Episode Report Card Deborah: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Casper, The Friendly Ghost
By Deborah | Season 1 | Episode 16 | Aired on 02.19.2004
Luke's in his room, typing away at his laptop. He's got an awesome lamp, with a spherical metal shade in sort of that classic shape of atomic orbitals. Or something like that. I barely know what I'm talking about, here. I was asking Frink over the phone about how to describe this thing and before the stupid cell phone cut off, I got an explanation about Niels Bohr and orbitals that I mostly followed but couldn't quite recount if my life depended on it. Anyway. Will comes in very silently. Luke's not the only one with a naturally quiet tread. Luke ignores his father. Will begins, "I'm sorry about today. It's just that...you're so smart and self-sufficient. I don't know what I have to offer you." Luke: "You taught Kevin stuff, and he's smart. Basically." Heh. Will: "Kevin likes sports. I understand sports." He's picked up one of the many science-y tchotchkes in Luke's room, one of those vector flexor things. He fiddles with it, continuing, "You like physics." Luke: "Teach me how to throw a curve ball. That's physics." Will: "You really want me to?" Luke: "No, Dad, I hate sports, but...today...I could've stayed with you. And watched how you solved that case." Will says he was embarrassed: "What I'm going through at work...the first time you see what I do...I -- I didn't want you to see me as a paper pusher." Luke snorts softly and says, "You've got the world's largest blind spot, you know that? One minute, you discern an oblique pattern that's invisible to mere mortals; the next, you can't even see a conclusive certainty that's staring you in the face." Will: "I have no idea what you just said."
Luke: "You always say that I get my brain from Mom. That's not true. I get it from you." Will: "Then why didn't I understand what you said?" Hee. Luke: "No, Dad, it's not about knowledge. It's about how you see the world. I became a scientist because of you, because you're a detective." Will: "You did?" Luke: "We're the same. We both solve puzzles in a universe where there is no certainty; only probability and possibility." Will never thought of it that way. Luke continues, "Only I live in my head. You're in the world, changing people's lives. Like today. How could you think I wouldn't want to see that?" Will steps forward and puts his hands on Luke's shoulders, then on his neck and chin. Then he pulls him into a hug. Luke looks kind of teary behind his glasses; Will is sniffly. Can I get through one episode of this show without losing it? Guess not. (Okay, I didn't cry last week. Iris put me off my catharsis.) They hug for a bit and then Will asks, "This girl...Glynis...you really like her?" Luke smiles, kind of embarrassed, and laughing a bit, he says, "Yeah." Will smiles and pats him on the cheeks, and kisses him on his right cheek. Will starts to walk out and then Luke asks, "Hey, Dad, um...when you, um...when you get your gun back, can you take me to the shooting range?" Will: "You want to shoot?" Luke: "Ballistics is applied physics...and...you know...I like to blow stuff up." Will laughs, "Sure. Me, too." Great work by both actors, but especially Michael Welch. He brings so much depth to the role of Luke.