MovieChat Forums > Home Improvement (1991) Discussion > Jill is a terrible psychologist....

Jill is a terrible psychologist....

posted 12 years ago by tralycr_c-1
23 replies | jump to latest

The way she mocks Tim and Wilson for remembering their first cars, then seems genuinely perplexed until Wilson brings up her first apartment--it's insane. How can such an obtuse, angry, spiteful person be considered a top psychology prospect (according to the show)? I've seen young children with better manners and insights than her, and that's without going into the other episodes where she constantly jumps to conclusions and pre-judges nearly every person she meets.

There is a man...he travels fast...he has purpose...he brings violence and destruction.

[–] sparky182 12 years ago

it was tough to buy her as a psychologist. With the reason you mentioned, plus she was only in college for like a year. LOL!

"I'm not a doctor...I'm a funeral director" - Hiram Baker

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] tralycr_c-1 12 years ago

But when she chose to return the character seemed to imply that psychology was a new thing she was interested in (she was some kind of ladies' magazine editor in the first season), so she would have had to start from the beginning.

There is a man...he travels fast...he has purpose...he brings violence and destruction.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] whitespirit26 12 years ago

She was in college for three or four years.

[–] deem714 12 years ago

Seamus is correct on the timeline of her college/graduate school education. I remember her having to work on her thesis while recuperating from her hysterectomy, which was in a late season.

I also have to agree with the OP. The biggest problem I have with her is how she jumps to conclusions. Seriously, Jill would have been the only customer of the Jump to Conclusions matt (from Office Space fame) beause that's all she did.

I find it hysterical how she bases her career choice on ONE psychology test with an A grade. Probably a fluke.

"Oh Thank you God! Thank you so BLOODY much!" Basil Fawlty

[–] deem714 12 years ago

When you go for your masters in a different career, you are in there for a little longer than if you are not making a career change, but it's not that much more.

I am a teacher and I spent 4 years in undergraduate school and only about 2 years or so in graduate school. There are less classes but more intense work. You also are taking a class or two a semester, due to the fact that you are probably working.

When you stop working in order to go back to school you are probably taking more than a couple of classes a semester.

Is there a reason you flip flopped from saying she is a terrible psychologist (which I agree with) and your above post bickering about the time she was in school?

"Oh Thank you God! Thank you so BLOODY much!" Basil Fawlty

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] whitespirit26 12 years ago

Obviously it wasn't a fluke, since she kept getting A's and even wrecked the curb of the class by raising the standard.

[–] rob-2423 12 years ago

I agree. As a car guy with a collection of Mustangs and Harley Davidson motorcycles, I can tell you that we definitely develop an attachment to our vehicles. They are even more than Friday wrench turning, or Saturday date memories, they are a part of our personalities. Jill was extremely close minded when it came to anything she did not personally appreciate. Part of what I disliked about her.

[–] arcticdragon340 12 years ago

Jill's problem is that she tends to be very self-absorbed with her owns feelings, opinions and interests and she is sometimes inconsequential towards others.

She's often a bad problem solver, like how she diagnosed the relationship of Randy's girlfriend's parents, and her own parents in that Christmas episode (which Tim actually managed to fix up well).

I also hate her tendency to get people together with as couples, something she seems to do for her own amusement and not because she cares for them. Tim cites that all of her off-screen matchmaking attempts were unsuccessful. She randomly set Wilson up with her teacher just because they both happen to be single. And I especially hated how she ruined Tim's garage working party to make a barbecue just to set up her obnoxious feminist friend with one of Tim's friends.

When her own interests conflict with Tim's, she apparently has no qualms spitting on her own husbands wants and opinions, because she feels that by default she matters more. Dinner with her, or Superbowl? A theater play that Tim doesn't want to see, or a hockey game? Whatever the case, there's no need for discussion when she's made her choice. And whether it's a childhood piano or one's first car, if it's important to Tim but not important to her, it's just not important at all and there's no need to consider Tim's feelings.

[–] tralycr_c-1 12 years ago

I have a theory that she's really good at sex. There is no other explanation for why Tim hasn't left her for someone like that hot reporter who wanted him to lick wine off her toes.

There is a man...he travels fast...he has purpose...he brings violence and destruction.

[–] arcticdragon340 12 years ago

There's the kids.

[–] tralycr_c-1 12 years ago

They were pretty annoying too. A pothead, a hippie, and a thief.

There is a man...he travels fast...he has purpose...he brings violence and destruction.

[–] deem714 12 years ago

Nah, more like the pothead fuutbawl player, the act-or and the fencer.

"Oh Thank you God! Thank you so BLOODY much!" Basil Fawlty

[–] kkennedy_65 12 years ago

"When her own interests conflict with Tim's, she apparently has no qualms spitting on her own husbands wants and opinions, because she feels that by default she matters more."

I agree 100% arcticdragon 340. I never watched this show when it was on the first time around, but I've been watching it on and off on TBS in the morning. I was immediately struck at how unappealing and unsympathetic Jill's character is. She never seems happy, and it seems to me as if she feels the whole family should revolve around her life and her wishes.

As you put it, when SHE wants to do something, then SHE gets her own way, no matter what. My way or the highway...end of discussion. She never does consider anyone else's feelings but her own. Having been married for 25 years, (I'm widowed now), you must compromise at times. And Jill rarely, if ever does. To me she comes off as a total bitch...a woman who constantly tries to emasculate her husband. If I knew someone like her in real life the temptation to smack this person silly would be really, really strong.

[–] tralycr_c-1 12 years ago

I wonder if Tim Allen's mom was like that or something in reality.

There is a man...he travels fast...he has purpose...he brings violence and destruction.

[–] rob-2423 12 years ago

Agreed. And did you take note at how she pulled to have "her" Nomad repaired??? She talked so affectionately about it revving up at the red light and smoking the guy next to her.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] whitespirit26 12 years ago

The main problem with Jill in the later season was simply that the show started writing her as more flighty, jumpy and ungrounded a lot more of the time. She could be annoying and judgemental, but she also helped her family through difficult mental struggles, and was SO on the mark in the episode where Randy was jealous of Brad for being on Tool Time. That's what school and life are for, though, improving; she showed by her very first interview with a couple that she needed some work.

[–] tralycr_c-1 11 years ago

I think she got worse. Look at the thesis episode, where she's convinced her teacher has it out for her because of a grudge, not because she wrote a paper with a few mistakes in it. This is right before she's preparing to go out into the world and "help" people.

Oh god, Indiana better look out!

There is a man...he travels fast...he has purpose...he brings violence and destruction.

[–] AmyJolamb 7 years ago

You are right. Once she goes back to school I find her character more annoy than before. Especially once she starts to study psychology. She seems too emotional to be a psychologist. Like she'd get too involved.