Episode Report Card Deborah: B- | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Three's A Crowd
By Deborah | Season 2 | Episode 7 | Aired on 11.04.2004
Okay, a catfight must be a new low for this show.
After the commercials, Price has Judith and Joan in the computer lab. Judith: "I'm not taking the heat for this one." Joan: "Yeah, she's a real angel…of darkness." Price, who has a large Band-Aid on his forehead, tells them both, "Quiet. Mr. Friedman has kindly supplied us video evidence of the altercation." Friedman tells Judith, "All for your protection." Price, becoming impatient: "Is this gonna happen in our lifetime?" Friedman finally gets the camera set up. It plays some older footage, from somewhere back around page three. Price sighs, irritated, as Friedman apologizes and fast-forwards the tape. He comes to the footage Judith secretly shot of her and Adam in the art room. Joan's shocked to see it, and even more shocked to hear the content of their conversation. After Adam says, "I love her," Price declares, "We are not here to watch a soap opera." Friedman fast-forwards again and comes to the part where Judith tells Adam to hang on to Joan, and there's all the stuff about saving each other's lives. Joan grabs the camera from Friedman, and when Price objects, she swats his hand away. Hee. Joan sees everything leading up to the hug, and then she can't see anything very well, because she's overcome with remorse and her eyes are filled with tears. She looks at Judith, who just looks pained and glances away. Price has seized control of the camera and found the fight, the part where Judith kisses Adam and then Joan grabs her. Price: "Any last requests, Ms. Girardi?" Joan shakes her head slightly; she has nothing to say as the camera fades out on her face.
And comes back up on a poster of Che Guevara. The door it's on opens to Luke's face. That was a weird sequence. Joan-Che-Luke. Luke smiles slightly when he first gets a load of Graceland. The walls are a most incongruous bright, sunny yellow, but Grace has done her best to plaster them with stuff. Hey! The trunk at the end of her bed is practically identical to the one in my front hallway. Her room is somewhat cluttered and messy, but not terribly. There are lots of stickers all over the furniture. Bet her parents love that. I find parents are always thrilled when kids slap decals all over things. The bed is sloppy, there's stuff hanging out of drawers, et cetera. But it's not a pigsty. Luke tries to take stuff in as Grace says, "Speak, creep." Nice. There's a Mandela poster on the front of her door. He says he likes it: "It's a little…tidier…than I thought it'd be." Grace says she's not tidy: "I just thought you should be able to walk in here, that's all." Luke smiles: "That's nice. Thanks." Grace: "'Nice'? 'Tidy'? Do you have a death wish?" Luke suddenly spots something and walks over to it: "Ohh…dude!" He picks up a little stuffed whale (which is right next to a beautiful geode, which looks a lot bigger than the one I remember him giving her, but is certainly meant to be the same one): "It's Splash! The original Beanie Baby." Grace grabs the whale and says, "It's the first inflationary bubble of our lifetime. My mom stood in line at five in the morning to get the second run. It opened my eyes to the dangers of capitalism." Luke: "I have Pinchers." Grace is suddenly unguarded: "The lobster?" They're standing on either side of her bed now. Luke: "Originally released under the name Punchers, retired in 1987, which briefly inflated the price to over $5,000. A classic lesson that any economic system is subject to the whims of human emotion." Wait, 1987? I thought Beanie Babies were introduced in the early nineties. Grace adds, "And easily exploited by the rapacious elite." They're both sitting on her bed now. Luke says, "The cool calculation of science meets the heated imprecision of economic theory." I really don't know what the hell he's even talking about, but it seems to turn Grace's crank, because she smiles broadly and is starting to kiss him when she suddenly hears the front door open. Her mother calls, "Grace! I'm home!" Whoever said that, her voice seems very familiar. I can't place it. Can't wait to see who plays her mother. Luke says he'll sneak out the window. Grace hesitates and then says, "No. Stay." They kiss.
Joan's outside, attempting to clean spray-painted graffiti off a concrete post with something in a spray bottle. I don't know what she's using, but it isn't working. That may be part of the punishment, I don't know. One of the custodial staff Gods comes up to collect some garbage. She notices him and he comments, "They never think…somebody else is gonna have to clean it up." Joan: "Well, I'm that somebody else for a week." I imagine the union might have something to say about that. I can't believe she's not suspended. Janitor God agrees Price is tough, but says she went "a little over the line." Joan: "You said to look below the surface. I tried, but I was wrong about everything." He says, "Well, perception depends on how you see, not just what you see. You know, white light contains all the colours of the rainbow, but you'd never know it unless you change the way you look at it." Joan thinks: "They were hugging. Okay? That's all I saw. It just…hurt so much." "And it stopped you from seeing all the colours. So there was no light." Joan says there's so much coming at her. God knows: "Just make sure you take it all in. Let yourself be dazzled, Joan." He leaves, and Judith comes walking out. She slows down when she sees Joan, who turns awkwardly back to her work. Judith walks up to her and they look at each other -- and the bruises on their faces -- with regret. Judith finally says, "Gimme a rag." Joan does, and they start wiping at the graffiti in total futility.