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ealgylden(Tah dah, my reconstructed, writers'-blocky post. A big chunk of meta stuff didn't get revived, but probably that's just as well. This version is rambling enough. Now for sleeeeep.)
I wonder if Kathryn Joosten is as much like Mrs. Landingham in real life as she is in every role I've seen her in, or if she just has a knack for playing "tart-tongued older women with kind hearts and lots of common sense." Whatever the reason is, she makes a good God. And Joan's giddiness about her boat was adorable- we haven't seen her that happy very often. But overall, it was an uneven, unbalanced episode (you could say that there was some meta-connection with Helen's comment that the family is unbalanced, I suppose, but I doubt that was what they were going for).
The balance between the Joan and Will storylines has been a concern of mine since the pilot, but this was the first episode where I felt that the Will plot was the A plot and Joan was the B. And I wasn't thrilled by that, to be honest. I like that the other Girardis are characters in their own right and that they have evolving plotlines, and when the balance and the thematic resonances between the two differing worlds of the show are working, the juxtaposition can be quite effective. But the show is still Joan of Arcadia, not Will of Arcadia. It's not supposed to be a cop show. It's not even a very good cop show. It's okay, inasmuch as the acting in those segments is mostly good, but it's certainly not exceptional. Why is Will in the field so often if he's Chief of Police? That's a job that requires more politicking and PR than detective work. If Arcadia were a small town, I could see it (like my town, which has about three cops [the state and the county make up the balance of law enforcement], so the chief does a lot of fieldwork). But Lieut. Dave snapped at Will that there are "1000 guys and their wives" looking at his actions- I'm assuming that's not an exact figure, since it seems very high and the department can't be all-male, but the PD must be large enough that Will doesn't mock Lieut. Dave's math skills outright. And the violent crime numbers also seem high to me, though maybe that's a perspective thing. Still, the Girardis have been in Arcadia for four months, and Will, who presumably works on only a fraction of the total cases, has already investigated five murders (and a kidnapping). So how big is Arcadia? Why so much crime and so many cops? Is it "the most dangerous city in America," like Cascade? (Non-critically, I was vastly amused when Mrs. Dead Cop called Lieut. Dave "Mikey." Aw, Mikey. He'll remain Lieut. Dave to me, though. It's a thing.)
So not only is Will a rigid pragmatist who has left his church and holds no (admitted) belief in the miraculous or supernatural, Helen has an eccentric (or just plain crazy) cousin. The future discussion about Joan's extracurriculars is not going to be pretty.
It amuses me that Joan is polite and respectful toward strangers, until she discovers that they're God, at which point she starts snarking. Good thing she got over her fear of smiting so quickly, eh?
Luke continues to be the invisible Girardi. This was the first episode that lacked a scene where Luke was talking while one or both of his parents explicitly wasn't listening, but that wasn't really an improvement. When Helen listed for Will some of their problems, she mentioned Kevin, Joan, his job, the new town, their lack of social ties, practically everything but the weather... except Luke. It's good that he's not a problem. It's not good that he barely registers with his family. I hope this is a deliberate character choice (as it could be an interesting one), rather than a case of too much else going on. I'm inclined to think that it is, and that there will be repercussions later in the season.
Kevin's continuing struggles to adjust to a life he hates seem very realistic, but I think his scenes could be spread out more. Like Will and his cop plot, there was too much Kevin in this episode, and the cumulative effect of his constant angst, even after only four episodes, is draining. We know that his identity was bound to being an athlete, he's only nineteen, he's isolated in a new town where he has no friends, job or way to occupy himself, his social life (esp. dating and sex) has been drastically altered, he's constantly reminded that his life as he knew it is over... but we don't need to see all that at once. His story can provide an effective counterweight to Joan's, but again, she should be the focus of the show. Kevin's story should be messy and painful, and it has been so far, but I think it would be more effective if it developed at a slower pace.
Adam. I love Adam. I love that he's still calling Joan "Jane," even though they share at least one class, they're friends outside of it, and he's spent time with her family. Does he sit there thinking, "Why is everyone calling Jane this weird name, yo?" I love that he called everyone "dude" ('cause I do that) until Grace threatened him and sarcastically suggested he switch to "yo," and that he did switch to "yo." I love that he told Joan, "I like your beautiful boat." I love that he spends time with Joan at her job (which she still has! Yay! Thank you, Continuity Fairy! Now bring back Sammy the Bookstore Owner, please), looking up pictures of boats. I love that he listens to her and takes her seriously, that he sees what others don't, and that he has burdens, whatever they may be. I love that he said my favorite non-comedic line of the episode: "Somewhere, he's got this coffin full of miraculous things kids used to be able to do before he stole it from them." I just really love this character.
Navy!God was fun- cute actor, nice rapport with Joan, and "thematic" (loved that quip). He was just "gets the plot going God," but he got in some good Noah jokes (I'm a sucker for a Noah joke, be it Eddie Izzard's, Bill Cosby's or God's) and he looked good in the uniform. A minor manifestation, but a pleasant one.
Radio!God looked cheesy in the preview, but he turned out better than I expected in the execution. The call-in show format helped, I think, as did the fact that God's voice was DJ-like but not obnoxiously so. Joan's reaction to the radio talking to her was cute. However, we've now had a TV!God and Radio!God, and while both worked once, I'm not sure they'd work twice. So while I wouldn't mind seeing some of the other forms again, I think Radio!God has had his moment.
Mrs. LandingGod joins Chess!God and ElectricCompany!God (and possibly Teen!God) in my pantheon of favorite forms thus far. "Excellent learning curve," hee! Her "fear is the mindkiller" advice should be valuable to Joan, if she plans to continue this divine instrument gig. It isn't a comfortable or safe road, historically speaking (can you tell I'm worried about her secret being revealed? What with her parents, Price, society...). Mrs. LandingGod had just the right balance of reassurance, wisdom and sarcasm for this episode's "comforting God" (like Chess!God and much less successfully like DeeliebopperGirl!God), and the pat on Adam's shoulder was perfectly in keeping with that. Nice touch.
So it seems that God is slowly training Joan to look beneath the surfaces of things and to see the world and its connections through clear eyes, starting with God Himself ("I'm not appearing to you. You're seeing me," in the pilot) and moving to herself and her world from there. It's a difficult task for anyone, let alone a sixteen-year-old girl. Joan isn't shallow, exactly (or no more so than any other teenager, at least), but she isn't very contemplative or tenacious. If she thinks she has an answer that works well enough, she stops looking. She doesn't always take time to reflect. Gradually, though, God is teaching her to see a true vision of the world and her place in it. Take her boat, for instance. Joan started building and discovered she had a knack for it, so she concluded that she had a gift for boat-building, a talent given to her (by God, presumably), an external addition discovered hiding within. She then asked Radio!God if she could switch this talent for a more useful one, helping her loved ones. Radio!God told her that "one talent is all talents," that no switch was possible, and, most importantly, that no switch was necessary. Mr. Price then ruined her building rhythm by shaking her self-confidence and instilling fear, thus "stealing" her talent, or so she (and Adam) assumed. But thanks to that excellent learning curve, by the time Mrs. LandingGod arrived with her comfort and her common sense, Joan was already on the way to seeing clearly, to understanding that she'd never had a boat-building talent. Seeing Kevin and Will bonding over her abandoned project (though not discussing their issues, a reaction both very masculine and a nice echo of Joan and Grace re-bonding over sandwiches in "Touch Move") helped solidify a conclusion that was already brewing in her mind (as I interpret her nod and "okay," anyway): that her talent had lain all along in helping her loved ones, and, like Radio!God had said, no trades were necessary. She just hadn't seen that yet. But she's learning the truth of what Rhett Miller sang over that last scene: "There is a world inside the world that you see," a world where she has the talents she needs, where Adam has burdens that look like gifts, where even her town's enormous police force needs to look beyond their first suspicions and fears.
As for the preview, I have suspicions about Helen's plot (not happy ones), but I'm not spoiled, so we'll see. My quibble is with God telling Joan to have a garage sale (presumably so she'll find Helen's paintings). The Girardis just moved to Arcadia. Did they pack up all their useless junk and bring it with them? Seems silly (although I bet I would do that), but otherwise, what is Joan going to sell?
Also, brief thoughts from Matt Roush of TVGuide on Kevin, and the show's success so far.
I wonder if Kathryn Joosten is as much like Mrs. Landingham in real life as she is in every role I've seen her in, or if she just has a knack for playing "tart-tongued older women with kind hearts and lots of common sense." Whatever the reason is, she makes a good God. And Joan's giddiness about her boat was adorable- we haven't seen her that happy very often. But overall, it was an uneven, unbalanced episode (you could say that there was some meta-connection with Helen's comment that the family is unbalanced, I suppose, but I doubt that was what they were going for).
The balance between the Joan and Will storylines has been a concern of mine since the pilot, but this was the first episode where I felt that the Will plot was the A plot and Joan was the B. And I wasn't thrilled by that, to be honest. I like that the other Girardis are characters in their own right and that they have evolving plotlines, and when the balance and the thematic resonances between the two differing worlds of the show are working, the juxtaposition can be quite effective. But the show is still Joan of Arcadia, not Will of Arcadia. It's not supposed to be a cop show. It's not even a very good cop show. It's okay, inasmuch as the acting in those segments is mostly good, but it's certainly not exceptional. Why is Will in the field so often if he's Chief of Police? That's a job that requires more politicking and PR than detective work. If Arcadia were a small town, I could see it (like my town, which has about three cops [the state and the county make up the balance of law enforcement], so the chief does a lot of fieldwork). But Lieut. Dave snapped at Will that there are "1000 guys and their wives" looking at his actions- I'm assuming that's not an exact figure, since it seems very high and the department can't be all-male, but the PD must be large enough that Will doesn't mock Lieut. Dave's math skills outright. And the violent crime numbers also seem high to me, though maybe that's a perspective thing. Still, the Girardis have been in Arcadia for four months, and Will, who presumably works on only a fraction of the total cases, has already investigated five murders (and a kidnapping). So how big is Arcadia? Why so much crime and so many cops? Is it "the most dangerous city in America," like Cascade? (Non-critically, I was vastly amused when Mrs. Dead Cop called Lieut. Dave "Mikey." Aw, Mikey. He'll remain Lieut. Dave to me, though. It's a thing.)
So not only is Will a rigid pragmatist who has left his church and holds no (admitted) belief in the miraculous or supernatural, Helen has an eccentric (or just plain crazy) cousin. The future discussion about Joan's extracurriculars is not going to be pretty.
It amuses me that Joan is polite and respectful toward strangers, until she discovers that they're God, at which point she starts snarking. Good thing she got over her fear of smiting so quickly, eh?
Luke continues to be the invisible Girardi. This was the first episode that lacked a scene where Luke was talking while one or both of his parents explicitly wasn't listening, but that wasn't really an improvement. When Helen listed for Will some of their problems, she mentioned Kevin, Joan, his job, the new town, their lack of social ties, practically everything but the weather... except Luke. It's good that he's not a problem. It's not good that he barely registers with his family. I hope this is a deliberate character choice (as it could be an interesting one), rather than a case of too much else going on. I'm inclined to think that it is, and that there will be repercussions later in the season.
Kevin's continuing struggles to adjust to a life he hates seem very realistic, but I think his scenes could be spread out more. Like Will and his cop plot, there was too much Kevin in this episode, and the cumulative effect of his constant angst, even after only four episodes, is draining. We know that his identity was bound to being an athlete, he's only nineteen, he's isolated in a new town where he has no friends, job or way to occupy himself, his social life (esp. dating and sex) has been drastically altered, he's constantly reminded that his life as he knew it is over... but we don't need to see all that at once. His story can provide an effective counterweight to Joan's, but again, she should be the focus of the show. Kevin's story should be messy and painful, and it has been so far, but I think it would be more effective if it developed at a slower pace.
Adam. I love Adam. I love that he's still calling Joan "Jane," even though they share at least one class, they're friends outside of it, and he's spent time with her family. Does he sit there thinking, "Why is everyone calling Jane this weird name, yo?" I love that he called everyone "dude" ('cause I do that) until Grace threatened him and sarcastically suggested he switch to "yo," and that he did switch to "yo." I love that he told Joan, "I like your beautiful boat." I love that he spends time with Joan at her job (which she still has! Yay! Thank you, Continuity Fairy! Now bring back Sammy the Bookstore Owner, please), looking up pictures of boats. I love that he listens to her and takes her seriously, that he sees what others don't, and that he has burdens, whatever they may be. I love that he said my favorite non-comedic line of the episode: "Somewhere, he's got this coffin full of miraculous things kids used to be able to do before he stole it from them." I just really love this character.
Navy!God was fun- cute actor, nice rapport with Joan, and "thematic" (loved that quip). He was just "gets the plot going God," but he got in some good Noah jokes (I'm a sucker for a Noah joke, be it Eddie Izzard's, Bill Cosby's or God's) and he looked good in the uniform. A minor manifestation, but a pleasant one.
Radio!God looked cheesy in the preview, but he turned out better than I expected in the execution. The call-in show format helped, I think, as did the fact that God's voice was DJ-like but not obnoxiously so. Joan's reaction to the radio talking to her was cute. However, we've now had a TV!God and Radio!God, and while both worked once, I'm not sure they'd work twice. So while I wouldn't mind seeing some of the other forms again, I think Radio!God has had his moment.
Mrs. LandingGod joins Chess!God and ElectricCompany!God (and possibly Teen!God) in my pantheon of favorite forms thus far. "Excellent learning curve," hee! Her "fear is the mindkiller" advice should be valuable to Joan, if she plans to continue this divine instrument gig. It isn't a comfortable or safe road, historically speaking (can you tell I'm worried about her secret being revealed? What with her parents, Price, society...). Mrs. LandingGod had just the right balance of reassurance, wisdom and sarcasm for this episode's "comforting God" (like Chess!God and much less successfully like DeeliebopperGirl!God), and the pat on Adam's shoulder was perfectly in keeping with that. Nice touch.
So it seems that God is slowly training Joan to look beneath the surfaces of things and to see the world and its connections through clear eyes, starting with God Himself ("I'm not appearing to you. You're seeing me," in the pilot) and moving to herself and her world from there. It's a difficult task for anyone, let alone a sixteen-year-old girl. Joan isn't shallow, exactly (or no more so than any other teenager, at least), but she isn't very contemplative or tenacious. If she thinks she has an answer that works well enough, she stops looking. She doesn't always take time to reflect. Gradually, though, God is teaching her to see a true vision of the world and her place in it. Take her boat, for instance. Joan started building and discovered she had a knack for it, so she concluded that she had a gift for boat-building, a talent given to her (by God, presumably), an external addition discovered hiding within. She then asked Radio!God if she could switch this talent for a more useful one, helping her loved ones. Radio!God told her that "one talent is all talents," that no switch was possible, and, most importantly, that no switch was necessary. Mr. Price then ruined her building rhythm by shaking her self-confidence and instilling fear, thus "stealing" her talent, or so she (and Adam) assumed. But thanks to that excellent learning curve, by the time Mrs. LandingGod arrived with her comfort and her common sense, Joan was already on the way to seeing clearly, to understanding that she'd never had a boat-building talent. Seeing Kevin and Will bonding over her abandoned project (though not discussing their issues, a reaction both very masculine and a nice echo of Joan and Grace re-bonding over sandwiches in "Touch Move") helped solidify a conclusion that was already brewing in her mind (as I interpret her nod and "okay," anyway): that her talent had lain all along in helping her loved ones, and, like Radio!God had said, no trades were necessary. She just hadn't seen that yet. But she's learning the truth of what Rhett Miller sang over that last scene: "There is a world inside the world that you see," a world where she has the talents she needs, where Adam has burdens that look like gifts, where even her town's enormous police force needs to look beyond their first suspicions and fears.
As for the preview, I have suspicions about Helen's plot (not happy ones), but I'm not spoiled, so we'll see. My quibble is with God telling Joan to have a garage sale (presumably so she'll find Helen's paintings). The Girardis just moved to Arcadia. Did they pack up all their useless junk and bring it with them? Seems silly (although I bet I would do that), but otherwise, what is Joan going to sell?
Also, brief thoughts from Matt Roush of TVGuide on Kevin, and the show's success so far.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-20 09:47 pm (UTC)I was thinking this exact same thing! especially when the show has even said that the Chief's job is more political, he's still out there in the field hubbubbing with the guys. ::rolls eyes:: He needs to sit behind a desk and do some paperwork, yo. (Heh. I'm channeling Grace.)
(Non-critically, I was vastly amused when Mrs. Dead Cop called Lieut. Dave "Mikey." Aw, Mikey. He'll remain Lieut. Dave to me, though. It's a thing.)
I shall now admit how big of a nerd I am. I was so confused by this! I could have sworn that his name was actually Dave. Now I wonder where I could have gotten that impression from? ;)
Actually, I don't even like the name Mike/Mikey/Michael. I think they've named him badly. I'm heretofor adopting Dave as his new name. Which will end up confusing the hell out of someone, I can already tell.
Like Will and his cop plot, there was too much Kevin in this episode, and the cumulative effect of his constant angst, even after only four episodes, is draining.
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. You're nicer about it than I am, it seems, but yes. That's exactly it. It's too much all at once.
I love that he's still calling Joan "Jane," even though they share at least one class, they're friends outside of it, and he's spent time with her family. Does he sit there thinking, "Why is everyone calling Jane this weird name, yo?"
LOL. I can so see this. I love Adam, too. Adam's the best. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite characters ever, right up there with Methos, Lex, and Draco. Okay, he's not reached Methosian heights yet, be he has such potential.
I'm not going to quote your analysis of Joan's talent, becauseit would just take too much freakin' space, but I agreed with everything you said. It's a very balanced and fair look at the situation and a really good analysis of Joan in general. Nicely done.
You're my hero.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-21 08:35 pm (UTC)Yeah, don't they even read what they write? It's like they want to get his job right, so they mention that it's mostly deskwork, but then they remember that this is CBS! This is the cop show network! We have to get him out in the field! It's pretty silly.
Oops! Sorry. *g* I just called him Dave because I'm lazy- Daghlian is too long to keep typing (okay, I'm really lazy), and the character that Eric Palladino played on ER (which I watch about four times a season) was Dr. Dave Malucci (Dr. Dave was a jerk though. Lieut. Dave is much cooler so far). Why bother to learn a new name when you can be a lazy slug? And yeah, he doesn't look much like a Michael/Mike/Mikey, does he? I'm sticking with Dave too. We can confuse everyone, mwa ha ha!
I was a lot meaner about Kevin the Plot-Sucking Monster in the original version, but by the time I finished trying to remember it all, I got all nice-ified. Go figure. I feel bad for saying it, but it's like Sam on WaT- I think it's wonderful that the writers aren't afraid to show that these characters are traumatized and suffering, and that they let them lash out and be unpleasant- that's accurate, and true to the characters and their situations, but. I don't necessarily want to see it week after week to the exclusion of the stuff I do like. I get what they're doing and I'm glad they're doing it, but enough for a while, okay, folks?
Whew, am I glad you didn't think I'm crazy with the Joan stuff. It made sense when I wrote it in the wee hours of the day, but I wasn't sure anymore when I reread.
Yay Adam! More Adam! :D
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-22 12:46 am (UTC)Hee! Good point. They like their formulas and their formulas are historically geared towards churning out the same old cop shows. ::sigh:: It's very frustrating.
I just called him Dave because I'm lazy- Daghlian is too long to keep typing
Hehe. Hell, I'm just as lazy. I just call him hot detective because I don't feel like looking up the spelling of his name. ;) But Dave works. I like Dave.
He's totally going to have an identity crisis in my head. Poor guy.
I was a lot meaner about Kevin the Plot-Sucking Monster in the original version, but by the time I finished trying to remember it all, I got all nice-ified.
Awww. S'okay. I think I was mean enough in my journal. But I was very, very annoyed. I understand what they're doing, they're just doing it very badly. And there's no excuse for that. Much like with Sam on WaT. Imho, it's preferable not to adress these topics at all rather than do it poorly!
Yes. Adam is a god, as well.
And knowing this show, that could actually end up being true. :D