Discos And Dragons

S01E15

Moping must run in the Weir family, because Lindsay is still acting extremely sulky about having to go to the academic summit. Kim gives her a different perspective by pointing out that at least Lindsay will get to leave town for a few weeks and that Kim can't afford to do that. I'm feeling all sorry for Kim until she says that Daniel never wants to go anywhere anyway. Lindsay encourages Kim to go somewhere on her own, without consulting Daniel.

Sara and Nick are practising their dancing. I don't recognize the song they're dancing to, but the captioning tells me it's Dynasty's "I Don't Want to be a Freak." Heh heh, geddit? Sara's pretty coordinated: She can dance and give a pep talk at the same time. Nick is having second thoughts about being in the dance contest and Sara's trying to encourage him, telling him he's a great dancer. Nick comments, "It's weird -- I used to hate disco, but I guess maybe I was just destined for it." He does one of those punching-the-air disco gestures and makes a goofy face, and I have to laugh because it looks Jason Segel is having so much fun. Oh, sure, he's probably too young to have really experienced the aesthetic catastrophe that was the '70s the first time around. There's no reason for him to be bitter. He was probably never tricked into thinking tan corduroy bell bottoms with appliqued turtles on them were stylin'. And I'll bet he was never traumatized by having to learn disco dancing in gym class. Sure, Nick, it's all just campy and fun for you, man. You didn't have to live through the nightmare first-hand. Oops, maybe I should just save all that for my therapist. So Nick is saying, "Sometimes you end up being the best at something you hate." He brings up the example of Lindsay hating math yet being "head of the Mathletes." This goes over like the proverbial lead balloon. We cut immediately to Sara asking him if he still likes Lindsay. He denies it, rather unconvincingly, but it's good enough for Sara. She admits that she's had a crush on him forever and says she can't believe that he likes her. I'm glad Nick finally has a girlfriend who's crazy about him. And I really, really hope he doesn't screw it up.

Back in the A.V. room the geeks are discussing the merits of various drawings in the new D&D manual. Gordon favours the drawing of Ishtar while Bill likes the Goddess of Vice because "you can see her butt." Harris is psyched about something called the "Dancing Sword." Daniel surprises them all by inquiring about the Dancing Sword. When Sam explains that the sword will fight on its own so that one can battle two opponents at once, Daniel surprises them further by saying, "That's kinda cool." Harris invites him to join them for D&D, and now it's Daniel's turn to be surprised, and a little suspicious. Sam explains that it's fun to fight dragons and eat junk food and joke around. Gordon adds, "And the best part is you get to pretend to be somebody you can't be in real life." That clinches the deal, and Daniel agrees to join them, although he tells them not to expect him to be any good at it. Aw, poor Daniel. I feel bad for him that he's all vulnerable like that, but that won't stop me from commenting that he's looking about a hundred and twelve years old here. He could give Steve Sanders a run for his money. Nah, I'm just kidding Daniel -- and for the record, I've been liking you more and more as this series has progressed.