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
It's a dark and stormy night. Isn't it always? Joan's wandering around the bookstore reading more poetry: the last verse of "She Walks in Beauty." "And on that cheek, and o'er that brow, / So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, / The smiles that win, the tints that glow, / But tell of days in goodness spent, / A mind at peace with all below, / A heart whose love is innocent!" She's not reading it like she's on Nyquil this time, but she's not being schmoopy about it either. Roger asks what it means to her. Joan: "It means he loves her because she's not a skank." Roger laughs: "Exactly. His love for her is perfect because he hasn't taken it from the unreal into the real. Which is the only way that love can remain perfect." A major crack of thunder and lightning, and the power goes out. Roger mutters something about it being the ghost of Byron. He asks for a flashlight; she says there are candles in the cabinet. Just what you'd have in a store full of paper: something to help the whole place go down in flames. They rummage for things, giggling nervously as their hands touch in the candle box. I feel ill. They start lighting candles as Roger says, "This is probably why the Romantics were so inspired: no electricity." Yeah, it was definitely that and not the laudanum. Joan says, "So, um…people aren't supposed to act on their love?" Roger looks at her. She stammers, "Getting back to the uh, uh, poem. I mean, we're just supposed to dream about it?" Roger: "Whatever we pull from dreams into reality is tainted by experience." He clears his throat. "Love is no exception. However, that's no reason to avoid it." Joan says she's not avoiding it: "I mean, obviously, I'm not avoiding it. I'm in love. With Adam." Roger: "Right."
They're standing next to shelf full of candles now. They share an awkward silence for a moment and then Joan says she thinks she gets it, and can write the paper. She says he's been very helpful. The Skeeve moves in for the kill: "People say men are unfaithful because they don't feel needed. And women are unfaithful because they don't feel loved." Joan's avoiding looking at him. She laughs nervously, saying, "It's raining really hard now." Roger: "Do you feel loved?" If she doesn't, she's an idiot. She looks up at him -- her fingers on her neck -- and says softly, "Yes." He presses: "Do you feel loved enough?" I definitely feel sick. Frink: "How old is she now?" Roger: "Because you deserve it." She doesn't know what to say and is obviously pretty susceptible right now. He leans down -- way down, he's about a foot and some taller than she -- and kisses her. Eccchhh. Joan lets him but then pulls away slightly, and puts her hand over her mouth vertically. It's a great gesture, combining horror with regret and refusal. She finally moves her hand, shaking her head slightly and saying, "You have to leave." He says, almost inaudible: "Joan." She moves away, saying, "This, uh…this didn't happen." She says she's going home. Roger says he's going home: "But…this did happen." He walks out, leaving her there. She lets go of her books as the reality sinks in a little further.