Episode Report Card Deborah: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT "Until A Little Light Gets Through"
By Deborah | Season 2 | Episode 9 | Aired on 11.18.2004
Helen's being deposed. She's asked to revisit the evening of November 9, 2002. Okay, wait just a continuity-nitpicking minute. When the show started, in September 2003, Kevin's accident was supposed to have been about a year and a half earlier. Then when the lawsuit came up earlier this season, there were references made to it being almost three years since the accident, which would make sense. Now it's only two years ago? What? Argh. The lawyer asks Helen if she's cognizant of the events of that evening. Helen: "Yes, I remember the night my son was paralyzed." The lawyer says she knows this is hard. Helen: "Can we skip the false concern?" Kroner decides to advise his client in a whisper: "Keep your eyes on the prize, Helen." Helen apologizes: "What was the question?" The lawyer wants to know if she spoke to Kevin while he was at the party. Helen says she didn't, but Will did. Kroner decides to pour himself a glass of water at that moment (and for some reason, he holds the pitcher about a foot above the glass -- who does that?), and it triggers a memory for Helen.
Helen's snarfing ice cream out of the container, sitting at the kitchen table of their old house. It's raining out. Will's running the tap for a glass of water. He asks if she's coming to bed. She says, "Eventually." Will: "Good game tonight. He broke some nice tackles." Helen doesn't appear to be in a talkative mood. Will says Kevin called and he'll be home from the party by midnight. Helen still says nothing, and avoids looking at Will. He says he's trying to let Kevin grow up. Helen: "I don't want to argue with you. Go to bed." Will: "I'm worried about his attitude! He acts like there's a free ride waiting for him." Helen replies, "He's a good-looking, athletic kid. There's nothing wrong with him enjoying that." Will says he relies on it: "That's not how the world works! And aren't we supposed to prepare him for the world?" Helen says that's only part of the job. She asks, "Do you think you might be resentful because he has some things that you didn't?" Er…like being good-looking and athletic? Where, exactly, are you going with this, Helen? Will takes offense: "Excuse me? Resentful of my own son?" Well. I've heard of it happening once or twice, maybe.
Helen: "You are all over him! Nothing is good enough. Talk about letting him grow up…how's he supposed to do that with you breathing down his neck?" Will thinks his task is to turn Kevin into a man. And you know, those boys who have been turned into men through a combination of heckling, nagging, berating and browbeating…those are some really well-adjusted men, I tell you what. Helen snaps, "What kind of man? A man who hates his father?" Yikes. Things sure have changed since Kevin's accident. Will stopped pushing Kevin altogether -- probably overcome with guilt -- leaving Helen to do all the pushing. Will says he's going to take a shower. Helen: "Yeah, you do that." As he disappears around the corner, he adds, "I don't forgive that statement." Helen calls out, "I'm not asking you to!" She takes her ice cream container to the sink. Glancing outside at the storm, she has a vision: Kevin lying on the sidewalk. Just lying there, almost looking asleep; not bloody or covered with broken glass or anything. The doorbell rings while Helen's trying to cope with this image. She calls out, "Are you gonna get that, Will?" No answer, and the ringing becomes more insistent. Helen heads for the door, and the picture becomes watery as we float back to the lawyer's office, coming up on the fish tank there.