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#1.7 Drawing the Line, pt. 2

"I need a verb." -Noel
"He raped her." -Felicity

Aired November 17, 1998

In a nutshell: Julie tries to cope with the aftermath of being raped; Felicity encourages her to seek counseling; Felicity hosts a prospective student who ends up driving Elena crazy; Meghan reveals her passion for fake butter; Noel attempts to grow a goatee; Ben gets into a shoving match with Zack after learning what he did to Julie.

People who thought this up: J.J. Abrams & Riley Weston (the writers), Joan Tewkesbury (the director)

Supporting cast: Devon Gummersall (Zack), Greg Grunberg (Sean), Amanda Foreman (Meghan), Riley Weston (Story Zimmer), Jacqueline Hahn, Brian Klugman (Guy).

Tunes: Jewel ("Absence of Fear"--Spirit), The Family Stand ("Connected"--Connected), Kate Bush ("This Woman's Work"--Sensual World)

Quotes

Long summary

Opening scene: Noel's thinking about growing a goatee, but Felicity's got more pressing matters on her mind. She tells him that Zack raped Julie (95% of rape victims don't report the crime).

Felicity is amazed by how one can care for people so quickly.

Felicity tries to drag Julie to the hospital, but Julie's wondering who will play her in the TV movie (ed. note: maybe Sarah MacLachlan?).

At the counselor's, Julie painfully describes the scenario: beer, aggressive behavior, & no condom. And it happens all the time. She tells Felicity about the pills they gave her, but doesn't seem to want to report the crime. Meanwhile, Felicity's wondering who Julie would have talked to if she hadn't come to New York (ed. note: probably some girl named Kelicity who followed an unshaven guy named Ren to New Jersey).

Felicity asks Meghan if she can "babysit" her prospective high school student, Story, who's staying for three days. Meghan agrees she can sleep in the room. But if she touches her box, she's dead.

So Felicity asks Elena for help, even though Elena might have to kick her ass later on. And no, they aren't doing adrenaline. Felicity wishes Elena luck.

Felicity tells Sally that Julie is having trouble adjusting.

In the cafeteria, Zack stops by like nothing happened and tells them the latest about his video. Julie can't seem to say anything, at all.

The best thing that Felicity can do, says the counselor, is to be a good friend (since a third of all rape victims contemplate suicide). And it doesn't help that the complaint procedure isn't easy, especially where drugs and alcohol are involved.

After walking aimlessly around the city, Julie still seems distracted when Felicity tries to give her information and encourages her to call the counselor.

Meanwhile, Zack's out playing video games with Ben, and Sean's bugging them about his latest, disposable cameras. When Zack's R.A. comes by the loft and accuses him of rape, Zack is shocked. Darryl promises to make Zack's life hell.

So Zack confronts Julie in the laundry room, who's still confused, even though Zack is pretty sure she was into it, too. She doesn't know if she's going to report it or not.

She does know that Felicity has been talking, which she confronts Felicity about--but Felicity's not going to stand around helplessly during her friend's ordeal. Just because she hasn't had sex yet doesn't mean she doesn't know when someone's been abused. Worse yet, Julie believes she led Zack on.

So Felicity vents her frustration at Noel for telling Darryl about the incident, even though he claims it was his responsibility to do so. And no, he's not growing a goatee. Not with that tone in her voice.

Meanwhile, Story is driving Elena crazy with her clubbing urges, even though she really wants to be a cytogeneticist someday. And she's got the itty bitty booklight to prove it.

Ben asks Felicity about the rape, not knowing it was Zack.

That's when the shoving match happens. Ben insists that he forced her, but Zack's still thinking it was consensual--and that Ben knows what that's like. But Ben never slept with Julie (because she didn't want to), and Zack's never seen the cafeteria floor quite so close--a mini torture session that ends when he finally yells "stop." That's the difference, says Ben (amidst all the flying cafeteria food). When he yelled stop, he did.

Meanwhile, Story needs a real buddy, since Elena's planning on sending the little cytogeneticist back to Felicity. Seems that the club outings have gotten a bit out of hand, even though Felicity thinks it all sounds sweet.

Ben comforts Julie with the idea that it's not her fault (and he's got the "abusive alcoholic dad" story to prove it).

Cut to a scene of Zack examining his bruises in the bathroom.

Cut to a scene of Julie grabbing her purse and heading out the door to the counselor's.

Cut to a scene of Zack being pulled out of class by a school official.

In happier situations, Story finds it cool that Felicity has two jobs, and she likes Noel's goatee, to boot. But Felicity's still concerned about Julie.

In the end, Story finally gets to go clubbing: with Meghan, of all people, after they bond over a can of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (a truly amazing product which takes breakfast up a notch & tastes really good on graham crackers). Julie, on the other hand, decides it's time to pay Zack a visit. She has decided to press charges after all.

She finds out he's going back to Minnesota, and that he has pleaded guilty to the dean. Although it's no excuse, he admits that it was his first sexual experience. But it's all in the letter.

In a voiceover, Sally marvels over how much we humans blame ourselves. The montage-y sequence concludes with shots of Story and Meghan chatting happily down the street; Felicity holding a mirror as Noel shaves his goatee; and Julie reading Zack's letter. That's what we're doing, says Sally--picking up the pieces, all the time, as best we can.