Joan of Arcadia Season 2 thread (merged) (1 Viewer)

[Glenn Overholt]

Finally! A new laywer! Yes!

I hope he kicks the crap out of them but it would be even funnier to bring the whole thing out in public. Unfortunately, I can see Joan screwing the whole thing up.

Glenn

 

[Natalie F]

Could Joan have overreacted anymore? Geez, she didn't even give Judith a chance to explain herself.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Am I crazy or did it sound like Adam called Joan "Jane" a couple times?

 

[Patrick Sun]

"Jane" is Adam's pet name for "Joan".

Last season, when Adam was exasperated with Joan, he actually used "Joan" when addressing her, and it cut her to the quick.

 

[Rob Willey]

I don't know if it was strictly the quick-cut editing, but it seemed like the actresses playing Joan and Judith really went at it during the fight scene.

Rob

 

[Phil Dally]

stunt doubles

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Thanks Patrick. I didn't watch last season, so that explains it.

 

[Brenda M]

Tonights episode was a couple tissues one.

 

[Jason Seaver]

That was damn good. I've liked Sprague Grayden's character from the start, and this was a complete gut-kick, especially after how much I was enjoying the other storyline. Harsh, but great drama.

 

[Patrick Sun]

11/12/04 "Friday Night"

Who knew juggling could enter into the metaphor of life as a coping mechanism for the wide range emotions we all feel on our good days and bad days.

In a school project for Judith, juggling is the focus for a demonstration that also requires Joan to learn how to juggle from Judith as well. Joan isn't too good at juggling initially. Judith's mom shows up at the Gerardi's to pick up Judith. The coldness in their relationship is apparent, and quite a contrast between the warmth in the Gerardi household.

Luke and Grace put each other first, a sign of strength in their budding relationship. On Friday night, Luke thinks Grace will be at an anarchist meeting, so he goes there looking for her, and Grace thinks Luke will be at a Schlock-a-palooza filmfest, so she goes there looking for him. Grace just finds Friedman. Luke finally find Grace and Friedman at the filmfest, share a kiss, cement their bond a little more.

Adam takes Joan out for their first official date, Judith helps Adam and then Joan with preparations for their date. Their inexperience of dining out at the French restaurant outing was obvious, but endearing.

Judith spends the evening running with her old gang from her old school.

Will gets a call from Lucy because she's found a victim of multiple stabbings and that victim is wearing a sweater with Joan's name sewn into it. The victim is Judith, who is stabbed by someone who was supposedly going to help her and her friends score some X. Lucy was relieved that it wasn't Joan, but still taken aback by the crime and its impact on the Gerardi's.

Back from the high of a romantic dinner date, Joan learns from Helen that Judith was stabbed and is at the hosptial. Joan visits with Judith, and all Judith wants to know is how the date went, and Joan doesn't want to focus on her, but on Judith, but Judith needs to know she made a happy difference for Joan and Adam's night out, so Joan spills, giving Judith a buzz of warmth and selflessness from her efforts in setting up their evening together. Adam had a hard time wondering why Judith would put herself in jeopardy, and leaves the hospital room.

Will visits Judith in order to see how she's doing, and to get some details that might help him locate the stabber. Judith finds out that her "friends" didn't stay with her as she was bleeding out. The news hits Judith hard, and she realizes that Joan is her one true friend.

Joan confronts God in the form of a doctor treating Judith, he being the only doctor that looks Judith in the eye as the others probably feel the worst is ahead for her. God spells out the consequences of actions taken and not taken. Joan is a emotional wreck, powerless to help Judith, but not wanting to lose her. Judith asks Joan to juggle for her, Joan is exasperated at the request, but Judith goads her into juggling some rolled up hand towels. As Joan gets going, juggling well, Judith passes away, probably seeing her role in Joan's life completed in their brief encounter in a bigger scheme.

Joan is despondent, shocked, sad. Helen pulls into a gas station since they need gas, and Joan spots the doctor/God filling up his vehicle, Joan confronts God, asking why he let Judith die. No answers were stated, but none were needed. Helen takes Joan home.

Luke, Grace, and Friedman wait for Joan on the front steps of the Gerardi house. They all console her. Friedman is very shaken, blames himself for not stepping up to do Shakespeare for her since he was ready now, and perhaps keeping Judith away from her's old life's connections. Joan blames herself for being on her date, living her own life. Adam comes by, and Joan wants to know why he left, and Adam couldn't bear the pain given his mother's situation. Adam makes the observation that some people kill themselves in one fell swoop, while others do it a little bit everyday. Joan is confused as to why her love for Judith wasn't strong enough to keep Judith wanting to be alive and making choices not conducive to staying out of harm's way. Friedman convinces Luke and Grace to publicly embrace their relationship and love one another as no one knows how much time anyone really has.

Adam gives Joan the present he was going to give Judith for her help with their date. The present was 3 juggling balls that light up in the dark. God (Russ Tamblyn) as the walker of dogs comes by, and Joan confronts God, letting him know that she loved Judith and God says Judith loved her as well. Then God asks Joan a riddle about a man needing to cross a bridge, but the weight limit is surpassed if he takes the 3 boxes he needs with him, so what does the man do? Joan, irritated by the riddle, offers that the man will have to juggle the 3 boxes, always keeping 1 box in the air in order to cross the bridge. God explains that the boxes keep all the feelings one experiences in life, and that all the feelings would overwhelm a person if they didn't juggle them so learning to juggle one's emotions and feelings is the only way to make it over the bridge (life) with your sanity intact. Joan takes Adam's gift and starts juggling, and this time, it's with a purpose as she grasps the life lesson of Judith's passing and the emotional pain she learns to deal with as a consequence of her untimely passing.

This episode gave me chills, not only because of Judith's death, but the life experiences of this viewer found some truth in how emotional pain can be handled to deal with an overflow of such that threatens to paralyze us if we don't find ways to cope with our feelings while growing from traumatic experiences and loss.

 

[Evan M]

GREAT Episode.. I never saw any of that coming. The way they dealt with the emotion of losing someone close to you was so touching. I'm sure everyone watching had tears in their eyes.

I don't really know what else to say... but I was touched.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Wow. Just wow. Got done watching my bit torrent of it. I had spoilers that gave me a pretty good idea of what was coming, but it just didn't matter. Damn.

That it was Joan's real life father at the end was touching, as was the use of Warren Zevon's "Keep Me In Your Heart" - perhaps the last song he ever recorded.

Just wow.

 

[Tony_La]

Great episode, very emotional. I'm disappointed though that they killed off Judith, I like her character, it she brought a different dimension/beat to the show.

Next week's episode looks like another tear-jearker.

 

[Chris]

Well, 11/19s episode was one of the weaker ones in the season (IMHO) but it filled in the backstory as to the accident, etc. It also marked a change in the relationship with Grace, so now they are finally "out in the open". God's mission to Joan really seemed to fall by the wayside, and I'm not sure where it played into the story though, which is a first.

 

[Ken Chan]

Huh? Joan's mission was about Luke's "present", which was critical since their parents forgot his birthday.

Joan's expression when she saw Luke and Grace kissing was fantastic.

 

[Jason Seaver]

It also had another moment where Joan thought she was talking to God but wasn't, and I like those - both from an occasional comic relief standpoint, and because it usually means that she's figuring something out on her own, rather than just blundering forward.

 

[Chris]

Ah.. now that you say that, in regards to the present, it dawns on me

 

[Patrick Sun]

I thought this episode just flew by, I mean, by the time I even ventured to see what time it was, it was 50 minutes into the episode, so I guess I was pretty engrossed in the flashbacks and the present day issues.

I bet living with Helen wasn't easy on Will before Kevin's accident, and Will's become less abrasive and more understanding as well. Because of the accident, it seemed that the family unit got tighter and more compassionate.

While Joan focuses on her future college plans (because she wants to be with Adam wherever he goes), and having Price crush her college dreams, God tells Joan to focus on the present. Of course, by the end of the episode, it's not about the timeframe, but about Luke's birthday gift on a stressful day of depositions for Kevin's case, and Will inviting Lucy over to meet the family, where the old reliable lasagna birthday meal for Luke becomes a thing of the past.

In her deposition, Joan was reminded by God-as-legal-stenographer to get Luke a birthday present and she got him the present he wanted 3 years ago, but Kevin's accident pre-empted any normal birthday celebration for Luke. Joan brings home a kite, and Luke is very appreciative of Joan remembering that very gift and makes the rest of the day fade away and it becomes a good memory after all. Plus Grace tore up their Non-PDA contract, so it's all good. Luke is just happy that his family is intact (given the recent death of Judith), and Will and Helen share in watching their youngest son grow up and handle disappointment in a mature manner.

The other poignant and sad thing was seeing the events that led to Kevin getting into the car that would be involved in an alcohol-related accident and paralyzing him from the waist-down, such as the anguished look on Kevin's girlfriend as she watched Kevin blow her off and get into the car to be driven by his drunk friend, and then we see Kevin's final steps before the final credits appear.

 

[Nate Anderson]

Also loved the episode, mainly getting a peek at the Girardi back story.

Loved Joan's look when she saw Grace and Luke kiss...that may have been the best part of the episode, except for when Mrs. Girardi tore Price a new one for telling Joan that she was only good enough for community college.

 

[Rick Guynn]

I agree on both of those points. I was laughing uproariously after Price finally 'apologized'and Helen got that look on her face.

And Joan's expression was truly priceless, even though I thought she probably shouldn't have been quite so surprised.

RG