I missed the first twenty minutes, but I know from the previews that God asks Joan to ace a history test. I missed why the Gerardis decided to go to therapy, and why Joan was dissing her history teacher.
Random thoughts, because I was at work for a solid twelve hours today and I’m a bit tired…
Joan’s dad’s coffee cup had pictures of the kids on it! How cute!
It broke my heart when Adam called Joan by her real name instead of “Jane.”
I didn’t know Joan was so popular…Grace really had the school sticking up for her.
At first, I was pissed that God was insisting Joan retake the test, but then I saw it wasn’t about making a point of principle (Asst Principal Price is a Primo Jackass, by the way) but about reigniting the passion for teaching for the history teacher.
How funny when Joan thought the therapist was God!
Kevin breaking down in therapy was very painful to watch. But poor Luke…they’re going to keep on ignoring him.
And what is up with Joan’s dad and the DA? I’ve seen enough Law and Order to know they should really get along a bit better than that. I didn’t quite get the chat with the arson investigator either.
Very nice show. Good writing, good acting, realistic family dynamic. I look forward to more episodes.
(Does anyone know how this show is doing in the ratings? It’s not going to go the way of Sports Night, is it?)
I missed the first fifteen minutes. So I’m in the same boat as you.
I was sad too when Adam called her Joan. And yes, it was painful to see Kevin break down, but maybe now that he’s admitted what happened he (and the family) can really heal and move on with life.
CBS keeps advertising it as “the number one new drama” or some such phrase, so it must be doing well so far. I really hope the show stays on the air - the writing is some of the best I’ve seen in a long time.
Another good show. I’m glad there’s real tension and every episode doesn’t end on a happy note. How sad were the closing credits playing over the sound of Kevin crying?
In the first 15 minutes, Joan is sitting – make that sleeping, and snoring – in history class while the teacher talks about the Hundred Years War. He wakes her up in time to hear about Joan of Arc, and mentions how she was crazy because she thought she heard God. That piques our Joan’s interest. Then, outside, Groundskeeper God tells her to ace the test. She goes to her job in the bookstore and starts reading as much as she can about Joan of Arc. Then, of course, she aces the test, Price and the teacher think she cheated, and you know the rest.
Oh, so I’m not the only Doper who watches that show!
I’ve had this fear it would be cancelled because I like it so much.
I like it because whoever is writing this show seems to have simillar beliefs to some of mine - that God appears in the ordinary, that any one of us can be an instrument of God’s will, that doing the will of God can be difficult, puzzling, and confusing - and such acts may not before our benefit at all but another’s - but that doing the will of God results in the greater good. God does not order us to obey - God gives us the choice to obey and it’s up to us to do so or not.
I do wonder how, if ever, she and Adam will be friends again. Or maybe that relationship is unredeemably broken.
I missed the last twenty minutes since I had to go pick up a family member at the mall and the last thing I remember was Will talking with the arson inspector. What happened after that?
Joan retook the test, aced it, but Adam is still not going to forgive her at this point; and Kevin broke down in therapy when he explained that the accident that disabled him was his own fault and that the rest of the family refuses to say it.
His sobbing is heard over the ending credits. Very sad.
This is really one of the best shows on TV in years–the family interaction is so realistic yet very watchable. Although I am increasingly vested in the characters, to the point that I have found myself in tears several times during the episodes. And I suppose that in itself is testimony to the strength of not just the writing and directing but especially of the actors themselves.
My heart was breaking as Adam called her Joan, not Jane–I’m not sure if he’ll ever be able to forgive her for destroying his art work! Jane was, I think, his special name for her. And Kevin breaking down in the therapy session and confessing that the accident was “his” fault. It did bother me, though, that it took them nearly two years to get into the therapy that the doctors had recommended following the accident!
I really wanted to see Price make a public recant of his condemnation of Joan – I also wanted the suspended students to have the suspension removed from their record and Price suspended without pay for at least a day.
But I’m vindictive like that I guess.
I also love the “no easy answers” and the “no easy questions” format of the show.
I think we need an Evil Somebody to keep the show from getting too glurgy, so we have Evil Vice Principal Price. Joan’s dad has to deal with a sleazy mayor and DA, and Joan has EVPP.
I’m getting a little confused about the town of Arcadia. I thought it was supposed to be a hometowny kind of place, not too big, not too small. But lately they’ve been showing wide shots of a fairly substantial downtown. It doesn’t seem to fit in with the one-crime-a-week scenario that Chief is dealing with. Surely with a “city” that big, vs a “town”, Joan’s dad would be a lot busier than he is, surely too busy to have dinner every night at home.
I like the show, but the character “God” is starting to get on my nerves. What’s the point of showing definite proof of your existence, and then still wanting faith? Joan’s belief in God doesn’t require faith anymore, since God’s revealed himself. So God finds something else that requires faith: instead of spending two minutes explaining why he wants her to do whatever her weekly assignment is, he wants her to have faith that he’s got a good reason. That just seems like bad manners to me.
But it’s good to see Joe Mantegna and Mary Steenburgen, and I’m really impressed with Amber Tamblyn (Russ Tamblyn’s daughter). She’s 20, but can pass for the 16 of her character.
God doesn’t explain why. As he said in the episode where Joan found out why Adam hates November, “There’s no answer I can give you that would make any sense to you.”
And remember, he’s not appearing to Joan. She’s seeing him. There’s a difference.
I don’t know. One one hand I really like this show, and think it has some of the best writing and acting I’ve seen in a long while. But on the other hand, I’m starting to wonder how much helping others is going to cost her personally. I mean, now she’s alienated both of her friends. And sure the histroy teacher is happy, but Joan’s personal life is in shambles. I would also think that an all-knowing god would have had some clue as to what might happen as a result of her aceing the exam. He said that if she hadn’t been snippy to the teacher, that he might have given her the benifit of the doubt, but at the end, the teacher basically said that he was positive that she had cheated. So it seemed more likely to me, that she would have been accused of cheating no matter what.
I’m still too annoyed with the episode two weeks ago where God wanted her to keep Adam’s art out of the show. If God is going to ask someone to do something that feels wrong, God had better have a damned good reason. Instead, it’s just an attempt to manipulate Adam–to remove his free will.
That’s one thing I *really[/] like about this show. She does her best to do what God wants her to do – and ends up paying the price. Following God isn’t easy; it involves sacrifice. Doing the Right Thing doesn’t mean that everybody is happy after that. However, over time, eventually (I expect), everything will work out for the best – much better than if she had ignored God and done what she thought was right.
After all – look what happend to the real Joan of Arc…
I remember a quote from a movie (the last Joan of Arc re-make?): to the extent that “God uses his tools harshly” (I’m sure it was more poetic than that).
We used this week’s JoA as a discussion starter in our Sunday School class (High-School age). Take a look at Joan - she’s doing everything God wants of her, and now she’s estranged from her family (didn’t anyone else notice how, while her brother sobbed his heart out, nobody made a move to comfort him? The family seems to be spinning apart), from her two closest friends, and now from everyone in her school.
The last scene, with the family sitting helplessly while he cried, was heart-breaking. So too the scene when Adam called Joan by her real name.
People may be considering me way way off base here, or is Adam being a total attention whore? The way I’ve been seeing it, Adam may be pissed because Joan totaled his artwork, but Adam still has feelings for her and now that he’s being a mopey bitch Joan is REALLY, REALLY paying attention to him now, something that didn’t happen before. Why should he change when Joan is constantly seeking his renewed favor? My prediction is that eventually Joan will say, “Fine, I tried to make peace, but you don’t want that, goodbye” and Adam will turn around on a DIME and forgive her. Freakin moody teenagers, someone ought to beat them all with a reality stick.
As for the conversation with the arson investigator I got the impression that he went to this guy because AI had stepped on people’s toes politically and was ‘disposed of,’ hence his new job title.
As for Dad’s problems with his job, either he’ll work something out to keep his job, or God will send Joan on a mission to help him. I just hope the major and the DA get a kick in the balls from the ‘man’ upstairs.
I don’t know, Sanscour, I think you may have a point about Adam. Not too shabby.
Otherwise, I’m st6ill lovin’ this show. Any idea when the next epsiode is going to be? They didn’t show anything about it and I couldn’t find anything on the NBC web site.
I didn’t quite get the chat with the arson investigator either.
So I’m in the same boat as you.