Episode Report Card Deborah: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Casper, The Friendly Ghost
By Deborah | Season 1 | Episode 16 | Aired on 02.19.2004
At the police station, Toni mentions to Will that she's off on a case. Will's carrying around a file box, and says he's spent three weeks on desk duty reviewing cold cases: "I could use a fresh taste." She opens a binder and shows him a forensic photo of a fifty-three-year-old male homicide victim named Charles Timmins. He was killed with a single shot to the back of his head, and his house had been robbed: "No forced entry, no prints, no witnesses." Will asks if he was mixed up in anything. From what Toni says, it sounds like he was a saint. Will jokes that it's always the quiet ones you have to worry about, and asks if she wants to trade: "You work these dead ends, I'll take that one?" A slightly scruffy, slightly nebbishy guy in a suit who happens to be descending the stairs beside them at that moment says, "Soon, Will." Will: "Oh, Doc. You making house calls now?" He explains he had a psych consult at the jail and just thought he'd check in. Toni starts to leave, and Will says, "Maybe you should wait -- I might be getting my gun back." Toni and the doctor exchange glances, and Toni says, "We'll grab some lunch later." She takes off. Will tells the doctor, as they walk into an office, that he appreciates his help: "I needed it. But now I need to get back out there." The doc says he knows: "Look, we had a deal. Now, Thursday is Bring Your Kid to Work Day and you haven't signed up yet." When did Take Your Daughters to Work Day become Take Your Kid to Work Day? I think I missed that memo. Will: "You think I want my kids to see me shuffling papers?" Uh, you'd rather they see you kill someone? "I'm a cop, Henry. If I had my piece back I could work the field." Dr. Henry reminds him he's going through post-traumatic stress and it's nothing to be ashamed of: "And being able to let your family go through that with you -- even the kids -- it's the best medicine." He starts to leave. Will: "So this is a test, right?" Frink: "What isn't?" Will adds, "To see how solid I am?" Dr. Henry: "You pulled your gun on a four-year-old. You wanna go back out on the street worried that you could melt down again?" Will has nothing to say to that.
Grace is sitting on the floor in the hallway at school (with Lawrence Block's mystery, Hit List, which seems like an appropriate title for Grace, though I didn't picture her for a mystery fan) when Joan comes along: "Hey, what happened? Where you been?" Joan: "Remember before, how I said I hit bottom? Yeah...there was further to go." Grace laughs: "Cool." Joan: "I just wanted to learn how to jump rope, and these girls in the park, they, they totally dissed me, they shoved me..." Grace: "Whoa...'jump rope'? 'Jump rope'?" Joan impatiently says, "Yes, it was something I have to do, it's very important." Grace: "Why?" Joan: "How am I supposed to know?" Grace screws up her face in puzzlement. Just then Adam comes down the hall with that barnacle (tm girasol) Iris giggling on his arm. Joan sighs, "And still, I fall." She goes to her locker as Adam greets them (calling Joan "Jane") and shows them a mass of metal and wire and plastic, asking, "What do you think? I made it for your mom's class." Iris: "It's awesome, right? A is so talented." Joan: "'A'? You're calling him 'A' now?" Iris asks if that's a problem. Joan: "No. No, it's...cute." Adam thinks Helen's going to be blown away. Joan nods. Iris: "Uh, we'd better get going, A." They amble off. Joan gripes to Grace: "'A'? Isn't that just...wrong?" It's about nine kinds of wrong. I'm trying not to lunge for Iris's throat. Grace, watching them: "He's not that into her. Trust me. He's hot for someone else." Joan: "Who?" Grace: "Your mom. Sorry, dude." Heh. So we're not the only ones who wonder about that. She takes off, too.