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Joan of Arcadia Ongoing thread (1 Viewer)

Henry Gale

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Next week's "dog walking" God is played by Amber Tamblyn's real-life father Russ.
And the years have not been kind....

At 69, Russ has left his dancing shoes about a hundred pounds behind him. The scruffy beard (his own) did not help.
 

Patrick Sun

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This episode got really hurtful.

Luke is just exploding inside, totally distracted. When prodded by Kevin about why Luke is acting so strange, Luke unleashes some pent up anger towards him that marginalizes Kevin into a "big bad bully"/"super star high school athlete" who could do no wrong and got what he deserved (when Kevin got paralyzed) and Luke admitted to being happy when the accident happened to Kevin. That was a chilling scene as it played out. I'm not quite sure why Luke is in such a funk, though.

Will is still on edge from all the fallout from what's happened to him in the past 6 months. While investigating a tip, Will draws his weapons and almost shoots a little girl. The sheriff recommends counselling, and, instead, Will turns in his badge and gun as a kneejerk reaction. Will finally accepts that he needs help in dealing with his issues, but he's torn up inside from it all.

God tells Joan to go help children afterschool (to boost her resume, of course), and there she comes across Iris who is helping with taking care of children while their mothers are in therapy for domestic violence. Iris catches Adam's eye. Joan had asked Adam to get some concert tickets, but then she couldn't go due to the afterschool gig, so Adam asks Iris to go, which drives Joan a little crazy. Adam falls for Iris rather quickly, and Iris is emotionally "there" to pursue a relationship with Adam, unlike Joan, but seeing Adam with Iris hurts Joan because she's sitting on the sidelines because she doesn't know how to accept Adam as-is, nor how to be his girlfriend.

Joan does the idiotic when she succumbs the children's wish to build a pinata so they can beat the crap out of it. Iris returns to see this activity in full force, and is appalled by Joan's lack of sensitivity, considering that battery and violence is why these children's mothers had to bring them while getting counselling for domestic violence. Joan allowed this because she was trying to one-up Iris for getting too close to Adam, and comes away a smaller person for giving in and not thinking of others.

On a spurious note, Kevin and Rebecca get busy, not letting a broken elevator ruin the rest of their evening, and Kevin allowed Rebecca "into" his world as their attraction for one another grows, as does their intimacy level.

Helen is all abuzzed about being the new art teacher and some of her criteria for art might get her in trouble down the road when she has to hand out grades because she's probably too encouraging in accepting some of the art assignments so far.
 

Erik.Ha

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I liked this show initially, and for the most part still do, but I'm finding some of the subplots (namely the "Dad" has a breakdown/"mom" has a breakdown/ "nerdy son" has a breakdown/ "angry asexual friend" has a breakdown/ "Artsy psuedoboyfriend" has a breakdown... etc... etc... etc... plots) are becoming forced. During the last two episodes, I have turned to my wife several times, and put my hand in the air creating the "shark fin" while she has simultaneously begun humming the theme from JAWS (i.e. "Jumping The Shark"). I fear that this show is quickly running out of ideas. Plus, at the end of the show, Joan needs to "win one" every once in a while, instead of just learning the "tough lesson". At some point, the audience will ask, "Why does JOAN have to learn all these hard lessons the hard way??? She's a fundamentally GOOD person to start with... Wouldn't God be better off teaching these lessons to the cast of basketcases who surround her? At some point this kid would say "Screw you God, I've had enough of your advice..."
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Plus, at the end of the show, Joan needs to "win one" every once in a while, instead of just learning the "tough lesson". At some point, the audience will ask, "Why does JOAN have to learn all these hard lessons the hard way??? She's a fundamentally GOOD person to start with... Wouldn't God be better off teaching these lessons to the cast of basketcases who surround her? At some point this kid would say "Screw you God, I've had enough of your advice..."
It's funny you should criticize that now; "Jump" has one of the most movingly upbeat endings I've ever seen on a show, and "Recreation" was upbeat in a less epic though no less moving way. God's given her happiness. I would have agreed with your assessment before "Jump," but not recently. Tonight's episode didn't force Joan to do a mean thing; it merely forced Joan to confront her own pettiness. It's not like God told her to have the kids make the pinata.


I will agree that tonight's episode was a bit off. Aside from the personal revelations spurred by having Joan face jealosy over Adam and putting Kevin in a situation where he and Luke laid everything out on the table, I didn't see any greater good engineered by God's interference.

It did settle a question I had after the episode with the Meat Butcher God; wouldn't the other persumably regular butcher in the background notice a mysterious new butcher working the counter out of nowhere? I was curious if God had a quality about Him that prevented people from noticing Him if He didn't want them to. Having Iris notice the little red-haired girl God and wonder where she came from was a nice touch.

Favorite moments included Rebecca "walking" Kevin up the stairs, Kevin having to be on top when they kissed on the hallway floor, and Joan being walked home and comforted by a six-year-old girl.
 

Chris

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This was not one of my favorite episodes, but it had a moment that really spoke to me when he turned to the editor and said to her that she was the first to see him without his wheelchair..

I just thought that moment was very well done.
 

Jason Seaver

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It did settle a question I had after the episode with the Meat Butcher God; wouldn't the other persumably regular butcher in the background notice a mysterious new butcher working the counter out of nowhere? I was curious if God had a quality about Him that prevented people from noticing Him if He didn't want them to. Having Iris notice the little red-haired girl God and wonder where she came from was a nice touch.
Apparently God can work in multiple ways; Luke noticed the guy at the liquor store, actually making a comment about him apparently having approval over the guest list. And wasn't the JROTC guy whose wallet Joan recovered in an earlier episode actually a real person, since Helen commented on the incident later?
 

Jesse Blacklow

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"Why does JOAN have to learn all these hard lessons the hard way??? She's a fundamentally GOOD person to start with... Wouldn't God be better off teaching these lessons to the cast of basketcases who surround her? At some point this kid would say "Screw you God, I've had enough of your advice..."
Wow, I'm not even religious and there's a bunch of obvious parallels I can draw here, such as the original Joan, the Book of Job, and some of the teachings of Jesus. Joan's not stupid by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes she fails to grasp the bigger picture. I think this is what the "lessons" she learns are supposed to be showing her, and slowly but surely she seems to be catching on. But not every step she takes seems to go forward.
 

Jason Seaver

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Joan's reasons weren't pure, but she was keeping control of the situation. Also, and this is sort of cheating, I don't think the show's writers would have gone down that route and just left the pinata hanging there if it were meant to be viewed as a totally destructive idea; nor do I think the God-character would have set up a course of action where the kids are messed up just to teach Joan something about Iris.

More likely, Iris isn't perfect, either, and we'll likely be seeing more of her.
 

Patrick Sun

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Was it me, or did they dub some of Iris's dialogue to sound even more helium-laced than in other spots?
 

Erik.Ha

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Wow, I'm not even religious and there's a bunch of obvious parallels I can draw here, such as the original Joan, the Book of Job, and some of the teachings of Jesus. Joan's not stupid by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes she fails to grasp the bigger picture. I think this is what the "lessons" she learns are supposed to be showing her, and slowly but surely she seems to be catching on. But not every step she takes seems to go forward.
The biblical paralels aren't lost on me, however, I'm not crazy about the book of Job either... Do I need to watch it played out on an incredibly sympathetic teenager? I can't imagine a God that would burden THIS character with THIS weight, when she shows no indication she "needs this". Teenagers have it hard enough without "God" stepping in to make it WORSE.
 

Patrick Sun

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2/20/04 "Double Dutch"

Joan is told to befriend a girl named Casper, who spends most of her time jumping rope at a nearby urban playground. We find out that Casper lives in a homeless shelter while her father is away looking for work. After showing that Joan has some "mad skillz" at double dutch, she invites Casper to dinner, but as soon as Casper sees Will's badge, she bolts because she's freaked out that Will will report her to child protective services. Joan tries using fake utility bills and an out of service phone number to get Casper enrolled in her school, but this plan is thwarted by Price, forcing Casper to leave the school. Joan almost gets suspended for trying to help Casper, and finally tells her parents the deal with Casper's situation. Helen and Will offer their help in finding Casper a temp home while her father is trying to fix their situation. Joan later finds out that Casper leaves the shelter, supposedly in preparing for her father's return. Joan wants to know what happens to Casper, and God just tells her that it's more important to make that connection with Casper, and that sometimes it's better to plant the seeds of support and walk away and let it grow.

Rebecca gives Kevin an assignment to write a profile piece on a lady author who uses music to help with autistic children, and winds up on a one night stand with her (played by Meredith Monroe of Dawson's Creek fame). Rebecca isn't at all happy about this.

Adam phones in an art assignment (self-portrait) and Helen calls him on it, so Adam brings in another "self-portrait" that features photos of Helen's face in various sizes and pieces, and his own face in photos as well, all put together to produce a hurtful response out of Helen, and Helen gets it, and discusses with Adam that art is about discovering yourself and that expression isn't always pleasant, so while her reaction was felt strongly by her, it was the assignment that she asked Adam to do, so they are back to being okay.

Will has been working cold cases, and his shrink doesn't think he's ready for being out of the office. Will brings in Luke for a "father-child" day at the sherrif's office. Will feels a little embarrassed about being stuck on cold cases and has the head CSI show him all the new toys they get to play with in the CSI department, Luke wanted Will to go with him, but Will stays behind, thus disappointing Luke once again. During the day, Will solves 4 cold cases by finding the single thread that binds together the 4 murders/robbery cases. Will is eager to go pick up the perp but his boss has him stay behind while they go collar the perp. Luke is witness to this exchange and learns of Will's detective prowess, but Will is still embarrassed by his situation. Luke is mad about being sent away with the CSI guys and Helen and Joan show Will that Luke just wants some attention from him.

Will has a talk with Luke that brought tears to my eyes, they come to an understanding that it's the way Will's mind works, looking at cases like a puzzle to be solved, never knowing if there's an exact solution, always probing possibilities and probabilities, which is what Luke tries to do in his own scientific way. Will is blown away by his son's love for him, and the attention he sought from him, but only in his own way. Luke finally feels some of the love from his father that has so eluded him because his father never knew how to connect with him like he did with Kevin and sports, which was an easier "in" for Will to cultivate at the time. Luke asks his father if he'll take him out shooting at the range, well, because of ballistics and because he likes to blow things up, and Will confesses to liking the same.
 

Patrick Sun

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"No Bad Guy"

While trying to help a girl get her hat back in the girl's locker room while 2 other bratty girls are snapping digiphotos with a cell phone/digicam, Joan gets her photo taken as she's just in her underwear, and that photos gets circulated all over school and elsewhere. Joan is understandably mortified and is looking for revenge.

Will gets back on active duty and is confronted with a case where an elderly man drives his car into a farmer's market, killing 6 people, hurting many more. Will is reminded of how Kevin became paralyzed which was from another driver hitting him while driving. Will wants vengeance for what the old man did for the sake of those who died from the accident. The sheriff's office lets the old man off, ruling it an accident (he stomped on the gas when he thought it was the brake pedal).

Helen's artwork is displayed at an art show, and she gets a scathing review in the newspaper. Her art class consoles her. Helen gets really light-headed when she drinks red wine.

Joan is told to join the band, to go for the percussion section, and the girl with the hat is also in the band, and eventually they strike up a conversation, and the girl with the hat actually confronts Joan, asking her if God speaks to her, and Joan just flusters around the question.

Joan is also told to go home and do the laundry for her mother, even though Helen was adamant about no one do the laundry. Luke sees Joan struggle with getting the clothes in the washing machine, and Joan even stuffs the clothes into the washing machine with her feet. Luke inadvertently pushes a button and Joan's foot gets stuck in the washing machine and the suds start foaming out of the machine. Joan was upside down after this happens, and she's begging anyone to call 911.

Joan gets patched up at the hospital, diagnosed with a sprained ankle and has to be on crutches for a few days, and Helen reminds them that no one else is to laundry in their household.

Joan's friends try to find a way to turn the tables on the bratty girls who put that photo of Joan out for circulation. Friedman finds the diary of one of the bratty girls, and in the cafeteria, Iris reads outloud one of the diary entries and stumbles on the news that the bratty girl's mother has breast cancer, which shuts down any ridicule vibe in the room. Joan learns a valuable lesson that retribution and revenge isn't something to do on a whim, the consequences of pursuing such doesn't always produce the desired results.

Later, Joan is up late, makes this humongous sandwich, almost starts eating it, and Adam knocks on the door. Joan lets him in, and Adam makes sure that Joan recognizes her part in what went down in the cafeteria, and Joan agrees to apologize to the bratty girl. Then Joan tries to explain why she doesn't like Iris (citing her voice), and even Adam has to agree about her voice. Joan offers the sandwich to Adam, who brings it from the counter to the table, but also doesn't indulge. Then the subject of how Joan feels about Adam creeps into the room, and the looks on each other's faces were very well acted, you could almost see all the different emotions ready to burst out of their bodies, but they settle for acknowledging the white elephant in the room, but doing nothing about it for now. As Adam leaves, right on cue, Joan sheds a tear. It was a beautiful final 5 minutes of the episode.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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The last five minutes was perfect. Part of what makes this show so spectacular is that they avoid the usual trap of overwriting that so many shows concede to. It was the relative absense of words and just letting the actors carry the scene that made it work.

Considering how much we were all bitching about helium voice in last week's thread, it was cool to see the show acknowledge it.

Not as big of a fan of the ripped from the headlines cop subplot. It was tied in well with Will's emotions about Kevin's accident, but I still like the generic cases better for a show like this. Too much reality (for whatever reason) breaks the suspension of disbelief.
 

Henry Gale

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It was a beautiful final 5 minutes of the episode.
What Patrick said...but I really disliked the rest of the show tonight. Jane (:)) clueless on drums, throwing half a box of powder in the washer, standing in the washer, being unbelievably rude to Iris.
 

Ken Chan

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I enjoyed the tip of the drumstick breaking off and flying across the room, and the mishap with the washing machine, with Luke doing that "which way?" run to get help, all as broad comedy. And the ending was great.
 

Patrick Sun

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3/12/04 "Requiem for a Third Grade Ashtray"

This was an exhausting episode because God had Joan pick up the slack for her mom, and Joan is pulled in so many different directions that she has a hard time getting anything done.

At the beginning of the episode when the gang is at the convenience store and Grace gets all upset at being reminded of something by the caller and she throws her cell phone in the store's refrigerated area in her agitated state. The clerk/God suggessts that Joan buy a gallon of milk because her home needed it. Joan buys the milk reluctantly.

At the start of the day, Helen's running late, and is very frazzled. Will offered to make some French toast, but Helen didn't think there was any milk in the fridge, but Joan says that she picked up some milk last night, to which Helen responds that was a minor miracle.

Will and Toni go arrest a suspected embezzler who's the IT dude at an office, and on the way down on the elevator, it gets stuck, and a pregnant lady is also on the elevator at the time, and eventually her water breaks and the IT dude (a father of 3 himself, who did home deliveries for each of their children) helps in directing Toni and Will to deliver the lady's child. Will was never with Helen when she delivered their 3 children, he was squeamish about the whole delivery process. The woman gave the child away, she didn't want the child, which was heartbreaking to Will.

Joan does her best to handle some mom duties when Luke is sick at home with a high temperature, and Joan has to pick up his school assignment. God shows up as a goth student and tells Joan that she needs to help share her parent's burden. Joan calls God "Passive-Aggressive". Funny.

Joan offers to go check on Luke since Helen is stuck at school, and Helen convinces Joan to also make the meatloaf for dinner since Helen has a faculty meeting late it the day. Helen's art class project was using old pieces of childhood to create new artwork from it. Helen wanted to use Joan's turtle ashtray from her 3rd grade days. Joan was not ready to give up her turtle ashtray.

This is also the day that Luke needs to send his scholarship application for Space Camp, but his scholarship essay is in notebook that Grace stole from Luke. Joan and Grace were supposed to study for a chem test, but Joan has so much on her plate that she flakes on Grace for a study meeting at the library. Joan tries calling, but Grace's cell phone was left at the convenience store.

Adam asks Joan to be a roadie for a showing of his art at a neighborhood cafe. Later, Joan was trying to do some cooking, and finds that Kevin can't make dinner, neither can Will and it's only Luke that she's making dinner for, but she finds this out after she's made the meal. Then Joan starts the dishwasher and the fuse goes boom in the house, so no electricity for the house, and Joan heads for the hardware store for fuses, where she runs into Adam. Joan had forgotten about being a roadie for his art show, but as it happens the cafe is right near the hardware store, so she winds up helping Adam and putting off another task she needed to do.

At the cafe, Joan mistakes a girl behind the counter as God and she starts spilling her guts to her embarrassment. Then a poet starts to talk about helping out people and Joan starts yammering at the poet, also to her embarrassment, and then she ditches Adam over that situation.

So Joan goes looking for Grace, who is finally going to classes to study for her bat mitzvah after putting it off for 3 years, which Joan learns by going to Grace's house and her rabbi father answers the door. They talk about what the ceremony means to the Jews. Helen calls Joan to get her butt home right away. Then God calls her (the cell phone actually showed it was "God" calling) and Joan goes off on why is it that it's always the women having to do all the chores, and God sets the record straight and has Joan decide if going home should be her main priority. Then God pretends the cell phone reception was breaking up. That was funny.

Grace is fighting her bat mitzvah every step of the way, making her very cranky and aggressive . Joan decides to just wait at Grace's house and not going home. Grace finally comes home. They do a little sharing, girl-bonding over Grace's upcoming bat mitzvah. Joan finally gets the notebook back, and brings it home.

At home, Helen and Will catch up. Will tells about his day and how impressed about Helen going through the deliveries for their children, and he felt bad for making her feel so alone during the deliveries because he wasn't there for her. Helen goes on about not being able to be a mom and a teacher given what all went on today. Joan didn't quite get dinner cleaned up, and when she gets home, she overhears Helen talking about her concerns. Helen lambasts Joan about not quite getting dinner done and leaving Luke alone with a fever, and how Helen thinks she can't do both and be good mother. Joan goes off on her long day, and she leaves to post Lucas's application at the post office.

Kevin spent the day finding out if the feelings in his stomach, i.e. gas, mean nerve regeneration. He get a EMG (electro-myography) test done and it's not nerve regeneration. Kevin still holds out a little hope, even if Luke can't make a nerf basket (and Kevin's chances are as good as Luke making it to the NBA).

The next day at school, Joan tells Luke's girlfriend that he'll be okay, but the girlfriend is still a little frazzled by it all. Then Joan lets Grace's bat mitzvah out of the bag, and Cohen gives Grace some grief over it. Adam needed to find out what it was, so Cohen starts in telling him about Moses...

The goth student shows up again, and tells her to bring home a box of cream of wheat and Joan goes off on God, that she can't take all of these tasks thrown at her. The ashtray is taken out of Joan's bag and God tells Joan that's she's not alone (the point being that it's okay to ask for help and share in other people's burdens). Joan finds Helen in her class and they get back on track, and Helen won't be quitting her art teacher job. Helen has Joan smash up her turtle ashtray, used as a metaphor of picking up the pieces of her past to forge something new. Helen confesses to having anxiety of being able to be a mother and be an art teacher at the same time. She's losing sleep from the anxiety, which resulted in her snaping at Joan the previous night. Helen compliments Joan on the meatloaf, where Joan used a tip for broasting garlic from Iron Chef to make it better than her recipe.

At dinner, the meatloaf is finally served to the rest of the family, except for Luke, who gets the cream of wheat. Kevin has Luke pulls his finger and lets it rip. Laughter ensues. A second pulling results in more. Both Luke and Kevin hope for the best. Helen comes home and Kevin has her pull his finger. *pppbbbbhhhttttt* *Laughter*

Credits roll.
 

Chris

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Not my favorite ep of the season, but I enjoyed it none the less :) I did like the moments on Joan thinking everyone was god trying to deliver her a message and snapping at them :)
 

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