"The Journalist"
A review by Jenni:
Okay, this time I got the right disk and so watched "The
Journalist." This episode, along with "The Violin Lesson,"
turned me into an obsessive Andrew fan. So it probly figures
that I'd have the most notes thus far about this episode and acted
like a complete nerd whilst watching it today.
What I love about this episode:
Andrew.
I shall elaborate on that more in my swoony section. Which
makes this section seem much shorter than it should be but just
trust me: I love this episode!
Beyond my obvious infatuation with Andrew, I like the
storyline. The Wittenbergs are great characters. As
someone who has been at least a little involved with the foster
care system, I found all this pretty plausible. When Rocky
asks the Wittenbergs about it being hard to get close to kids who
will leave, I could answer for them myself. It is.
Especially when you don't know what sort of situation they're
headed into.
Continuing with the foster care stuff, I thought the scene where
the kids were taken away was very well acted. The look of
immense grief on Zelda's face as she held up that plush lion and
seeing the kids forcibly removed... way too relateable for
me. So I'd say TBAA really hit the nail on the head with
those emotions.
Monica does have one shining moment in this for me. During
Rocky's follow-up report when she relays the account of Annie's
bandaged head, Monica puts her hand on Andrew's shoulder
briefly. Thank you, Monica.
I'm very happy that Sam questioned Monica when she suggests that
she sees more of the "big picture" than Andrew does when he's the
one that was actually at the Wittenbergs'. It wasn't a huge
thing but I was just happy to see someone at least try to give her
a reality check.
When Monica reveals herself to Rocky she talks about how we see
with our hearts and heads instead of our spirits. I think
that was a good distinction to make. And I kinda wonder if
it's why I get angry at Monica so often. Maybe we both think
mostly with our hearts and our hearts are geared in different
directions. I dunno. But it seemed like a good theory
that one could use to work on interpersonal problems.
Really I do love this episode even though the next section is
pretty long. I love all it has to say about mercy and
parenthood and forgiveness. I just disagree with some of the
characters' actions. It doesn't mean I think the writing is
bad. Not at all. I wouldn't change this episode.
Anything that can cause so much emotion 12 years later is groovy!
What I didn't love about
this episode:
I did not care for Sam's tone after Andrew comments that the
assignment seems out of his jurisdiction. To me it sounded
like
Andrew was surprised the great and powerful Sam would be involved
with a seemingly mild assignment. It's not like he was
belittling Sam. Quite the opposite. Oh well.
Andrew didn't seem too upset so I spose I shouldn't be either...
Monica. Seriously, she really aggravates me from Scene 1 on
in this episode. First, she wants to do the camera work and
tag along even though Sam said that was Andrew's job. Then
she says she wants to cover gritty stories. Lady, you can't
even deal with Andrew dealing with gritty stuff. How the
heck do ya think you're gonna cover gritty news stories
yourself?!? It's a classic example of Monica acting like she
has more experience than she does and like she's already doing
such a swell job that she should be able to leap right to more
difficult assignments. Grr.
Then Monica chooses to trust Rocky over Andrew. Who she has
known for way longer and who, in her own words, wouldn't
lie. And Monica sticks by this trust even after Rocky seems
unfazed by Andrew's concerns. This isn't suspicious to
Monica??? I mean I can sorta see Monica not trusting
Andrew's account after the "Zelda did it" remark from Annie but
not trusting Andrew before that? It's something I still
can't get over 12 years later. But that's not even the worst
of it...
Monica
doesn't
seem to follow Andrew when he flees the newsroom. In
tears!!! And she doesn't even seem to grasp the depth of his
emotion cause she tells Sam "Andrew walked out." He
fled!!! He didn't calmly amble out. He didn't skip
out. He didn't simply walk out!!! He fled in
tears!!! How oblivious can a person be!?!? It's not
like I expect Monica to react as I would. If she did she'd
probly get a talk from the station's HR rep about excessive PDA in
the workplace. But my opinion of Monica would be so much
better if we had even one glimpse of her caring for Andrew after
he started publicly crying.
I have sympathy for Rocky, sure. But as I end this episode I
still don't really trust her. It's not so much that she
reported the story but her reaction. Right after it airs her
colleague congratulates her on the "hatchet job." (Which, by
the way, maybe someone should question that guy's ethics if he
realized his co-anchor was playing with footage and kept his mouth
shut.) And then they joke! And then Rocky's just so
blasé about it when she talks to Monica after the piece.
Then, while watching footage of the kids getting taken from the
Wittenbergs, Rocky's actually giddy! I mean even if they had
been abusers... this is not a gleeful situation! I
dunno. Maybe I just don't get journalistic impartiality but
she seems way too relaxed about all this.
And just FYI, Rocky, Andrew is NOT "too nice a guy." He's
just the perfect amount of nice!
I do feel a lil bad for Rocky when the angels just
disappear. I'd be pretty ticked about not getting a hug good
bye. Unless she did and I was too busy swooning over someone
in a leather jacket...
Lingering questions:
Did anyone else play in their closet as a kid? I did.
So I think it's pretty weird Rocky makes such a big deal about
Tyler going in there.
Rocky is surprised that Andrew's an angel. Which made me
wonder... how cruddy must it feel to know you made an angel cry
and feel used?
Apparently angels can get loaned out to other departments and here
Tess is to Natural Phenomenon and Acts of God. I wonder how
many departments there are?
Parts that made me feel
swoony:
Andrew's so cute clapping for Monica after her report. See,
that's how to be supportive! I find it a lil galling,
though, that
Monica first assumes he just stopped by to encourage her.
I'm not saying Andrew wouldn't do that but when Monica said that I
just thought (sarcastically) "Yep, cause his life revolves around
you! It's all about Monica..."
I can seriously feel my heart start to speed up with nerves when
Rocky begins her story about the Wittenbergs cause I know I'm
gonna see Andrew standing there... so proud and excited. And
then slowly crushed. His face just falls... And I want
to go through the TV and help him... Cause he clearly feels
used by Rocky and so I think someone should assure him that he did
a great job and it's not his fault that she took advantage of his
trust.
Any shot in which Andrew is wearing that blue flannel shirt.
Andrew in flannel is always a good thing in my book. I'm
also quite fond of his prayer on the stairs beige shirt and white
tee. I think the black shirt is also flannel but I'm too
depressed to be swoony when he wears that.
My heart goes out to Andrew (okay, even more than usual) when he
goes back to the Wittenbergs' and Horace is so accusatory. I
mean I totally understand why Horace is like that but... so sad
for Andrew. In fact, I was apparently so emotionally
over-wrought that when he started to run after the rock was
thrown, I leapt up and ran to my front door. Once I got
there I was unsure why I had done that. I dunno.
Solidarity with Andrew, I guess.
One of my favorite moments from Andrew comes when Rocky encourages
him to assume the worst and he tells her he can't. I find
that so inspiring. After all Andrew has seen, stuff you and
I can't even imagine, he's still so filled with hope. That's
why I love him. Even more than because he looks good in
jeans and flannel.
It is physically painful to watch Andrew watch the footage of the
kids being taken away. And he's holding back his
tears. And so many around him are all gleeful... And
then that jerky co-anchor says "Great work, Andrew!" and he just
breaks... And then he flees the room and... I WANNA
FOLLOW!!! Cause ya know it's bad. Andrew doesn't seem
big into crying in public so the fact that he's crying in front of
a room packed with people... it's bad.
So then Andrew says another thing I love when he goes to visit
with the Wittenbergs again: he asks them to open up their hearts
long enough for him to apologize. If this show were
interactive like Rocky
Horror that would be the cue for the audience to scream
"We already have, O Lovely One!"
And the resolve and strength and passion when Rocky says the
Wittenbergs will be arrested and Andrew responds "Not if I can
help it." Love him.
The prayer on the stairs. First, we seldom see Andrew talk
at length with God so this is really special. My heart goes
out to him (even more than usual) when his voice breaks as he says
"I don't understand." And then when he says "I'm here.
If You can use me today, for life... tell me what to do"...
That awesomeness and compassion is how crushes are born. Or
whatever you call a crush that's lasted for (gulp) 12 years.
Random thoughts:
Hey everybody, let's all point and laugh at Rocky's super-huge
cell phone!
I feel sad for both Andrew and Horace when the latter seems
disappointed that Andrew's not a guardian angel. I hope
Andrew didn't take it personally and that Horace got to meet a
guardian eventually.
I'd never realized that the letters in "news" matched up to North,
East, West, and South til Monica said that. Cool.
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