Episode Report Card Deborah: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Duffening II: Electric Boogaloo
By Deborah | Season 2 | Episode 15 | Aired on 02.10.2005
Joan arrives at Adam's shed. He's happy to see her; he thought she was still working. She replies, "I, uh, closed up…early." She sees Stevie come out from behind Adam's work table. "Hey, Joan…I was just helping Ads with his collage for your mom's class." As she starts to leave, she thanks Adam for their "talk." She leaves. The second she's gone, Joan says, "Your talk?" Adam: "Yeah." Joan: "You're really gonna make me ask?" He says it was in confidence. Joan: "Adam!" Adam caves: "She's in love." Joan just stares. He adds, "With Friedman." Joan: "What?" Adam: "Yeah, I know. And she's totally about him, and she wants me to talk to him. Is that insane? Who would ever think? Friedman." Joan's lost interest in that already, having noticed Adam's collage project. She moves a roll of wire mesh to take a closer look; she seems pretty dumbstruck. It features lots of pictures of her alone and with Adam, surrounding a series of frames layered in a complicated way and wound with tulle or something. I'm not describing this very well, but…cut me some slack. I've been recapping for hours, here.
Adam asks, "Do you like it?" She still doesn't say anything. Do you feel loved enough yet, Joan? He comes over to her and sees that she's got tears in her eyes: "What is it?" She says, "I was jealous. And scared. And confused." Adam: "Hey, I told you…" Joan: "No. So I kissed Roger." Adam doesn't say anything, and for once he looks more surprised than hurt. She continues, "Technically…he kissed me, but I didn't really try to stop him. It just sort of happened. Look, I don't care about him. I love you. I was just all freaked out and there was rain, and poetry…if you wanna break up with me I understand. But please…please don't."
He walks around, not saying anything. So when she doesn't instantly elicit his forgiveness, she attacks: "Adam…how can you blame me for thinking what I thought?" I haven't seen him blame you for much of anything yet. All I've seen is him trying to assimilate what you've just told him. "She's a perky blonde! Who hires a perky blonde as his assistant without even asking his girlfriend, without even discussing it?" ["Who is so needy that she needs to give her boyfriend permission to interact with perky blondes? The way she runs him is reeeeeally starting to grate." -- Sars] Adam still doesn't say anything. She barks, "Hey, look at me and tell me it was totally innocent!" He finally snaps back, "It wasn't, okay?" Now it's Joan's turn to be quiet. Adam: "She just liked me so much, and I didn't mind the idea of you being jealous, and it was like I was testing you, and it was crazy." Joan: "Testing me? Why?" Adam: "I don't know! Love, it…it's like a mental illness or something." Frink: "Amen, brother." Me: "You are so not allowed to watch this show with me anymore." Joan shakes her head as a tear rolls down her face: "'Puts all logic to sleep…otherwise [we] wouldn't risk it.'" She turns away and puts her fist up in front of her mouth. Adam comes around and puts his hands on her face and wipes her tears away as she sniffles. He eventually kisses her and she kisses him back, and it's more of an open-mouthed kiss than they usually go for. The camera's moved around to catch their reflection in the mirror that's in the centre of Adam's collage, so that their image looks like another photograph in the jumble of pictures. It's quite a beautiful shot.