Episode Report Card Deborah: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT God Is My Co-Pilot
By Deborah | Season 2 | Episode 18 | Aired on 03.03.2005
As he takes the trash to the bin, he notices a mural painted on the back of the community centre. It's strong colours on a black background, featuring funky-looking skeletons and vampires and flames and whatnot. He moves closer, saying, "Whoa." He reaches out to touch part of it, and behind him, Bonnie warns, "It's wet. Don't smear it." Adam: "It's yours?" She nods. He says, "It kinda looks like, uh, that freaky paint job somebody did in the boiler room at school." Bonnie: "I made it into a womb, because it's hot in there and there's all that engine noise, like a heartbeat." She has a slightly starry-eyed look and I can't tell if it's for Adam or her mural. Either way…whatever. A few months ago I would have been all, "Back off, bitch," but I'm so fed up with Joan's clinginess that I don't think I care anymore. I'm also screamingly tired of these jealousy/triangle storylines -- especially when it seems like the show's refusing to deal with the real third party that's interfering with Joan and Adam's relationship: God. Adam asks about how she did a particular (unseen) part of the mural, and Bonnie says she used old rollers. Adam steps back from the mural as he comments, "Amazing."
Lily's…car? It kind of looks like an old Beetle grafted onto an old Citroën or something, and it sounds like it has an off-balance washing machine for a motor. ["I thought it was a Karmann Ghia." -- Sars] Wouldn't you love to see Lily on Pimp My Ride? Anyway, she's bombing along giving Joan a ride home, and complaining that Joan's getting paint on the dash: "I just had this thing detailed." Joan takes her foot off the dash and asks, "This thing?" Lily: "Hey! You mooch a ride, you don't dis the wheels." Lily shakes her head and lights a cigarette. Joan starts to lecture her again but Lily snaps, "Stow it!" I don't know if it's my imagination, but I think Constance Zimmer's only pretending to smoke that thing. ["It isn't; she's faking." -- Sars] I mean, I don't think I've seen any actual smoke. Not that I expect Zimmer to risk her life for the sake of minor authenticity, but it's a little weird. Lily asks if the "skinny kid" who came to the centre today was "Rhode Island." Joan confirms it. Lily: "So just like that, it's all hearts and bunnies again?" Heh. Joan's not sure; she's trying to have faith. Lily: "Huh. Good luck with that." Joan: "You don't have faith?" Lily: "You know what? Don't go there with me, all right? Not after a day supervising delinquents." Joan: "But you're still talking to God, right? I mean, if you're mad at him but you're still talking to him, you must have some kind of faith that he's really out there, right?" Lily: "Look, I'm glad that your boyfriend showed up, but save the pixie dust for yourself. You are not here to save me, so just put a sock in it so that we don't…" Joan suddenly looks forward, something Lily's not doing much of (causing Frink no end of aneurysms, here) and notices they're about to hit another car. Joan: "Oh my God!" Lily: "What?" She hits the brakes just as the front of her car collides at a perpendicular angle with the front of Kevin's, rolling slowly out of the driveway. This oughta be good. Clearly, God is not her co-pilot.
As she gets out of her car, Kevin hollers, "What the hell is your problem? Are you blind?" And I realize, he's stuck there. Of all the times I've imagined what it must be like to be paralyzed, I never came up with the scenario of being unable to get out of your car and yell at the other driver in the event of a minor accident. How very…unsatisfying. Lily: "How could you not see me coming?" Kevin says his brakes didn't work. Lily: "Oh, so you decided to go out for a spin?" Joan gets out of the car and thanks Lily for the ride. She heads for the house. Way to be helpful. They both ignore her. Kevin: "You should look where you're going!" She shoots back: "Oh, just relax! You're crippled already!" Ha! Kevin: "Nice." That's rich, coming from the guy who just told his brother it's too bad Luke wasn't the one who was crippled. Lily apologizes: "Had a great day. Still giddy." Kevin: "Just give me your number." Lily marches around her car so she can stand next to Kevin's door, saying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" When she gets there, she demands to know, "Did you think I did this just to pick you up?" What? Where the hell is she getting that? Kevin looks incredulous: "For insurance?" Lily: "You…lost…my number?" Kevin: "After you walked out on me in the restaurant, you didn't exactly make it into my little black book." Lily taunts him: "What, so someone gives you a little grief and so you just bail?" Kevin accuses her of being the one who bailed. Lily laughs and says she doesn't bail. They argue about who bailed and when, and it's all become very flirtatious. Somehow the actors are managing to convey what the writing isn't fully supporting. Fortunately, after surviving The West Wing from late 2001 to early 2004, I'm used to that sort of thing. Lily, who's all too open to giving Kevin another chance, suggests, "Well, let's just, um, push your piece of crap out of the way and…go for Greek food tomorrow." She starts struggling to move Kevin's boat as Kevin says, "I hate Greek food." Lily: "Did I ask you your opinion?" Lily, of course, can't move the car an inch, but struggles mightily, as Kevin exhorts her, "Put a little muscle in it!" Lily laughs and tells him to shut up. Frink: "It's the happiest accident ever!"