Saw It Coming
Written by Monica Owusa-Breen And Alison Schapker
Directed by James Moore
10
"Perfect"
Joe: "Sarah I need you to know that that I love you so much I can't even put it into words"
Sarah: "I really want this to work"
Joe: "So do I".
Instead of "Bad News" another appropriate title for this episode could've been "Anvils Keep Dropping Like Nuclear Bombs". There is going to be plenty of stuff that you will see coming a mile off and perhaps one or two things you didn't. Either way this is an important episode.
Things opened exactly where from "Game Night" left off and Justin is pretty shocked that Rebecca told him about the kiss between herself and Joe. For someone at least four years older than me, Justin comes across as a bit nave in this scene.
Despite making a brief plea that perhaps she misconstrued the situation, Justin is quick to point out that the Walkers (Joe included) are a pretty affectionate family. It's a lame cover especially that the Walkers are also pretty argumentative and unable to keep secrets while hiding important things from one another too.
The thing is Justin takes Rebecca's word as gospel after she points out that the kiss wasn't warranted and as much as I do like the girl, I'm having a hard time taking her word at face value here. If we had actually seen the kiss it would be easy so until we do, I'm willing to bet this kiss wasn't one sided.
Even though Justin only has Rebecca's word, he's almost too quick to confront Joe and then issue him with an ultimatum to either tell Sarah or he will. I respect Justin for wanting to look out for both his sisters but it wouldn't have killed him to actually here Joe's side of the story. After all he knows Joe a lot longer than Rebecca, so IMO Justin at least owed Joe that courtesy.
Of course it's also rather noteworthy during the big confrontation scene that Joe shows a flicker of regret when talking to Justin so we definitely know that a kiss did happen and Rebecca didn't just imagine one especially given that Joe didn't deny that a kiss did actually happen between them. It's also possible from that exchange that Joe wanted the kiss too but whether he initiated it or not remains to be seen for a while anyway. Joe hasn't exactly been shy about admitting he wanted some adult company but would he really go that far to get some? He knows more than anyone that no Walker is capable of keeping a secret so why would he even consider making the moves on Rebecca if he did want to cheat on Sarah? Even Kevin when saddled with the task of babysitting Cooper and Paige while Joe takes Sarah away camping is quick to tell Justin that not only could Rebecca possibly be lying but that Justin's little ultimatum also affects Sarah and Joe's kids. Unlike the whole thing with Saul back in "The Other Walker", Kevin really does raise a good point here. Justin was trying to do the decent thing and for that I respect the guy but he needs to get his facts straight before doing anything rash.
Talking to Rebecca again and there's almost a different reaction. Instead of being shaken, she gets pretty pissed off when she feels that Justin doesn't believe her story and worse still, Holly happens to overhear things and decides it's time to get her own little payback on Sarah. Hey vengeance is a **** and you can call her Holly.
For a second you think that maybe Holly is attempting to look out for her daughter but the moment she steps into Sarah's office all smug, it's obvious she's out to stir trouble. Sarah is quick to initially rubbish Holly's claim until the mistress is quick to bring up Sarah's previous insecurity about Vanessa and that's the moment when it hits the fan for Sarah.
Revenge may be sweet but while Sarah was totally nasty for telling Rebecca about her parentage she was essentially telling the truth. Holly on the other hand only had Rebecca's word to go on so her blabbing to Sarah about Joe is even more spiteful when it turns out that Holly doesn't actually believe that Rebecca is innocent.
Having Justin question her got Rebecca to lay into Joe but when Holly did the same thing, Rebecca responded by calling her a whore. In fairness regardless of that comment being nasty, Rebecca does raise a point but it's really surprising that Holly's only response to that is to tell Rebecca to stop it. Still a part of me smirked when Rebecca left Holly with the parting shot of William choosing Nora over her. After this episode, Holly more than deserved the array of abuse given to her here. If she's willing to cause trouble just to get back at Sarah, then the very least, she deserves to be called out on it and it doesn't matter whether or not the person calling her out on it is Rebecca. Despite what unfolds in this episode I still like Rebecca or at the very least I still want to but it does appear that her and Holly aren't so unalike after all. If Holly's rant is anything to go by, then Rebecca also has a penchant of using men to get what she wants. I mean her last boyfriend was a professor and something tells me the guy was married too. If this is the case then Justin is going to have to wise up.
Even more disconcerting is that Nora gives Rebecca a place to stay even after she finds out about the kiss with Joe. It's amazing that no-one is actually giving Joe the benefit of the doubt (except maybe Kevin) and doesn't Nora think it could be hard for Sarah if Rebecca was there all the time, especially if Sarah and Joe aren't able to recover from this revelation. Tact isn't exactly Nora's strongest point but she should've at least had enough common sense to realise that keeping Rebecca in without the full story is a disaster waiting to happen. Sometimes I think this lot get off on half the dramas they seem to attract so vigorously.
However the fallout between Sarah and Joe is what makes this episode. Even halfway through this episode and still unsure of who started the bloody kiss, Joe does generate a lot of sympathy for someone who has cheated on his wife. At the beach not only does he seem determined to alleviate his conscience but he's also making the effort to try and inject some fun that we really haven't seen between him and Sarah. It's just a pity that Justin's ultimatum was a big reason behind that.
It's also the stuff at the beach that does make me as a viewer want to root for Sarah and Joe as a couple. Seeing Sarah actually enjoy herself for once instead of worrying about Ojai or the kids is great but thanks to Holly, her mood got well and truly killed. The least Sarah could've done was slap Holly.
Instead she wastes no time and focuses her energies on finding out whether or not something did happen between her half-sister and her husband and when Joe glumly admits that him and Rebecca did kiss, Sarah's first reaction does seem to be more of annoyance that Holly was right and less about Joe's indiscretion. It also gives Joe the slight right to express his own towards Sarah's never ending feud with Holly.
Although this entire confrontation has the most soapy of dialogue, the one thing that elevates it are the raw performances between Rachel Griffiths and John Pyper Ferguson who more than raise their A-Game as Sarah and Joe both seem to have the right to slam the other.
Therapy and weekends away haven't worked for them and even if Joe hadn't kissed Rebecca, this is possibly the very argument Sarah and Joe needed to have in order to make any kind of progress. Sarah has got every right in the world to lay into her husband for kissing Rebecca as her fears of not being enough for Joe seem to be now justified but that doesn't mean that Joe isn't allowed some points of his own.
He might be right when it comes to Sarah not always appreciating him and he also might be right about being emasculated. He certainly got dumped on by nearly everyone in this episode but that doesn't necessarily mean that he was justified in kissing his wife's half-sister. Nothing Joe can say excuses that no matter how bad I might feel for the guy.
However the last thing this episode ends with is that kiss and the simple truth is that Joe did kiss Rebecca but not only did she reciprocate but she also offered to stay even after Joe got an attack of conscience and told her to leave. By telling Justin, Rebecca was clearly trying to stir trouble. Joe should've never kissed her but Rebecca had no right to go around and make him come across as being completely at fault. After all both of them were guilty but Rebecca comes across as being worse because of the way she lied to Justin. She's gonna have to do some redeeming in future episodes.
Speaking of handling, is it me or is Mark becoming more of a creep now than he was beforehand? Bad enough he's screwing students half his age but his method of getting Nora to attend a date with his is to blackmail her into after she made a fuss about her final grade.
Nora stupidly enough takes the bait and goes to a nice little Ethiopian restaurant with the guy but while she's smart enough to call him out on his crap, it's really mind boggling that after getting evidence that Mark is a creep, she still agrees to go on another date with him. Nora's not stupid but even she can't be desperate enough to date Mark, right? Where are Dave and Emily when you really need them?
When it comes to need, one of the most delightful things about this episode is Kevin. Not only is he at his most likeable in this episode but if you couldn't get enough of his dinosaur impression from the previous episode, then him being painted as a tiger is just as fun to watch. Just like Justin, Kevin does seem to have a bit of a knack for kids.
His little conversation with Paige during a game of Connect Four about not being married was interesting especially when it transpires that Paige was merely distracting him so she could win. Kevin may have a good point about her in game night years down the line.
Onto the less exciting plot of this episode, Kitty and Robert take a break in his ranch so that Robert can relax and not abuse his staff to the point of rebellion so it's a pity that before Steven the speech writer met his expected death in a helicopter; Robert was nothing short of mean to him.
Robert does show remorse for his previous behaviour and even attempts to not use Steven's death as a means to aid his campaign but it doesn't stop him from using extracts of Steven's speech at the poor guy's funeral. More funny is the fact that Kitty proposes to Robert and he has to think about it. I dug that Kitty proposed to him and it terms of TV romances it might have been a bit slow. Then again, I think they've been dating properly for two months so maybe it's a bit too fast after all.
Also in "Bad News"
If Nora really didn't want to go out on a date with Mark, why not just threaten the Dean on him?
Rebecca: "Justin please if something happens to Sarah and Joe's marriage they're going to blame me and you know it. Don't give them any ammunition to hate me".
Aside from Nora, Kitty, Justin and now Kevin has Sarah ever gotten Tommy to look after Paige and Cooper? Him and Julia could use the practice.
Nora: "This is sexual harassment and I don't plan to take it lying down"
Mark: "Oh the jokes that are running in my head".
Paige: "Uncle Kevin, can I ask you a question?"
Kevin: "How come I got all the good looks in the family?"
How old exactly is Paige supposed to be? I'm gonna assume she's at least 9 or 10 but either way Kevin got my respect for the way he chose to talk about his sexuality/inability to get hitched without going into sordid details.
Paige: "Connect Four"
Kevin: "Wait, were you distracting me? Wow, wait until you're old enough for game night".
Kevin (to Justin): "Did you once think of Paige and Cooper when you gave Joe that ultimatum?"
I think it was around the time this episode aired that the series won a GLAAD award. I bring it up because the previous episode had Donna talking about them.
Rebecca (to Justin): "Like 'Oh hah you must be the new family slut'. That's how it happened Justin. He came on to me. I knew your family wouldn't believe me but I thought that you would".
Holly: "We need to talk"
Sarah: "I make it a habit of mine not to believe a word that comes from your mouth".
Rachel Griffiths submitted this episode for her Emmy nomination and how the heck Katherine Heigl managed to beat is beyond me.
Sarah: "So it's my fault. I drove you to see other women"
Joe: "At least other women, they don't look at me like I'm some insignificant burden. Like I'm not worthy of being with you"
Holly: I know you, Rebecca. I'm guessing that Joe did not just come onto you out of the blue"
Rebecca: "Just because you're a whore it doesn't mean I am".
No Tommy, Julia or Saul this week which wasn't a bad thing as such.
Holly: "Stop it"
Rebecca: "No wonder he chose Nora over you".
Joe: "So what now?"
Sarah: "I don't know"
Joe: "I don't know either".
Standout music: "Mornin'" by The Dukes and "Canyon Arrow" by The Autumn Defence.
Joe: "So I guess the entire Walker clan knows by now"
Sarah: "Maybe. Probably".
Joe: "You should probably go"
Rebecca: "I don't have to"
Joe: "No. You should go".
Chronology: Mere seconds after "Game Night" so still April 2007.
"Bad News" is an apt title for an episode that's not short on big meaty dramatic scenes and an overall set up of events. If Sarah and Joe are headed for the divorce court you can almost guarantee that Kitty and Robert are almost destined for the aisle. Overall this is a powerful episode and most definitely one of the series most defining as well.moreless
