Props to keckler, who will be covering the February 19th episode of Boston Public, while I am flown to an undisclosed location for an undisclosed purpose.
Previously on Boston Public: Anthony Heald found a human foot in a locker; Jamaal told Steven he got the foot from his job at the morgue; Harry's Morgue-Friend told Harry that Jamaal brought friends in to "party with the body"; Harry begged a police officer to not arrest Jamaal; Gladys, Jamaal's mother, thanked Harry for helping her son so much; Lauren showed Harry a cartoon of Milton boinking Lisa Greer on Holt45.com; Milton had sex with Lisa in real life, too; Milton told Anthony Heald that his car broke down, making him late for school; Coach Kevin made Milton promise that the affair was over; Milton told Steven that his relationship with Lisa was purely professional; Milton yelled at Harry for being nosy; Milton told Kevin he was in love with Lisa; Lisa told Milton that they could keep seeing each other if they were careful to keep it secret. Is it just me, or are those getting absurdly long?
A big empty house. Lauren is showing Harry its many wonders. "How much?" asks Harry. "One-ninety-five. Which is great for this neighborhood. I was sure I'd have to get into a bidding war, and I never would have gotten it." So she's planning to buy this house just for herself? I'm assuming she and Harry are not moving in together quite yet, as that suggestion would likely result in a Harry-shaped hole in the nearest wall. Anyway, buying a house for herself does not seem wholly practical. Harry is obviously thinking along the same lines, and says, "I don't mean to pry, but can you swing this?" She says yes, if she qualifies for the loan, which she'll know in an hour and forty-two minutes. (I'm guessing, then, that unlike "Chapter 9" this episode will not be unfolding in real time.) Well, the loan approval should go well for her, provided the loan officer doesn't turn out to be an ex-boyfriend she dumped, right? Right? She shows Harry the kitchen, and he asks her where the broker is. "We didn't want to pay another actor," she says, "so he's not in this scene. Then we had you ask that question to cover it." No, actually, she says, "He just gave me the key. My trusting face." I think the correct word is "trustworthy," since her intended meaning, presumably, is that her face is the natural object of trust, not that her face tends to trust others, which makes no sense anyway, as her face doesn't have the freedom of will to trust or mistrust things or people on its own. But why quibble with her grammar, she'ssay it with me now, peopleONLY A TEACHER! Anyhow, she's explaining to Harry that everything is new in the house, because the owner "bought it pretty much just to spec it, sothis is my dream house." Harry warns her that buying the house will officially make her a grown-up, and she promises to eventually drag him into adulthood, too. Boding well for their future together, Harry says, "I'll never own. It's too difficult to flee the jurisdiction." She tells him he should try to buy, as he's throwing his money away on rent. In my Manhattan apartment, I begin to cry. Harry looks at his watch: "It's 7:45. We should get going." He goes to warm up the car, and she goes over to the fireplace and sits to it. She smiles big enough to fill the room. Awwww. I hope she doesn't fail to get the house, or something.
Chapter Eleven
“ This is just a frigging joke by now that this guy has no name. He's been in, what, four episodes? Five? Just say his goddamn name already! ”
Opening credits. What I want to know is, who invented these brand new notes and tonal relationships, used for the first time ever in the "music" for this show?
The hallway. Steven is asking Lauren, "How long?" Lauren says, "No more than an hour. A meeting with a loan officer." Steven says, "You're qualifying?" kind of like, "You've flown near the sun, my boy?" She says yes, that the loan officer is an old friend, and is kind of pushing it through. He tells her to go ahead. Stepping in to rescue the frame after Steven and Lauren leave it are Coach Kevin and Milton. It seems that Kevin is going to have a story two episodes in a row (!), because he's saying, "I keep dreaming about her." Milton says he's obsessed. And Milton should know. Kevin says, "Never mind. What do you think I should do?" Milton says, "I think you won't know until you ask her." Kevin says he can't do that, "because we're friends. If I ask, and she says no, it'll be awkward." Who, pray tell, are they talking about? My, how skilled David Kelley is at creating a vacuum of knowledge the audience demands that he fill! But the vacuum doesn't last long: "What about Steven?" Kevin says, "Steven asked out Marilyn?" Milton says, "A while back, she turned him down, they're still friends." Kevin frets now, though, about "the race thing. Some black women won't date white men. Period." Milton says that if he doesn't ask her, he'll never find out, and Marilyn appears behind them just in time to hear this last, and says, "Find out what?" Milton covers brilliantly. No, wait, he doesn't -- he covers idiotically, because Marilyn didn't even know what they were talking about, and he says, "Kevin's thinking about asking out Marla." Blah blah blah no-not-really-cakes, but Milton uses this as a lead-in to asking Marilyn if "most African-American womenwould you, for example, ever go out with a white guy?" Marilyn says, reasonably, that yes, she would, if she liked him. Good for her. There's few enough people you're really compatible with, without ruling out whole categories based on race. Am I right, people? I'd go out with, for example, Ms. Souter. Or Jennifer Lopez. Or that girl from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Zhang Ziyi, I think her name is. Aaaaanyway, Marilyn leaves, and Milton's all, "Well, there's your answer."
By the way, this episode was written by David himself. So he really did take only one episode off before getting right back to the typewriter. I guess he hated "Chapter Nine" just as much as I did.
The dungeon. Morgue Friend, who still has never been named, comes into Harry's classroom and asks him if he's got a second. This is just a frigging joke by now that this guy has no name. He's been in, what, four episodes? Five? Just say his goddamn name already! Anyhow, Harry says, "What'd he do now?" Morgue Friend says, "Nothing. Well. We had a suicide yesterday. A high-school kid, and Jamaal kinda freaked out a little." Freaked out how? "Well, he went a little catatonic. It's not that unusual. Those cases are still tough for me. But he made a comment later: 'So now I know how I'd look.' I asked him what he meant, he shrugged it off." Harry asks if Morgue Friend thinks Jamaal is suicidal, and he says, "Doesn't seem like it to me, but I don't know the kid that well. I just thought I should bring it to your attention." Harry says, "Right. All right, thanks Petey." I'm serious. Morgue Friend's name turns out to be "Petey." Like he's a bird, or something. That's just great. Petey stops in the doorway to remind us that "he's a real good kid, Jamaal."