Episode Report Card Deborah: B | 1 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT My Sister's Keeper
By Deborah | Season 1 | Episode 10 | Aired on 12.04.2003
Outside, Helen studies the picture on Joan's licence, telling her it's not so bad. It ain't good, either. From the licence, we learn that Joan's full name is Joan Agnes Girardi. Agnes? Should we be concerned that she's named after not one, but two martyred virgins? (Particularly in light of her later remark in this episode.) Also, if I can make out the date correctly, her birthday is April 21 or 23 or 25. Taurus? I would totally buy that. Amber Tamblyn is a Taurus herself, though her birthday is May 14 (same day as Professor Frink's). Now that I look at the licence a few more times, on this low-and-getting-lower-definition TV, I wonder if it says 11-04-1987. Also, I suddenly remember that in the American system, they persist in putting the months first (which makes no sense to much of the rest of the world), which would make her birthday November 4. Which would be a continuity error, since she was already sixteen when the series started and the months seem to have matched up to real months. Plus, she's cancelled four driver's exams in the last month? Seems unlikely. But I'm probably wrong about the April date, unless Maryland has decided to go against the grain and adopt the sensible system of day-month-year. Argh. Characters' birthday continuity issues drive me crazy. I can overlook a lot, but these make me nuts. If you can't even plan and commit to birth dates for your major characters, how much else are you going to get right? ["MVA has a graduated licensing program; the provisional license is the one Joan is presumably taking the test for, and the minimum age for that is sixteen years and one month. The episode aired on December 5, so the birthday thing is about right if her birthday is November 4, but if that's correct, then the cancellation thing is a factual error." -- Sars] Joan complains, "I look like Coolio." Well, I don't personally see that. Helen: "Well, Coolio, you wanna wheel us back to school?" Joan begs off. Unlike almost every other kid in the universe, who can't wait to tear off in a car the minute they're allowed to, she's not interested. Helen: "I see what's happening..." Joan: "Mom!" Helen says that when they first removed her training wheels, she chipped a tooth: "Roller blading, you broke an arm...snowboarding, you tore a groin muscle." Good thing Dad probably has decent health insurance. Joan: "Are you saying I'm a klutz?" Helen: "I understand. You're scared. Having someone in the family who was hurt so badly in a car accident, well, it's -- it is a caution. Sometimes I'm scared to get in the car, but I do, because...it's a necessary part of life, so..." She holds the keys out to Joan, who says, "Maybe next time." Helen doesn't push.
Will tries to elicit information from Cheddar Bob: "You on parole?" Cheddar Bob replies, "Listen, this ain't a date. We don't gotta conversate. You drive, I point the gun." Will: "You got that jailhouse stink. How long you been out? Did you even make it a month?" Cheddar Bob bashes Will on the neck with the grip of the gun. Of course, Will crumples in pain and swerves all over the road, but somehow doesn't hit anything. Cheddar Bob laughs, saying, "Watch the road there, Chief. We don't want to get in an accident!" Will, his shoulder wrenched in pain, says, "I think you broke my collarbone!" Cheddar Bob: "No. But I will next time. Ten and two!" Will says he can't: "My arm is numb." Cheddar Bob pokes him, and Will says, "Okay, okay. You made your point." He keeps driving.