Joan of Arcadia

A fundamental component of the make-up of the human psychology is the need to understand the universe we live in. for many this takes the shape of spirituality or formalized into religion. Because of the importance of such matters to the human condition spirituality has been used thematically in several television series. Even with children’s cartoons like ‘Davy and Goliath’ or ‘Veggie Tales’ God has been utilized as a central character or at least a driving force. The danger for the networks in such an endeavor is coming across too heavy handed or biased to one religious domination can quickly turn bad offending other factions. The typical solution is to construct a series that emphases spirituality over religion. Many such series have struck a chord with the audience such as ‘Highway to Heaven’, ‘Touched by an Angel’ and the series under consideration here; ‘Joan of Acadia’. The main thing that differentiates this series from the other is the premise that requires personal appearances of God as a central character. The idea behind this series is God has chosen an average high school student, Joan Girardi (Amber Tamblyn) to be the recipient of His direct communication. There is no dove or burning bush jus God in the guise of a regular human being suggesting various tasks to a confused teenage girl. Fittingly the theme song, a hit single by Joan Osborne muses over the question ‘What if God was one of us?’ in this series He pops up as everything from the school’s lunch lady to a little girl play ball in the park. This was a gentle, extremely well crafted show that regrettably has earned a place in the lamentable ‘brilliant but cancelled’ list. It lasted only two seasons; cancelled just as the overall story arc was taking a turn greatly increasing the dramatic impact of the series setting it up for a classic deliberation of the age old quandary of good versus evil. Instead of being cancelled after the proverbial jump of the shark this series met its demise just as it was finding its way and carving out its own niche in the programming slate. Although critically acclaimed and recipient of a good share of awards the all important ratings were not up to the network’s expectations and the show was replaced by ‘The Ghost Whisperer’.

The series was created by Barbara Hall who would go on to write another, longer lasting family drama; ‘Judging Amy’. A series with this foundation could easily degrade into an overly formulaic and truthfully there was a bit of a predilection towards this was initially manifested but quickly side stepped the issue by widening the focus to a morally strong coming of age story. Making the protagonist a teen age girl brought the series away from becoming overly preachy. Joan is a typical teen, confused about her current place in the world and her impending future. For most teens the confluence of raging hormones and urge to rebel against the chafing of parental authority is more than enough to make her life miserable. When Joan meets a strange who claims to be God at first she doesn’t believe him but when finally convinced her young; life takes a widely unexpected turn. God appears in many guises but all share one thing in common; they are regular, run of the mill people. There is something intriguing and God Almighty being depicted as a common human being that is reassuring as well as intriguing. There is no forcible presentation of dogma rather God is presented as a kind, wise guiding force concerned with the well being of each of us.

Typically God’s little suggestions to Joan such as building a boat or becoming a cheerleader always seem downright silly to Joan but it is not so much the task as it is the journey that God wants Joan to accomplish. In the course of doing what is asked, after all it’s extremely difficult to say no to God although in this context free will makes this an option, Joan learns an important moral or social lesson. From the vantage point of the audience we get to see how Joan’s assignment dovetails with a problem faced by her friends and family. Joan’s family is not classifiable as dysfunctional but they are not without their serious problems. Her family recently relocated to the small Californian community of Arcadia when her father, Will (Joe Mantegna) took a job as the chef of police. Her mother Helen (Mary Steenburgen) has a nightmare job for any teen, art teacher at Joan’s high school. Her older brother Kevin (Jason Ritter) is a former jock confined to a wheelchair after a car accident. Her younger brother Luke (Michael Welch) is brilliant but socially awkward at first. Joan is a likeable young woman but tends to keep mostly to herself. She socializes mostly with a small circle of friends; the school’s outcast rebel Grace (Becky Wahlstrom) and the artistic and sensitive Adam (Chris Marquette) who has the habit of calling her Jane and becomes her first serious boyfriend.

At first the tasks given to Joan are simple enough although they always seem to have far deeper implication. In one episode Joan has to have a yard sale that winds up uncovering some dark paintings made by her mother. This thread is juxtaposed to a case her father is pushing involving a rape victim. As it turns out her mother was a rape victim and the paintings were done right after that in a period of extreme depression. The result brought mother and daughter to a closer Mutual understanding. At the end of the first season Joan is diagnosed with Lyme disease and may have been hallucinating for months as a result of the diseases. This brings Joan to a cliff hanging crisis of faith. This results in suspicions of her having a psychiatric disorder than would carry over to the second season. That final season opens with Joan returning from a summer of intensive therapy. After this Joan openly doubted God when He appeared giving a new dimension to the dynamic of their relationship. Just as they reconnect a mysterious, sinister man appears prompting God to inform Joan that the last two years were working up towards what would be her greatest and most significant challenge. Just as things were getting really interesting CBS pulled the plug. With the two seasons available on DVD and they make for an excellent alternative for family viewing.

Posted 06/26/2010