American Dreams - 01/02/05
#2
DVD Talk Hero
recap:
JJ nows works in a Marines recruitment office, signing up young men for the war effort. JJ has the nightsweats, and has anxiety about signing up the young men for the Marines. JJ has problems with being at places with flashy lights (a gathering with JJ's high friends and Beth at a local spot), causing him to re-live the difficult times in Viet Nam. JJ and Beth leave the gathering, and they go to Pete's place to re-connect. JJ's been living at Pete's place upon his return.
Helen is asked to help a conscientious war objector find a way to Canada. After seeing JJ having a hard time re-integrating back to life in Philly, she helps the war objector.
Jack gives Rox a talking to about her living conditions with Luke. This happens after Rox finagles Jack to help with some plumbing issues of Luke's sink. Jack gives Luke a toolbox to help him adjust to being "the man in the house".
Pete has Will do some snooping for him to find out what Chris's mom thinks of Pete. Pete likes what he hears, and becomes more into her. Pete appears to use his "in" with Shelly to get some phone bill records to build a case against Chris.
Patty wants to win a science fair project contest and is concerned that another girl with "help from a college boyfriend" is going to beat her, so Chris suggests that she do a little sabotage. Later, Patty's project goes without a hitch, but the other girl's project doesn't work anymore, but Patty finds out that the other girl actually knew what she was doing, and didn't help from her "boyfriend" which was also a rumor, as she didn't have one. From Patty's guilty look, her "getting to the science fair early" might have led to Patty's sabotage.
Chris wants Meg to move with him to LA for more peacenik stuff, Meg tells Rox that she was accepted to the local college. Jack isn't receptive to Meg going to college, but the deal they work out is that she stays and works at the store to help pay for college.
Pete tells Meg of the background check he ran on Chris, and he has been a naughty boy. She confronts him with his past, his involvement with the recruitment office, and he minimized his past, and still tries to spin that he tried to prevent the fire at the recruitment office.
Meg makes a visit to JJ's recruitment office, and they take a walk, and she asks JJ about how one knows another person is for them, and JJ didn't know, but he offered that if another person knows you better than yourself, it's a good sign.
Nathan gets help from Sam and his friends on the boat that was left for him. After cleaning it up, Nathan sells the boat and then offers the proceeds to Henry for Sam and Angela's future education plans, but Henry tells him that he should use the money for himself. Later, Nathan shows up with a delivery truck, and offers his delivery services to Jack because of Jack's current problem with the delivery outfit he was using for deliveries.
JJ asks Beth to marry him. She appears to have accepted, for a second time.
JJ nows works in a Marines recruitment office, signing up young men for the war effort. JJ has the nightsweats, and has anxiety about signing up the young men for the Marines. JJ has problems with being at places with flashy lights (a gathering with JJ's high friends and Beth at a local spot), causing him to re-live the difficult times in Viet Nam. JJ and Beth leave the gathering, and they go to Pete's place to re-connect. JJ's been living at Pete's place upon his return.
Helen is asked to help a conscientious war objector find a way to Canada. After seeing JJ having a hard time re-integrating back to life in Philly, she helps the war objector.
Jack gives Rox a talking to about her living conditions with Luke. This happens after Rox finagles Jack to help with some plumbing issues of Luke's sink. Jack gives Luke a toolbox to help him adjust to being "the man in the house".
Pete has Will do some snooping for him to find out what Chris's mom thinks of Pete. Pete likes what he hears, and becomes more into her. Pete appears to use his "in" with Shelly to get some phone bill records to build a case against Chris.
Patty wants to win a science fair project contest and is concerned that another girl with "help from a college boyfriend" is going to beat her, so Chris suggests that she do a little sabotage. Later, Patty's project goes without a hitch, but the other girl's project doesn't work anymore, but Patty finds out that the other girl actually knew what she was doing, and didn't help from her "boyfriend" which was also a rumor, as she didn't have one. From Patty's guilty look, her "getting to the science fair early" might have led to Patty's sabotage.
Chris wants Meg to move with him to LA for more peacenik stuff, Meg tells Rox that she was accepted to the local college. Jack isn't receptive to Meg going to college, but the deal they work out is that she stays and works at the store to help pay for college.
Pete tells Meg of the background check he ran on Chris, and he has been a naughty boy. She confronts him with his past, his involvement with the recruitment office, and he minimized his past, and still tries to spin that he tried to prevent the fire at the recruitment office.
Meg makes a visit to JJ's recruitment office, and they take a walk, and she asks JJ about how one knows another person is for them, and JJ didn't know, but he offered that if another person knows you better than yourself, it's a good sign.
Nathan gets help from Sam and his friends on the boat that was left for him. After cleaning it up, Nathan sells the boat and then offers the proceeds to Henry for Sam and Angela's future education plans, but Henry tells him that he should use the money for himself. Later, Nathan shows up with a delivery truck, and offers his delivery services to Jack because of Jack's current problem with the delivery outfit he was using for deliveries.
JJ asks Beth to marry him. She appears to have accepted, for a second time.
#3
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
I think my favorite storyline right now is Nathan's - his pretty damn good and humorous at times.
I'm annoyed w/ Meg and her stupidity in regards to Short-Round (isn't Milo in type-casting hell?). And I was disappointed Patty listened to the asshole's advice. I do like Uncle Pete's persistence in trying to nail the little bastard even though he's still dating the mom.
I like that Helen volunteered for the CPU, but of all the things she could have done as a volunteer why did she have to do that?
Good to see J.J. step up to the plate w/ Beth.
Nice to see Jack play Rox's surrogate father w/ her and Luke.
I'm annoyed w/ Meg and her stupidity in regards to Short-Round (isn't Milo in type-casting hell?). And I was disappointed Patty listened to the asshole's advice. I do like Uncle Pete's persistence in trying to nail the little bastard even though he's still dating the mom.
I like that Helen volunteered for the CPU, but of all the things she could have done as a volunteer why did she have to do that?
Good to see J.J. step up to the plate w/ Beth.
Nice to see Jack play Rox's surrogate father w/ her and Luke.
#4
DVD Talk God
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Directionally Challenged (for DirecTV)
Posts: 130,271
Received 616 Likes
on
495 Posts
Nathan has always been one of the stronger characters.
I loved the cutting btwn Helen doing the paperwork to 'save' the draft dodger and JJ doing the paperwork sending the recruit to his 'death.'
I loved the cutting btwn Helen doing the paperwork to 'save' the draft dodger and JJ doing the paperwork sending the recruit to his 'death.'
#5
DVD Talk Legend
It kind of freaked me out that actor who played Helen's priest also played the transsexual on "Nip/Tuck".
I may have missed something, but what was the letter that Meg crumpled up? Was that her college acceptance letter? I remember at one point she hid it from Patty and then at the end she threw it away before she went to see Chris/Jess so I wondered if that meant she was choosing him over college.
I was surprised to see Helen take an interest in the anti-war movement. At first I thought she disapproved of the woman's speech in church so it took me aback when she offered to help. It's odd,they have never really shown her talking to Meg much about the anti-war thing.
I liked how they contrasted JJ sending a boy off to war while Helen was sending a guy off to Canada to escape the war.
Why did they need Helen to get the kid a "ticket" to Canada? Wouldn't it have been easier to drive?
I may have missed something, but what was the letter that Meg crumpled up? Was that her college acceptance letter? I remember at one point she hid it from Patty and then at the end she threw it away before she went to see Chris/Jess so I wondered if that meant she was choosing him over college.
I was surprised to see Helen take an interest in the anti-war movement. At first I thought she disapproved of the woman's speech in church so it took me aback when she offered to help. It's odd,they have never really shown her talking to Meg much about the anti-war thing.
I liked how they contrasted JJ sending a boy off to war while Helen was sending a guy off to Canada to escape the war.
Why did they need Helen to get the kid a "ticket" to Canada? Wouldn't it have been easier to drive?
#6
DVD Talk God
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Directionally Challenged (for DirecTV)
Posts: 130,271
Received 616 Likes
on
495 Posts
Originally Posted by Jadzia
It kind of freaked me out that actor who played Helen's priest also played the transsexual on "Nip/Tuck".
I may have missed something, but what was the letter that Meg crumpled up? Was that her college acceptance letter? I remember at one point she hid it from Patty and then at the end she threw it away before she went to see Chris/Jess so I wondered if that meant she was choosing him over college.
I was surprised to see Helen take an interest in the anti-war movement. At first I thought she disapproved of the woman's speech in church so it took me aback when she offered to help. It's odd,they have never really shown her talking to Meg much about the anti-war thing.
I liked how they contrasted JJ sending a boy off to war while Helen was sending a guy off to Canada to escape the war.
Why did they need Helen to get the kid a "ticket" to Canada? Wouldn't it have been easier to drive?
I may have missed something, but what was the letter that Meg crumpled up? Was that her college acceptance letter? I remember at one point she hid it from Patty and then at the end she threw it away before she went to see Chris/Jess so I wondered if that meant she was choosing him over college.
I was surprised to see Helen take an interest in the anti-war movement. At first I thought she disapproved of the woman's speech in church so it took me aback when she offered to help. It's odd,they have never really shown her talking to Meg much about the anti-war thing.
I liked how they contrasted JJ sending a boy off to war while Helen was sending a guy off to Canada to escape the war.
Why did they need Helen to get the kid a "ticket" to Canada? Wouldn't it have been easier to drive?
I believe at the time, they probably checked IDs against a list, particularly if wanted by the FBI. My guess is that if you were a ticketed passenger on a flight or train, they simply assumed the name on the ticket matched your identity.
It didn't surprise me at all to see Helen take an interest given that she knew just how close she was to losing JJ and after hearing Beth tell her that JJ wasn't right in the head.
Yes, I believe that Meg was choosing Chris over college by throwing the acceptance letter away. Of course, she still has no idea that he torched the recruitment center.
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 593
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Does anyone else think that JJ is trying too hard to get things back to normal by asking Beth to marry him again? I feel like he doesn't really love her anymore. Is he doing it just because he feels like it's the "right" thing to do???
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
Last edited by charlie bucket; 01-03-05 at 11:50 AM.
#8
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by Red Dog
It didn't surprise me at all to see Helen take an interest given that she knew just how close she was to losing JJ and after hearing Beth tell her that JJ wasn't right in the head.
#9
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by B.A.
I do like Uncle Pete's persistence in trying to nail the little bastard even though he's still dating the mom.
#10
DVD Talk God
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Directionally Challenged (for DirecTV)
Posts: 130,271
Received 616 Likes
on
495 Posts
Originally Posted by Jadzia
I was wondering if that is *why* he is being so persistent. It would probably make it easier for him to date a single mom if her son was off in jail somewhere.
I don't think so. The son is 18 and while Pete ain't no genius, it doesn't take an Einstein to see that Chris is the kind of kid who would be out the door the minute after he graduates HS.
#11
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Originally Posted by Jadzia
I was wondering if that is *why* he is being so persistent. It would probably make it easier for him to date a single mom if her son was off in jail somewhere.
1. He wants to seperate Meg and Chris.
2. He wants to nail the little scumbag for the arson.
I feel sure he has true feelings for the mom but he's still trying to nail the kid for the fire. Remember he asked the mom for the phone bill with the calls to Boston she was complaining about on the pretext he had a friend in the phone company who could take care of it. The guys in the VW van who had been involved in the arson had returned to Boston. I see a connection and feel sure we'll hear about that phone bill again.
Thanks for mentioning the college acceptance letter. I couldn't figure out what she had thrown away.
#12
DVD Talk God
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Directionally Challenged (for DirecTV)
Posts: 130,271
Received 616 Likes
on
495 Posts
Originally Posted by Easy
Remember he asked the mom for the phone bill with the calls to Boston she was complaining about on the pretext he had a friend in the phone company who could take care of it. The guys in the VW van who had been involved in the arson had returned to Boston. I see a connection and feel sure we'll hear about that phone bill again.
Yeah - I was wondering about that. I couldn't remember the Boston connection, but just having the line in there about the $43 in calls to Boston and Pete offering to fix it seemed odd w/o some ulterior motive.
#13
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Nashville and Crossville, TN
Posts: 9,816
Received 811 Likes
on
600 Posts
I just kept thinking Sophia Lopez everytime I saw Father Alejandro. I enjoyed the episode. This is a wonderful drama. I wish more people with Neilsen boxes would watch it.
#14
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by Easy
Remember he asked the mom for the phone bill with the calls to Boston she was complaining about on the pretext he had a friend in the phone company who could take care of it. The guys in the VW van who had been involved in the arson had returned to Boston. I see a connection and feel sure we'll hear about that phone bill again.