Joan adopts a cat, a grumpy aunt recovering from a stroke comes to recuperate, hilarity ensues.
See you here at 9pm Eastern!
No, you won’t see me here at 9:00. That’s when Third Watch comes on, silly!
This one looks good.
[Shameless name-dropping]
My mom and her sister (my aunt) grew up with Cloris Leachman and her sister (my aunt and Cloris were the same age, and my mom and Cloris’s sister were the same age), and my aunt still keeps in touch with her. They exchange birthday and Christmas cards, and talk on the phone a couple of times a year. She even came to my uncle’s funeral a few years ago.
[/SND]
Kinda meh, to be perfectly honest. I have never been a fan of Cloris Leachman, except for Frau Blucher (Neiighhhhhh!). The cat bit was nothing very much, although I did like AgnesDipestoGod.
The only real meat was
that Freidman finally got a date, and that Grace told Luke her deep dark secret (her mother drinks), the emotional backlash of which resulted in Luke giving (and Grace accepting) a sorely needed hug in an empty classroom.
I liked that last part.
I really really liked this episode for some reason. I kinda teared up when Aunt Olive pressed Joan’s mom’s hand to her cheek and also in a couple of other places.
That’s the reaction I had to last week. This week I enjoyed.
I loved this ep. Good developement on Grace’s background - loved the Luke/Grace moment after the IM. Liked Aunt Cloris, although grasshoppers? Ew!I liked that Adam is open to exploring commercial aspects of art. He’s been worried he’ll end up cleaning hotel rooms the rest of his life. Not so much Joan this ep, although I wanted to smack he in the opening scene before the credits “I thought we were talking about aunts.” “We were talking about ME.” The eye roll. The police stuff I just sort of snooze through.
StG
I liked the episode a lot more than I thought I would – I mean, I’m not a big fan of “wayward relative comes to visit the family and much personal growth ensues” episodes, and I’m not a big fan of Cloris Leachman.
The police stuff doesn’t work. The rest was quite fun. I liked the paella preparation and the way she interacted with Kevin. Jason Ritter has a nice calmness about his acting.
I wish Cloris Leachman, much as I loved her when I discovered Mary Tyler Moore reruns, would stop doing the same Grouchy Old Lady role.
The “my mom drinks” revelation was a bit forced to me. Grace does not seem the sort of person who would passively accept the problem without doing something about it.
Thank you again for starting the Joan threads, ivylass, and my apologies for all the previous hijacking I have done.
Back tomorrow after I watch my tape.
No, problem, viva. I’m glad you enjoy them.
Confession time, Biblio, I gave up on Third Watch, and use that extra hour to catch up on watching an episode of DS9 I taped off Spike.
I’m so glad Helen went off on her aunt. She’s such a sweet, lay-down-and-take-it kind of gal, although she can be quite strong in caring for her family. I think Aunt Olive had her pegged when she told her, “You’re so afraid of doing something wrong.” I felt a bit sorry for Olive, because her husband died on her honeymoon and she’s been on the run ever since. Do you think she ever learned to deal with it? My guess is no.
I wonder how Kevin acted after his accident. Was he the same grumpy “I can do it myself!” for awhile, until he learned letting his mother help him helped her?
Friedman doesn’t have a date yet. He has to memorize Hamlet. That should be a hoot!
I like that Grace is opening up to Luke. Now we know why no one goes in their house. Even when Joan went to visit her rabbi father, he talked to her out on the porch, complaining his dinner was getting cold. That must also be very hard for him. (Yes, I sniffed a bit when Grace and Luke hugged. She has such a range of emotion, and all these young kids can express so much with their eyes.)
lavenderlemon, I’m going to have to disagree with you. I think Grace’s hard-bitten anti-everything schtick is very appropriate. She probably has a very hard homelife, although I bet if you torture her she will admit that she adores her father, despite hiding his yarmulke (sp?). He’s the one stable parent, and since she has no control over her mother’s drinking, she exerts control everywhere else, taking a firm stance on what she can (Making Luke sign a contract, rolling her eyes at having to get to know a new person such as Judith, etc.) The fact that she’s able to tell Luke about it means she’s finally able to trust someone else.
Does anyone want to bet that Friedman will have Hamlet letter-perfect by next week? Never bet against a geek when sex is on the line.
I loved the Luke/Grace hug. Just what she needed, and just what he needed to do. Not a word.
Cool sig! Except I’m a woman, I don’t think it would work for me. Any males interested?
Me, too. I’m not even sure what’s going on with that part. It gets a big “meh” from me.
I loved that Adam was able to tame the cat, but he still hissed at Joan.
I’d been wondering what was going on in Grace’s house. Now we’re getting a glimpse. I hope we get to see more of her parents.
Friedman will memorize the play in sections and present one to Judith every day. You gotta hand it to him; he’s persistent!
The police investigation is dragging on. I wish they’d get back to the lawsuit against the Girardis.
In the sig? Or . . .
Haven’t had a chance to re-watch the show yet, so my comments are very off-the-cuff and a day short!
I’m becoming more and more invested in the Luke/Grace relationship; they had the best scenes this week, imho (hehe, Grace seems to get some of the better lines each week, actually). Grace’s three word admission to Luke in the IM went a -long- way towards understanding where her whole persona is coming from, imo. And Luke is showing a great deal of emotional maturity (considering he is a 16 yo …)–the hug and Grace opening up to him were just right.
I had to laugh when Joan was wearing the oven mitts to deal with Larry the cat! And Larry was still hissing at her while he had warmed up completely to Adam–what a hoot! Nice to see some new G-D avatars too. Although sometimes I like to see the focus on certain characters, the real strength of JoA lies in the ability to weave characters and storylines together into a cohesive whole. So yes, I’d still love to see more development between Adam and Jane. 
Good episode. I liked the ending. “What made you think it was the cat that I wanted to change?”
Regarding the police stuff, I’m convinced now that that whole thing represents the emptiness of Nogod, if you will. All scenes at the department are colorless, with occasional exceptions, such as when Helen came in last week. Her bright blue jacket and red blouse stood out from the grays and weak blue hues of everyone else, including Will. It’s interesting to me that there is so much busy-ness in Nogod land. And futility.
Liberal - I love your interpretation of the Police world. It seems to hold true. All along I was thinging that you could see teh same story arc through the stories being told. In this case it was basically being tamed, in a Little Prince sense. Not only Larry the cat, but Grace letting Luke into her private life, and Aunt Olive letting the Girardi’s into her life (as much as she could). But that theme wasn’t present at all in the police arc. In fact, didn’t Will say something about “Haven’t we done this already” when leading the handcuffed police officers out. It emphasizes the futility of life without the Presence of God.
StG