|
|
Tears Are Not Enough I
The episode starts with Craig, Ashley and Sean walking out of school and commiserating on the nightmares that are exams, especially the science one which is apparently Craig’s worse subject. Cue Craig’s father, who’s been waiting near the steps for Craig to get out of class and who takes this opportunity to come back into his son’s life by offering to help him study. Craig looks all wide-eyed and much younger, and uncertainly asks "Dad?", and I feel the urge to reach out through the screen and hug him for the first of many times in this episode.
He glances back to his friends before asking him, almost a little angrily, what he’s doing here, to which the good doctor answers that he just wanted to, y’know, see his son, meet his friends, get his punching ball back. Ashley, either unaware of the situation or just stupider than I’d ever taken her for, holds out her hand and introduces herself while Sean looks on and Craig keeps staring at his dad. When Dr. Manning holds out his hand to Sean and asks for his name, Sean wins my heart by looking at him in disgust and spitting on the ground instead of offering his own hand. Cue Dr. Manning looking a little flustered, then putting himself back together to ask Craig if he can give him a ride home. Craig reminds him that he lives with Joey, but Dad just takes this in stride and changes his previous offer to a ride to Joey’s. Craig, who was obviously expecting for his father to react as he usually does when he hears about Joey, meaning with screams and fists, contemplates this for a moment but finally says that he can’t.
Dr. Manning doesn’t want to take no for an answer, though, and he offers to have dinner together the next night, and when Craig starts to refuse again, he tells him to just think about it, then waves and leaves. Craig watches him go while Sean and Ashley look at him, and Ashley offers uncertainly that he seems nice which is, I guess, the best indication we have that Craig hasn’t shared his sordid tale of child abuse with her. Or she’s extremely stupid which, hey, still a valid possibility when it comes to Ashley. Just then, though, Craig answers all matter of factly that his father seeming nice was probably due to the fact that he didn’t have a belt in hand, a look I understand isn’t the doctor’s best. Ashley just pursues her lips which seems like a very tame reaction to the announcement that your (almost-)boyfriend was physically abused by his father, but what do I know? Sean, acting like a nice supportive boyfriend, demands to know that Craig won’t accept his father’s offer, but before we can get Craig’s answer and Sean’s comforting cuddles, we cut to the theme song.
When we come back to the show, we’re in Joey’s kitchen the next morning (I assume) where Craig is studying for his exams while Joey and Angela get ready to leave. "Tell me again why I need to know about genetics?" Craig asks him, to which Joey answers that it’s so [Craig] can clone him and [Joey] can be in a million places at once, which is our first clue that organization in the Jeremiah household isn’t the best. We establish that Joey will take Angela to ballet class that night and that they’ll be home late (though how late can a ballet class for a five year old could be?), so that we know Craig will be able to do whatever he wants to do that night like, I don’t know, maybe see his father?, and not have Joey know about it.
Angela complains that she doesn’t want to eat her breakfast, and when Joey tries to get her to at least drink orange juice, she holds out her hand to grab the glass but instead tips it back, spilling orange juice all over Craig’s notes. I think we’re supposed to think it was an accident, but it really looks as if she did it deliberately. Anyway, Craig and Joey start yelling, Craig rushing to try to save his notes, and Angela starts to cry reminding us that, even though Alex Steele is the cutest little girl EVAH, she’s also one of the most awful child actresses I’ve ever seen. And that includes the girl who played Lily in the last seasons of Step By Step, which should really tell you something.
Craig complains that the place is a mess and Joey, obviously testy and still trying to calm down Angela, agrees and tells Craig that he could maybe “earn his allowance” and come home early to clean it. Craig looks a little taken aback by this rebuttal, and stutters that he’s studying at Sean’s that evening. I don’t know if we’re supposed to believe he actually plans to, or already decided to go see his father and is lying about it, but I think we’re meant to understand that, whatever the case may be, it’s in part situations like this at home that make him want to see, and maybe go back with, his dad. Joey was probably careful at first to never yell or use much authority with Craig, but it’s been almost a year since Craig came to live with them and it’s understandable that he’d stop walking on eggshells. But Craig, as he said in Drive, felt that that he could "do no wrong" with Joey, and now that he realizes he can and does and that his father is back and apparently better, it makes sense that a part of him would rather believe that and go back to his dad’s. It would be normal whatever the situation was with Joey, but that’s only one more thing that pushes him towards his dad, IMO.
In any case, Joey asks him to come home early to clean the house, then takes Angela in his arms and takes her away to, I suppose, clean her up and calm her down. Craig watches his notes in frustration.
Cut to Science class, where Miss Sauge is asking if anyone has any question. As you would expect Craig has one, regarding noble gazes, and hurries to write down the answer while looking just about as panicked as I did before a Chemistry exam in High School (that’s "unbelievably", in case you were wondering). Sitting near him, Spinner is more interested in Miss Sauge’s ass and leans down to confer about it with Craig, but Craig is "trying to concentrate" and snaps at him to shut up just as the bell rings. Spinner and Marco remark that he’s in a bad mood, but Craig testily tells them that he just wants to pass this exam. The boys grumble and leave, but Ashley, as a concerned almost-girlfriend, follows him and tries to make him talk about what’s bothering him. "It’s just the exams?" she asks, and Craig wishes that was just it.
"Your dad, huh?" Ashley asks him, her full understanding, I’m-a-Goth-and-I-get-people’s-pain-better-than-anyone-else-just-from-reading-about-it voice. "You guys didn’t have the best relationship, did you?" Gee, what tipped you, Ashley? Was it the fact that they don’t live together? That Craig’s oldest friend obviously despises the guy? Or was it that time when Craig remarked that his father only seemed nice because he didn’t have a belt in his hands?
Craig seems to realize, as I do, the absolute stupidity of this question and snaps "Ahhhh, no!" but unfortunately immediately turns around to face Ashley and apologizes. He admits that, while they’ve talked on the phone a few times, it’s the first time he’s seen his father in months. Ashley tells him that people can change which, yes, very true, but somehow not the kind of answer I would expect in this situation. They should really not have given Craig the belt comment from earlier on if they wanted Ashley to have this reaction, because as it is it just doesn’t work. Craig guesses people do change, and we cut to another class.
It’s exam time for Grade 8, and JT’s in trouble. He whispers to Liberty to try to get her to show him the answers, but Liberty just puts her arms around her copy, finishes the test and then stretches, smiling superiorly at him. JT’s not amused, and I’m troubled: why would he try to get to see Liberty’s answers when she’s several seats away from him and Toby’s almost right next to him? Maybe he doesn’t have all perfect answers, but at least he’d actually be able to see them. And why wait for the almost end of the test to cheat?
Cut to what I assume is lunch break. Liberty is sitting at a table outside, alone and studying. JT walks up to her but can’t bring himself to talk when he finally reaches her. Liberty knows what he wants, though, and asks him if he wants her tutoring help or not. This wakes up JT, who says he does then asks, in the insanely cute way Ryan Cooley manages even at 13: "Please? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" So very very cute, and I’m not the only one to think so, as Liberty finally cracks a smile and agrees to help him if he gets her a ticket for "Hawaiian paradise" in exchange. She’s talking about the luau dance that’ll take place in a few days at Degrassi, which JT quickly understands, but when he gets that she wants him to go with her, he refuses, arguing that it’s a rip-off. But it’s Liberty’s "final offer," she says, and JT, probably realizing that if he screws up his exams he won’t even be allowed to go to the dance, agrees.
Cut to Craig getting out of a bus that we soon see brought him to the hospital. He jogs inside and, just as he’s about to presumably ask the receptionist where his father is, Dr. Manning magically appears at the end of the hallway. And, wouldn’t you know it, but he doesn’t actually beat his patients like the monster that he is. He’s even, *gasp* nice to them, as we can see when he kneels down next to Mrs. Owen (Holwen?) who’s sitting in a wheelchair, asks her how she is and assures her that she’s a very healthy woman and that the surgery will go just fine. Craig smiles at that, as we all do, because if his father can say nice things to his patients then obviously he’s seen the error of his ways and will never, ever raise a hand to Craig again, and they can go live together happily ever after. It’s not badly done, though – it’s normal for Craig to want to believe that his father 'got better’ and witnessing this kind of scene will only encourage his belief that he did. It just makes me want to hug him again, when I know what’s waiting for him.
After Mrs. Owen is wheeled away, Dr. Manning gets up and notices Craig; he greets him, obviously happy to see him. He offers his hand, which Craig examines for a second before taking it, and asks if Craig’s here for dinner. Craig is if his father still wants to (the poor boy only wants to be loved, I tell ya, loved!), which Dr. Manning "of course" does. He leaves to get changed, and just then Nice Blonde Nurse walks up and asks "Craig?" from behind. Craig turns around and obviously recognizes NBN from the days he, I guess, hung around the hospital during his free time? and greets her. NBN asks how life at boarding school is and Craig, taken aback, asks "boarding school?", then realizes that his dad probably didn’t admit to his colleagues that his son left home because he used to beat him with golf clubs, and lies that life there’s great. His dad didn’t tell NBN that he was back in town, she says, and Craig lies again that it’s a surprise visit. A good thing, thinks NBN, as "it’s the first smile [she’s] seen on his father’s face since [Craig] left," a news that surprises but pleases Craig. Just then, Dr. Manning comes out all changed and calls out: "Craiggers? You ready?" Aww, he used a surname! How can he be bad if he’s happy to see his son and using a surname, huh? Which is basically the thought that must be running through Craig’s head as he waves goodbye to NBN and runs to his dad while nice piano music plays. And, hey! His father even puts an arm around his shoulder! Told you he was good.
Cut to the restaurant, where Craig announces that it was good to see everyone at the hospital again – 'everyone' meaning NBN, I suppose -- then hesitates a little before asking his father about the whole boarding school thing. His dad admits that he "couldn’t tell everyone where [Craig] went and why," and makes it sound somewhat as if it was Craig’s fault and he was trying to protect him by lying, which may be just my interpretation but wouldn’t actually surprise me. Especially since Craig just looks at him blankly for a little while then starts nodding and agrees that: "Yeah. [He] guesses not," but doesn’t seem to really believe that. I would guess that Dr. Manning probably used the whole "It’s your fault I’m doing this" excuse when hitting him, turning them more into deserved punishments rather than beatings (remember the 'getting home late' incident in WDC?), and never really acknowledged that that’s what those were, just like he didn’t at the end of WDC. Craig, though, knew even back then that they weren’t 'just' punishments and probably hoped that his father had realized that by now, which would explain his blank, almost angry look right then.
Craig’s father continues that Craig leaving was a huge wake-up call for him and that he got into anger management, and is now better. Craig doesn’t seem to know what to say to that, so his father continues by asking him if everything’s going okay at Joey’s to which Craig admits that right now "things are a bit crazy, with the exams, but –," and Dr. Manning interrupts to ask and assure himself that Craig can still concentrate on them properly, "Right? Because marks are *so* important, you know?" and Craig, probably not wanting his dad to think that things are less than perfect at Joey’s and that he re-made his mother’s mistake when leaving, rushes to assure him that yes, it’s all under control. Dr. Manning takes this opportunity to re-offer his help on any studying Craig needs. Craig answers, a little uncomfortable, that he’d have to ask Joey, but that doesn’t faze Dr. Manning who just says: "Especially Science. Is that still your worse subject?" Again, a clear difference with Joey who, when Craig mentioned Science, joked about it instead of asking if he needed any help with it, probably not even knowing that he had any particular difficulty with the subject. Craig smiles at that and agrees that, yes, it still is. "Some things never change," he notes, laughing, and Dr. Manning looks up from his plate to say, much more seriously, that "Some things do." Craig contemplates that, and we cut to –
-- Joey and Angela, not in ballet class but lying on the couch. Joey takes a thermometer out of Angela’s mouth and brushes her hair while announcing that she has a fever. At that same instant, Craig comes home and Joey, who obviously had a bad day, immediately starts on him, asking where he was. Craig lies that he was studying, but Joey’s not done, complaining that Angela got sick at ballet and that when he came home, the place hadn’t been cleaned (and God, is that supposed to be a not-clean house? I consider my place "clean" when I can walk on the floor without inadvertently breaking a cd case because I’m trying to avoid putting my foot on my dirty clothes. Then again, I’ve had boyfriends and bachelor friends in their early 20s who thought my place was a mess, so I’m probably not the best example). Craig apologizes, which isn’t enough for Joey who "needs [his] help around [the house]". "And I need to study for exams," answers Craig. "I am allowed to study, right?" he asks, and Joey, looking annoyed but also a bit defeated, grumbles: "Yeah. Fine." And seriously, as much as I care for Craig, I wouldn’t want to be in Joey’s situation. It must already be hard enough to raise a teenager in a normal situation, but in this case… Craig seems to realize that and, also annoyed, offers to clean up the house. "That would be helpful. Thank you," says Joey, not sounding that thankful. "You’re welcome," says Craig, he neither sounding like he means it. He leaves the room and Angela starts grumbling/complaining in a very cute way, and Joey carries her up to bed. And I realize she’s sick, here, but doesn’t she get carried around a lot? I can’t even remember the last time I saw her walking, at least more than a few steps until she was later picked up.
Cut to the next day. Craig knocks on the door of a house, and his father answers, happy to see him. "So," Craig says, "what do you know about the periodic table?" Dr. Manning smiles and gestures for him to go inside, and we cut to Craig sitting at a table and drinking a glass of around juice while reciting the names of the noble gazes. "Good," praises Dr Manning from the adjacent kitchen, and then asks their defining characteristic. "Stability," says Craig, and realizing by himself that it’s the correct answer, shouts: "Yes!" He takes a drink from the glass, and then puts it down on the table, right next to the coaster. And I just need to cut in there to say that, while I don’t use those myself, I just don’t get people who will put their glass on the surface of the table when it’s right there. I wouldn’t hit you for it or anything if you did it, but seriously: it’s right. there. Just put the glass a few inches over.
Dr. Manning seems to have the same reaction that I do and, when he hears the glass hit the table, asks Craig (in a completely normal tone of voice, I should specify) if he’s figured out what the coaster’s for yet. But this seems to be a new type of reaction for him, because just as he’s finished speaking we see Craig flinch back in fear as he imagines his father with a belt in his hand, striking out. The 'fantasy' fades to red and back to Craig, still leaning back and staring in space. That was really well done, I must say, well acted and completely in character, considering their history.
Not getting an answer, Dr. Manning asks "Craig?" Craig blinks hard a couple of times, shaking the vision off, as his father walks up to the table and puts the glass on the coaster himself, remarking that he just doesn’t want any ring on the table. Craig, still shaken up, silently nods.
Cut to Toby and JT on the school steps. "Alright, maybe you don’t get it," JT tells Toby. "I have to go to this dance with Liberty." Toby is enjoying his friend’s misery, though, and thinks it’s only fair since Liberty’s helping him go through exams. "Suck it up,” he gloats. But JT’s crushed that his dream won’t ever become true. His dream, you ask? Paige, of course. "Dancing with me. So close. So sloooow," he dreams out loud in squickier voice with each word, reaching out to hug Toby as if he were the girl of his dreams. "So impossible," notes Toby, pushing him away. JT, obviously not agreeing, thinks he can maybe still ask Paige out, but Toby doesn’t agree: he can’t just use Liberty to pass exams then dump her for Paige. Liberty walks up to them before we can get JT’s answer, though, holding a stack of cards and not even bothering to greet her friends before starting to coach JT on the capitals of Europe. Toby leaves, and JT recites his capitals like a good boy until he gets to Minsk, at which point Liberty stops holding out the cards, a daydreaming look on her face. "Helloooo!” calls out JT, and Liberty goes back to reality to ask him which color he’d prefer for her gown, a subject that JT’s not really passionate about. "Liberty," he says, trying to make her come to her senses and make her realize the absurdity of it all, "it’s just a luau. You don’t need some big – gown. It’s not even a real date," he starts to say, but Liberty interrupts him before he can say the fateful d-word, agreeing herself that it’s not a real one. "But," she adds almost shyly, "I just want something you like." This makes JT, who’s probably planning right this moment how he’ll ask out Paige, very uncomfortable. "Moving on," he says, and they get back to the capitals.
Cut to Ashley and Craig walking up to each other just outside the Science classroom. They’re both dressed in black and greet each other by lightly bumping fists in the most adorable way ever, reminding me of why I love them so much together, even if they and Ashley bug me sometimes. They’re just unbelievably cute together. They get in, and Miss Sauge closes the door behind them.
Cut to the geography exam, which will take place online. Huh. Do they really do that in high school nowadays? I wouldn’t go as far as to say, like their teacher, that I was lucky to get a pencil in my days, but I seriously had no idea they used the computers as much, now. Just figured there were a dozen or so in the whole school, used to type up and print homework. Anyway, the first question on the test is to cite the capitals of Europe, and JT surprisingly looks at Liberty, who smiles at him. I don’t really get why he would be so surprised, almost thought at first that he wondered if she’d cheated, but that doesn’t seem to be it. Still, it’s a happy kind of surprise, and he starts immediately on it.
Cut back to the Science exam. Ashley looks behind her to see how Craig’s doing, and in the background we can see Spinner next to her, leaning over while she’s not looking to try and see her answers. Hee. This is why I love Degrassi – it’s never just about the four main characters of the moment, there’s always something going on in the background that sometimes even gets played in other episodes. Craig’s doing very fine, in any case, judging by how quickly he’s writing down his answers. He looks up and notices Ashley looking at him; he smiles, she smiles back, and I’m in love. Next to Ashley, still in the background, you can see Spinner looking at Craig from the corner of his eyes, all suspicious. Hee! I love Spinner. Craig goes back to his test, and we cut to –
-- JT and Toby. JT aced his test and is gloating that "[He] is the king of Degrassi. And there’s my queen," he adds when he sees Paige in the hallway. He calls out her name and runs up to her to tell her that: "This is turning out to be one of the best day of [his] life." "I’m thrilled for you, sweet potatoes," Paige tells him, a little too much like her old, snippy self, IMO, considering that not two episodes ago she was telling him about her rape and he was trying to beat Dean up to avenge her. And I should mention that Paige is wearing a purple shirt, with purple tinted sunglasses and purple eye-shadow. It doesn’t exactly look bad, but I’d be careful with colors like this, if I were her. She could just as easily look like a clown.
JT thinks she can make his day even better, actually, and starts to mention the dance when he hears Liberty shouting his name from behind. He turns around and sees her running toward him. She wants to know if he did well on the exam (she thinks he did, seeing he finished before her), and JT, once again obviously uncomfortable, admits that he did then asks if they can talk about it later. But Liberty’s so happy, she jumps into his arms and starts patting his back in earnest, as he tries to step back from it. "I’d love to stay and soak up your collective joy," interrupts Paige, "but, the million dollar question regarding the dance?" she asks. Panicked, JT turns his head in Liberty’s direction (who, at this point, still has one of her hand on JT’s shoulder), then back to Paige. "Do you want to..." he starts; Paige lifts her eyebrow in question; "...you know..." he continues, then pauses again, looks at Liberty, and finally sighs and finishes in a resigned tone-of voice: "...help Liberty pick out her outfit." Good boy. Liberty is elated, and JT finishes by saying, in the funniest tone of voice: "She’s my date." Paige would "love to," though she obviously wasn’t expecting this. "You know, for a second there," she tells him, smirking, "I though you were gonna ask me." She laughs a little at the utter stupidity of this idea and leaves. Liberty thanks him and runs after Paige, leaving JT to commiserate alone on how extremely funny that idea really is.
Cut to Craig and Ashley coming out of the school, both happy to be free of Science and periodic tables for months. They start walking together and Craig works up the courage to ask her if she’s going to the dance, to which Ashley replies that of course she is, seeing she’s on the school committee. Two things: does it make sense to anyone else that Ashley would be on the committee, seeing she was a pariah for most of the school year? And how can a fifteen year old girl, who’s dated and is fairly popular among boys, cannot understand that it’s Craig’s way of asking her out? Especially seeing they’ve been heavily flirting for a couple of weeks, at least. That just doesn’t make sense, much as the rest of Ashley in this episode.
Craig clarifies that he meant to ask if she was going with anyone. "Oh," says Ashley. "No." Craig jumps on this with "Me neither." They keep walking for a few seconds, Craig stealing glances at Ashley all the while until he finally asks as quickly as he can: "Should we go together?" Ashley gets this smile on her face and says that they should, and it is the cutest asking-out-someone scene of the whole series. The way Craig gets his face three inches away from Ashley when he asks, and the way her smile just swallows up her face – it’s just sickeningly cute.
They get interrupted by Dr. Manning who drives up to them. Craig asks him what he’s doing here, obviously torn between letting his dad know he’s glad to see him and wanting him to get the fuck away right NOW so that he can be alone with Ashley, which his dad seems to get and not appreciate. He just wanted to know how Craig had done on the exam, it turns out. Craig looks back at Ashley and tells him it went great, and his father nods while looking pointedly at Ashley until both she and Craig gets the clue and she leaves, telling Dr. Manning how nice it was to see him again in her best Good Girl voice. "Nice to see you too, Allison," Dr. Manning says, and seriously, who mixes up Ashley with Allison? Maybe Alex, but not Allison, which leads me to believe Dr. Manning knew full well her name but wants to make it clear that he doesn’t care one iota about it. Ashley corrects him and leaves without waiting for him to apologize, and Craig’s father watches her walk away while whispering between clenched teeth "Ahs-Ley" and obviously wishing she was his daughter so that he could shut her up the good ol’ fashioned way. Ensues the following exchange between Craig and his father:
Dr. M: "Interesting girl." ("What are you doing spending time with a whore like that? It’s too bad I’m trying to be extra-nice to you right now so that you’ll come back home, otherwise your back would already be blue for daring to ask her out.")
Craig: "She is." ("Well, Joey likes Ashley. And last time I checked, I was still living with him, so screw you.")
Sensing that’s a subject best left for later, Dr. Manning moves on and asks Craig to have dinner with him that night to celebrate his success on the exam, but Craig has to baby-sit Angela late that night. Dr. Manning agrees to push back dinner to 8.30, and when Craig fails to answer, prompts him again. Craig, obviously not wanting to say no to his father, fakes a smile and agrees that he’ll be there.
Cut to a car race video game, or maybe Grand Theft Auto – it’s been years since I’ve played video games, and back then I was always more a fan of Sonic and Mickey types of games, to be honest. Craig’s the one playing it, even though Angela wants him to read her a book for the sixth time. "Craaaiiig, pleeeaaase! I’ve got the chicken pox," she whines adorably, and Craig gives up. "Your wish is my command," he says, and grabs the books from her hands just as the telephone starts to ring. Angela rushes to grab and give it to Craig, and he tells her to count how many spots she has on her body while he answers. It’s Joey, who’s still at the car dealership and informs Craig that he has a potential buyer for a car and won’t be home for at least another hour. "I have plans with… friends," Craig tells him, grimacing at the lie, and asks if he can’t get home sooner. Joey can’t, though, not without losing the sale, so Craig agrees to baby-sit a while longer. During the whole conversation, Angela is sitting on his knees and counting her spots out loud, and she finishes just as he hangs up and leans back on his chest, announcing that she has 18 spots. And just as if the whole sibling exchange wasn’t the cutest thing ever (and God, how many times have I used this word already? Between Craig/Angela and Craig/Ashley scenes, this whole episode just reeks of cuteness. It’s even worse than kitties playing together. With puppies. ), Craig looks at his watch, worried sick that he’ll be late, but still tells her: "Lucky you." The kitties and puppies? Joined by little fluffy rabbits. He then proceeds to read her the book whose cover features polar bears and is apparently titled Out on the Ice.
Cut to Dr. Manning checking his watch at the restaurant. The waitress comes over and asks him if she can get him anything, and if we didn’t already get from the whole Ashley/Allison scene that the man wasn’t perfectly perfect and nice, he bitches at her that for the tenth time, no, he’s waiting for someone. He plays with his ring on his right hand, which I hadn’t noticed before but will later make sense. Cut to Craig running as fast as he can in the street, and my, but Jake Epstein has really long legs. Long, pretty, 15 year old legs. He comes into the restaurant and runs to the table, apologizing on the way, but Dr. Manning having obviously learned something from his Anger Management classes doesn’t strike out or break his plate and instead simply tells him to sit. Nice parallel, by the way, with their first scene in When Doves Cry in which Craig came in late for dinner.
Craig grabs the menu, and while he looks it over his father fishes tickets out of his inner vest pocket and hands them out. Turns out they’re tickets to London, which Craig seems to appreciate enough on their own, but it’s not over: they’ll start there, Dr. Manning tells him, then take the channel to Paris and stay there for a couple of weeks. Craig is absolutely thrilled, not unlike the time his father gave him money to buy a digital camera, until Dr. Manning announces that it’ll be the perfect opportunity to acclimatize until school starts. Craig asks what he means, his smile frozen in place. "It’s time for you to come home," his father tells him. "I mean Joey’s was… necessary," he admits, "but it’s not the best environment." Craig doesn’t really know what to say to that, and settles on "I like it at Joey’s," obviously wishing his dad will get the hint and leave it alone before he has to clearly say no. His father finds it normal that he does, seeing that Angela lives there, and not only does that really confirm my thought that he hasn’t really acknowledged what he’d done to his son, but I especially like the fact that he mentions Angela as the cause of Craig’s happiness, and not Joey. Because it’s not only about Craig leaving, it’s about him living there with That Man.
Still, even though Craig likes it there, it’s not a stable environment for studies. Speechless for a few moments, Craig stares at him until he finally manages to say in his most stable and that’s-the-way-it-is voice that being at Joey’s is stability, and I like that they chose to word it that way, because it also references back to the way Dr. Manning seemed, when he didn’t "have a belt in his hands", Mr. Super Dad, what with the money he gave out, encouraging Craig to take photos, asking about his social life, making Craig’s favourite recipes and bringing home videos to watch together. He wasn’t the Mean Drunk All The Time Dad of most tv shows, he really obviously cares for his son, and it showed even back then that Craig never knew when his anger would take over. Otherwise, he would never have come in carefree and talking about the summer light after missing dinner, IMO, nor would he have mentioned his mother at dinner like that. It must really have seemed that he had two different fathers, making it all the more believable for him in this episode that the 'bad one' had died and left only his Nice Dad.
Cue long silence in the conversation, until Dr. Manning just gets up and leaves the restaurant. Craig grabs the tickets and follows him out (and see, that scene before Craig came in was doubly useful: for the ring, and to inform us that he hadn’t ordered anything and could thus get out of the restaurant without needing to stop and pay. Another reason why I love Degrassi; most TV shows would never have taken the time to show us that). Craig calls out to his "dad" to wait up and, still walking, his father asks him if he’s talking to him or to Joey. Ouch. "That’s not fair," Craig tells him, to which Dr. Manning uses to universal answer than life’s not fair, then adds that Joey is better for him, that way "[Craig] can kiss his potential goodbye, sale some uninteresting little (something obviously not flattering that my crappy version of this episode doesn’t allow me to hear), and one day, [he] can take over the carline." At this point, Craig, who was a few feet behind, runs up to him and pushes him on the back; Dr. Manning turns around and slaps him, hard enough to send Craig sprawling to the ground. It’s a good thing, IMO, that they had Craig doing the first move, because, while I think his father is still the same bastard he was before, I also really think that he’d convinced himself never to hit Craig again. Not because it was the right thing to do, but because it was the only way to get him back, and that’s why I think he first left the restaurant, then said those things; the old Dr. Manning wouldn’t have bothered to insult Joey, he would have just punched Craig for daring to speak to him that way, but the new and improved Dr. Manning had to express his anger otherwise. And when Craig pushes him, it’s just a reflex for him to strike out. Nicely done, both the storylines and the actors (and wow, but Jake Epstein really knows how to take a fall, doesn’t he?).
Still on the ground, Craig shockingly brings a hand to his bleeding cheek (thanks to the ring) as his father, who really does seem to regret his act, kneels done and tries to help him up. "I’m so sorry," he says, "it will never—," but before he can finish that sentence, Craig interrupts him and says, in his place: "It will never happen again? Huh?!" and this is where Jake Epstein really starts to shine through. He did a very nice job before, but from then on he’s just amazing. He’s not only angry, he’s – just, watch it, will you? I really can’t describe it.
Moving on, Craig asks him, still as angry: "Is that what you were gonna say? Because that’s what you always say!" To which Dr. Manning says, in the most perfect answer for him: "Because you always screw up." And that, really, is it for this man. It is Craig’s fault, all of it, probably starting back to the time his mother left for another man. Seriously, how much do I love that this isn’t a one-dimensional villain and that they used actual psychology (even basic) for this storyline? Craig rebuts that it’s not him but his father who always screws up, and as Dr. Manning gets into his car and turns it on, Craig hits the passenger window and yells through it that he (or 'that': I couldn’t tell, no matter how many time I watched it) won’t ever change. Dr. Manning drives away at top speed, leaving Craig alone, bleeding and in angry and devastated tears. Cue my 47th hug to the boy.
Cut to Joey’s kitchen, where he’s folding up a napkin. Craig comes in and tries to walk with his back to him, one hand up on his cheek to hide the cut. "You’re home early," Joey remarks. Craig, obviously still crying, tries to act as if everything’s fine, but when Joey asks him if something’s wrong before he can get to his room, he wipes his tears off his face and turns around to face Joey, admitting that he was in a fight. "With who?” asks Joey, "with whom," I say, channelling Ross Geller, and Craig admits that it was with his dad. Joey asks him why he didn’t tell him that he was seeing his dad, and Craig answers, a little loud, that it was because Joey wouldn’t have let him. Joey agrees that he wouldn’t have, obviously thinking: "Well, duh," then says he has to call the police, and I have to wonder why he would do that. I mean, if Craig had wanted to press charges, or if Joey himself had wanted him to, wouldn’t they have done it earlier? Right now it’s not very useful, is it? Not as if is father didn’t have any legal rights and the cops had to be informed he didn’t respect the judge’s decision, either, so it doesn’t make much sense.
In any case, Craig stops him before he can dial the number and announces that he wants to go to Children’s Aid the next day and make sure he’ll never have to see him again. Joey hangs up the phone and agrees, obviously a little taken aback, and Craig admits that he hates his father – obviously something he’s both happy to realize and say. Joey, looking like the unbelievably uncomfortable step-father of a boy he barely knows, caught in a situation he has no idea how to deal with, just says: "Okay. We’ll, er, talk about this tomorrow. Go get cleaned up," while wishing like mad that tomorrow will never come. Seriously, I get the feeling Joey really doesn’t know what to do with Craig; he already has enough problems with Angela, a fifteen year old boy who’s half an orphan and was physically abused by his father is just too much for him. He couldn’t very well not take him in back in WDC, but it’s obviously something he’d rather not have been obligated to do; if Angela hadn’t been there, he would probably have hurried to find a grand-parent or an aunt to take him in, IMO.
Still, Joey’s lucky, in a sense, because the tomorrow he fears actually will never come. Cut to the next morning, when Craig comes down for breakfast. Joey asks him and Angela is they want to add anything to the grocery list, and Craig jokes that he’ll need a steak for his eye (which is really more his cheek than his eye, I must say). He and Angela exchange enough words and bodily contact to bring the level of cuteness back above the angst one before Joey asks him if he’s really gonna do this "Children’s Aid" thing, sounding more scared about it than Craig does when he replies that he definitely will, as this is where he needs to be. Just then the bells ring, and Craig gives back to Joey the role of the adult as he takes the kid’s one and wonders aloud, and a little frightened, if that’s his father at the door. Joey doubts him, but Craig keeps staring at the door, obviously worried. To make sure the cuteness keeps balancing out the drama, Angela starts to count her spots again as Joey opens the door to the two cops that are there and begins speaking with him. We can’t hear what’s they’re saying, only Angela counting, but we see Joey gesturing back to Craig and Craig getting more worried with each passing second until the cops leave and Angela proudly announces that she now has fifteen spots.
Joey walks back to the kitchen and asks Angela to go up to her room to clean her bedroom, insisting that she has to when she asks him, then asks Craig to sit down while Craig jokingly asks if his father sent the cops to bring him back. "I don’t know how to tell you this," Joey starts, and I think: "Well, just tell him what you said three years ago when his mom died" while he takes Craig’s hand into his own. When prompted, he goes on to say that Craig’s dad had an accident the previous night (and I’m going to assume it took the police that long to figure out where Craig was, because otherwise it doesn’t make sense that they wouldn’t have gotten him immediately, whether Dr. Manning was already dead or not). Craig asks if he’s in the hospital, and Joey tells him no and to "sit, sit" before Jake Epstein even starts to get up; he, of course, sits back down immediately. *snerk* Joey takes about ten more minutes to announce that Dr. Manning didn’t make it, and Craig gets this little-kid look on his face as he asks and stutters: "What? Wha—what—what does that mean?" and instead of coming right out and saying the actual words, Joey just does what all doctors and cops do and tells him that he’s sorry. I hate that. If that ever happens to me, I will seriously go completely insane. It’s like when someone’s about to die and they ask the person next to them to tell their mom/son/wife that they loved him/her? And the healthy guy says, "nah, c’mon, you’ll says it to them yourself," and I want to strangle that guy because, yeah, if Character A lives, then great, he won’t have to do it. But in case he dies, it just means he used his last moments to fight with Character B about that fact, probably having to convince him that he’s going to die just to make sure the message will be given, and that’s really not the way I would want to go. Can’t Character B just say "Yes, I will," then try to reassure Character A that he probably won’t have to? And can’t Joey realize that if Craig’s asking him that, it’s probably because he needs to hear the words? It’s not like the reality will be less awful if you don’t speak it out loud. Idiot.
|
|
