"State of Grace"

God directs Joan to join the debate team and Joan is worried about her relationship with Grace as she has to argue for the use of metal detectors in schools. In the meanwhile, she helps a stuttering student find a voice as a writer.

I thought Joan really good in tonight's episode, can't quite put my finger on it, but she did.

Luke finally gets a clue and is rewarded with the rush of hormones and the seal of a kiss that opens up a new world of possibilities for him.

Kevin is still having problems with his burgeoning relationship with his editor.

Helen is prodded to go for the art teacher position, recently vacated by the art teacher who could not bear to deal with the new metal detectors at school.

Will's case has to do with a father who beat up a priest under the guise of protecting his son from the priest who he claimed was molesting his son, but the truth was his son was gay, and the father blamed the priest for turning his son gay.

Joan's debate debut turned into an impassioned plea for the world that is, and how guns do make an impact close to home (her fear of her father's well-being on any case that has gunfire in play) and that while it'd be great for an open society with little in terms of prevention, the real world makes it hard to not engage in defensive postures to protect children and teenagers in schools. Grace was touched by Joan's concerns and comes to an understanding of the issues of personal freedom as it pertains to each of them.

This final part of the episode sent shivers down my spine as Joan's words of a teen troubled by the dangers of guns reflect the emotional component to this issue. Amber Tamblyn does such a great job in portraying Joan, and she really is able to get to the core of Joan's pain and concerns.

Good episode. Not sure if I like the police subplot. Not even sure how it even relates to the rest of the show.

Enjoyed Joan's passionate defense of her father's work. Also like her hug with Will at the end of the show.

I thought it was a very good ep and Amber showed why she deserved the Golden Globe nom for best actress in a drama series.

I enjoyed it also.

I liked Joan's speech at the end. Amber did a great job.

I'm glad they didn't take the Luke got over his creppy crush on Grace and moved on to the blonde girl.

Grace and Adam are the two worst best friends of all time. They never support my sweet little Joan.

By the way Joan, God gave me a message to give to you. He said you should be naked with me in the biblical sense.

I read in tv guide that Amber's real life dad Russ Tamblyn made an appearance on that episode as one of the "gods". wonder which one he was. (not the security guard, i think that was booger from Revenge of the nerds)

I thought that this was one of the better episodes. I really like how the focus of this one was on what she could communicate through the debate even though she thought it was going to be to the one kid. I thought he was a pretty cool character and would like to see more of him.

The acting from Amber was some of the most mature acting I've seen from her yet. This episode really was a great one. The depth of her emotions, the ability of her to grasp what the writers put into this episode, and just the ease she gave to the situation she was in was wonderful.

That is next weeks episode, he is the Hippie Dog Walker (God).
Oh and did you catch Adam's new lust interest? Boy is she smoking hot!

Chris

This show is just going through the motions. Wow, she acts like she only wants to be friends and then her friend finds someone else and she gets jealous. This has only happened in every other teen show. I was a big fan of this show after watching the pilot, but it has gotten so boring lately I don't really care if I miss it now. Also, what is with Adam starting to use the word yo now, like that is stupid yo.

I am starting to lose interest in this as well, but mostly because it seems that it is basically the same stories being recycled. Love Tamblyn, but let's get some different stories.