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

[Patrick Sun]

I understand the double-meaning in God's words to Joan, I meant that the focus of the directive was something that Joan had to uncover after being distracted by the issue of her collegiate future (that Joan confuses with dealing with present-day issues), which then turns into Joan making things right for Luke with "the present".

 

[Patrick Sun]

1/7/05

Helen decided to put her confirmation on hold as her search for God is putting a strain on her marriage.

Will wanted to really sweat a drug dealer who could roll on Judith's killer, but the feds get involved, and Prescott has to give him up, and Will is not pleased. Later, the killer is killed by what appears to be a contract hit. Prescott still makes Will uncomfortable in her "innocent" casual physical contact.

Joan is convinced that college is not for her, and God has to explore her options, showing her glimpses of the college life on a trip to a local college with Adam, and she meets a tutor named Roger, who thinks she has potential to get into college. Along the way, Joan also finds out her guidance counselor, who advocates a non-collegiate future for Joan, still lives at home with his mother. Adam is suspicious of Roger, but Joan is inspired by the books he has her read, and is okay with the results.

Luke is mystified by Joan's uncanny ability to beat him in paper-scissors-rock, but by the end of the episode, it comes down to a hilariously shot showdown between Luke and Joan of the game and it shows that Joan has the will to get into the game that God has wanted her to get into so she can "win" at the game of life.

Beth dumps Kevin after realizing that she just isn't strong enough to be with Kevin in his present state. Joan comforts Kevin.

 

[Rick Guynn]

The catch on the story with Judith's killer is that Prescott inexplicably gives up the drug dealer without telling Will and then asks him "Have I ever let you down?" when he confronts her about it. Shortly after, the killer is found, apparently executed. Will obviously believes Annie had something to do with it, as he mutters something about "maybe deals were made" and goes home and starts drinking.

RG

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The show is uniformly strong. Not one of the standout episodes, but exceptional filler. I love the fact that unlike some shows *cough* Everwood *cough*, Will just flat out refuses Annie Potts's advances.
I love the way that Joan is there for Luke and Kevin when no one else notices there's anything wrong.
I felt bad that Joan was leading Roger on.
My only real complaint with the episode is that it played into TV's paralysing fear of college admissions. It's challenging to be sure - I'm going through it right now in fact, for my second time! - but there's always options to get into college. If she has above a 70 and even showed up for her SATs, there are two- and four-year options for her. Sure she's not going to M.I.T., Cornell, or Berkley; but her situation never should have been presented as that dire.

Still, Joan Girardi is one the great characters on television right now.

 

[Patrick Sun]

1/14/05

I thought this was a terrific episode.

We finally get closure, more or less, on Andy's lawsuit against the Girardi's. Andy drops the lawsuit, gets booted out of the house by his parents (nice!), and has been staying at the YMCA for the time being. When Andy tells Kevin that he's dropping the lawsuit, Kevin doesn't believe it, and wheels on by him. Later, Will confirms it, but Kevin is still a bit suspicious, and Will doesn't want Kevin to have anything else to do with Andy. But, Kevin finds Andy at the YMCA shooting baskets, and they find a way to re-connect.

Grace is feeling like a dimwit while Luke and Glynis discuss high-falutin' theories on science in their lab study group. Grace's insecurities in the smarts area manifest themselves towards Glynis, and Glynis stands up for herself, not taking Grace's crap, and Grace is impressed with the new Glynis, especially since it's Glynis has to deal with Luke being with Grace and not her.

Joan continues to worry about finding a college where both her and Adam can go and both be happy with the offerings.

Joan is told to boost up her extracurricular activities in the form of joining up in the school play. The play's director, nicknamed Johnny Broadway by Joan, has the attention span of a gnat and the play is a chaotic mess for most of its rehearsal, even the name and plot of the play, revolving around zombies and the undead, gets changed multiple times, as do the songs and dance numbers, much to the aggravation of Carl, the song writer and piano player.

During one rehearsal, Johnny Broadway sees a sketch done by Adam, who is sitting in the back of the auditorium, just checking out the play for Joan's sake, and quickly Adam becomes the set designer for the play, with lots of manpower and a $300 budget.

Grace also interjects her own political views into the play, while attending a rehearsal, from an elicited response by Johnny Broadway, and he then uses Grace's idea and runs with it and changes the story once more. The entire crew is flummoxed, but they carry on. And then Joan is made the central lead of the play, replacing the now-former lead actress, and Joan is freaked out by the responsibility of performing the part. God, as the maintenance lady, gives Joan the "out of chaos, people still manage to form relationships, you can't control it, you just have to go with it." talk.

On play night, everything that could go wrong does go wrong, but it manages to create a lot of humor for the audience, and God reveals himself to be Johnny Bravo to Joan, and he got Joan good in this instance. Joan's solo number is a show-stopper. Will is impressed to tears. Luke has the entire disaster recorded on his vid-camera. Even as most of the play was a chaotic disaster, God impresses upon Joan that things still ended up okay, and it's fine to let go of control to get the unexpected twists and turns from life. Joan turns to Adam, and tells him that it'll be okay if they can't be together at the same college if staying together in college is not as optimal if both go to the same college. That's the lesson of letting go that Joan learns from this experience.

Later, at the Girardi's kitchen, the family is still laughing about the evening, and Will expresses how proud and touched he was by Joan's performance. Kevin rolls in, having missed the play, Will deduces that he was with Andy, and Kevin confirms it, and Will has a change of heart, and tells Kevin to invite Andy to stay with them until he gets back on his feet. Kevin is speechless by this turn, but accepts his father's offer. Luke then recaps the insanity of the play for Kevin.

 

[Garrett Adams]

The ending dining table scene was quite moving and alone was worth the price of admittance.

 

[Evan M]

This is easily my favorite show right now.. it's probably even edged out Smallville on top of my list.

 

[Elizabeth S]

Crap, I didn't record last night -- first ep I've missed. At the end of the episode on 1/7, the upcoming preview specifically said "IN TWO WEEKS" -- what the heck happened with that?!?!?!?

Thank you for the summary, Patrick!

*edit* My co-worker taped it, so I'll be able to see it after all.

 

[Chris]

Best ep of the year; the ending, with the conversations between Joan & family, etc. definitely worth it

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

My feed had a lip sync problem that stole most of the episode's muster, but not all of it. I do admire this show for being uniformly solid, and quite often moving. My favorite episode thus far this season would be the one in which Judith died, in terms of just to-the-bone emotional. But Joan's solo upon the star is quite possibly the most powerful scene in this season in terms of both the scene itself and the reverberations throughout the rest of the storylines. I also thought God was even more sharply portrayed than usual. His stoic smile as the whole production crashed and burned around him was just awesome.

 

[todd s]

In this seasons opener. Joan's brother is sued by the guy driving drunk who caused his paralysis. How & why did he sue? And was it resolved?

From my understanding he was the passenger and the guy suing was one driving drunk?

 

[Rick Guynn]

Either scan back and read Patrick's episode summaries, or go skim through the snippets at TVTome.com.

RG

 

[Nate Anderson]

Or, if you need more detail, I recommend http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It says something about this show that even Hilary Duff's presence couldn't even entirely sink this episode.

Will's boss is increasingly twisted and insideous. Wouldn't it be a hoot if she were actually Satan? It a much better portrayal than we often get. Some real "Devil and Daniel Webster" stuff going on here.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Hilary Duff was so bad in the acting department. Amber was literally acting circles around Hilary.

I also think Lucy is the devil (perhaps it's Luci, as in Lucifer). Will appears to be in over his head, but I think the writers will find a way for Will to banish the devil on his own terms.

The whole foreplay between Grace and Luke on the driver's license issue played out to some good middle ground for the two of them, albeit in a circuitous manner (displaying the absurdity of trying to be solidly green with cars).

Sorry to see Adam played by his "mentor", but as Helen observes, at least Adam is capable of producing ideas/work that people want to steal for themselves.

Joan having to deal with the effects of popularity (from doing a heroic act), and then the inevitable turn that happens for any high profile person was probably a short reach for the life cycle of short-lived celebrity, and what it means to not let the situation change you on the inside. Some people are equipped with dealing with when the fame is over, while others aspire for more, or to cling to what little they have. At least we are shown the choices, and it ends better than it started for Joan in some respects.

 

[Natalie F]

I thought Price was the Devil

 

[Doug Smith]

It seems as if there will be no Joan of Arcadia tonight. Is this true?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Yup, it's been replaced by a Pat O'Brien special on Superbowl commercials. Even worse, the next new episode (a week from today) feature Hilary Duff's older sister. How did that family get involved in tarnishing our fine show anyway?

 

[Patrick Sun]

2/11/05

Wasn't too crazy about this episode as Joan takes such a big step backwards, and the way Adam acts so uncharacteristically to prey on Joan's insecurities was just odd.

Looks like Will has dodged a bullet with Lucy getting a promotion to the Justice Dept.

Kevin's date with Lilly ends with her walking out on their dinner as it was apparent to her that she was pretty much the rebound date, though Kevin is still hung up on Beth.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I wonder if Lucy's new position of power won't come back to have ramifications on Will. It's nice he got a moment of release for now though. Constance Zimmer continued her redemption after "Good Morning, Miami" with this episode. She's really good at being both snappy and vulnerable simultaneously. The hopefulness she had when Kevin asked her out was damn near heartbreaking. It was a nice glimpse into her character.
Joan's "It must be nice.." speech and Helen's reaction was heartbreaking for an entirely different reason. I've never been a Mary Steenburgen fan, but over the course of this series my opinion has done a 180. Other than Joan herself, Helen's character is the most central.
Loved Grace's reaction to finding out that she helped make the biology closet famous.

This is the last of the "Duff" episodes, right? A sore blight on an otherwise excellent show.