- Joan: [Joan is in the hallway of her school. God appears as an older woman selling cupcakes for the soccer team] You're getting really good at showing up when nobody needs you.
- Old Lady God: Well, now, that's your opinion.
- Joan: So what do you want me to fail at this time?
- Old Lady God: Now what makes you think you failed? You did exactly what I asked you to do: you observed.
- Joan: Hmm! And what good did that do anybody? Ramsey's going to jail, Adam hates me even more...
- Old Lady God: Observation is a more powerful force than you could possibly reckon. The invisible, the overlooked, and the unobserved are those that are most in danger of reaching the end of the spectrum. They lose the last of their light. From there, anything can happen.
- Joan: Okay. Fine, I observed Ramsey, his life is still ruined.
- Old Lady God: His life wasn't the only one at stake.
- Joan: What do you mean?
- Old Lady God: [Starts pointing out different students in the hallway] There's Laura Eason, ninth grader. She plays the flute. She would have been one of the first to go...
- [gunshot sound]
- Old Lady God: coming out of Orchestra at the wrong time. And Andrew Bayer: he would have tried to save his friend Lawrence DiStasi and lost his life.
- [two gunshots]
- Old Lady God: And Gavin Price.
- [gunshot]
- Old Lady God: And three other students in the cafeteria. And Mr. Harvey. And Ms. Schmidt in the library. And finally, Steve Ramsey himself. And for each of these faces Joan, there are twelve more whose lives would have come to an end today - lives altered forever by you. By the simple effect of being present, by entering the light, by joining the dance.
- [Joan wipes away a tear]
- Luke Girardi: So, I asked Grace to do this thing with me, and at the time, she said "yes", sort of, but...
- Joan: Wait, Grace Polk said "yes" to you?
- Luke Girardi: It was somewhat contingent, but...
- Joan: Aw...
- Luke Girardi: ...essentially, yeah.
- Joan: She's so gonna get it.
- Luke Girardi: But, see, I don't know if she actually remembers me asking, so do I... do I have to do the full re-approach, or...
- Joan: Now what is she gonna wear? Because they don't make gowns out of fatigues.
- Luke Girardi: What are we talking about?
- Joan: You asked Grace Polk to the semi-formal.
- Luke Girardi: I asked her to be my partner in the science fair.
- Joan: Wow. Science really is like sex to you, isn't it?
- Helen Girardi: Is it strange that you're always awake before I am?
- Luke Girardi: I like to ambush my brain before fear and reason kick in.
- Helen Girardi: You're too young to worry about fear and reason. That doesn't start 'till you're 30.
- Will Girardi: I just won a Community Leadership Award from the Citizens' League.
- Helen Girardi: Hey, that's great.
- Will Girardi: Apparently, being taken hostage makes me a hero.
- Helen Girardi: You're going with Ramsey?
- Luke Girardi: You asked Ramsey?
- Will Girardi: Who's Ramsey?
- Helen Girardi: Why on earth would you ask that boy to the dance?
- Joan: Because he's the only person who would go with me.
- Helen Girardi: Adam Rove would've been thrilled to go with you.
- Joan: Hello! Do I have to brief you people every morning? Adam. Hates. Me. Okay? I have to go.
- Will Girardi: [she leaves] Who's Ramsey?
- Helen Girardi: Okay, start talking.
- Joan: Why? You're not going to listen to anything I have to say.
- Helen Girardi: Oh, this is not you mouthing off, Joan. This is you explaining why you defied what your father and I specifically said!
- Joan: What about Price? It's 'cause of him this whole thing started!
- Will Girardi: We said no cars under any circumstances. There were no exceptions to that.
- Helen Girardi: It wasn't Price who pulled a gun on your father.
- Will Girardi: Do you have any idea how seriously you could've been hurt tonight?
- Joan: I'm really sorry. This whole... this whole thing... has gotten way out of hand.
- Helen Girardi: So what do we do now? Is it back to therapy or what?
- Kevin Girardi, Luke Girardi: No, no, no.
- Kevin Girardi: Dad, there's no need for that.
- Helen Girardi: Okay, we will do this the old-fashioned way. You are grounded, young lady. And as for everybody else, if we could just keep it down to one tragedy a month, that would be really great.
- Joan: You're not gonna put him in jail, are you?
- Will Girardi: He threated to shoot the chief of police. It doesn't look good.
- Joan: I'm really sorry, daddy.
- Will Girardi: It's been a long night. Let's all just go to bed.
- Goth Kid God: I wouldn't worry about self-defense.
- Joan: Then why the psycho mission? Because I didn't sign up for martyrdom.
- Goth Kid God: Joan, have I ever endangered you?
- Joan: Well, you never told me to ask evil out on a date before.
- Goth Kid God: "Evil" is not a word to use lightly. It's only the darkest end of a broad spectrum.
- Joan: You mean like... light?
- Goth Kid God: Exactly like light. Nobody is born in total darkness. Most of you live on the gray end of the spectrum; a lie here and there, jealousy, wrath. But you only get to absolute evil by doing one thing after another, 'till eventually, you're transformed.
- Joan: Like, into a monster?
- Goth Kid God: A monster is a creature with no consciousness. They're extremely rare, but they do exist.
- Joan: Have you watched the news? I'm not sure they're so rare.
- Goth Kid God: Almost everybody has some light somewhere. And light is always worth fighting for.
- Joan: Okay. So I'm supposed to find Ramsey's... light.
- Goth Kid God: I just want you to listen and observe. Be present.
- Joan: That's it?
- Lt. Det. Toni Williams: Roebuck wasn't exaggerating. Kickbacks on construction contracts eight years running. Council members and judges taking bribes, city inspectors, the mayor.
- Will Girardi: I hate to say it, but we may be in over our heads on this.
- Will Girardi: I met with Roy Roebuck yesterday. He had quite a few interesting things to say about Arcadia, some of them involving the former chief, Rowley.
- D.A. Gabe Fellowes: Should I be following something here?
- Will Girardi: Oh, let's not play our usual games, shall we, Gabe? Roy Roebuck collected enough evidence on corruption in this city to take you and possibly everyone else down to the ground. Now, I know you cut a deal with Rowley about this to shut him up. I want the same deal.
- D.A. Gabe Fellowes: I'll say one thing, Girardi. That's, uh... that's an impressive learning curve.
- Will Girardi: Oh, I catch on eventually.
- D.A. Gabe Fellowes: But I'm afraid you've got the wrong guy. As far as I know, Chief Rowley retired to be with his grandkids. So if you have something I should know about, I suggest you leave it with me, and I'll see if it warrants an investigation.
- Will Girardi: Well, if you're not willing to work with me, I'll find somebody who is.
- D.A. Gabe Fellowes: Hold up. I suggest we follow protocol. Otherwise, the consequences could be dangerous.
- Will Girardi: Well, still, I'd prefer to hold on to it.
- D.A. Gabe Fellowes: It's not your area of expertise, Girardi. Let me handle it.
- Will Girardi: Perhaps I didn't make myself clear.
- D.A. Gabe Fellowes: Perhaps I didn't make *myself* clear. Give me the package, Girardi, now.
- Will Girardi: Then again, maybe it's best to play by the rules.
- [he hands the file over; as Will leaves, Fellowes opens it to reveal shredded-up paper]
- Arson Investigator Roy Roebuck: So? A public official in Arcardia is taking graft. I thought you said you had something serious to talk about.
- Will Girardi: You know this is serious, because it cost you your job.
- Lt. Det. Toni Williams: How far does it go?
- Arson Investigator Roy Roebuck: I couldn't tell you. I stopped before I found the end of it.
- Will Girardi: You have allies this time. Rowley sold you out. I'm not about to do that.
- Arson Investigator Roy Roebuck: This isn't just blowing a whistle and picking up another award for being the town hero. This could cost you everything you have.
- Will Girardi: We're not naïve about what this means.
- Arson Investigator Roy Roebuck: I lost a career. And I lost... I lost my wife over this.
- Will Girardi: You once told me you'd be one amazed son of a bitch if I did my job. I'm here to do it.
- [after a moment of decision, Roebuck hands over a file folder]
- Arson Investigator Roy Roebuck: This is everything I got. It runs all the way to the top. Now, after I left IA, I put it away, figured I'd wait 'till the right person started asking questions. Uh, I hope like hell that's who I'm talking to.
- Friedman: [after witnessing Grace Polk plant a passionate kiss on Joan's brother Luke at the Crystal Ball formal dance] Did he just convert her from Mac to PC?