Episode Report Card Deborah: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Hole In Your Soul
By Deborah | Season 2 | Episode 2 | Aired on 09.30.2004
At school, Judith tells Joan -- who's wearing one of her scarves again -- that she's already got all the party supplies: "Chips, soda, beer, wine, some million-proof tequila…" Joan: "Bail money?" How about a stomach pump? Judith tells her not to worry: "I do this a lot." They run into Adam, and Joan asks what time he's picking her up for the party. He's not sure if he's going. Joan wants to know if he has to work or something. He just says, "No." Joan: "Well, what?" Judith provides a diagnosis: "Anhedonia." She elaborates for Adam: "It's a psychological condition. The inability to gain pleasure from normally pleasurable experiences." Adam says that's not it: "If the party gets busted and my father finds out, and I don't know, he's been through a lot lately." Joan: "Adam, when was the last time we actually hung out and had fun?" He reminds her she was gone all summer: "Look, can we not talk about this here?" Joan: "I'm just saying, you know, it's always something." Judith puts her arm around Adam's shoulder and says, "Maybe your relationship is based in crisis. You know, like, if you don't have a problem to deal with, you have no real connection." Adam, looking very uncomfortable, says, "I really feel weird talking about this with someone I've only known for a day, okay?" Judith, not all that convincingly: "Sorry. My parents are shrinks." Joan thinks maybe Judith has a point. Adam gets fairly pissed off. He leaves, saying he'll talk to her about it later. Judith asks, "You okay?" Joan puts her arm around Judith, and Judith reciprocates, as they walk off with Joan saying it's Adam's problem. Okay, I'm trying to reserve judgment, but I'm really not liking Judith so far. I can't stand people who try to stir up trouble in other people's relationships, even if their motive for doing so is not to try to get one of the parties for themselves. And I haven't entirely ruled that out yet. Also, the superficial similarities between Joan and Judith are making me nervous. I feel like it's not a casting coincidence. Their hair is almost the same colour, with similar styles (long, straight, bangs long enough to be swept to the side) and similar body shapes/heights. I can't shake this icky feeling that Judith will be mistaken for Joan by someone -- Adam? -- and it will lead to all kinds of fallout. I really hope there isn't some stupid storyline where Adam accidentally has some physical intimacy with Judith thinking momentarily that she's Joan, because that would suck.
At the police station, Chewy reports to Will that they still have no witnesses. He offers Will a peanut cluster: "It's a real rush." Will: "You ever consider actual food?" They run into the woman Will spoke to at the scene of the crime. I finally realize it's Michael Hyatt, who was on The West Wing for a while as some character whose name I've already forgotten. I've actually been successful in blotting out large chunks of that show. Her character's name here is Mary Wallace. She brings them a newspaper clipping showing a picture of two ten-year-old boys in a story about their basketball achievements. She says those are their perps. Well, she doesn't say "perps." I just like to say it. Will says they're kids; Mary says it's the only picture she had. She says they still look the same. Hmm. Their names are Ruben Holloway and Deshawn Wallace -- Deshawn's her nephew. She says he was a sweet kid until his mother died, and went into foster care because she couldn't manage to take him on top of her own problems. Chewy talks about an East Side drug gang named the Third Street All-Stars (same name as the boys' basketball team) and how they're into crack, heroin, crystal meth. Will asks if she saw them shoot the little boy. Mary: "Right in front of my house." Will tells her she did the right thing in coming forward. Mary: "If I had done the right thing, I'd have taken that boy in years ago, and none of us would be here right now."