Episode Report Card Deborah: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Bully For You
By Deborah | Season 1 | Episode 11 | Aired on 12.11.2003
Adam's sitting a table eating lunch by himself when Joan comes in. She stops when she sees him, and then decides to sit down across from him. He doesn't react much other than to chew more slowly. She asks what he's eating. We see a shot of...I'm not sure what. A mustard and ketchup sammich on whole wheat bread? Joan, ever so tactfully: "Is that like your brain on drugs?" Adam says it's a fried egg sandwich: "My dad's specialty." Subtext: "You know...not all of us having doting parents who cook wonderful meals for us. Heck, some of us don't even have mothers. And you know, my art was my way of coping with the loss of my mother..." Well, I might be loading a bit more into the fried egg sammich than is actually there. Adam got a hair cut. He looks very cute, even with the bruises from being used as Ramsay's punching bag. Joan attempts a different conversational gambit: "So, you missed the first interesting chem lab ever...we used orange juice to turn on a light bulb." You know, I'm probably straining here, but it struck me that the experiment was a metaphor for Joan and Steve: the live wire (Steve) is connected to a sugary (sweet) substance (Joan), and it produces light. Yeah, I think I just subluxated a rib. Adam says softly, "Look...I don't really want to talk about it, okay?" I'm not sure if by "it" he means their estrangement, her date with Ramsay, the chemistry experiment, or all of it. Through the window in the door behind them, Joan sees Ramsay standing there, holding up his notebook in which he's written, "Whazzup?" in big block letters. She says, "Okay, fine. I have to go." I can't believe Adam doesn't notice her nervously eyeing the door, and he doesn't turn around to watch her go. I think he's too surprised not to be the one walking away from her for a change. The look on his face says to me that he thinks maybe he realizes he risks losing her altogether. Even though I don't think she's given him much reason to forgive her, I think he's softening.
Out in the hall, Ramsay asks, "So what's up? Stoner Boy needs a bodyguard?" Joan says he's not a stoner, and he's a really nice guy: "What'd you have to beat him up for, anyway?" Ramsay sneers, "Ever since seventh grade he acts like he's some big artist." Really? I certainly got the impression from earlier episodes that Adam was fairly protective of his gift -- not just around Price. He asserts, "Anybody can twist up a bunch of tin foil!" Joan: "And that's what you do, is just beat up whoever bugs you?" Ramsay: "You got a problem with that?" Joan: "Yes, I do! It's fine if you're pissed off at the world but to take it out on the one person who would never hit you back is pathetic!" Joan starts to walk away. Ramsay, looking hurt and surprised, says, "Look, I know I'm a jerk! It's just I get mad about stuff and...I don't think right." Fred Koehler does a heck of a "hurt" face. Joan looks at him for a moment and then reaches into her pocket, saying, "I have a tie...in case you need one." Ramsay takes it, obviously caught off guard by the gesture. Joan watches his reaction as he looks at the tie and smiles to herself. She walks away as he watches her, wondering why she reacts so differently to him than everyone else seems to.