| Episode 14 [Into the Woods] commentary :: part five
We return to find Grace in her office sorting through some books when Tom shows up. Tom wonders how Jack is doing. She tells him that he is disgusted and possibly scarred for life. "He thinks that I'm pathetic and immature and unfit to be a parent and he's right." Oh Grace. You're so hard on yourself. She says Tom was capering around in his underpants. Tom says they were briefs. All the straight girls say he was hot. Anyway...
Tom finds the whole thing a little humorous in hindsight. Jack will probably get over it in time too, he thinks. He might even tell his friends about it when they're drunk in a bar one night. Grace corrects Tom. He really doesn't know her son. Tom stills carries on in his oh so charming carefree ways. Jack can always write a book about it when he's older and expose his mother's horrible wish to be happy. Grace looks so incredibly vulnerable at this moment, and when Tom puts his arms around her it is as though the ages are reversed. She pushes him away. She can't think rationally when she's around him, and she doesn't like it. Tom assures her that she may think like a woman as well as a mother. Oh this scene just breaks my heart. And oddly enough, it's not the bit that follows, but this very part of the conversation. This is the damage that Jack and Bobby have done to her. It's so very sad.
Eventually, Grace finds her pretty smile again and they kiss once more. They pause for a moment and Grace tells him of their failed surprise yesterday. They could have done without a condom. She had a diaphram. And I love reading this scene as I do, which is that Grace actually doesn't need birth control at all and that... oh you fill in your own blanks. Tom adds his own little bombshell into the mix. It's not actually been six months since he last had sex with another woman. Young Tom has been getting it off with a few other women since his whole 'you're beautiful' thing in the car, the randy little sod. Naturally, Grace is hurt. She pushes Tom away from her. She's not surprised either. Grace shows him the door. Tom Tom Tom. You royally f***ed up this time, didn't you?
To add insult to injury, we're forced to go from a really stunning Grace scene to a stupid-ass Futurehead who's harping on about Bobby and the legislation and. Oh please let me be exempt from recapping these boring heads. Bobby gets shot at. With an electric gun. Bobby not dead. Crazy woman proves her point. it's almost noble. Wave pompoms.
After what seems like an eternity, we're back with Courtney, who's having to pay a visit to the university's own health service thing. After her little romp with Sparky sans condom, she needs the morning after pill. Sucky nine times over. One: she must be really worried. Two: She's having to go to somewhere on campus where her father works. Three: The morning after pill makes you feel like hell.
From one doe-eyed Courtney to Peter and Bobby carrying a dead deer back to the truck. Bobby's miserable and on the verge of tears. Peter tells him that it's alright, he's not disapointed with him. "You go into the woods to find out who you are." My subtext feature tells me that Peter is thinking about what Grace told him in his office. She knows her son. Peter does not. Peter pats Bobby on the shoulder and they drive off.
[insert futurehead here].
That evening, Grace is sitting on the sofa in her pjs and a robe. She's writing something on a pad of paper to keep her mind occupied. Jack hobbles in, announcing his entry loudly. Grace tells him he needn't do so every time he comes home, but Jack just stares her out before walking out of the room. Grace takes off her reading glasses and asks him to wait. She says that she forgot to say she was sorry. Jack really doesn't feel like talking to her at all, but she continues, and even goes to far as to say that she's been acting in a completely ridiculous way. Jack assures her that she's done worse things in her time, but she's not so convinced. He sighs and says "Why can't you act like a normal person? One minute you're totally into this guy, like dining room table into him and the next minute you're hating yourself for liking him. Which is it?" In yet another brilliant near-tears delivery, Grace says that she honestly doesn't know. Jack tells her that "This whole thing is totally screwed up, but you're allowed to be happy too, I guess." She gives him a sour 'thank you' in return, but offers the idea that Jack may be happy also, should he so desire. I hate Jack. Hate him. So much. This scene puts the hate at a whole new level though.
Bobby arrives home before I feel the urge to lash out irrationally. He's incredibly subdued. Jack wants him to spill, but Bobby just wants to go to bed. Jack follows him upstairs. Grace thanks him, and I wonder what for. Maybe for everything. Maybe nothing. Maybe.
Bobby doesn't want to speak with his brother either, so he goes to bed.
Futurehead tells us how the woman who shot Bobby had lost a son in a police crossfire. Bobby granted the woman clemency, but he still had to handle the fallout which resulted from his vetoing the bill.
In the only interesting/wise thing to come from Futurehead today: "Sometimes, everybdy loses."
~* fin. __________________ I don't know who to call. I don't know who to write. And I think I forgot what your face looks like.
I've been away.
Do you think that I've changed? I swear I never tried. Memory is a terrible thing when you use it right.
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