Pilot
Angela Chase: School is a battlefield...for your heart.
Directed By: Scott Winant
Written By: Winnie Holzman
Angela Chase, a 15-year-old teenager, starts to feel alienated from everyone, including Sharon Cherski, her best friend, and her parents Graham and Patty. So, Angela starts hanging out with Rayanne Graf and Rickie Vasquez, two classmates who are very different from who Angela used to hang out with, she allows Rayanne to dye her hair, and she drifts apart from Sharon. Because Angela has a crush on Jordan Catalano, Rayanne arranges for the two of them and Rickie to go to a party and then a club because she thinks Jordan will be there, but things don't quite work out as planned.
This episode contains examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Rayanne - when she's fending off her attacker, and the police come (see Attempted Rape below), Rickie tells Angela Rayanne will blackout and won't remember anything that happened, which will become important the rest of the series.
- Answer Cut: An odd version - in a montage of classroom scenes, we see teachers asking questions, and then we see Brian answer them, but it's the next teacher's question he's answering.
- Attempted Rape: One of the boys Rayanne meets outside of Let's Bolt orders her to come to him. Though Rayanne snarks that she doesn't take orders, she does come over to him, at which point he grabs her and shoves her against the car, as if he's going to force himself on her. Angela grabs him to stop him, and while he pushes her away (as well as Rayanne), the police come.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: Patty looks at an article about Chelsea Clinton (daughter of Bill Clinton) while she's really thinking about Angela:Will you look at this? No freedom, no privacy, constant surveillance, Secret Service men...that's what we need.
- Can't Believe I Said That: After Patty chews out Angela for the fact her room is a disaster and that she quit yearbook without saying anything about it (to Patty or Sharon), Patty mimics what she just said and asks herself, "Did you think I ever dreamed that I would sound like this?"
- Cry into Chest: After seeing her father talk to another woman (see Wham Shot below), Angela tearfully apologizes to Patty (she says for dying her hair, but what she really means is for how she's been treating her mother up till then), goes onto the bed, and buries her head into Patty's chest while Patty strokes her hair.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: When Angela's English teacher is talking about The Diary of a Young Girl, and asks the class to describe Anne Frank, Angela blurts out, "Lucky." Naturally, Angela's teacher gets upset at this (and the rest of the class even looks at her funny), pointing out Anne Frank died in The Holocaust, but Angela clarifies she meant she got to spend three hours in the attic with a guy she liked.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Normally, each episode is an example of Two Lines, No Waiting, with the A-plot focused on Angela (or, occasionally, someone else) and the B-plot focused on Patty and Graham. This episode is completely focused on Angela.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- When we first see Brian Krakow, he's getting shoved against a locker, showing his Butt-Monkey status with most of the school.
- When Rickie first bursts into the Chase's kitchen while Angela and Patty are having a conversation (along with Rayanne), he takes time to compliment Patty on the house, showing that while he doesn't look (at first) like the type of person Patty would approve of, he's very polite.
- In a voice-over, Angela gushes about Jordan Catalano and about how he has his eyes closed as if it hurts to look at things. When we see him, Jordan is putting eye drops in his eyes, suggesting there might be other reasons why his eyes are often closed.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Angela lets Rayanne dye her hair to show how she's changed her life and no longer feels the same about her friends (especially Sharon), her family, school, and life in general.Angela: So when Rayanne Graf told me my hair was holding me back, I had to listen. Because she wasn't just talking about my hair. She was talking about my life.
- Foreshadowing:
- When she's with Graham in the kitchen, Angela mentions in a voiceover how Graham was supposed to go to chef school but it didn't work out, which becomes important later in the season.
- In the context of this episode, when Graham tells Patty he's going to go visit his brother Neil, Patty mentions it's the second time this week, setting up what Angela sees Graham doing later (see Wham Shot below).
- From the Mouths of Babes: When Angela and Patty are arguing about Rickie in front of Graham and Angela's younger sister Danielle:Patty I find Rickie a little confusing.
Angela: Okay, so maybe he's bi. Who cares? His cousin can still drive.
Patty: What? He is what? (to Graham) Do you hear these terms she's throwing around here? Bi?
Danielle: It means bisexual. - Insistent Terminology: When Danielle makes a crack about Angela's hair being dyed red, she responds, "It's crimson glow."
- Ironic Echo: When Rickie asks Angela and Rayanne what they'd like the person who they want to have sex with say to them right before, Angela responds, "You're so beautiful, it hurts to look at you," which Rickie thinks is romantic, but Rayanne thinks is silly. Later, as the police car is dropping her off at her house, Rayanne tells Angela, "Your hair...it hurts to look at you."
- Mood Whiplash: Patty goes from being angry at Angela when she comes home from the party (which Patty wouldn't have approved of in the first place) to concerned when she sees Angela's dress has mud on it (asking what happened) to angry again when Angela tells her Graham had approved Angela going in the first place.
- Noodle Incident:
- A variation - when Sharon tells Angela Rayanne is just using her like she did Jodie Barsh, and when Angela asks what happened, Sharon snaps, "Please, that's like, so known."
- A straight version happens earlier - when Angela is running to class, we see a cheerleader sitting by the lockers and crying. We never find out why.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: When Graham asks Angela how school is, Angela tells him she's starting to like Anne Frank, and Graham asks if Anne Frank is someone she goes to school with.
- Pushover Parents: Patty accuses Graham of being this (Patty, of course, is the complete opposite).
- Reflexive Response: When Patty sees Angela's hair for the first time:Patty: So it is you.
Angela: I had my hair dyed.
Patty: Oh, you had it dyed. I thought it had died of natural causes. - Shout-Out:
- Patty's TV has It's a Wonderful Life on when Angela comes home from Let's Bolt. Also, in the earlier scene between Angela and Brian, Brian's wearing a shirt with the number 3 on it, which is the same type of shirt George Bailey is wearing when he and Mary are walking home from the school dance.
- When Angela sees her father talking to another woman (see Wham Shot below), R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" plays on the soundtrack.
- Stepford Smiler: As they're having dinner, Angela smiles wanly at her mother but says in a voiceover, "Lately, I can't even look at my mother without wanting to stab her repeatedly."
- Suspiciously Apropos Music: When Angela sees Jordan at the party, he's watching the music video for Divinyls' "I Touch Myself".
- The Triple: Graham's reaction to Angela dyeing her hair is, "I can see it now; social world, wild parties, Axel Rose..."
- Verbal Backspace: Angela is in the bathroom with Rayanne and Rickie when the bell rings, and she says, "Oh my God, it's the second bell!" When they both look at her, Angela clarifies, "I mean, I may as well go to Bio, since I'm not all that busy."
- Wham Shot: Angela sees Graham talking with another woman on the street.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: Averted - while Rickie claims Rayanne won't remember what happened at Let's Bolt because of she drinks (see The Alcoholic and Attempted Rape above), the next day at class, Rayanne is telling other people about what happened.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In the bathroom, Sharon gets angry at Angela for the fact she dumped Sharon as a friend without saying anything to her.
