How It All Goes Down
- James wakes up and has a stare down with the toilet. Heck, at this point, it might as well be another character: John, Jr.
- James manages not to toss his cookies. He goes to breakfast and chats up Ed, Ted, and Leonard. They are "good men who happen to be bad men and [James] like[s] them and [he] can relate to them" (2.2.59).
- After breakfast, James walks to Joanne's office. She has two large stuffed fish on her wall.
- James and Joanne discuss the results of James's psych test, the MMPI-2, or Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.
- Joanne tells us what we figured out on page two: James has "low self-esteem […] tend[s] to be aggressive […] engage[s] in self-defeating behaviors […] [and is] irresponsible, resentful, manipulative, hostile, and [has] a psychological predisposition to addiction" (2.2.99). Joanne, you forgot "creeper," "stalker," and "all-around unlikeable guy"—but tests aren't perfect.
- Joanne tries to convince James to try the Twelve Steps, but he doesn't even want to try one step. He asks why he didn't get kicked out over the Roy Incident, and she lets him know that Hank, the van driver, vouched for James's sheer awesomeness.
- Also, FYI: Joanne and Hank are an item.
- That night, the Bald Man tells his Tragic Tale of Addiction®, and everyone laughs.
- Later, James goes for a walk outside, stares down an otter (which, like the toilet, doesn't cause him any trouble), and ends up deciding that his suicidal urges are gone.