Episode Report Card Deborah: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Grace Under Pressure
By Deborah | Season 1 | Episode 14 | Aired on 02.05.2004
There's a shot of an angel statue with some blood spattered on its head. At least I think it's blood. Toni tells Will she spoke to a neighbour across the street from the church who was on her porch when Yardley was attacked. She saw a blue American car with a big dent on the side pull into the alley. Will tells her to try to get make and model information from the witness. Hey, look at that: "Special Guest Star: Christopher Marquette." Is that new, or have I missed it before? Anyway, the news is out that he's been made a full regular cast member for next season. Which rules. Now let's get Becky Wahlstrom in that situation, too. Toni says she spoke to church staff, who were surprised to learn that Yardley's gay. Will: "Not the guy who beat him." He gestures to the car they're standing in front of and says, "I mean, using the victim's blood to write this on the car...." The windshield has the word "Sinner" on it. Will: "Oh, yeah, we're dealing with a true believer here." Toni: "This has nothing to do with God, Will." Will: "Not much does, from the looks of this."
AP Chem. Ms. Lischak is strutting around the class, waving her pointer: "Okay, place your reagent in your calorimeter and put a fire under your H20 bath. Excite those molecules, people!" She whaps her stick down on the desk of Team Indifferent (Grace, Joan, and Adam) with a whipcracking sound. "Start that fiery tango of particles, bodyslamming into each other...." She's a nut, but she's growing on me, I guess. Though it seems her teaching will pretty soon push the class into NC-17 territory. Friedman turns to Grace and asks if it hurt to get her navel pierced. Grace: "Dude, don't talk about my navel." Friedman oozes: "Some people find the pain very erotic. Was it?" Joan: "You are foul." There's a great shot of Grace and Joan sitting so close their arms are pressed together from elbow to shoulder as Joan tilts her head very close to Grace's shoulder. They're obviously much more comfortable with each other than they used to be. If you're looking for some Joan/Grace HoYay!, I think you could find some in this shot. Friedman: "Eroticism isn't negative, Joan. It's a part of life." Grace: "Not yours." Let's have that be all that is said on the subject of Friedman and eroticism. Glynis chirps: "He's right. It's a fact that the...oddest things can arouse powerful feelings of...you know...." Luke glances nervously at Glynis, who is, of course, looking at him. He gets more nervous when his sense that she is directing her comments at him is confirmed. Joan and Grace just watch this in silence. Glynis suddenly tries to defuse the tension she's created by explaining, "I've been teaching a health class to middle school kids at the Y." I've never seen Mageina Tovah in anything else, so I don't know if that's her real voice, but if it's not, I wish she'd stop it. It's so chirpy and has too much of a forced nerdish quality. If it is...well, I'll adjust. I got used to Emily Procter's voice. I just think Glynis would be a better character if they let her be more natural. Glynis tweets: "They're so sweet!" She makes a panicked face and goes back to her work. I wish she weren't so cartoonishly birdlike.