficial, Jane," he says. Joan can't believe he's saying it's all about inner beauty. "How about going to the mall? That matters to you. And that's all about appearances!" she says, her voice raised. He tries to explain, "That's different," but Joan says it's not. "No, you are so vain," she tells him.

Adam, vain? Where? She explains it to him, "You try so hard to look like you don't care, just like I was trying to do, but you do. You do care. You wanna be that arty guy, who thinks he's so above the mall," she yells at him, "Well, I like the mall, okay?!" "Okay, you like the mall," he yells back. She's not done. "You know what I like too? I like watching Laverne & Shirley on TV Land. That's right!"

He looks at her, confused, "Laverne & Shirley?" he asks.

"Yeah! Lenny and Squiggy! 'Hello?!' I loved it, and I was afraid to tell you that because I thought you would think I was some bubblehead and you wouldn't wanna hang out with me anymore, and you know what? Maybe you don't!" She starts crying while she's still yelling at him. Turning away to catch her breath, he watches her, silently. She turns back around, sobbing. "I can't stand... us pretending like this. Both of us trying to live up to some image of what we think we should be! Well, if that's what we are... then I don't like us!" She runs out on him, leaving him standing there, lost.

Late at night at the Girardi house, Helen is outside in the garden, spraying charcoal lighter over her latest paintings, lighting them up with a match to watch them burn. She explains to Will that this one painting became so important that it started to run her life, and she realized that's not what she wanted.

Inside the house, Joan is coming down the stairs in a red top and pajama pants, rubbing her wet hair, obviously just having taken a shower. She answers a knock at the door. When she opens it, it's Adam standing there. She is speechless for a second, surprised. "Hey," she quietly says. He just looks at her, waiting for an explosion or an apology of whatever she has in store for him. Quietly, she says, "Guess I kinda flipped out." "Yeah," he says just above a whisper. He looks almost angelic, standing there with his eyes all rapt on her. Then he says, "The mall really does freak me out. You know, it's like all the stores are yelling at me."

She shrugs and says with a smile, "So I guess that makes us both crazy." "So we got that going for us," he tells her, and a small smile plays at his lips. Then he adds, "I really liked that pink shirt you were wearing the other day." It dawns on her that he did notice. She realizes something. "I think I threw that out." His, "Oh," in response is barely audible.

She finally invites him into the house, and even though he's been there before, he acts as if it's the first time. It's so cute. She asks him what's in the paper bag he brought. He just hands it to her wordlessly. Joan reads the titles of the videos he has in the bag. "Dude, Where's My Car?, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Dumb And Dumber? Tommy Boy." He does his pointy thing he sometimes does when she takes out the video tape of Tommy Boy. "Did you rent these?" she asks. He just smiles and shakes his head.

She can't believe it. "They're yours?" He explains, "There's an anarchic absurdity in Dude that speaks to teenage alienation." She raises her eyebrows, clearly not getting it. By way of explanation, he adds, "It's funny as hell." He puts the video tape into the VCR and they plop on the sofa, ready to watch the movie, starting to quote lines from it in unison. She snuggles up to his shoulder and they are having a great couply moment on the couch as the camera pans away to end the episode on Will and Helen smiling and watching their daughter laugh and have fun with her boyfriend.

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 08 Mar 07 :: 20:29

Cool cap, I hope to translate that soon.

TeeJay · 15 Apr 07 :: 21:54

1x22 The Gift
by TeeJay

The episode starts out in the school hallway. Friedman, Luke and Glynis are trying to sort out their study group problems because of the fact that Luke and Glynis aren't "squeezing the produce anymore", as Friedman puts it. A few feet behind them, Adam and Joan discuss how Adam fell asleep during class and the teacher threw an eraser at him. Joan tells him, "I know 19 th century Europe can be kind of a snooze, but you were snoring. You know, like the Three Stooges, with the little 'weeee' at the end."

Adam explains that he's just really tired—studying for finals, taking the job at the hotel. Joan tells him he could have waited with working more hours at the hotel until the summer, but he says that the pay is good and they would have given away the job otherwise. Grace interrupts, asking when they're gonna study for Chem. Time's a rare commodity for everyone right now, so they're trying to squeeze it all in.

On top of everything, Helen comes up and asks Adam for his sketches for the final sculpture project. He hasn't had time to take care of them yet. But Joan asks her mom to go easy on Adam, bend the rules a little and let him hand them in later. Helen says she can't make exceptions for him. (Deb – I love how he turned her around and pulls her away when she glares at her mom for that. It's not scripted.)

Joan walks Adam to the hotel. They both regret that they have so little time, and Adam's job will be full time in the summer, he will have to work a lot of nights. They kiss before they separate and Adam walks into the side entrance of the hotel. (Deb - And again, they have this adorable unscripted moment where they glance adoringly back at each other after they part.)

Joan rounds the corner, and there's French Waiter-God. He gives her a new assignment: Give Adam a gift.

Of course Joan is clueless as to what to give to Adam. During PE, Joan and Grace try to discuss this. Grace doesn't get why she would want to give Adam a gift so badly so early in their relationship, but Joan says he needs one. When Joan asks Grace for suggestions, she says, "He used to like slot cars and smurfs." Yeah, great, that helps. Joan suggests a new backpack since Adam's is kinda ripped. Not that great an idea either. (TeeJay - Since when does Adam use a backpack? We only ever see him with his red messenger bag, don't we? Deb – Yeah, that's a blatant error by the writer that no one caught.)

Kevin is asked to cover his first court case for the paper. He's putting a lot of effort into it too.

Joan asks Luke to help find a gift for Adam. Luke also thinks it's way too soon for the gift thing. He tries perusing the internet for Joan to help her find what Adam might like to have. The computer suggests an electric sander or a Garfield night light. Joan leaves, saying, "I'm meant to die alone."

Next day, Joan walks Adam to the hotel again. She very casually tries to pry some information out of Adam as to what items he might be missing in his life. One suggestion of hers is an organizer to write down his notes and appointments. "No, I just write my stuff on scrap paper," he tells her. Okay, so no organizer. She asks him what he would like to have if he could have anything in the world. His answer is kinda clueless but also incredibly sweet. "There's not much I want, really. Except you."

She asks him to pretend it's Christmas and he got a puppy. He then asks her, "You want a puppy?" She goes, "No, they poop all the time." He gets fed up with her weird suggestions. "Yeah, look, I'm kinda late," he says as he walks up to the hotel. He turns around before he enters. "Cha, I'm such a thud, I only have a dollar, I need something to eat. Can I borrow some money until—"

She interrupts him. "No! But you can have it." She takes a ten dollar bill out of her purse and gives it to him. "Ten dollars. It's a gift from me to you." At first he smiles. "I'll pay it back." But Joan insists. "No, no, I don't want it back, it's a gift."

He gets angry all of a sudden. "I can buy my own food!" This really offended him. Joan can see that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to want to give him money. "I know," she tries to explain. But he just won't hear it. "I'm not a charity case, Jane." He thrusts the money back into her hand and walks into the hotel. She starts to run after him. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to be nice." He turns around. "Nice? Nice?! Nice is what you get from a stranger!" Oh dear, what has she done? "I'm sorry, it was really stupid," she tries to apologize, "Here, you can pay me back." She still wants him to take the money. He walks away without it. "Yeah, I'll just get something at home later."

Joan is left standing there, all stricken and clueless. That didn't go very well. (TeeJay - And I'm left sitting here, thinking about how poor Adam has to work all night on an empty stomach. Aw.)

Joan runs into Rich Lady-God who tells her to find what Adam needs. Her next opportunity to find that out is the next day in school when they sit down in an empty classroom to study History. They both apologize for what happened before and they sorta make up. Adam explains that he finds History with all these wars and treaties really lame. "The only thing cool about the 19 th century was the art scene in Paris. I mean, that was the place to be."

Then he realizes he forgot his notes in his locker, so he goes back to get them. His messenger bag is lying there open, all inviting. Joan hesitates a moment, but can't resist the opportunity to peek in the bag for some clue that might help her figure out the right gift for him. First thing she looks at is his sketchbook. It's empty except for the first few pages with a few doodlings. She digs deeper in his bag and finds a condom. Whoa. Is that what he wants? Adam comes back with his notes and she plops in her seat, not knowing what to think.

Joan confides in Grace that she found the condom in Adam's bag. Joan doesn't know what she's supposed to do. They never talked about sex, her and Adam. And it's clear that she's not ready. Grace then asks a simple question. "Do you love him?" Of course she does, so she answers, "Yeah." Guess she knows what that means.

Next day in school, Adam comes up from behind at the lockers, gently pushing her hair aside to give her a very soft kiss on the neck. She's all bothered by the physical contact. He asks her why she didn't meet him on the roof. She explains she was in the library, studying. She pretends she forgot about meeting him. He can feel she's not quite herself. "Are you avoiding me, Jane?" he asks. And the saddened look on his face just makes you wanna hug him right there on the spot. She tells him they'll meet on the roof the next day since he has work later today. He just whispers, "Sure," before he walks away. She goes after him and plants a sweet kiss on his lips, giving him a hopeful smile. He smiles back, but you can see he's not quite consoled about the whole avoidance thing.

Next thing she knows, Cute Boy-God is standing at one of the lockers. She quips, "Great, you have a locker now. What do you keep in there? Wrath?" He talks about being scared of getting too close, explains He just asked her to get to know Adam better.

This episode is maybe also the first milestone for the Luke and Grace relationship. Because while Joan is still struggling to find a gift for Adam, Luke has already bought a gift he wants to give to Grace. It's a geode, and Grace is absolutely stunned. She never knew that Luke saw something in her.

At the hotel, Adam is shampooing a rug, dressed in a green hotel uniform. Suddenly Joan is standing in the doorframe. "Jane, what are you doing here?" he asks, surprised. She enters and closes the door behind them. Things are more than a little awkward and Adam asks if she wanted to study or something. She didn't bring any books. Duh. She comes clean and tells him she went through his bag and found the condom.

He suddenly gets it. Well, kinda. (Deb – And his reaction is so adorably mortified. Really, one of my favorite things in the ep.) He explains they passed them out in health class. She asks him, "So you haven't thought about... us?" Of course he has. He's a dude. "Well... sure," he admits. (Deb – Again, adorably.) He then sits down next to her on the hotel bed. "Is that why you're here?" She looks at him, tears forming in her eyes. She really doesn't know what do with it. "It just seems like we're supposed to get closer." They lean in for a very passionate kiss, but she pulls back, crying suddenly. "Guess I'm just a little afraid," she admits. She questions if this is really the right thing to do. "I'm just not sure if we do this, what the ripples are going to be."

They sit in silence for a moment before his voice comes up, all scared and teary. "I don't wanna lose you," he sobs. Why would he be afraid of that? But he explains it through tears of his own. "This job, I had to take it early. My dad hurt his back, he can't work." Joan's appalled. "You should have told me!" "What difference would it make?" he asks. "Because then you didn't have to go through it alone."

She asks him if his dad is gonna get better, but Adam doesn't really know. He gets up, puts some distance between them. "It just always seems that there's something that gets in the way of what you hope for." She tells him that's not true, but he explains in a teary voice, "My mom dies, my dad gets sick. I fall in love with you."

"How is that bad?" she asks. "Are you gonna stay with me if this is what my life becomes?" He kicks the carpet cleaner. (Deb – Not scripted.) "Running this thing for the rest of my life?" She had no idea he has all these burdens to carry. "Is that why your sketchbook's empty?" "Before I met you, I was barely getting through school. I'm not some struggling artist in Paris, I'm a 16-year-old kid in Arcadia who has to work to buy his dad pills." She looks at him. "Adam, you believed in yourself." He shakes his head. "No. You believed in me." He sinks back down on the bed next to her. "And it felt good. But I need something more now. I need something real, something I can hold in my hand." She is stroking his shoulder, whispering, "What? Anything. I'll give you anything you need." He gives her another kiss and tells her he needs to get back to work.

Joan suddenly has an idea when she runs into Rich Lady-God again. Back home, she asks her mother who the artist from 19 th century Paris was that her History teacher mentioned. Helen and Will wanna know where Joan has been all night and why her cell phone was turned off. She tells them she was with Adam. In a hotel room. Of course Will immediately gets the wrong idea. Well, the right idea, only he doesn't know that it didn't actually happen. Helen says, "You were alone with Adam in a hotel room and you love him?" Will adds, "And he was shampooing the rug? I'm a cop, Joan, this is when I start reading you your rights." (Deb – One of the funniest scenes of the season.)

Helen sends Will upstairs and tries to give Joan the sex talk. Joan insists that she did not have sex with Adam, but that she thought about it. She says it turns out sex isn't what Adam needs. Helen is so relieved. "Adam is such a nice boy." (TeeJay - Yeah, wait until a year later, Helen...) Helen then tells her the French artist she's looking for is Rodin.

Next day in school, Joan meets Adam on the roof. He was afraid that she wouldn't come, but she tells him she was just finishing something. She hands him a framed black and white picture of a young man and a woman at a dinner table in a restaurant, looking very 19 th century. "For you," she says and explains, "Rodin. He was a sculptor, like you. He needed to support his family by being a bricklayer, and this is his girlfriend, Rose. His house in Paris is a museum now, it's filled with all the stuff he made."

He looks at her, appreciating the sentiment. However... "I'm not Rodin, Jane," he says. "No," she smiles at him, "You're Adam Rove. And you have what you asked for. Something real you can hold in your hands. It doesn't have to make sense. We don't. That doesn't mean it's not real."

They both look at the picture and "La vie en rose" starts playing. The camera pans into the picture and Rodin and Rose melt into Adam and Joan in 19 th century attire, sitting in the restaurant, him sketching her in his sketchbook. The camera pulls away again and the picture morphs back into Rodin and Rose. Joan and Adam look at each other, share the moment. Then they pull closer and re-enact Rodin's The Kiss as the vocals swell and the camera moves up to look at them from above.

-TeeJay

TeeJay · 18 May 07 :: 00:45

And here's my last recap for now:

1x23 Silence
by TeeJay

The last episode of the first season begins with a particularly weird and somehow freaky dream of Helen's, where there's policemen at her door to inform her about Kevin's accident, who then turn into clowns. Suddenly she's in a church, and in the row behind her is CuteBoy-God, in His brown corduroy jacket and His slightly arrogant way. He turns into Joan as He's talking to Helen, asking her to keep an open mind. As Joan-God walks away, Helen calls after Him/Her and then she wakes up from her dream. Roll title theme.

Next morning, the Girardi kids are in the kitchen. Joan is dabbing some sort of ointment on an itching rash on her leg that she doesn't know where it came from. Kevin quips, "Legs are overrated. Take it from an expert. You can still get laid."

Helen tells the family about her dream. "It's just that God was in this corduroy coat and then he turned into Joan." Joan gives Helen a look. Corduroy coat? That sounds familiar. She asks, "Brown corduroy coat?" Helen says, "Yeah. Very handsome." Joan asks, "Short, spiky hair?" So Joan's been having the same dream, Helen asks. Yeah. Sort of. Except it was not a dream. In the meantime, Will gets called to a hostage situation at work.

At the last day of school for the year, Joan's rash gets worse and it keeps itching. Grace asks if she's contracted an STD already. And it seems like everyone knows that Joan and Adam were in the hotel room together. Doing certain things—that of course they didn't do. Adam runs past with an armful of overdue library books he has to return, so they don't exchange more than a few words.

Joan says she doesn't feel so good. Sweaty, dizzy, nauseous. Does it have to do with her rash? In the bathroom, Joan obviously just did some vomiting, rinsing her mouth with water. In the corner of the room, she sees twin girls in black dresses, one of the weirder incarnations of God. Twin-Girls God tell her that sometimes it's hard to believe what you see, so she has to trust the world behind her eyes, that people trust God even in the silence. And then the two girls melt into one and Joan comments, "Very Matrix." Twin-Girls God tells Joan to go to the doctor, that she's sick.

The hostage situation at the police station turns ugly as the hostage taker accidentally shoots his mother. And Will witnesses the whole thing.

Joan has another strange God vision when Luke, Grace and her go to the last day fair where Vice Principal Price asks Joan to do the egg race with him. Joan agrees after God gives her a hint that she should.

At the same time, Helen seeks spiritual guidance in church, where she runs into Father Ken, whom she tells about her God dream. Of course Father Ken can't explain why she dreamt about God and asks the all important question: Do you want it to be Him?

At the school fair, Joan has one leg bound to Price's leg while they race and balance eggs on spoons. Twin-Girls God appears again, insisting she go see a doctor. Price suddenly has green lizard eyes as he asks her who she's talking to. Joan asks him, "Are you the devil?" As Twin-Girls God tells her, "Learn to see in the dark," she falls to the ground, unconscious, as her friends and fellow students look on.

She wakes up in the hospital, mumbling things that don't really make sense. Kevin, Luke, Grace and Adam are sitting in the waiting area. Kevin can't reach either Helen or Will on the phone and everyone's worried and a little high strung. Adam thinks out loud, saying, "She thinks I'm gonna dump her." Luke comments, "Very classy move, dude. Friedman explained it, post-copulatory discard. It's my sister!" Luke threateningly stands up and Adam does too. They're just shy of a fist fight, it appears. Grace jumps up and stands between them. "Primates! We are here for Joan, a little restraint." They sit back down.

Luke can't leave it alone, he asks Adam, "So, are you dumping her?" Adam replies with a vehement, "No. Okay, that's insane, why would I ever?" Grace tries to diffuse the situation by cracking jokes, but it's not really working.

At the same time, Helen is lighting a candle in church when a breeze whips through and makes the flames flicker. She has a feeling. She whispers, "Joan," like she knows something's not right. Very quickly, she leaves.

Will's already at the hospital, but not for Joan. He walks into the room of the mother who was shot. He doesn't really get it because she didn't have a heartbeat when she was transported out of the station by the paramedics. She tells him that her son is innocent and that they should look into his girlfriend.

Joan has been moved to a room in the hospital (and why does she get a single room, wouldn't they usually put her with someone else? The Girardis must have some medical insurance!). And she starts seeing God, but not only one incarnation, suddenly they're all there. LittleGirl-God, TV-God, Mrs. Landing-God, Smoove-G-God, Goth-God. And they're telling her that she's having a crisis of faith.

In the hospital, Will runs into Helen by chance, but neither of them know about Joan yet. Helen says she's there because she had a feeling (didn't she bother to check her cell phone voicemail?), Will is still there because of the hostage situation. Then Kevin finds them and tells them about Joan.

While Joan is still talking to the God avatars in her room, they are all silent. Joan rants on about how she never wanted any of this, how she's always given her best, but the avatars stay silent. She wants an explanation, encouragement, anything. But they are not forthcoming.

In the waiting area, Joan's doctor explains that Joan is suffering from Lyme Disease caused by a tick bite that could have been lying dormant in her system for a long time—months, possibly even years. She says that it usually manifests in moodiness, extreme changes of behavior, scattered thinking, lack of concentration, even hallucinations. Sometimes people are misdiagnosed as being mentally ill. Grace can't help but comment, "This is clearing up a lot for me."

Joan will be treated with antibiotics and kept there overnight for observation. Luke asks if the symptoms will go away after that. The doctor says that she'll be herself again, whatever she was before. And Adam suddenly realizes, "Well, I didn't know her before. I like her now." He's afraid that he fell in love with a Joan who wasn't really Joan. With a worried look in his eyes, he asks, "How different will she be?" No one has an answer for him.

In her room, Joan admits to the still silent avatars, "I never liked any of you. Especially," she points at Goth-God, "you." She raises her voice, "Okay, go on, leave! Dump me like Adam did. Please go!" They all leave out the door, and Joan sits up. "Wait! Are you really leaving? You can't just abandon people."

Just at that moment, Helen and Will walk in. And Joan tells them about the people they just saw leaving and that they've been driving her crazy. But of course Helen and Will didn't see anyone, so they're both worried. Joan really is having hallucinations, and Helen explains to her that she might have been seeing things because she's been sick for a long time. Joan realizes what that means and she starts to cry. "Sick? It was never real? I've always been sick?"

In the hospital hallway Will runs into Mrs. Washington, the mother, again. She keeps insisting that he take care of her son getting a fair trial. Will promises he will.

Adam wants to see Joan and walks into her hospital room, but she's asleep. Helen is sitting on a couch near Joan's bed and Adam sits down next to her, a troubled look on his face. He explains that the others went home, asks if he can sit with Helen. She invites him to, tells him Joan's gonna be fine. In a quiet voice, he says to Helen, "You know, I was never gonna dump her. I was avoiding her a little. It got too hard, I got scared." Helen tries to reassure him. "These are intense feelings, Adam. Processing them at your age..." He looks so sad, no one should look so sad. "She saw me at the bottom, Mrs. G. Crying, complaining, scared. How's she gonna forget that?" "She won't," Helen tells him. "Neither will you. It's called a bond." Oh, I love it when Helen gets all motherly on Adam. (Me too! Love her! -Deb)

Meanwhile at the police station, Will is told that Mrs. Washington died of a heart attack right after he interviewed her in the hospital. But she couldn't have, he saw her in the hospital right before he came to the station. Didn't he?

A while later, Adam is still in Joan's hospital room, waiting in a chair next to her bed, still looking so miserable and troubled and worried. Joan wakes up and sees him there. She asks him, "Have I been acting crazy lately?" and he answers, "Not to me." She suddenly realizes that there was this whole thing about him avoiding her, so she asks right out, "Are you dumping me?" "No," he tells her immediately. "No, of course not. I just wigged out." He gets up and sits on her bed, touching her legs, trying to explain it to her. "I've told you things, things I've never told anybody. And these things in my head, you know, I keep them to myself, and it makes me feel crazy. When I say them to you, though, you know, I don't feel that way anymore." His voice is so low and shy and he breaks out in the sweetest smile when he says, "You don't give me that thousand yard stare."

Joan tells him the doctors think she's been having these hallucinations because of her illness and Adam tells her not to worry, she's gonna get better. "That's not the point," Joan says. "Something's been happening to me for a long time, I need to say it out loud to someone I trust." Adam nods. "Say it to me." Joan wants him to promise he will believe her, and he does.

She doesn't quite know how to say this, so she just comes out with it, "I've been talking to... I've been talking to... God." There's a pause, Adam smiles. "In your dreams?" She shakes her head. "In your head?" She looks at him. "I kinda see Him. He just started coming around. He always looks different. Sometimes He is a She. It's scary and annoying." The look on Adam's face isn't betraying his unwillingness to take her seriously. How could he? She's been hallucinating. But Joan goes on, "But the thing is, when I obey, things turn out okay. I mean, I see things, I understand things, I feel like I get the point."

She knows he's having a hard time believing what she's saying, so she tries to show him an example. "When I gave you that picture, God told me to give you a gift. I got confused, I thought it was about sex, but it turns out it was just that little gift. When we looked at it, it was like you and I were going to the same place in our heads. Didn't you feel that?"

He's tearing up, just like Joan, but he doesn't know how he can tell her what he's feeling, what he's thinking, because he is fully aware it'll destroy her in her fragile state. "Didn't you?" she asks again when he doesn't say anything. The look in his eyes says it all. "Adam, you have to believe me," Joan pleads. "If you believe me, then I know it's not crazy, but if you don't..." A tear slips down her cheek and Adam's silent but sad look is on her.

"You promised," she whispers. He takes her hands in his, finally saying, "I believe that you believe it. They say that the infection stays in your system a long time and it makes things look crazy. You know, sometimes when I'm doing my art, I get these visions..." Nice try, Adam. "Never mind," Joan tells him absently. She turns around with her back to him. He can only whisper, "Jane..." but she doesn't react. "I'll see you tomorrow, then? Jane?" Still no reaction, so he gets up, kisses her head and leaves. A tear falls from her eye as he does.

Luke walks Grace home, and she tells him he doesn't have to do it. Luke babbles a lot, and Grace says she likes the quiet when she walks. Luke babbles on, and Grace suddenly turns around. "Why did you give me that rock?" Luke explains it was a gesture of friendship. Possibly courtship. Grace thinks that's ridiculous. That she has a reputation. "I'm anti." Luke asks, "Anti what?" She explains, "What have you got?" He doesn't buy it. "So you're never gonna fall in love?" She looks at him. "I'm never even gonna fall in like. And I'm certainly not gonna be courted by some rocket-head geek." Luke has a good point when he asks why she cares so much when she's anti. He starts babbling again, and Grace yells, "Look, I am not into you, got it?" "Yeah," he says and then they just melt into each other, kissing.

In Joan's hospital room, Will comes back to his wife and daughter and Will and Helen have an honest talk about faith and God. And suddenly Joan wakes up and chimes in, "He isn't real. You were talking about God. He isn't real." But after Will and Helen have fallen asleep on the couch and Joan is also asleep again in her bed, CuteBoy-God walks in and lightly touches her forehead. Not so unreal after all.

And thus ends this episode and with it season one. And what an ending it is, because we were left hanging with that tiny tingling doubt in our minds that maybe what Joan was seeing wasn't so far fetched, that maybe her God assignments hadn't been real after all. And it would take the US viewers about four months to find out, as the show went into its summer hiatus with this episode.

When we look at Adam and Joan, they've had quite a journey this season. From the very beginnings of a mutual affection that neither of them wanted to admit to themselves, to the cruel self-denial when Adam went out with Iris to a sort of happy ending there at the late mid-season when they both finally gave in to their feelings for each other and sealed it with a kiss on Joan's front porch.

But then, that last episode put a bit of a dark shadow over them again, with Adam not ready to believe Joan about talking to God and her expectation that he would. Another tone of discord that would leave the viewers hanging for few months.

Looking a little closer at Adam, we saw him come out of his shell with Joan's help, opening up to her like he hadn't opened up to anyone in a long time. The wounds over his mother's suicide were starting to heal and we only just saw how he was starting to believe in himself, how he was building up more self-confidence. We saw a wounded, shy soul slowly beginning to grow into a sweet, lovable young man.

And I want to say again: Kudos to Barbara Hall for giving us such an interesting character in Adam whom we grew to love, and kudos to Chris for breathing life into him and playing him into our hearts to get stuck there to this day.

-TeeJay

deedee · 30 May 07 :: 05:03

hey guys. i just watched uhmm a episode. i forget which number. but its the one when joan has to join yearbook and she is still runing into iris alot. and its the one where joan finds "sewer walking" by grace and throws it off the school. just a question here. I read or i belive i heard in the interview u guys did with chris that he had a CUBA shirt which was his... was this the one you guys were talking about? Just was wondering. thx -dee

deedee · 30 May 07 :: 05:04

edit haha the episode was anonomys. haha i should had really read that there was the discripition on this page. so season 1 episode 20:)

TheCentralScrutinizer · 30 May 07 :: 06:14

Yep, that's the shirt.

TeeJay · 30 May 07 :: 08:59

Dee, did we tell you that we all have a lion shirt, much like the one that Chris/Adam wears in Jump and also Anonymous? The light-gray/green t-shirt with the red lion on it. I just love that design, so we recreated it. One of these days we're gonna have to ask Chris if that was also his own t-shirt.

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 30 May 07 :: 18:51

What a coincidence, I was wearing my lion shirt yesterday.

Chris Marquette Message Board

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Re: JoA Recaps for Season 1

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Re: JoA Recaps for Season 1

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Re: JoA Recaps for Season 1

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Re: JoA Recaps for Season 1

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Re: JoA Recaps for Season 1

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Re: JoA Recaps for Season 1

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Re: JoA Recaps for Season 1

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Re: JoA Recaps for Season 1

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