Funny, on Law and Order SVU there was a case where a bunch of cheerleaders took a camera phone picture of an overweight girl they were bullying and sent it all over school. Now, someone takes a picture of Joan in her underwear.
I can’t wait!! (Not that I necessarily want to see Amber Tamblyin in her underwear, you understand…)
On behalf of men everywhere: “WE DO!”
Didn’t she already apear in her underwear in another episode? The one where her father is taken hostage in a car?
As far as I’m concerned, it’s Must-See TV. I wonder how God will have her handle it? And will someone please drop a piano on Iris?
All right now. The last five minutes were GOLD. Unchallenged.
But the rest of the episode? I’m not feeling it. The good points? Joan’s unmitigated dislike of Iris, and textual admittance of the horror that is Iris’ voice. The parallels between the A and B plots. The message that wrath is a bad thing. But are we really supposed to believe that Joan is too stupid to know how to do the freaking laundry? Um, what? I was bugged by her consistently bitchy attitude toward the Gods, too. What’s happened to her? Didn’t she used to be smarter and nicer? I didn’t understand why Joan had to break her foot or even why she had to join the band. Just to have that conversation with the Quaker girl? I’m grumpy.
Ah, but I’ll comfort myself with the memory of the last scene. sigh Thaaaat’s betttter…
I liked it a lot more than last episode. Very well done.
Bad points:
– Joan can’t do laundry? C’mon. Even Bobby Brady managed not to sprain an ankle. And why did God ask her to do it?
– No one is that unintentionally bad at the drums. And… why did God ask her to do it?
– Mom’s C-plot about the art exhibit didn’t seem to have anything to do with the rest of the episode.
– Not enough Grace.
Good points:
– The last few minutes were awesome. I have a strong need for J and A to get back together
– No Glynnis and very little Freidman.
– The actor who played the old man driver – he was great. I felt so bad for him and I got really mad at the cheif for making him feel bad.
I’m with Skammer and gallows fodder: Quite uneven; I couldn’t see why God wanted Joan to do the laundry and play drums.
They sure did a number on me with the driver, though. Brought back bad memories of the Santa Monica Farmers Market mess with the old fellow who killed 10 people and left many more injured. He was in his 80s, as I recall.
Wasn’t there an episode of Without a Trace just a few weeks ago about an unpopular boy who was photographed in his underwear (not to mention that he was tied up in a horse stall), and the picture spread around his school as well? What’s with the sudden obsession among TV writers with kids in their underoos?
So, how much of Amber Tamblyn do we get to see? (What? I’m 22. Sue me.)
Also, I take it I’m the only one who likes Iris? Granted, her voice is really annoying but I think she’s cute. When she was crying after she saw the pinata in last week’s (the week before’s? I can’t remember), I wanted to give her a hug, just like all the times I’ve seen Joan cry.
Maybe I’m just an easily manipulated softie.
Didn’t get a chance to post last night; was having trouble accessing SDMB, unfortunately.
I enjoy JoA so much that the fair-to-middling episodes (which this one was shaping up to be) are just as enjoyable for me as the really great ones. 
There are scenes where the dialogue is just remarkably brilliant; perhaps due to the actors in part (JM & MS are so good!). Oh yeah and the hospital that we saw, where the accident victims were taken? That was the hospital I was born in! (Wilmington Delaware is used for the aerial views of the fictional Arcadia.)
I think the Quaker girl is going to show up again; a major part of the Quaker beliefs is that God speaks directly to the individual, so Quaker girl would have no problems with God speaking to Joan, I think.
That last five minutes, though … wow!!! My heart fluttered, no mean feat (and maybe not such a great idea, at my age! LOL) let me tell ya. 
Adam likes Iris, but his feelings for Jane are different; stronger and more intense. The intimate touching of her injured foot … my throat had a lump in it. I felt badly for Joan, though–wishing that she could open up, but being so afraid to–very understandable. I think for now Adam is satisfied to know that she “doesn’t just -like- him.” What an intense scene, and how great AT & CM were in it.
I love this show!!! Next week is a repeat; don’t know when the next new one is, unfortunately.
I’ll buy that. It’s established that the kids are not allowed even to enter the laundry room. And thinking back on my college years, I was always amazed at how many of my peers came to college with no clue whatsoever about how to do laundry.
Though I don’t think any of them actually were dumb enough to stand in the machine and turn it on.
He wanted her to join the band so she would get to know the Quaker girl, who would explain their pacifist philosophy to her.
I don’t think Helen is doing her children any favors by banning them from doing laundry, especially since she’s working full-time now. Heck, my kids are 11 and 14 and they know how to do it, ironing too! I thought that was very odd.
No Kevin and Rebecca this week. After the jerk he was last week, I’m glad for a bit of a breather.
After the walloping Iris’s voice took on TWoP, I laughed to see Joan and Adam acknowledge on the show that it’s very babyish. And, I must admit, the whole scene with Joan and Luke and the washing machine had me screaming in laughter.
I don’t buy the whole pacifist philosophy. There are going to be jerks and assholes in this world, and sometimes they need to be taken out, otherwise they will just continue to be jerks and assholes. So although I felt a bit sorry for Angela’s diary being read aloud, she did bring it on herself by picking on Quaker Girl. And go Joan for standing up for her! (And is it part of the Quaker religion that they wear hats?)
I felt sorry for the old man that caused the accident, and when the pregnant woman was talking about how he ran right over her toddler in the stroller, it was very intense. But still, if there was nothing wrong with the car, and he’s not senile, how is he not at fault?
The last five minutes…wow wow wow.
That’s something else I didn’t like, and we saw it with Iris, too. Having a crappy home life should not be a “get out of jail free” card. What Angela did to Joan was pretty nasty, and we shouldn’t be bludgeoned over the head with a reason to feel sorry for her. (Just like learning about Iris’ abusive father – what, are we supposed to suddenly like her now? I just think that’s a cheap ploy.) I know that sounds cold but these are characters, not real people.
I also didn’t like how the revelation of Angela’s mother’s cancer was the main reason why the revenge plan didn’t turn out well. The revenge plan shouldn’t have turned out, period, because of God’s message: “Vengeance is mine, saith…me.” I think it would have been better writing if Angela had been embarrassed, say, over the revelation of a crush she has or something like that. Otherwise, it looks like hearing about Angela’s mother was the sole reason it was a bad idea to read her diary, when I think it should have been a bad idea to get back at Angela in any way. Revenge doesn’t have to backfire to be bad – it’s contrary to God’s message of loving your enemies, and like the Quaker girl demonstrated, there are more productive ways of working out your hurt.
I don’t know if I’m explaining myself well.
But it has occurred to me that maybe the reason that Joan had to twist her ankle was to make her rest it on Adam’s knee, which probably helped inspire him to visit her at night.
Um. Am I missing something? Other than her dating Adam, which shouldn’t be a reason to hate her, why should we be disliking Iris so much?
I must say, this was probably my least favorite episode so far. The performances( as usual) were nothing short of superb(whoever cast this show should get a special emmy).
But the writing? Not loving it. :mad:
One of the cool things about this show is the little mini-mystery each week of “What is the real reason God makes Joan do the weird thing this week?”
Well, it’s now almost three days later and I still can’t figure out what the whole bandthing and/or laundry thing were supposed to be about. It really seemed like the writers phoned this one in. Having said all that, it was , as always a joy to watch.
The other thing is, although I agree that the last five minutes were intense, what conclusion are we to draw from this? Are Joan and Adam going to get together? Does he just need to find a way to tell Iris to get lost? I was ecstatic to see Joan and Adam admit their feelings, but then he leaves and she’s left alone and crying?
Is this supposed to be a happy ending?
Chris W
This was the first full episode that I’ve seen (I’ve been following the recaps on TWoP, and whenever I try to watch it, I always think it’s on at 8 Central Time rather than 7).
As for the laundry thing–even into high school, my stepmother was adamant that I wasn’t to do laundry. She had some whole system set up. Also, my dad’s allergic to bleach, so we couldn’t wash any of his stuff with the rest of the bleached whites. I only started doing laundry after I got in a big fight with her (I accused her of putting off on doing my laundry on purpose). And when I moved to the dorms, my roommate (who seemed pretty spoiled) really had no clue about laundry. The first few times she did it, she checked all of the tags on her clothes to see what she was supposed to do, and didn’t realize that you don’t have to be so rigorous in sorting if you wash in cold water.
I’m blanking on the specifics of the episode, but I remember that when I was watching it, it seemed like the reason Joan was told to do the laundry was so she would get injured, so her mom would have to come pick her up. Maybe so her mom wouldn’t be moping so much about the bad review? Ah, I wish I had written that thought down, whatever it was.
As for the plot about the mom and the art show–I thought it was to help heal the wound from the last episode, when she felt like Adam was attacking her. Both Adam and Iris defended her against the art critic.
Note to Aes: There won’t be any new shows this week other than ENT, so I’m taping a bunch of stuff to fill up this new 8-hr. tape. The shorter tape with this Joan ep. on it should arrive soon since I mailed it Sat.
As I mentioned a little while ago in another thread, I suspect that when TV writers suddenly start doing the same plot (unrelated to any major event in the Real World) it’s because they’re all falling back on an old TV Writing School assignment.
Somebody look and see if Famous TV Writers Classes had an assignment to write an outline or a script based on the idea “someone starts passing around photos of the fat kid in his underwear. How would you feel? How would the different characters react? Try to make your dialogue sound realistic!”