Episode Report Card Deborah: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Growth Opportunity
By Deborah | Season 2 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.07.2004
Roebuck asks Will if he got anything from DeShawn Wallace. Will: "Apparently he lost his power of speech." Chewy plays Exposition Fairy: "With the witness dead, he knew he was going home." Roebuck: "So he didn't mention anyone in the department?" Will says no. Roebuck looks at Chewy, who stares back evenly. Well, as evenly as can a man who's barely fending off a Skittles attack. Roebuck asks if they know Stab Wound and Backward Cap, whose names are apparently Duncan and Simmons. Will: "Plainclothes, live on the street, yeah." Chewy says they were responsible for two of the year's biggest coke busts. Roebuck says he brought them over from arson. Will: "What are you saying, Roy?" Roebuck hands Will their files: "See if you find anything." They leave, and Will remarks to Chewy, "Who the hell are we investigating?"
Joan comes out to her garden to find Adam setting up a couple of...artworks, I guess. They're a little twee compared to his usual work. Adam points to one and says he made her a tree for her garden. Joan points: "Are those cigarette butts?" Ecch. Forget "twee." How about revolting? He says they are, and that he dipped them in leftover slushies. Okay, now I really am going to puke. Adam: "The sugar makes killer glue." Joan: "Cool." She points to the other…sculpture…and Adam indicates that it's a garden gnome. It's got some kind of plastic bucket for a head, with some sunglasses on it, and it's brandishing something made of brightly coloured yellow and orange cellophane. "They live under the earth and guard their buried treasure. This is his fire spear. I had a serious Dungeons and Dragons habit. I'm better now." Me: "Thank God." Frink: "Hey!" Joan giggles and thanks him, and goes to hug and kiss him, which prompts the burnouts in the peanut gallery to make lots of "aw" sounds and comments of "get a room." Joan gives up. Luke and Grace arrive with a wagon and wheelbarrow full of plants and supplies. Luke announces he's mapped out a planting plan based on the arc of the sun and hours of daylight last fall. Joan: "Okay, Luke, don't -- don't get all sweaty. All we're going for is 'not dead.'" Luke, undeterred, replies, "Despite the team leader's nonexistent expectations, the existing momentum propels the project forward." Joan asks Grace, who's unloading flowers, "What are the yellow thingies?" Grace explains they're mums (or "moms," as one local purveyor of autumnal horticulture has it): "They bloom in the fall, attract the bees, bees pollinate the non-flowering shrubs, which keep aphids from eating other plants." Joan just looks at her. Grace: "What?" Joan: "You researched all that?" Grace: "One episode of one show on the Home and Garden channel. Don't make me regret this."
Helen and Will are meeting with their lawyer, Tom Murphy. He says he found a witness who saw Andy yelling at Kevin during their conversation: "I brought up the act as hostile and threatening, and their attorney agreed to withdraw their request for an increase in damages." As he moves on to the next subject, Kevin comes in without knocking. No one knows what to make of this. Helen asks, "Are you okay, honey?" Kevin says he's not. Tom offers to leave them alone, but Kevin replies, "No. I'm tired of being alone. I want to be a part of this." Will says they'll talk about it at home. Kevin parks his chair next to Helen's as he says, "That's the problem, Dad. We won't talk about it." To Tom: "You need my statement, right? We're still in discovery?" Will apologizes to Tom for Kevin's unexpected appearance. Tom says they're going to need his statement sooner or later. Will says he's just not sure Kevin's ready for this. Kevin: "I'm not ready? Have you done your statement yet, Mom?" Will: "Kevin…" Helen, looking sort of sadly guilty, says, "I'm -- I'm trying to put my thoughts in order." Kevin's arms are crossed over his chest and he replies, "No, you -- you're afraid of them. And so are you, Dad. You think if I'm not here to go over all the details, it'll be easier, like it happened to someone else. But it's never gonna be easier. It's gonna suck every time we think about it, so…I'm sorry, that's just the way it is." Will says he doesn't want Kevin to go through it again. It's more than just basic parental love at work here; I think they can't forgive themselves for not somehow preventing the accident in the first place, so they're determined to try to shield Kevin from having to experience any other aspect of it, as if that will somehow compensate. Kevin: "But I have to. Don't take this away from me. I've lost enough."