Episode Report Card Deborah: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Medium and the Message
By Deborah | Season 1 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.09.2003
Charlotte finds Will in his office listening to the tip hotline. She asks if they can talk off the record. He says he's not a reporter, and he gestures to a chair. She tells him she died in a car accident when she was twenty-nine. And while she didn't see a tunnel or angels or what have you, when she recovered, she was different. A doctor told her it wasn't unusual for those who'd had near-death experiences. She says she starting having dreams that came true, and weird visions, and seemed to be able to hear people's thoughts. She doesn't understand how it works, but she decided that as long as she possessed this "bizarre ability," she should use it to help people. Will: "And get paid for it. Help people for a price." Charlotte, predictably: "Yeah. Like you." He ignores that, and gets up to put on his jacket. She watches him for a moment, and asks, "Is it because of the tragedy? I mean, that this makes you so angry and unwilling?" He keeps putting on his jacket, but you can tell she's caught him off-guard. As he turns to look at her, she says, "You've had a tragedy." Will: "Who hasn't?" Word. His assistant comes to his door to tell him his family's there. He says to Charlotte: "Excuse me. It's restaurant night."
He walks out and greets Helen, who apologizes for interrupting. Will says it's fine. Joan's got an unflattering grey toque (you know, as opposed to the flattering kind) pulled over her hair and seems to be looking through a mug book. Will greets Kevin with, "Hey, Slugger, how'd the job search go?" Kevin replies, "Well, the dry cleaners really seemed to recognize my particular talent, but I don't wanna get my hopes up." I don't think Will knows what to do with Kevin's sarcasm -- even less than Helen does. But I certainly enjoy it. Charlotte comes out of Will's office, and Will introduces her as "working with them on a case." Helen introduces herself and the kids. Joan briefly says hello and asks, "Dad, can I put a word in for sushi?" Everyone voices their objections to this, and Will says they're going for spaghetti: "End of discussion." He remembers he left his pager behind, and goes back for it. Charlotte seems intrigued by Joan. Helen asks if Charlotte's a detective; she tells Helen she's a psychic. Helen thinks that's interesting. Charlotte: "Your daughter has a very special connection to the universe." Joan looks up and says, "No, I don't." Luke: "No, it's true. She is from another planet." Kevin laughs as Joan gives Luke a shove. Now Kevin's caught Charlotte's attention, and she walks over to whisper something in his ear. ("Tell your brother to lay off the aftershave.") Everyone looks slightly concerned as she's doing so, not least Kevin. Will emerges from his office just in time to see the end of that. Charlotte leaves, telling Helen she has a lovely family. Will asks Kevin what she said to him. Kevin claims it was nothing. Will presses a bit, and Kevin insists it was nothing: "Let's go. I'm starving." He wheels out, leaving the family looking vaguely concerned and uncomfortable.
After the commercials, it's a new day, and Helen goes back to the Arcadia DMV to talk to the parking lot priest, a.k.a. Reverend Useless. It wasn't made entirely clear that he was a priest the first time around, though people referred to him almost exclusively that way in the forums. I know, I know, the collar -- but Protestant clergy wear those too. So I defaulted to that -- brought up Baptist and all that, you know. Anyway. I looked him up on JoanofArcadia.com, and his name is Father Ken Mallory. That sorted, my next question is: Is this really something a priest would spend his time doing? Wouldn't he have bigger fish to fry (well, especially on Fridays...wait, didn't they do away with that in Vatican II? Somebody post about that in the forums, please) than collecting money for the homeless like a temp agency Santa at Christmas? Especially if, as he claims, he's in charge of a parish. Unless maybe this is his penance for something. Helen begins, "I don't know if you remember me..." Father Mallory looks nervous as he replies in the affirmative. She says she's late for work but has one quick question. He reminds her that he has a parish, and an office, and an assistant. Helen repeats that she just has one quick question. He tells her that the question of suffering stretches back to the Fall: "There isn't a parking lot version." Helen says she's onto a whole other subject: "This is about miracles." The priest looks down briefly, saying, "Oh, no." Heh. But is that very professional? A clergyperson should have more aplomb.