Shout-outpalooza: Siona, joshleejosh and flashgordon.
Will and Helen are in the kitchen alone. He prods her gently about writing down her recollections of the night of Kevin's accident. Helen says she'll do it, she's just not finished yet. By which I think we can safely assume she means she hasn't even started. She says she found all the medical bills and the rehab report. Will nicely offers to cancel his afternoon appointments and do it all himself. Helen says they're doing it together. Kevin's wheeled quietly into the corner of the kitchen, but they haven't noticed him yet. Helen hands Will something she found: a card Andy wrote Kevin to apologize. Will looks at it, asking, "Do we get another because he's suing us now?" Kevin: "Can I see it?" They both look up, surprised, as Kevin enters the room. Helen asks, "How long have you been there?" He doesn't answer as he takes the card and reads it. Kevin says he doesn't think Helen ever showed him that card. She says she thought she had. He tosses it on the table and grabs a bunch of large colour photographs, taken in the hospital the night of his accident. You can tell Helen wants to object but doesn't; she settles for shooting Will a look of distress. Kevin gives both parents a silent, pained glance as he starts to go through them. The first one is a photograph of his feet, with lots of blood smears on the floor below the gurney. The shows Kevin strapped into the gurney with his head in something to keep it immobile. He inhales deeply. The one is a closeup of his head, his face all bloody and a wad of gauze sitting on a large forehead wound, soaked through with blood. Kevin remarks, "I haven't seen these, either." Will grabs them and puts them on the table, asking angrily, "Why should you? Why should any of us have to look at all of this again?"
Suddenly Luke and Joan come bounding down the stairs, arguing loudly over who's going to get the last Pop-Tart. Luke says he already claimed it. Joan's in the lead, and gets to the cabinet first: "Not unless you put your name on it, freakazoid!" They wrestle over the box and Luke pulls out the pastry, showing Joan: "Look! L-U-K-E! Clearly displayed in red permanent marker!" Joan complains, "Great! Now what am I supposed to eat?" Helen loses it and yells: "Can we please just have one civilized morning in this house?" Joan and Luke are taken aback, unaware of what they'd stumbled into. Kevin and Will just look sad. Luke: "Do we want to know why you're…" Will, Helen, and Kevin all reply in unison: "No."
Grace and Joan are walking to school together. Grace is wearing her leather jacket again. Joan's wearing a plaid, above-the-knee sundress that makes her look quite bosomy, with a light grey cardigan over it, and midcalf low-heeled lace-up boots. Grace asks if Joan and Adam have made up. Joan says they have. Grace: "Because you, like, totally humiliated him at the party." Joan says she knows, and they discussed it, and she apologized. Grace: "And he's okay? Because you took quite the emotional dump on him at that party." Joan: "Okay, Grace? I get the point. Just stay away from parties from now on." Grace: "My dad found out that Judith ended up in the hospital; now he thinks I'm being tainted by the heathen shiksa." Gee, wait until he finds out you're secretly dating a shaygets. Joan sighs, exasperated: "She just felt out of place and sort of anxious, so she acted out a little." Grace: "Getting your nose pierced is acting out a little. Almost dying in a puddle of your own vomit is a little darker than that. But what do I know?" Joan's distracted by something up ahead. We see Judith hanging out by some bleachers with some other students, smoking. She calls out to Joan and Grace: "Hey, you guys!" Joan waves back, telling Grace, "She's just trying to find her way. She needs friends." Grace mutters, "Looks like she made some new ones. I'll catch you later, I'm gonna go…run with scissors." Hee.
Judith and Joan walk toward each other. Joan asks her, "What are you doing here? This is, like, the super-loser hangout." Judith says it's the only smoking section. She puts her butt out as she suggests, "So tonight: perfect girls' night out: go the mall, sneak into all the crap movies for free." Joan reminds her about studying for physics. Judith: "Oh, what's physics compared to Catherine Zeta-Jones twenty-five pounds overweight from the baby?" One of Judith's new buddies, a slacker boy, says, "Hey, come on, we're going for Big Gulps. You want a Big Gulp? 'Cause…we're going for'em." Judith: "Totally!" She starts off and asks Joan, "You coming?" Joan grabs her by the arm, reminding her that they have class: "You skipped, like, three days already. You want to get booted out of another school?" Judith whines, "Hey, I was in the hospital, remember?" She thinks she ought to be able to milk that for a few more days. And she's probably right. Joan: "Come on. Everyone's been asking about you!" Judith: "Is that why Grace took off like the Roadrunner?" Joan doesn't know what to say to that. Judith puts her hands on each side of Joan's head and says, "Don't be so sad, Joanith! I'm fine! Take notes for me, okay? Mwah!" And yes, she makes that sound as she pecks Joan on the cheek and takes off. Joan's about to leave when a groundskeeper asks Joan to give him a hand with a small evergreen tree that's so scrawny and dead-looking it would make Courtney Love look vital. Joan: "Uh, no offense, but isn't that kind of a random place to be planting a tree?" Groundskeeper: "Does seem out of place, doesn't it? Sort of like you've been feeling." Joan rolls her eyes: "Here we go again." Groundskeeper God picks up a hose and continues, "Sometimes when you're lost…it's an opportunity to cultivate a new place for yourself." He waters the wretched conifer as Joan complains, "And this is supposed to inspire me? The Charlie Brown Christmas tree of metaphors?" He doesn't respond. Joan, trying to guess the assignment: "You want me to take care of this?" Still nothing but a Mrs. LandingGod-esque glance. Joan: "Remember when you used to tell me to go try out for the cheerleaders? What happened to that?" Groundskeeper God finally replies, "If it's an assignment you want, you better get to physics. You're late." As the bell rings, Joan semi-screeches, "Whose fault is that?" Groundskeeper God wanders off with a Godwave. Joan hustles off. Theme music. What if God were obvious? Would we still have a show?
Helen and Lily (the UnNun) are at an outside coffee stand. I finally figured out, courtesy of forum poster flashgordon, who it is Constance Zimmer reminds me of, and it's Julie Kavner. She has a slightly Julie Kavner-ish vibe, between her looks and the rasp in her voice. God, it was driving me crazy, because it's subtle and I couldn't put my finger on it. Helen admits she can't seem to write down the things she needs to about the night of Kevin's accident: "I was wondering if you had any thoughts, anything that could help me get through this?" Lily thinks briefly and responds, "Nope. I don't think so." They start walking. Helen complains, "You're a nun." Lily: "Former nun." First Helen couldn't accept that Lily had been a nun, now she can't stop harping on it. The UnNun explains she never went in for "the platitudes," but she could advise Helen to surf: "That's what I do when I get all knotted up." Helen: "I don't surf." Well, I think it'd do you a world of good, although I'm still under the impression that there isn't a lot of really great surfing in Maryland. Lily: "Bummer. Because when you're out there, things make sense. You see a wave coming toward you, one you know that could kill you…but if you hit it right, it supports you. It saves you." Helen: "So you're saying the letter's like a wave, and if I ride it right…" Lily dismisses that: "Platitude. Platitude." Helen says she thought she was done with "all this." Lily says she wishes she could make things easier for Helen, but adds, "The struggle is kinda the whole point, isn't it? That, and the faith that it will somehow be worth it." And that's this entire series in a nutshell, in case anyone was looking for something succinct. Helen, not entirely convinced: "Yeah…" Lily adds, "And trying to quit smoking. Or trying to meet a guy who doesn't mind a woman who smokes…and was a nun!" Helen smiles: "I'll keep my eyes open." Lily: "Yeah, that'd be good." Don't think you'll have to look very far, Helen.
Joan arrives late to physics class as Lischak is yammering on about the indeterminate nature of photons. Joan apologizes for being late, saying she had "a thing," but Lischak seems to be in an irritable mood and gives her a hard time: "And I, in turn, was marking a late 'thing' in my book." Joan sits down between Adam and Grace, who's bent over her stool so far, and has her butt pushed so far back, that she's practically folded in half. Her scowling face is propped up on her hand. Lischak: "Coincidence? Or one event determined by separate indeterminate actions? Hmm." She wanders off. Joan asks Adam, "Am I supposed to know what she said?" Adam says he wasn't listening: "I was looking at you." Joan doesn't melt at that quite as much as you'd expect. She just looks kind of uncomfortable. Geez, Joan. Don't think I'm going to have any sympathy for you when Adam finally gives up and you spend all of Season Four bemoaning his absence from your life. Grace, on the other hand, has a "What's that smell?" sneer on her face. Friedman turns around to ask, "Hey, where's my Judith?" Oh, God. I don't know the answer to that but I can tell you exactly where my lunch will be in about thirty seconds. Joan whispers, "Friedman. The kiss meant nothing. She was drunk." Friedman laughs, "You sweet, naïve child."
Lischak does this flamenco-esque foot-stomping at the front of the room and announces, "Okay, grasshoppers: before we delve into the deepest mysteries of quantum physics, I want to investigate the concept of indeterminacy on our own turf! As it were. Who has a working def of indeterminacy for me…Lukey G?" She stops in front of his desk and bounces from side to side, playing with a Slinky as Luke drops science: "Indeterminacy states that the change of a particle, X, is unknown until the outcome is observed over a certain period of time, T." With a sly smile, he glances around at Grace, who whispers, "Show-off." But you can tell she loves it. Lischak exults, "Yes! So: fire your neurons and think of something indeterminate in your own environment, X, and record changes to X, over a certain period of time, T! Ideas…?" She's still giving that Slinky a workout. Friedman raises his hand; she says, "A-Mixmaster Friedman?" Grace, who's still scowling, whispers, "'Will I ever get laid?'" Ha! Friedman ignores her and suggests, "Compare the recent discoveries of the Mars Rover with our current assumptions of the earth's environment." Grace, louder this time, "'That, and will I ever get laid?'" Joan and Adam smirk. Lischak says okay, and asks for an assignment that deals with their own environment. What's with that fugly brooch she's wearing? While we're at it, what's with all the fugly brooches everyone's wearing? I suppose, as fads go, I'll take it over the ubiquity of people shaped like the Pillsbury Dough-Girl oozing out of low-rise jeans that are two sizes too small, but I can't wait for it to be over. I can't even stand the word "brooch." Even the word is fugly. Lischak calls on Joan: "Alternate Girardi." Joan looks up, stunned. "How are you going to handle the assignment?" Joan: "Huh? Assignment?" Adam looks concerned and Grace stops scowling for a moment while Joan casts about for an idea, finally coming up with: "We could plant a garden…in the rankest part of the school…and then, um…try to determine whether or not…it -- it could be a garden." Lischak likes the idea: "Interesting. Clarify your premise and you might have something." Joan beams as Lischak barks, "!" Joan says quietly, "What did I just say?" Adam shrugs.
Will and Chewy attend Mary Wallace's funeral. Will's carrying a small pewter vase of hydrangeas. Someone's apprised Chewy of funeral etiquette, because he's not eating anything. But you know his pockets are full of nuts and gum. There's a tearful woman standing near the coffin, who, when she glances slightly to her right and sees Will, appears to recognize him right away, and comments, "You think she's gonna wake up and say she forgives you?" Will: "Excuse me?" The woman rolls her eyes and says, "Arcadia's finest, right? Oh, the blood is on your hands. You're just going to have to live with it." Will: "We're sorry for your loss." She replies, "Oh, don't insult me…or the memory of my aunt. You used her." Will says Mary came to them because she saw an innocent boy gunned down. Chewy looks alarmed by the confrontation, and like he could really use a Twix bar right about now. Will continues, "She wanted us to catch the men who did it, and thanks to her, we did." The niece replies, "Oh, and then you made sure her house went up in flames right after, didn't you?" Huh? Why would they want to rub out their witness before she could even testify? Chewy says they offered Mary protection, which she refused. I'll bet he also offered her Skittles, but no word on her response to that. The niece says, "You're the ones that she's afraid of! Like all of us are." Will says calmly, "No one's going to do anything to you." The niece: "No? What if I started talking about the gangbangers that you shield, and all the drugs that you bastards steal? Oh, you'd be okay with that, huh?" Will tells Chewy he thinks they should leave, and apologizes to the niece: "We didn't mean to upset you." They go out, with most everybody staring after them.
Gym class. Yay! Coach Keady. As everyone runs laps, she hollers, "You are all gonna lose that summer flab! Faster! Spine straight, chest forward!" Adam, Joan, and Grace run by together as Grace mutters, "Yeah, that'll happen." Joan asks if they're all on board for her physics project. Grace says she's going to do a paper: "No insecticide." Joan objects, "But we're a study group! We do things together." Adam: "So why'd you have to pick starting a farm?" Joan: "A garden, and I didn't pick it, Ms. Lischak gave us an assignment." Joan insists it'll be fun, and that Judith will help. Grace: "Oh, right." Adam points out that Judith hasn't shown up for class in days. Joan makes excuses for her, saying she's still not feeling well. Coach Keady bellows, "Put on the brakes and run in place!" Glynis, Friedman, and Luke stop and run in place. Keady: "Knees high! Higher!" Glynis runs energetically in place, her ponytails bouncing. She's wearing a bright blue T-shirt, lemon yellow shorts, and bright blue knee socks. Friedman's wearing a lemon yellow polo shirt, a dark-coloured dickie, bright blue shorts, a bright blue visor turned sideways, and black socks. They're both quite a sight. Luke's just wearing navy and grey. Friedman says they should go with the Mars Rover idea: "I'll scope out the NASA web page…" Luke says he's going to pass on this one. Glynis pants: "If you're concerned that working with me will be awkward, I can assure you I've moved on." She smiles as she adds dreamily: "And on. And on." Heh. Luke says that's not it: "It's just, uh, you know, Grace wanted some help on a project." Grace, whose hearing rivals that of a bat, comes running back from her place ahead of him and runs back in front of him to announce, "I don't need your help, Pencil Neck. Never will!" Eek. Harsh. She starts running again as Keady announces another lap.
Joan suggests to Adam that they meet tonight, and she'll get Judith to come, but Adam says he has to work. He suggests after school, but Joan has to work. Adam suggests just doing a paper. Joan: "No! We have to cultivate something because…" She can't figure out a reason and turns to Adam, begging adorably, "Please? I'll never ask for another thing as long as I live. I know that's a lie…but please?" Adam smiles and gives in. Keady tells them to drop to the floor: "Twenty sit-ups!" Much groaning. Grace ends up partnered with Luke. Keady: "Grab your partner's ankles!" Grace balks; Luke looks apprehensive. Keady: "Grab, Mr. Girardi." He grabs as Grace leans back. She starts doing sit-ups as Luke whispers that he just thought they could work on the assignment together, because they did last year, and it wasn't a problem. Grace doesn't say anything, and Luke starts subtly caressing her ankles. She doesn't come back up for the sit-up: "Are you fondling my ankles?" Luke: "Yes…I am." Surprisingly, she doesn't kick him in the teeth. She actually smiles for a moment, and then pulls herself together: "Look, if you can't handle the terms, the terms which you agreed to, then maybe you can't handle me." She gets up and runs. Keady: "Polk. Resume the position." Grace keeps running. Keady: "Polk! Your citizenship grade is taking a nosedive!" And I'll bet it was way up there, too. Keady glances at Luke, who sits there, frustrated.
Adam comes to the bookstore during Joan's shift to tell her he got one of his coworkers to cover for him tonight so they can work on the physics project together. Joan's surprised and pleased and puts her arms around his neck and starts kissing him. Professor Frink: "Cue the idiot." Sammy 2.0 -- or Shammy (tm Siona) -- comes along and snots, "Perhaps you'd like me to dim the lights?" They stop kissing and Joan apologizes: "I'm sorry, I was just…happy." Adam glances over his shoulder at her with a pleased expression on his face. Shammy: "And here I thought you were working." And never the twain shall meet, apparently. Joan says she is, and waves a couple of books around: "Gardening for Dummies. Manic for Mulch. Both very good." Shammy: "Proust is 'very good.' Try not to mate during business hours, Ms. Girardi." Oh, this guy grates. I just don't think this sarcastic, insulting personality really fits him all that well, whereas it was like Patrick Breen couldn't help himself. They've just got to take this guy's character in some other direction, if we're going to be seeing a lot of him. He leaves, probably to go complain to the local bakery about the insufficiently evocative quality of their madeleines. Joan turns to Adam and says, "You know…it's been weird being back. It's like we had this groove before and then it was gone, but working together on this project, I feel it again. Don't you?" But you guys haven't done anything yet, really. Adam says, "Yeah," in this sort of sweet, earnest way.
Of course, this is Judith's cue to pop out from behind a shelf and ask, "What project?" Joan seems happy to see her: "Hey. Did you really skip the whole day?" Judith says, "Oh, well, Danny got his parents' convertible and we went for a drive." Adam can't resist: "Well, Danny's been in the tenth grade for three years." Judith doesn't rise to the bait: "He was kind of a moron." Joan's all "thank God you're back" and fretting about Judith getting kicked out of school again. Judith assures her that's not going to happen and asks again about the project. Joan says, "Lischak gave this crazy assignment…" She turns to Adam, who explains, "You have to determine something indeterminate, or…" He waves his hands vaguely. Joan interrupts, "You don't really determine. Ultimately it has something to do with subatomic particles." Adam: "But it has to be in your own environment." In sum: neither one has a clue. Judith remarks, "I think I'm glad I went for the Big Gulp." She plops herself into a chair and puts her feet up on the table. Joan explains they're planting a garden by the bleachers to determine whether it will survive: "And you'll be working with us." Judith: "I'm not working on some fifth-grade science garden." Adam seems annoyed but not surprised. Joan tries to convince her it's a good project, and adds that they're all sharing the grade. Judith: "Why don't you let me worry about my own grade, Mom?" Adam says Joan was just trying to help. Judith: "I'm not some pity case." Agreed. You're a case, but I don't feel a whole lot of pity for you. Adam: "Fine. Fail physics." Joan: "Adam…" He says, "Look, why do you let her treat you like this?" Judith wants to know how she's treating Joan. Joan gently suggests he should stay out of it. Adam: "Sure. Happy to." He starts to leave but she grabs his arm, but before she can say anything, Judith says, "Nervous someone else is treading on your territory?" Well, I doubt very much that he's enough of a jackhole to think of Joan as his "territory," but it sure is telling to hear how Judith perceives it. Joan tells Judith, "Shut up." I replay that twenty-nine times. And then, "Both of you, stop." Adam says he's going to go work on his own thing: "See you later." Joan calls after him, but he's outta there. Judith comes bounding up behind her, and with her usual sensitivity asks, "So how about the mall?" Joan reminds her she has to work -- something I suspect Judith hasn't even passing familiarity with. Judith hustles off, too.
At school the day, Joan -- wearing a brightly coloured striped t-shirt and an olive green cardigan -- is talking to the Charlie Brown tree: "You think you'll survive out here all alone. You're pathetic. You're me." Behind her, one of the smoking hangout types, a cute guy in a camouflage jacket, advises her, "It needs water. And…you should turn the soil." Joan sneers, "Why don't you, if you're so concerned, Foghead?" He replies, "It's your assignment, Joan. You asked for it." She looks only mildly surprised and then mildly annoyed: "This is a new look for you." He sighs a little, and gestures to his baggy denims, "Yeah. I mean, the jeans are really comfy." Frink takes the opportunity to elaborate on his theory that God just inhabits existing bodies, whereas I tend to believe that God just whips up earthly incarnations at whim. I tell him to save it for the commercial break, as I'm supposed to be paying attention here. Joan says she thought she'd have some help. Slacker God says he knows where she's coming from: "It's like, uh, everybody has something better to do. Until they're on a plane, and then they're all over me." Hee. I resemble that remark. Joan: "That means something, right?" Slacker God: "Totally." He tells her to pick up her tools and start turning the dirt. While she's grabbing a rake, he takes off for the bleachers. Joan sees him and calls, "Oh! You're leaving me, too?" He just gives her a Godwave. She starts whacking at the ground with a rake, muttering, "That's a fine way to run a universe."
After the commercials, Adam comes up behind Joan at her locker and says, "Hey." She's slightly startled and then warns him, "I'd stay away. I'm kinda caked with fertilizer, and we all know what that's made of." Judith's attitude? Adam -- like all the good ones -- doesn't care, and pulls her into a hug. He says she missed lunch, and he's brought her a sandwich. Joan thanks him and gives him a girlish smile. He says, "I'm sorry, Jane. I know you and Judith are friends, and I don't want to fight with her…but she's always ragging on me." Joan admits that Judith blew her off, too: "I just had this whole fantasy of how we would all come together and be, like, this one person with a lot of heads." Uh…no. Don't make me have to invent hydracide, because I wouldn't even know where to begin. Adam looks equally concerned. Joan admits that sounded "kinda freaky" but believes he knew what she meant. Adam says, "I'm sorry, I -- I really can't handle working with her." As they start walking, Joan says: "Yeah, I guess trying to drag everyone into this was ultra-dumb." Adam's surprised that she's not mad. She replies, "Adam, I don't even understand why I'm doing this garden. How can I be mad at you if you're not into it?" Adam: "It feels like there's so much stuff coming at us lately…like we're the indeterminate thing, you know?" Joan muses, "Maybe we should be our physics project." She thinks for another moment and says, "I planted something called impatiens, but they take as long as everything else." Adam laughs. Joan: "Funny, huh?" Well, especially since they're annuals. Who plants seeds for annuals in the fall? I couldn't tell you what growing zone Maryland's in but this just seems wacky to me.
Will and Chewy are at the station. Chewy's eating something out of a plastic bag, and looking through a glass wall. He seems anxious. Will advises him, "Ease up, man. Our medical plan doesn't cover stomach stapling." Hee! Taking that as a shout-out for sure. Chewy: "I'm peckish. Happens whenever a grieving family member accuses me of murder." And in any month with an R in it, and on any day with a Y in it. They go in to see Roebuck, who says, "First off, let me say, we go up against the blue wall, we better have a solid case." Chewy says the only witness against the two shooters they arrested for killing an eight-year-old in a drive-by dies in a fire: "Convenient." Roebuck: "They're drug dealers. Their friends wanted to send a message. Roasting some woman isn't exactly a moral quandary for them." Will shows Roebuck photographs from Mary Wallace's house, commenting that arson investigators believe the fire started in the basement, probably a box close to the heater. He asks, "Now, you came from the arson squad; you buy it?" Roebuck thinks it looks like there's a line of accelerant running from the back window. Chewy: "Meaning?" Roebuck: "A pro. Gangbanger's not gonna waste time hiding his tracks like this." Will tells Roebuck that the two shooters told them to "look to [their] own" and that they received the same message at Mary's funeral. Roebuck paces slightly, saying they he thought they'd finally cleaned up the force. He looks out through one of the glass walls of his office. Will: "Funny, Roy, isn't this where we met? On the outside looking in?" Not loving that bit of dialogue.
Joan's at work on her garden when a couple of the smokers clomp through. A chick in a loud red skirt and combat boots tells her, "Man, you smell like a litter box." Yes, and I'll bet you smell like a freesia. She walks over to the rest of the smokers. Judith's there, smirking. The Big Gulp Kid plops himself down in the dirt and declares, "The ground is soft…I have happy butt." Joan throws him out: "Would you get off my plants, you freak?" Judith and the others laugh. Joan asks her, "Hey, you wanna rein in the animals?" Judith just laughs some more. Joan asks, "Why are you doing this?" Judith walks over to her, all smirky: "Why are you doing that?" Joan says it's an assignment: "And I know you don't want to have anything to do with it, but do you have to try to impress your new friends by being an even bigger twerp than they are?" Red Skirt makes a childish, taunting face in the background. Judith: "Your friends are so great? Judging me for getting a little loaded. Like they're so perfect." Joan hisses, "Grace saved your life, Judith!" I'm sure Grace, like me, is starting to wonder why she bothered. Judith's completely full of it: "Doctors exaggerate. I coulda slept it off!" Joan reminds her she was in the hospital with her for two days. Judith: "Aren't you great? Mmm!" Joan: "Okay, look, I know you're embarrassed, okay? I get it. Let it go. Everybody will be willing to get past this --" Judith interrupts: "Now I'm supposed to take advice from some nutjob who sees people who aren't even there?" Whoa. Joan looks as hurt as you'd expect. Judith, of course, knew that was way over the line but said it anyway. Her face registers a mixture of regret and apprehension, but she doesn't take it back or apologize. Joan gives up and turns away, trying to absorb the blow she's just received. Shockingly, she doesn't cry. I repeat: Joan. Not crying. The hell? Judith, too immature and defensive to try to mend the situation, decides to blow it off: "Who wants Big Gulps? I'm buying!" The Big Gulp Kid's all, "Wait. Me. Whoa. I love Big Gulps." How many plugs is that, anyway? As Judith's posse walks off, they trample and kick Joan's plants. Joan objects, "Hey! Hey!" As if it makes any difference to that bunch. She stands there, alone and defeated, at least temporarily. Sprague Grayden did a great job in that scene. She has completely nailed the borderline personality disorder type. I hope we're supposed to hate Judith, because I do. She's quite the sucking vortex of neurosis. But it's probably time there was a character on this show who requires the others to really dig for any kind of redeeming quality. I don't know if that's the purpose Judith is supposed to serve, but since she's going to be around for more than a third of the season, I'm trying to figure it out.
My God, the filters are just out of control in this show. If this scene were any more golden yellow, I'd suggest they check the actors for jaundice. Dial it down, technical people. We officially Get It. Luke's lurking around the entrance to the women's washroom. A couple of girls going into the can mutter, "Freak." Grace comes out, and Luke quickly says, "Before you get mad…" Grace is riled. He says he needs to talk. Grace: "Girardi, waiting outside the girls' bathroom is a little stalky." Luke says, "No. You said that if I can't handle your terms, maybe I can't handle you. Well, Grace, I think it's you who can't handle me." Grace: "Don't push it, Girardi, unless you want your make-out time cut." She starts hustling off. He runs in front of her again: "This is more than just about making out, Grace! I mean, I like the making out, don't get me wrong. But we have a relationship here, whether you like it or not." Grace says quietly, "There are things you don't know about me, okay?" Luke: "Exactly! And it's that very indeterminacy that attracts me! I don't know why you're so scared by it." Grace snaps, "This is about my privacy and you not respecting it, that's all!" Luke: "Okay, fine! Then be private -- and alone, because that's clearly what you want." Grace looks anxious and slightly hurt. Luke glares after her. I don't think he's even stifling an impulse to chase her. I really want to know about Grace's parents and home life. I can't imagine that her mother's in the picture. As I've said before, two dead mothers might be a bit much so I'm figuring her parents are divorced. Or maybe her mother abandoned her, who knows? When do we get to find out why Grace has such intense intimacy issues?
Helen and Will are sitting at the dining room table, going through papers and files related to the accident, when Kevin comes home. He tells them he's getting a byline tomorrow, for a story about a guy who's gotten 243 tickets for jaywalking. Helen asks softly, "Why'd you do it, Kevin?" Kevin replies, "I was just fascinated by the man's love of traffic." He turns his chair around toward the stairs as his mother adds, "I went to the lawyer's office today. He told me you went to see Andy." Kevin turns around again but doesn't say anything. Will wonders, "Did you think we wouldn't find out?" Kevin says he didn't know how to tell them. Will stands up and says, "You tried to talk Andy into dropping the case. That could be construed as an admission of guilt." Actually, it seems to me that Kevin was really asking Andy for an explanation of why he was suing them, more than trying to directly get him to drop the suit. Kevin: "That's ridiculous. I just wanted to see how he was, if he really needed help." Will, mad now: "That's not how his attorney saw it. He doubled the damages -- to a million." Kevin's stunned: "How can they do that?" Will says they just can. Helen can't look at Kevin. He says, "Look, I'm sorry, but this whole mess is going on around me, and you two won't tell me anything --" Helen: "Because we're taking care of it! You've been through enough." Will: "Please, just stay out of it. That kid could take everything we have." Kevin looks tearful, and nods: "Sure. I'm sorry." He gets into his chair lift -- very quickly, and really quietly too, it seems to me -- and goes up the stairs while Helen and Will return to their task.
Joan's walking through the halls at school when she finishes a beverage and tosses the bottle in the trash. Maintenance Guy God's right behind her, though, pulling it out and telling her, "This can be recycled. Do I have to make a new Earth every seven days?" But could you, just this once? I promise we'll take better care of the one. Yeah, I know that's a lie. Joan stops, narrows her eyes, and turns around: "So many people pray to see you. If only they knew." She walks off and he follows her, asking why she hasn't finished her physics assignment. She says she did: "I planted stuff. It got stepped on. My friends deserted me in the process. As usual…thank you very much." Maintenance Guy God says that it's part of the assignment, to see how the process unfolds. Joan's wearing a grey camisole that I like, under a grey hooded sweater. Not loving the brown pants with them, though. He adds, "You have until Friday. Finish what you started." Joan: "Are you telling me that I can get all those flowers to grow by Friday?" He says she can't force them to bloom or grow faster: "Growth is a process. Just be part of the process, Joan." He wanders off with a Godwave.
We see DeShawn Wallace in an interrogation room. Will and Chewy are talking outside, when the two undercover cops who've been questioning DeShawn emerge. One of the cops, wearing a cap backward, remarks to Will and Chewy, "So nice catching up with an old friend." Chewy asks, "You know him?" The other cop pulls the collar of his t-shirt aside to show what looks sort of like a birthmark -- who can tell in all the blue? -- but I think is supposed to be a stab wound, indicating, "Little gift from his crew. Amazing what you can do with a Phillips screwdriver." Yes, they are a vast improvement over those lousy slotted screwdrivers, but I admit to a fondness for the earlier, Canadian-invented Robertson screwdriver. Of course, if you've got crappy screws, it hardly matters, so spend the little bit of extra money and get screws that have been well-machined. I suppose I wouldn't be going on about screws here if I had a sense of why we're going to the Arcadia-police-are-corrupt well again. I don't hate the police plots the way a lot of viewers seem to, but I feel that they sometimes sit uneasily with the rest of the show. And I just don't know why they're doing the corruption thing again, but I guess I should be patient.
Backward Cap says DeShawn gets a cut of half the action on crank from 14th Street to the Hudson. Huh? Is there a Hudson River in Maryland? What is this, NYPD Blue? We've got the blue part covered, that's for sure. Will asks why they haven't brought him in before. Stab Wound says the stash is always moving around: "Like…like he's got someone watching out for him. Good luck on finding out who." He leans toward Will and asks, "When did he talk to Roebuck?" Will: "Never, as far as I know." Stab Wound looks concerned. Backward Cap says, "DeShawn knows him. Wanted to know if the Chief was going to be in on the interrogation." Wait, now Roebuck might be dirty? Aw, I sorta like him. Will thinks DeShawn's probably just afraid of the boss. They cast suspicious glances in the direction of Roebuck, who's talking to a uniformed officer. Stab Wound agrees that must be it, but seems unconvinced. The undercover guys take off, and Will and Chewy look at each other questioningly. Chewy chews his pencil thoughtfully. Or maybe it's a piece of beef jerky. Who can tell, in all the blue?
Whoa, back to the golden yellow glaze again. Blue and yellow, blue and yellow. Is this show sponsored by IKEA? Regardless, it should be a big hit in Sweden. Helen's sitting in her empty classroom, draped pensively over her desk. Joan comes in to tell her she may not make it home for dinner, since she has to work on the garden some more. Helen asks how it's going. Joan: "Uh, kind of terrible. But thanks for asking." Helen gives her a supportive but empty smile. Joan's about to leave when her mother asks her what she remembers about the night of Kevin's accident. Joan looks uncomfortable and asks, "Now?" Helen says no, sorry, it's okay. Helen tries to go back to whatever she was doing but Joan takes pity on her and says, "I was, um, watching The Nutty Professor for the millionth time…um…" Helen looks at her expectantly. Joan continues, "And I heard you scream." Helen's expression is pained but she struggles to control it. Joan asks if she's okay. Helen says softly, "Sure. I was just curious…the lawsuit…I was just curious. Thanks, honey." Joan says, "Sure," and leaves. Helen goes back to remembering.
Out in the hall, Joan sees Judith at her locker and walks up to her, remarking, "Inside the building. That's a big change for you." Judith slams her locker and says, without looking at Joan -- and in a fairly glib manner -- "Look, I just want to say…I'm sorry." They start walking. Joan says she just doesn't get it. Judith: "We're not at camp, anymore, okay? There, it was, like, perfect. It was just us: Joanith. But here, there's Adam and Grace, and…it's different." Joan says it doesn't have to be. Judith whines, "It already is. I was here less than a week and I totally blew it with you and your friends." Joan: "Okay, so you dump us because of one stupid night?" God, Joan, just let her go. Judith stops: "Look, I've been in four high schools in two years. You'd think I would have kept a few friends through all of that, wouldn't you?" Uh, no, not so much, from what I've seen. And the sooner you make it five schools, honey, the better. "Even my shrink parents have written me off. I'm like some failed lab experiment to them." Joan insists on being spiritually bigger than I: "Judith, I don't care about what happened in the past, okay? Here, right now, we're friends." Judith: "So if I mess up again, that's cool?" Joan: "What?" Judith: "And the time?" Joan: "What -- what are you even talking about?" She says, "I'll be the one you cut loose, won't I? You'll still have your friends, but I'll be alone, and I don't do 'alone' well." Wow, she really is a piece of work. She throws herself a pity party, gets her "get out of jail free" card all lined up, and lays a guilt trip on Joan in just a few words. Joan: "Judith, you're all freaked out about something that may never even happen." Oh, I think Judith has been through this enough times to know the drill. Judith says she has to get to class. Joan watches her walk away.
Judith walks down the hall alone, making her a prime target for The Friedman. He rushes up to her, saying, "I get this sense you've been avoiding me. Now, don't be afraid of the feelings we have for each other. They're what make us, us, right?" As Judith gives him a sarcastic smile, Friedman walks right into a heavy metal door that someone's left open into the hallway. Ha! So very cheap but I just don't care. She keeps going as he picks himself up.
Kevin answers the door at home. Lily Waters marches right in, introducing herself as Helen's confirmation coach: "We got a thing at four. I'm early." Kevin says she'll be home soon, and introduces himself. Lily strides into the kitchen as she says, "I read your project about that jaywalking guy. Very cool." Kevin thanks her as he bumps down the two stairs into the kitchen. She asks if he heard about the guy who's trying to eat a bicycle, as she opens the fridge and starts rummaging. Kevin: "Do you want anything to drink while you're waiting?" The mild sarcasm is completely lost on Lily, who keeps rummaging as she says she's parched. As she crouches a little, Kevin can't help but notice her butt and her exposed midriff, since he's right behind her. Interestingly, he makes a point of looking away, and asking her about her surfing. She says he should try it, adding, "I'm sure they've got some kind of rig they could strap you in." Kevin smiles, intrigued by her indifference to his wheelchair. Her head still in the refrigerator -- how long does it take to find a drink, for heaven's sake? -- she asks how his lawsuit's coming. Kevin: "Okay, I guess…" Lily: "Am I being too nosy? Can I finish the cran-apple?" Kevin: "Sure." Lily: "Sure about the nosy or the cran-apple?" Kevin: "The cran-apple." But he doesn't sound too sure.
She finally closes the fridge and goes to the counter, swigging the drink from the bottle. I can't tell what's on the t-shirt under her leather vest, but I suspect it reads, "Kiss me, I'm an iconoclast" (tm joshleejosh). Kevin says he can't tell her too much about the lawsuit; his parents are handling it: "They don't tell me much." Lily stops drinking and says, "Wait a minute. You don't know anything about a lawsuit in which you're named, even though the accident was -- just a guess -- the most important event of your life?" Hmm. I believe Lily would be that blunt and direct, but I feel like the writer took us there just a little too fast. Kevin, bristling slightly: "Okay, now you're being too nosy." Lily: "No, it's just -- I mean -- you're twenty, and a reporter. How do you turn off interest in your own life?" Kevin just stares at her. Lily backs off: "You're right. None of my business." Helen arrives at this point and sees that they've met. She doesn't pick up on the awkwardness. I actually like the idea of Lily and Kevin together; I think they have chemistry, and Kevin seems to like older women. I also have to suspect there's a reason Lily's search for a man who wouldn't mind her smoking was mentioned earlier. We saw Kevin smoke last year, though I don't think he's a regular smoker. But why bring that up at all, if it's not remotely relevant? It just stuck out too much to be random.
Luke's sitting on the stairs at school when Grace comes around the corner. He stands up quickly; she stops when she sees him. Neither speaks as they start to descend the stairs together on either side of the railing. Luke begins: "I've thought about it, and I do want to work within your terms." Grace, quietly: "Well, you shouldn't. It's totally unfair." Luke: "See, that's the thing: I don't think they are. I mean, basically, I've been asking for a total regime change in your public and personal life. But you know what? I looked up every major political revolution in the last hundred years, and not even the most violent ones were sudden. You know, they built up over years of dissatisfaction and unrest." Yeah, but…who wants their relationship to be like that? Grace asks, "Did you make a special effort not to use a science metaphor?" Hee. I'll have to get him to teach Frink that. Luke admits, "I'm trying to expand my range." Grace stops and turns to him: "So basically, you're saying…what?" Luke: "I'm willing to wait. Hoping that the, uh, revolution will gain some small foothold in the outer regions, such as…maybe an occasional exchange of words in public." He hands her something which I at first think is a drink with a straw in it. Grace: "What's this?" Luke explains, "Well, even warring tribes have been known to make peace offerings in, uh, you know, recognition of their commonalities." Grace: "Did you just make that up?" He says he did, and they chuckle. He explains it's a sunflower seedling: "It's hard to believe it can grow over eight feet tall." Eight feet? Pfft! I've seen sunflowers on Dovercourt Road in Toronto that reached the second storey of a house. Some of them have blossoms the size of steering wheels. Scary, scary flowers. ["THANK you. Wing and I were saying one time that they're like the floral equivalent of a barking Doberman." -- Sars] Luke adds that he stole it from Joan. Grace snorts a bit, saying she can't believe Joan's still at it. It should be noted that she's giving her seedling quite a tender look. Luke says Joan's hypothesis has promise: "The idea of a community garden can be tied to some key aspects of quantum theory." So let's hear it, because it's not at all clear to me how. Grace: "Lay it on me. I can't get through my paper. It's too much research." Luke points out that they're having a conversation. Grace: "Not anymore. Just lay it on me." Luke starts yammering as they walk down the hall, and the music gets louder and louder so he doesn't really have to say much of substance.
Joan's outside planting some decorative kale, while Big Gulp Kid watches her and asks, "Why are you planting cabbage? Isn't it already, like, cabbage?" Joan: "Shut. Up!" He stands up, and retorts, "Yeah? Shut you up!" He laughs moronically and high-fives another burnout. Grace and Luke come over -- how is it even the often-oblivious Joan still hasn't noticed what's going on? -- and Grace asks, "Making soup?" Joan says, "Apparently they flower." She asks what they're doing there. Grace: "Boy Wonder figured out you're not brain-dead. Apparently dirt can equal physics." One of the bleacher burnouts decides to toss a pop can at Grace's feet. She narrows her eyes and says, "You so don't want to go there, dude." Big Gulp Kid's smirk fades slightly. Luke starts, "You see, if we posit that your indeterminate element is the unpredictable level of resistance --" Grace: "Stifle it, Einstein. Just pick up all this garbage and pile it over there." As they start picking up garbage, Joan says, "Hey, Grace? Thank you." Grace: "I'm doing this for me, dude." Joan smiles agreeably: "I know." As the scene fades out, you can see that it's the most miserable, ill-conceived little patch of garden ever. And I say that as someone whose yard currently looks like a missile site.
After some commercials, Judith walks out to the garden alone, smoking. She encounters Adam out there, picking up more garbage and throwing it to one side. Has no one in Arcadia ever heard of Rubbermaid, or Hefty? She asks him, "Want a cigarette?" Adam: "No, thanks. Big fan of the lungs." Hee. Judith: "Right. You know, usually I'm the only one around here this early, so I won't have to endure the breakfast inquisition with the shrinks. You?" He claims he just wanted to see Joan's garden. She says, "You could see it later…with her." Adam says it would be weird if she were here: "You know, we always work on these kinds of projects together. This is the first time we're not." Judith asks if it's because of her. I'm not sure I believe she's able to conceive of anything as not being because of her in some way. Adam tries to deflect the question but finally admits that it is because of Judith: "Sorry." Judith, looking slightly sad, changes the subject and says she used to plant stuff with her father: "Then he got busy, he got a gardener and we stopped doing that kind of thing. Guess that's why I freaked when Joan said she wanted to do a garden, huh?" Adam shrugs. After a pause he says he's going to keep cleaning up, and asks Judith if she wants to help. She pretends to consider that and says, "Nah." She walks off.
Roebuck asks Will if he got anything from DeShawn Wallace. Will: "Apparently he lost his power of speech." Chewy plays Exposition Fairy: "With the witness dead, he knew he was going home." Roebuck: "So he didn't mention anyone in the department?" Will says no. Roebuck looks at Chewy, who stares back evenly. Well, as evenly as can a man who's barely fending off a Skittles attack. Roebuck asks if they know Stab Wound and Backward Cap, whose names are apparently Duncan and Simmons. Will: "Plainclothes, live on the street, yeah." Chewy says they were responsible for two of the year's biggest coke busts. Roebuck says he brought them over from arson. Will: "What are you saying, Roy?" Roebuck hands Will their files: "See if you find anything." They leave, and Will remarks to Chewy, "Who the hell are we investigating?"
Joan comes out to her garden to find Adam setting up a couple of...artworks, I guess. They're a little twee compared to his usual work. Adam points to one and says he made her a tree for her garden. Joan points: "Are those cigarette butts?" Ecch. Forget "twee." How about revolting? He says they are, and that he dipped them in leftover slushies. Okay, now I really am going to puke. Adam: "The sugar makes killer glue." Joan: "Cool." She points to the other…sculpture…and Adam indicates that it's a garden gnome. It's got some kind of plastic bucket for a head, with some sunglasses on it, and it's brandishing something made of brightly coloured yellow and orange cellophane. "They live under the earth and guard their buried treasure. This is his fire spear. I had a serious Dungeons and Dragons habit. I'm better now." Me: "Thank God." Frink: "Hey!" Joan giggles and thanks him, and goes to hug and kiss him, which prompts the burnouts in the peanut gallery to make lots of "aw" sounds and comments of "get a room." Joan gives up. Luke and Grace arrive with a wagon and wheelbarrow full of plants and supplies. Luke announces he's mapped out a planting plan based on the arc of the sun and hours of daylight last fall. Joan: "Okay, Luke, don't -- don't get all sweaty. All we're going for is 'not dead.'" Luke, undeterred, replies, "Despite the team leader's nonexistent expectations, the existing momentum propels the project forward." Joan asks Grace, who's unloading flowers, "What are the yellow thingies?" Grace explains they're mums (or "moms," as one local purveyor of autumnal horticulture has it): "They bloom in the fall, attract the bees, bees pollinate the non-flowering shrubs, which keep aphids from eating other plants." Joan just looks at her. Grace: "What?" Joan: "You researched all that?" Grace: "One episode of one show on the Home and Garden channel. Don't make me regret this."
Helen and Will are meeting with their lawyer, Tom Murphy. He says he found a witness who saw Andy yelling at Kevin during their conversation: "I brought up the act as hostile and threatening, and their attorney agreed to withdraw their request for an increase in damages." As he moves on to the subject, Kevin comes in without knocking. No one knows what to make of this. Helen asks, "Are you okay, honey?" Kevin says he's not. Tom offers to leave them alone, but Kevin replies, "No. I'm tired of being alone. I want to be a part of this." Will says they'll talk about it at home. Kevin parks his chair to Helen's as he says, "That's the problem, Dad. We won't talk about it." To Tom: "You need my statement, right? We're still in discovery?" Will apologizes to Tom for Kevin's unexpected appearance. Tom says they're going to need his statement sooner or later. Will says he's just not sure Kevin's ready for this. Kevin: "I'm not ready? Have you done your statement yet, Mom?" Will: "Kevin…" Helen, looking sort of sadly guilty, says, "I'm -- I'm trying to put my thoughts in order." Kevin's arms are crossed over his chest and he replies, "No, you -- you're afraid of them. And so are you, Dad. You think if I'm not here to go over all the details, it'll be easier, like it happened to someone else. But it's never gonna be easier. It's gonna suck every time we think about it, so…I'm sorry, that's just the way it is." Will says he doesn't want Kevin to go through it again. It's more than just basic parental love at work here; I think they can't forgive themselves for not somehow preventing the accident in the first place, so they're determined to try to shield Kevin from having to experience any other aspect of it, as if that will somehow compensate. Kevin: "But I have to. Don't take this away from me. I've lost enough."
He's a bit tearful as he says to Tom, "It's still kinda hazy for me. Um…Andy didn't know how fast he was going. And I didn't want to show how s-s-scared I was." As he pauses and struggles to assemble his comment, Helen says softly, "There was music playing in the hospital. Some radio someplace. Bach, I think. It was so out of place. Andy…was leaving with his father. They rushed past me. They couldn't…look at me. And then, I heard all I those people working on you, behind the curtain, frantic. And your…sneakers, the new ones I had just bought, in shreds…because they cut them off your feet…lying in the blood on the floor…" She breaks down completely and Kevin's in tears; he puts his hand on her back and rubs it and she leans over to hold him and cry into his shoulder. Will and Tom glance at each other and manfully repress their tears. Nice work by Jason Ritter and Mary Steenburgen. I know quite a few viewers were annoyed by what they saw as Helen horning in on Kevin's moment there, and I actually felt the same way when I first watched it. But I've reconsidered; I think the scene was meant to be just as much about Helen's inability to access her memories and emotions of that night without fearing she would come apart and be too weak to support Kevin and get through the lawsuit. Seeing that Kevin is willing and able to face up to it freed her to express herself and begin dealing, too. In addition: It's weird that they mention Helen hearing classical music at the hospital, though, since in another episode, Kevin mentions coming to after the accident and hearing classical music on the car radio.
Ms. Lischak parades her AP Physics class out to the bleachers to regard Joan's garden/experiment. She's seen fit to bear a little pink parasol over her head. Me: "Oh, for…" Frink: "She's so great." I roll my eyes. I have to give her this much: Lischak's one of those rare attention whores (outside of show business) who's managed to channel her neurosis appropriately, largely by picking a profession where getting and keeping people's attention is more than half the task. She bloviates: "Indeterminacy, my warriors! Who will catch a cold? Who will stumble and fall along the dusty path?" Grace takes that as an opportunity to trip Friedman, who takes a header into the dirt. Still cheap, and I still love it. "And will the horticultural efforts of Team Girardi survive the wasteland of poor soil and D students? Can you expand?" Luke finds a passage in their report and tells Joan, "Read. Remember, it's not just your grade." Joan starts, "'We posit…' 'Posit'?" Luke: "Yes, 'posit.'" Joan continues, "'We posit that no one behaves according to predetermined assumptions. Humanity and beauty have the potential to coexist where the obstacles are the most challenging. We offer our garden as an inquiry into the nature of hope, the greatest indeterminacy of all.'" Lischak declares, "Poetic. As all great science truly is."
There's the noise of a large construction vehicle all of a sudden, and everyone looks over as a bulldozer lumbers up to the garden. Joan: "Oh, no." She runs for the garden. Luke, right behind her, complains, "Bulldozers were not part of my calculation." Everyone runs for the garden. Judith, however, steps out of nowhere and puts herself in front of the bulldozer, holding her hand up in a "stop" gesture. Joan yells at her to watch out. The driver stops. Glynis remarks, "A heroine goddess." What? Maybe if you're spelling it heroin. Friedman: "That's my girl." Shut it, dweeb. Luke: "The ultimate indeterminate." Judith bends down to fuss with the Charlie Brown tree as the bulldozer drops its scoop on the ground with a crash and Joan screams, "Judith!" Judith just glares at the foreman. The foreman comes over to tell her to stand aside. Lischak's folded up her parasol -- guessing (correctly, I would imagine) that the foreman isn't going to take her and her precious pink parasol too seriously -- and she informs the foreman that the garden is an AP Physics project. Foreman: "How charming. But we're putting in new bleachers." Joan seems distressed, but not especially surprised or outraged. Lischak: "Can it be spared the final deathblow until our research is complete?" He crabs, "Lady, I got a union employee, hourly wages, it's outta my hands! Everybody, see the garden? It's lovely. It's a lovely garden. Now move!" Judith stands up, dusts off her hands, crosses her arms, and gives the guy a defiant stare. Some of the students start chanting "Judith, Judith, Judith." Pretty soon everyone's doing it. On first viewing, I totally cringed. It just seemed so -- phony and contrived. While recapping it, it bothered me slightly less, but I honestly can't figure out if that's only because I knew it was coming. It's just a little hard to buy, but then again, some TWoP posters in high school have said they can easily picture such a response at their schools. Also, I know a lot of people were surprised that Grace was chanting, and even clapping, but actually, if you can get past the fact that anyone was, I think it was a pretty predictable impulse on her part, in that perhaps if she'd had time to consider the whole thing in context, maybe she wouldn't have. But in the moment, I think it's entirely consistent for Grace to instantly identify with and support anyone who appears to be standing up to The Man. I love Grace, but I think she's capable of knee-jerk responses, too.
The foreman finally comes over and picks Judith up and carries her off the plot. She makes a face and then sticks her fist in the air, as if she's somehow triumphant. What's that about? She hasn't achieved a damn thing. Frink: "Good thing she's not Palestinian. She'd be dead." ["Enough with the sugar-coating, Professor! (Heh.)" -- Sars] Everyone keeps clapping and cheering. And I'm not clear on what that's about, either. Seriously, if they wanted to stop the bulldozers, they should have all planted their asses in the garden. These tykes have a lot to learn about civil disobedience and passive resistance. Also, where is Mr. Price this year? This seems like the sort of thing he'd be all over. Up in the air, Judith smiles at Joan, who returns the smile. The music for this scene is Emmylou Harris's cover of Bob Dylan's "Every Grain of Sand." When the foreman puts Judith down, she and Joan embrace. The bulldozer immediately destroys the garden -- including Adam's sculptures, neither of which is much of a loss to the art world, leaving us with a score of Arcadians 3, Art 0. Oh, and: way to protect Adam's work again, there, Joan. Judith tells Joan, "Hey, I'm sorry." Up on the bleachers behind them, Joan sees Slacker God arrive and sit down. She tells Judith she'll be right back. Suddenly Judith is confronted with The Friedman, who simpers at her, "The Friedman likey." Oh, God. I told you. I told you you'd never get rid of him. Did I not tell you? She just looks apprehensive and walks away.
I think the real problem with the scene is not so much the cheesy chanting but the insincerity of Judith's behaviour. The chanting rings false because people don't change their feelings about someone so unlikable that easily. It's impossible for me, after two episodes of nothing but obnoxious, selfish, attention-whoring behaviour from her, to see her gesture as anything but self-aggrandizing and disingenuous. Even if some small part of her motivation is to defend the garden on its own merits and support her friend(s), we haven't seen enough of any other side of Judith to buy it as a genuine position. It just reads as a cheap opportunity for Judith to both get attention and buy her way back into her classmates' good graces -- a grandstand instead of a stand. There needed to be a little more sympathy developed for Judith, and her character needed to be a little more well-rounded, before I could buy this as an act of redemption. I don't fault Sprague Grayden's portrayal; I think she's done well with the material she's been given. I think the writers rushed the character development -- though not as much as they did with Iris, thank God. On the other hand…I have this little epigram taped up in front of me, which I took off a tea bag -- some of the teas Frink drinks come with little bits of wisdom on the bags, and I like some of them enough to stick them up on my monitor. Anyway, this one says, "If you cannot see God in all, you cannot see God at all." And thinking about that, I sort of suspect that the character of Judith is going to pay off, despite my dislike and misgivings at this point. On the third hand…shut up, teabag.
Joan stands in front of Slacker God, who says, "It was a cool garden, Joan. And I loved the fire spear." Joan asks, "Is she gonna be okay?" He replies, "She was planting crocuses and tulips. It doesn't matter if the ground gets bulldozed 'cause they'll still come up in the spring. She knew that." Well, I hate to differ with God, but if she planted them at the right depth, probably three to six inches deep, they're likely to get bulldozed, and if she planted them a whole lot deeper they're not going to get enough heat and light to grow. Joan: "So what I was growing…" Joan gives him a questioning shrug. Slacker God: "Grew." Joan takes that in and then turns around to look at Judith, basking in celebrity following her ouster from the garden. God leaves with a Godwave, and Joan walks down the bleachers and leans toward Judith, putting her hands on her shoulders and letting herself fall off the last seat into a slo-mo hug with Judith. "I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame / And every time I pass that way I always hear my name / Then onward in my journey I come to understand / That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand."