All language subtitles for dear_john_s01e05_matthews_dilemma

Hi, honey. I'm home.

is filmed in front of a live studio
audience.

Oh, wonderful, Mr. Seidman. It's moments
like these that makes a teacher's life

worthwhile. Complete this quote.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls. Answer.
I just hope it tolls soon so that I can

get out of this class.

Very amusing, Mr. Seidman. You get an F
for funny.

Listen, you'll have to wait a minute.
I'm not dressed.

No, we were married for ten years.

I've seen you undressed.

It's no big deal.

You know what I mean. Yeah, just a
minute.

talk to you. Just a second. Let me take
care of something.

Well, it's really great to see

you.

Apparently.

No, I was ironing these when you rang
the bell.

You know, it helps if you take them off
first.

Thanks for the tip.

What are you doing here, anyway?

Who's with our son?

Oh, Mike took Matthew to the movies.
John, Mike and I have a problem.

And we tried to solve this ourselves,
but we can't. Oh, great.

Now I have to pay dear Abby for my ex
-wife and her boyfriend.

He seems so withdrawn and moody. I'm
really worried about him.

I can't seem to say or do anything
right. And every time I try talking to

he just clams up.

My, my, how upsetting.

Would you be serious? Be serious now.
This is important.

Last night...

Hmm?

Well, he wet the bed.

Mike wet the bed? What, was he drunk?

Not Mike. I'm talking about our son.

Matthew?

Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute.

What's wrong with Matthew?

I don't know.

I don't know. I even tried checking with
his teacher, but she doesn't have a

clue either.

Except that his mood begins to get sour
as the weekend approaches.

Now, if anything, a child Matt's age
will be looking forward to the weekend.

Well, of course he should. He sees me on
the weekend.

Yes. Well, no offense, John, but I was
wondering if maybe you should

skip seeing Matt for the next few weeks.

What? What are you talking about?

Are you saying it's me?

Well, Mike and I don't know what else it
could be.

Yeah? Well, I'll tell you what else it
could be.

It could be that he spent six full days
with Mike.

I spent six minutes with that guy, and
I'm depressed for the whole week.

Look, John, if you're going to be
defensive about this... Yes, you bet I'm

to be defensive.

You're telling me I can't see my son?

That's absolutely unacceptable.

It's not that you should see less of me.

You should see more of me.

Look, Wendy, Matt and I have great times
together. I mean, we're like buddies.

We play football every Sunday. You know
how he loves to play football.

John, look, I'm not trying to hurt you.
I'm only thinking of Matt.

Well, so am I.

I'll tell you what.

This weekend, I'll, um... I'll sit him
down. We'll have a nice long talk, and

maybe I can find out what's bothering
him.

All right.

Okay. Yeah.

Okay, believe me, if you can get to the
bottom of this thing, oh, nothing would

make me happier.

Hey, listen, you know, when it comes to
raising Matthew, we're in this together.

And we always will be.

You know, I can't help thinking that
things would be a lot easier on Matthew

we hadn't split up, huh?

Well, don't worry about it. I'll see if
I can't find out what's bothering him.

Thanks.

Oh, John.

Yeah? I just wish there was something I
could do for you.

Take off your pants.

Wendy, I've got a meeting to go to in 20
minutes.

Yeah, so you don't think I'm going to
let you go out with your crease looking

like that, do you?

Come on.

Come on, fork them over.

All right.

It's the summer of 69.

I get a call.

From my commanding officer.

He wants me to parachute into Hanoi.

Hold it, hold it.

Now, last week you told us that in the
summer of 69, you were in Woodstock.

Right. That's where he called me.

Now, apparently what had happened was I
was on...

interrupting, dear, but it's not
immediately apparent how any of this

to the breakup of your marriage.

He was probably in the middle of this
story when his wife left him.

John, please.

So I parachute in. The rice paddy is a
burning lake.

Kirk, dear!

You've kept us spellbound now for what
seems like most of our lives.

I think it's only fair that someone else
have a chance to talk.

is really a very personal thing.

I've never talked about this before
because I always felt that my kid's my

business. You have a child? Yeah, a son,
Matthew. Oh, he'll be nine next week.

Well, it turns out that Matthew's been
kind of moping around lately, and my

told me that it was me who was
depressing him.

See, I never would have brought this up,
but I feel like I really need help on

this one.

I'm just lost.

Oh, John, how awful to have to hear
that. It must break your heart.

Ooh, oh, ooh.

Right. Ooh, um, I'm lost and depressed,
too.

Because of the kids and the doggies and
the flowers and the birdies, you know.

Kirk, Kirk, I am expressing a simple
human emotion. Don't try to make it out

be something it's not. What are you
talking about? He's got his head right

your things, babe.

Kirk, you would never understand.

Well, thanks anyway. You're welcome.

What do you think the problem is with
your son, John?

I really don't know.

But I think I'd better get it
straightened out before this weekend

got a birthday party on Friday and I'd
hate to see him not enjoy himself with

his own party.

You know, I... I thought I might do
something special for his party.

I know the very thing.

I used to date is a clown.

I think I went out with him, too.

No, no, I mean an actual clown.

He entertains at a lot of children's
functions.

I'm sure he'd be ideal for Matthew's
party. What do you think?

Oh, wow, a clown. Now, that would be
great.

I'll give you his number. Oh, thanks. He
goes by the name of Botho the Clown.

You give him that name, Louise?

There you go, Matt. One super yucky
cone.

No, Dad. It's called a super lucky cone.
Well, I knew it was something like

that. Come here, you.

So, you got a birthday coming up in a
few days, huh?

I bet you're looking forward to that.

Well... Hey,

Matt, have I got something great for
you.

I know your birthday's on Friday, but
you'll be opening up so many presents by

then. What do you say we get a jump on
it?

Whatever you say, Dad.

That's my boy.

Now, what do you think is in there?

How do I know? You bought it, Dad.

Here. Have a look -see.

Go ahead.

Oh, boy.

My father got me one of those when I was
your age. Boy, I couldn't wait to put

it on.

I used to wear it to bed and everything.

Thanks, Dad.

Dad?

on Friday.

Yeah, I know.

So I'm not exactly a kid anymore.

That's right.

So you'll understand if I don't kiss
you, right?

Yeah, sure, I understand.

Good.

Hey, man!

Now that you got this new football
helmet, I bet you can't wait to try it

Not really.

Sure. So what do you say after we finish
our ice cream, we suit up, head down to

the park, and toss the old ball around?

I'm really kind of tired, Bill.

Okay.

Maybe change your mind later.

Hmm.

So how you been?

Seems like aging since we've visited.

I've been fine.

Good. Fine is good.

Everything okay at school?

Listen, Matt.

I just want you to know that if
anything's bothering you, you can talk

matter what.

In fact, I think you'll find that I'm a
very, very good listener.

Well... Yeah, what?

into the marathon, right? It turns out
the course goes right by your house. I

thought this is perfect.

I'll pop in, load up on some
carbohydrates.

So, John, where do you keep the macaroni
and cheese? Kirk, if you're running in

the marathon, don't you think you ought
to get back to the marathon?

Relax. I got a big lead.

Hey, John, is your little kid?

Yeah, Matt.

This is Kirk. All right. Hey, any kid of
John's is a friend of mine. Give me

five. Don't forget your change bag.

All right.

If this had been yesterday, you'd have
missed me.

Oh, just our luck. Yeah, because I only
just flew in last night.

Nicaragua. Oh, come on, Kirk. Please.

What? Are you a flight attendant?

A flight attendant?

But can you keep a secret? No, it's all
right, John. It's all right. I have a

good feeling about this small person
here.

He can be trusted.

Matt, you happen to be looking at an
authentic, bona fide, international

spy. Oh, fuck.

Wow, that's neat.

Mm -hmm.

How come you never told me you knew a
spy, Dad?

Well, uh, it's classified.

Have you ever killed anyone?

Oh, lots of times.

See, you've got to understand, I am in
the field of con -respionage, which is

just a very heavy -duty word for
sticking it to the commies.

Every so often, me and a bunch of guys
from Donna's spy headquarters, we zip

to a secret location and we practice
firing missiles at each other.

Wow, that's so neat.

Because all my dad does is teach school.

Hey, even spies have to go to school,
Matt.

If you fire missiles at each other, who
can...

How come?

We wear special clothes.

Well,

we better get going, Matt.

Just cut Matt a new football helmet for
his birthday.

He's just dying to try it out, right,
Matt?

Well, I swear, you've got a birthday
coming up, huh? On Friday, I'm having a

party and everything.

Yeah, very small party. Small private
party.

Invitations only. Come on, Matt.

Want to come?

Oh, let's see.

Wednesday, I'm in Libya.

Thursday, I got that assassination thing
in there. Yeah, well, I'm sure the kids

will excuse you. The kids will excuse
you if you can't make it. No, Friday

be there.

Wow, you'd really take time off your
spice off just to come to my party? Hey,

boom.

That's the kind of guy I am.

This is gonna be the best party.

All Jack Newfield has is some dumb
clown.

Look, Mac, don't you think we should get
going? I mean, we better get down to

the park if we're gonna have some
football practice.

Do we have to? What?

We could go over to the pond and throw
stones at the model boats.

Oh, right!

I guess we won't make these.

Wait up!

Now then, have anyone got any news to
report? Ralph, have we had a

on the job front?

Not really.

John, I didn't expect to see you here
tonight.

Yeah, how did the birthday party go? It
was a disaster.

An unmitigated disaster.

A fight broke out.

Oh, I shouldn't worry about that, John.
Tomorrow they'll be the best of friends.

You know how children are.

The children behaved themselves
perfectly. The fight was between two

adults. That's awful.

Who was it?

I didn't start it. Don't talk to me.
Just stay out of my sight.

You invited that to your son's birthday
party. No, I didn't. Why did you have to

hit him? I told you. He sprayed water at
me.

That was his job. He's a clown.

How was I supposed to know that?

What, didn't he have a red nose?

He does now.

Apparently, Kurt failed to notice the
multicolored wig, the yard -long shoes,

the entire clown's outfit.

You actually punched out a clown?

So what are clowns all of a sudden? An
endangered species?

You bashed my boss, though.

Couldn't have happened at a worse time.

My son, Jace, gave me the awful news
that he didn't want to see me for the

few Sundays.

Just as I was about to find out why,
Buffalo the Clown comes flying out of

French stores with Kurt wrapped around
his throat in some kind of a Chinese

death hole. What?

It was a Korean death hole.

I don't know. I just feel that Matthew

doesn't want to be with me anymore.

John, I'm so sorry.

I know this is difficult for you, John,
but you never... how children are, it's

probably just a phase.

Yeah, just give the kid a break.

Lighten up.

Live with it? Lighten up? Gee, I can't
believe what I'm hearing.

Neither of you would say any of these
things if you had children of your own.

Not so fast, John. From what I hear,
there's a lot of little blonde kids

around Thailand.

I wanted children, but we couldn't have
any.

And the last thing I need is for you to
stand there and throw my house...

husband's faulty vein in my face.

Look, all I'm trying to say is that
unless you've had children of your own,

couldn't possibly understand what I
feel.

So we didn't have children.

We had a fox terrier, and that's almost
the same.

I remember when he was just... Louise,
Louise, with all due respect, a pet is

hardly the same as a child. No, but I
know what Louise means.

You may remember that I had a turtle
once.

They're very loving and loyal creatures.
A turtle would never desert you. Ralph,

a turtle can't desert you.

Where's the turtle gonna go?

Oh, God, I feel so terrible.

The only decent relationship I've ever
had is falling apart.

What are you going to do?

What can I do? I can't force him to be
with me.

It's going to kill me, but tomorrow I'm
going to get together with my boy and

I'm just going to tell him that if he
doesn't want to see me for a while, he

doesn't have to. Oh, John, it can't
possibly be good for a boy not to see

father. No, no, no, that's not
necessarily true, Kate. See, I've read

if a father spends long periods away
from his son, there's no reason that

can't grow up to be a happy, successful,
self -confident, and well -adjusted

individual. Where did you read that,
Ralph?

A postcard from my father?

I still don't get why Mommy didn't pick
me up after my trumpet lesson. Well, I

asked your mom if I could pick you up. I
need a little time to talk to you.

She'll come by later.

Oh, I stopped by the hospital to see
Balfo today.

Oh, is he all right?

Yeah. Yeah, he's going to be fine. He's
already able to sit up and take a little

seltzer.

Hey, Matt, come here for a minute.

What?

Matt, there's something you told me
yesterday at the party that kind of

me, and I didn't get a chance to talk to
you about it.

What do you mean?

Well, you know, when you asked if I'd
mind not seeing you for the next few

Sundays, well, I just wanted to tell you
that if that's the way you want it,

it's not going to make me feel happy,
but that's the way it's going to be.

But what I really want you to know is
why.

Can you tell me?

The truth?

I think so, yes.

I don't like football.

Okay, fine. You don't like football. Now
just tell me what's worrying you.

That's it.

What? You mean that's what this is all
about? You don't like football?

I hate football.

I'm sorry, Dad. I know you always wanted
me to play it, but I don't want to. So

I won't blame you if you want to spend
your Sundays with some kid who likes

football. No, no.

I don't want to spend my Sundays with
anybody but you.

What's wrong?

It's just that I don't like football
either.

father's game. He made me play it when I
was a kid.

And why'd you always make me play?
Because I thought you always liked it.

did you always ask to play?

Because I thought you liked it.

And that's why you didn't want to see
me?

I couldn't tell you. I thought it would
hurt your feelings.

Oh, Matt.

You know what we are?

We're just a couple of real jerks.

Here we are trying not to hurt each
other's feelings, and all we did was

each other feel miserable.

I want to tell you something.

The only way you can hurt my feelings is
by not being my friend.

Because you're my best friend in the
whole world.

Really? Really.

And I bet I know who your best friend
is.

Jeff Newfield.

I was just about to say that.

Yeah, there is a sport I like. It's
soccer. In fact, I even joined a team.

Soccer? You like soccer?

That's great.

Yeah, and for the next few Sundays,
we're going to be playing matches at the

park.

the other kids are bringing their dads
with them. Do you think you can come and

watch me play, too?

That is, if you haven't already made
plans for Sunday.

Oh, you bet I'm going to come to see you
play. I wouldn't miss your soccer games

for anything in the world.

Dad, you know what?

What? I'm glad we had this talk.

Me, too.

Hey, how about if I make us a couple of
sandwiches?

You stay right here. I'll go make them.

You do that for your old dad?

Hey. That's the kind of guy I am.

Next on L .A. Law, Roxanne Patience is
wearing

thin with her lover's mind -numbing
pillow talk tonight. On Saturday, it's 2

-7. And the survey says Mary and Sandra
are at it again when they play Family

Feud, followed by Amen.

Then... Put on your blue suede shoes for
the wedding of the year on the Golden

Girls. After that, it's Empty Nest,
Saturday.