![](\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/Ss94kaQEMiI\/AAAAAAAAAU4\/GV-BfzzS_dw\/s320\/Joan2\")
<\/a>Season 1, episode 4, \u201cJust Say No\u201d\u2014When last we left our heroine, a middling student at Arcadia (MD) High School, she was building a boat under orders from God. At the end of the episode, we understood God\u2019s purpose. The boat became a link between Joan\u2019s recently paralyzed brother, Kevin, and their father, Will Girardi. At the beginning of the next episode, \u201cJust Say No,\u201d Joan finds a middle-aged lady (God) putting up a sign for a yard sale on Saturday at . . . Joan\u2019s house! Guess what God wants Joan to do?<\/p>\nThings get complicated when our heroine falls for Clay, a self-absorbed guy who mans the high school radio station and asks if Joan wants to \u201chang out\u201d on Saturday. His advances feel slightly creepy, especially when the subplot involves Will, as chief of police, investigating a rape case. But Joan is smitten, and when a vending machine repairman (God, of course) reminds Joan of the yard sale, she says she wants to have a social life. \u201cRomantic love!\u201d God says. \u201cI\u2019m proud of that, some of my best work.\u201d Joan is miffed: \u201cThis guy likes me and you want to talk about the mysteries of the universe!\u201d God: \u201cSure, but aren\u2019t you busy on Saturday?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rape becomes the central theme of the episode when Joan begins going through the basement and finds dark paintings by her mother. It turns out, as Helen and Will discuss privately, that Helen was raped as a young woman and these painting express her distress. Will urges her to tell Joan, for her protection. No, Mom says, \u201cThis is my call!\u201d<\/p>\n
Joan listens to God and holds the yard sale, but Clay comes by anyway to flirt with her and, it turns out, to steal Dad\u2019s chief\u2019s badge. When Joan learns about this, she demands the badge back and gives up her crush on Clay. On the bus home, a man reading a newspaper (God, aren\u2019t you catching on yet?) tells Joan, \u201cYou should be nicer to your mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joan: Is this about those paintings?
God: Where do you think that comes from in a person?
Joan: What happened to her? Is that why she\u2019s so weird about me dating? How bad was it?
God: It was evil, and I don\u2019t throw that word around. This is my stop. (God gets up to exit bus)
Joan: You can\u2019t leave! God! God!<\/p>\n
Back home, Will tells Helen he has been working on a rape case.<\/p>\n
Helen: I know.
Will: How do you know?
Helen: Because whenever you\u2019re working on a rape case, you get very quiet, and you grind your teeth in your sleep. We\u2019ve talked about this before. You can\u2019t fix what happened to me, no matter how many rapists you put away.
Will (down on his knees): I need you to tell Joan. I don\u2019t know why, but I really need it, Helen. Maybe because I\u2019m afraid of her not knowing how close it is to her, all of the time. Please do this for me!<\/p>\n
As the final music rises, Mom looks at Dad, then slowly walks upstairs to Joan\u2019s room. She knocks and says, \u201cI have something to tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joan says, \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joan of Arc dwelt in obscurity in a tiny French village for her first 17 years before going out in a blaze of glory, literally. I have a feeling that my weekly posts on her modern-day successor, \u201cJoan of Arcadia,\u201d are following the same pattern. Based on comments and other available metrics, my enthusiasm for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n