Joan of Arcadia 1x01-1x02

[oyceter]

My first two episodes of Joan of Arcadia...

Well, actually, I watched some random one that Tivo recorded before I left for Italy, on Joan going to some school dance with this scary guy or something, which made me sniffle. These two made me sniffle as well. And they made me laugh out loud multiple times, so the outlook is currently good on what may be my new show.

I really like Joan and just how teenagery and snarky she is. She reminds me a little of Buffy actually, minus the kick-ass Slayer powers. I like her whole family actually, and Grace and especially Kevin. I sniffled a lot when Joan asked God why he couldn't just make Kevin walk again. There's something about the religion in the show that I do like, because Joan asks a lot of the questions that I do about Christianity. I do sort of wonder how long they're going to avoid the question of One True Religion though. But I also enjoy it as a sort of exploration of a faith that I don't have, and how it's about putting faith in something outside of yourself and trusting. I've always thought that that was a really powerful concept.

And I like how everyone in her family talks to each other, because it feels real. And I adore Joan in all her eye-rolling and her "whatever"'s and her hair-flippiness.

I'm a little baffled by the percentage of her dad that's in the show -- I sort of had the impression from LJ that it was mostly about Joan. It's very strange seeing all this police procedure stuff in the midst of Joan's adolescent angst, and I can't quite connect it with the Joan-God conversations that really seem to be the heart of the show.

But looking forward to more episodes ^_^.

Comments

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Yay! It's always cool to see others sharing the JoA love. I believe the season premiere's this Friday, too.

[oyceter]

Eep, so soon!

Hrm. I wonder if I can finish all of the first season by then.

That would probably be a really bad idea. But tempting.

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

The random episode you watched with the school shooting is "The Uncertainty Principle", which is an excellent episode.

I often have a problem reconciling the cop storylines to what Joan's going through in a given episode--the writers try to integrate the cop stories into the main plot/draw a parallel, but it frequently doesn't work. Now, there *are* episodes where all the storylines (including the Dad's) work seamlessly, and those are the best episodes quality-wise, I find.

It's worthwhile trying to get a hold of the rest of the season, especially the first 12-episode mini-arc culminating in "Jump", which is some of the best TV I've ever had the pleasure to see (and you know I watch a lot of TV. *g*)

Welcome to the fold! Maybe I should send Seah and Margie a fruit basket...

[oyceter]

Ahhh, ok. I liked that episode, and the cop part worked with it.

My wonderful boyfriend downloaded a zip file with all of season one in it for me ^_^. Yay! Although for some reason it has 23 episodes...

And I totally blame Seah and Margie and "Big Red Boat" for this. Hee. It's really funny though because I'm picking out clips from the vid in the episodes and going, oh! That's where that's from!

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I love Joan too! She's right in there with Buffy and My So-called Life for keeping my inner eternal adolescent alive. I like her relationship with her brothers and especially like the Adam plot line--he's a more believable guy to me than most you see on TV. Great actors, all of them. I think that's probably why I like the cop plots and mom plots as much as the Joan and brothers plots--it's all well done. I usually see a thematic tie-in, too. Can't wait till Friday! Have been in withdrawal all summer.

My other young woman show is American Dreams which I like also for identification with my IEA, good writing, directing, acting--and music! Plus it's from my time. So always wonder if any of you 90's and 00's kids can like it.

[oyceter]

So far I really like her relationship with her brothers. One of the things that won me over in these two episodes was how they treated her relationship with Kevin (not so much focus on Luke yet) and the tickle fight in one episode. Haven't seen much of Adam yet.

Oo, American Dreams. The boy really wanted to watch that when it came out, but we never got around to it.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling you'll like Adam and his whole plot line.

Tape American Dreams if the time is bad (8 Sundays NBC)--but then I could be biased (my generation, and all that).

[oyceter]

Hee, I started thinking, but the VCR doesn't work, and then I remembered I have Tivo. Duh!