Episode Report Card Deborah: A | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Nor Yet Canst Thou Kill Me, Yo
By Deborah | Season 1 | Episode 7 | Aired on 11.06.2003
Back in Apartment 505, Rocky is riveted by a tsunami on TV. Joan watches too, wondering, "Is this really good for you?" Rocky says, "Death is a natural part of life. Why does it scare you?" Joan: "Maybe because it looks like it might hurt." Rocky assures her that it doesn't. He's researched it: "A chemical goes off in your brain and anaesthetizes you. So the worst that happens is nothing and you just go away and cease to be." Joan: "See, now that seems like it would suck, ceasing to be. Where's the fun in that?" Rocky says that it's only our consciousness that ceases to be: "Matter is neither created nor destroyed." Joan asks, "Just out of curiosity, why are you so interested in death?" Rocky replies, "Because that's where we're all heading. That's how the story ends." She asks him why he's worrying about it now. He explains, "I have breathing issues. It's a lung disorder. You can die from that." Joan's dismissive and assures him that he's just a little kid and he's not dying: "They can fix all kinds of things nowadays. Just take it easy and stop obsessing." Rocky doesn't say anything, since he's too polite to tell Joan to shut it since she doesn't know jack about what she's talking about. He goes back to watching the show, and Joan just sighs.
Joan comes down to the kitchen, presumably the next morning, saying she's late. Her father's there, watching news coverage of the beating incident. She asks if Luke already left; he thinks so. She asks where her mother is, and Will says she had some kind of early appointment. Joan grouses about homeroom and asks her father to do something about school schedules as chief of police. Will says it's at the top of his list. Joan watches the footage too, and says, "Whoa. Dad, you're not in trouble over this, are you?" Will: "I'm the chief of police. It's my job to be in trouble." She wishes him luck and starts to walk out, but then thinks about what God told her, and stops to ask, "Do -- do you need any help?" Will: "Do you have any?" Heh. Joan says, "Well, apparently, you're supposed to pay attention to behaviour, because people don't always ask for help." Will: "Really." Joan: "Yeah. And...that's all I got. Bye, Dad."
Helen arrives at the little diner again, where Father Mallory is sitting at the counter. She apologizes for being late. He says he got her message about the book and he's looking forward to discussing it. Helen doesn't sit down, and says she can't stay: "I just came to tell you, I don't think I can see you anymore." Frink: "Are we breaking up?" The priest just says, "Oh." Helen sits down and says, "I'm lying to my husband about seeing you, which is wrong, and kinda defeats the purpose of talking to a priest." He understands. She continues, saying that there's nothing to lie about, and she knows a lot of people get crushes on priests, but she loves her husband. Father Mallory says gently, "Helen, I think what you're touching on here is that you should be talking to your husband, and you miss being able to do that." Helen says he doesn't know the kind of job her husband has, and that it's really difficult for him right now: "I just can't make it worse for him." Father Mallory says, "I've married a lot of people, and I remember the words. You're depriving him of the privilege of living up to them." Helen says, sighing, "Well, when you put it like that...I'll think about it."