Unable to woo Joan back into his cheating embrace, Adam goes for a walk in the woods.
Apparently, a very long walk. Without a compass.
Okay, first, let me get this off my chest.
I knit.
It is never okay to drop a stitch. You’ll get a run like when you snag your pantyhose.
Thoughts…I thought Helen was quite justified in telling her rapist where to get off. The nerve! And the nerve of the priest for contacting her! But if she didn’t know him, how did he know her? Was he stalking her? And since when do rapists only do it once?
That said, I knew that she was going to go back to the hospital, but I’m glad she didn’t get to “forgive” him before he died. And she seemed okay with that.
I don’t know who Ryan is, but thanks for the creepy Rolling Stones song. And how did Adam know him? He said that Adam had asked him to go hiking with him.
I have a sneaking suspicion Hall and Company are writing the final episodes as a “Ride off into the sunset” just in case the show is not renewed. 
God keeps talking about Joan getting stronger to face the challenges ahead, blah blah blah.
Wow, what a come back episode! Okay, for me, the show’s nearly always been great - I never thought it had “gone” anywhere, but other fans have been unhappy with the direction JoA seems to have gone in it’s second season. What we have seen, imho, is a build up to the season-ender, which is next Friday, btw (GAH! whatever happened to May?! Isn’t that ratings month?!). The boy that Adam walked out of the woods with, Ryan … it’s going to seem like G-D has been talking to him, that he works with G-D, just as Joan does. Ryan’s comment to Joan was (I think - I had closed captioning on), “I wondered why he wanted me to go on that walk,” I don’t think Ryan was talking about Adam asked him to walk, but rather that “God” had told him to go. Except I don’t think it was G-D but rather His/Her opposite, the Devil. That was “Sympathy for the Devil” playing, and we certainly have seen those who appear to be agents of the Devil – Lucy, remember her?! All those “connections” that she had that gave her entreaty into information on the family who was suing the Girardis? I don’t think they were, shall we say, the usual ones! I really think next weeks show is going to be very good - I think Joan’s challenge is going to be to see the REAL face of evil. And it’s not going to be a black/white issue–it will be a gray area for certain. laughs nervously I hope I’m not walking the plank alone here!!! Television without Pity forums are down for maintenance right now, so I don’t really know what the JoA followers there are thinking, but I’d be willing to bet I’m not the only one who is wondering if this is where the storyline is going. I know some will be unhappy too–it’s definitely controversial to talk about the Devil and to suggest that there are actual minions, who set about to do the Devil’s evil deeds. I honestly can say that I don’t know exactly what I believe, but I do think that there is Evil out there, and it tempts all of us each day.
For the rest of the show … I really enjoyed the Luke on pot scenes! Poor guy, I surely hope this is the end of his experimentation with drugs; you’d think so, from what it did to him! lol Poor Helen … she has a lot of stuff to work through. While it was a bit contrived, having her rapist find her and ask for her forgiveness after all these years, frankly Helen still has a great deal of anger about the rape, and -that- is worse for her then the rape is, in the long run (she was being nasty and snapping at everyone, to begin with): as much as he n eeded to have her forgive him, she needed to be able to forgive him for herself. I’m not saying that I didn’t understand her anger - just that she needed to be able to let it go - yes, it was a terrible thing that happened to her, and yes it changed her forever – but she needed to let that anger go.
I am really looking forward to next week’s episode. I so hope that this show is renewed for a third season!!! And it looks like the 1st season will be available next month on DVD, so woo hoo for that.
I think Luke is off pot. He alluded to it with his parents, (“I much prefer to be winding”) and told Grace straight out.
I’m such an innocent, all I could think of was why Friedman had Dorito dust all around his mouth. I couldn’t figure out if he was a messy eater or what. Then, when Luke confronted him about being stoned, I was shocked, and Ivylad was all, “Didn’t you get that?” I can’t believe he stole his uncle’s glaucoma pot. That’s just wrong.
And if you’re stoned on marijuana do you have hallucinations and get paranoid, or do you just get hungry and mellow?
tarragon, I don’t think Ryan is a Satan minion. I think he is Satan. Else why would they be playing the Rolling Stones song?
I agree–Ryan is working for the other side. When he said, “I wondered why he wanted me to hike on a day like today,” The HE I believe he was referencing to was NOT God. The Rolling Stones song was quite a giveaway.
I’ll be pissed if this show isn’t renewed.
Ryan is definitely working for the Devil…the song was all I needed to tell me that.
They couldn’t have been more blatant if they’d hit us over the head with it.
BTW, did Luke’s pot scene seem incredibly unrealistic to anyone else?
Granted, I’ve only tried pot once, but when I did, it had little or no effect on me, and friends who’ve done it never described the drastic effect that Luke experienced.
Could it possibly be that Luke’s extreme reaction to the pot was more because of a placebo effect than the actual chemical reaction? Sort of like people who act drunk when they haven’t really had enough. He was epecting a reaction and ran with it when it started.
I liked the ep. I liked Grace being stuck between her two best friends. I liked the end bit between Adam and Joan. I didn’t like Will telling Kevin about his mother’s rape and all of that - it wasn’t his to tell. And I’m looking forward (although with a lttle trepidation) about the Satan’s minion plotline. I’m a little tired of all the new God avatars - they seem sort of pointless now, constantly changing. And I miss CuteGuyGod and GothGod.
StG
I, too, approach the idea of having a storyline about Satan and his minions with some trepidation. On the other hand, if we’re going to have a show about God, it’s only natural to bring in his opposite number at some point.
Ivylass, when my daughter and I were talking about the show later, she too is convinced that Ryan isn’t a minion but rather Old Nick himself. Which now makes me wonder if Lucy(fer) wasn’t also the devil - or was she just a minion?! Yeah, the song was a huge anvil - although maybe some of the younger generations wouldn’t have recognized it? ducks
Re Luke and the pot - yeah, it can cause paranoia, although it was greatly exaggerated in his case. I do hope he never tries anything again. I don’t think Friedman will be trying anything either, for that matter! laughs Would the hepa filter really be able to “mask” the odor of marijuana?!
First, the reefer madness scenes were stupid beyond words.
That out of the way, I was delighted that Joan finally met Orion, the Hunter — Satan. God is still connected to him, and you could see that connection when Orion was glaring at Him. He looked like a son who had left home and wanted to return but was still too angry. Can’t wait for the season ender.
Liberal, can you explain the Orion reference? I never heard of Orion referred to as Satan.
Do we agree that the Satan avatars Joan saw last year (telling her to go run in the three-legged race with Price, Price’s eyes going all scary) were part of her Lyme disease hallucination?
Yes, that’s the way I took it. Satan is supposed to be a fallen angel, after all. The way Ryan and the park ranger looked at each other was very telling. It was rather heavy-handed for him to be wearing red, I thought. Throw in “Sympathy For The Devil” and and I was rolling my eyes and throwing things at the TV.
Orion is the Hunter in Greek mythology. He was said to be the most beautiful of all men. He became prideful, and the gods sent Scorpius to take him down. Upon the pleading of Diana, he was put in the sky — the Orion constellation. I do agree with you about the Lyme disease hallucinations. This new Satan, Orion (Ryan Hunter), is the real deal. Beautiful. Confident. Alluring. Charming. Connected.
But Orion pre-dates Christianity, so I don’t get the connection. (I guess the piece of yarn is too small!)
The only thing that doesn’t fit with Ryan being Satan himself is his comment “I wondered why he wanted me to go out for that walk today”. If he’s Satan, who’s he getting the orders from? Unless we postulate that God still passes along tasks to him, and it is his choice whether or not to fufill them, working towards some eventual redemption.
But if we assume he was Satan’s minion, much as Joan is God’s, and the satanic orders were to save Adam that raises the question of why Satan was so concerned with saving Adam. Because God wanted otherwise? Because he distracts Joan? Because he has plans for him?
I thought the “he” was Adam asking Ryan to go on a hike, which leads to how Adam knows Ryan.
It looked like Adam recognized RangerRickGod, but with the Rolling Stones song playing (just the first few bars, and I was immediately creeped out, and of course the kidlets are going "Huh?) I had to assume Ryan was somehow associated with Satan.
The first time I smoked pot, nothing happened.
The second, I fell asleep.
The third, I pointed a lot and said deep things like, “Lookit that!” I laughed until I cried over the phrase,“Avast! Aware! A-what?”
Then I ate about fifteen name brand peanut butter cups (“What a sublime taste!”) followed by a liter of name brand prune flavored soda (“It is so great to get thirsty and then drink a lot!”)
Then I puked. It was never that way ever again, but that one time, I was a lot like Luke.
In fact, I haven’t laughed so hard at a scene on TV since the state of the Union address.
Luke crying over the taste of name brand healthy alternative chip was perfect! It was overdone, but worth it.
Joan telling off Adam was good too. (I’m starting to think I will be proven idiotic for making a certain romantic prediction.) I liked the pararllel between her speech and Helen’s in the hospital. (“You’re asking me to help you with the angst you’re feeling over what you did to me?!? Burning in hell is too good for you!”)
Mary Steenbergen did a great job. I thought the issue of not wanting to discuss her rape with her kids was handled VERY realistically.
I thought about that a lot. It wasn’t dealt with in the show, but-- while it would have to be a rotten job-- wouldn’t one be obliged, as a member of the clergy attending to a dying man, to be the messenger?
I thought it was RangerGod who sent Orion (Ryan?), too. Obviously something nefarious going on though. (I was reminded of Quantum Leap and the Evil leaper, but that’s neither here nor there.) I guess I lean toward him being the Devil-- he knew Joan’s name-- but it did sound to me as though RangerGod told him to be the woods…
Anyone else think the police and the rangers and the whole brigade finding Adam’s truck in the woods were going to catch him in flagrante delicto with Bonnie. ( I guess we now know why I don’t write for TV)
The yarn goes through all of time and space. 
It has always amazed me how much this show mirrors my own theology. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, I’m not sure, but it is as though the writers have lurked here, making notes from my posts — everything from the universe being nothing more than a mis-en-scene for our moral play, to God’s reference frame being objective while ours is subjective. The show has never been explicitly “Christian” in the sense of Jesus qua Captain of the Team, as so much of Christendom has made Him, sadly. Rather, the show has been about the nobility of struggle, and the power of faith. It has been about morality being an aesthetic which edifies, rather than a book of rules.
The Orion reference is perfect because, as the hunter, he is a predator. One connection from Christianity might be: Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. — 1 Peter 5:8. Plus, it is handy because it sounds like “Ryan”. I’m pretty sure that when Adam showed Joan the sketch, he called him “Orion”. If you have it DVRd or TiVod, you can check it yourself. And of course, his last name is “Hunter”. I mean, duh.
Like Ivyglass, I think the “he” is Adam. It isn’t clear at this point when they met. It could have been after Adam arrived at the trail. Maybe they met earlier and Ryan was an influence on his cheating. Joan definitely seemed to understand who he was. I think Ivyglass is right that caricatures of Satan as scary and evil-looking are misleading. He is described as beautiful, the greatest Archangel. He lured Adam. The Orion reference is starkly appropriate. There are now many new plot elements possible, and it looks like the show is going to rise above its rut of adolescent angst. I’m suddenly very excited about the show’s future. I sure hope it opens up. Perhaps a battle for Adam’s soul, with the good side led by Joan.