Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Parenthood: You Can’t Always Get What You Want(S4E9)



Was it a little dusty for anyone else watching last night?  I’m pretty sure it was over here…

Let’s start with the most annoying story, and work our way backwards…

Sarah and Mark have a wedding to attend on the weekend, but uh-oh, Hank is having a meltdown.  Turns out his ex is moving, and taking his daughter with to Minnesota(holla!).  Hank calls Sarah completely blitzed at one in the morning, and she takes off, leaving Mark out in the cold. 
The next day, Hank tells Sarah that he wants her to go to LA with him that weekend, but Sarah doesn’t want to, since she took the time off to go to the wedding and all.  Mark wants her skip as well, but then Hank uses his sob story:  he’s using the job as an excuse to go to LA to try to talk his ex out of moving.  Sarah is conflicted, and her and Mark fight several times, but the fight is exactly the same each time.  It was super annoying.  In the end, Mark disinvites her to the wedding(it was his friend), and Sarah pouts around a bunch.

Oh, and Drew is a whiny little brat again, this time not wanting to be babysat by his grandparents while Sarah is away, even though she has VERY good reason not to trust him.

Crosby had his very own annoying subplot as well, when a bitchy neighbor comes by, and bitches at him bitchily for a million years.  Turns out the musicians in the studio are rather disrespectful to the other tenants, and she can’t get into her parking space, and there is a lot of noise and garbage.  When the problem isn’t fixed within a minute, she flips out, and complains to the city, finally ending up threatening to sue, since the business is on a residentially zoned property.  Now, if the annoying bitchy woman had voiced her complaints in a more civil manner, I may have been more sympathetic toward her, but her demeanor made me hate her the second I saw her.  If you are going to be in an area with shared spaces, you have to play like a grown-up, bitchy lady.

Julia and Joel had their own problems, when Joel got an offer for a huge promotion, as a forman at a construction site.  Julia is playing stay-at-home mom, and is clearly miserable.  She doesn’t want to hang out with the other moms, she spends her time at home doing pointless things like making giant handfuls of pasta, and then the kids hate it anyway.  Julia doesn’t want Joel to take the job, as she thinks it’ll make him have Viktor as less of a priority, and when she voices this concern, everything hits the fan.  Joel is incredibly pissed that Julia doesn’t respect him enough to think that he can’t handle do the exact same thing she did when Sydney was born: putting career on equal footing, and being able to balance it.  They eventually do make up, and Julia admits her anger comes from her insecurity at being a good stay-at-home mom, and not anything Joel has done.  Now, do have just a tiny quibble with this, in that Julia could have had good reason for feeling that way, in that she knew that SHE couldn’t balance, and didn’t feel that SHE could give her all to the kids.  If she framed it that way, that her failings have her concerned, not that he isn’t capable, just that it’s very difficult which she knows from experience, the outcome could have been very different.

Amber and Ryan have a small, but significant plot.  Zeke is helping Ryan get ready for interviews, and Amber’s being all supportive and whatnot.  When Ryan goes out for his interview, the interviewer is a total jerk, and only fixates on whether Ryan has killed anyone.  Ryan bailed on the interview after that, and Amber is sympathetic, but Ryan needs space anyway, going for a walk by himself when she tries to give him a hug.  Amber goes to Zeke looking for advice, and you can tell that she is really falling for him by how much he being hurt hurts her.

Lastly, Adam and Kristina, with a big helping of Max, had the funish plot of the evening.  Max has started on his presidential duties, and has taken his single issue campaign right to the forefront of each and every meeting.  The rest of the councilmembers want to put on a dance, but Max uses his (non-existent) veto powers to squelch that one, at least until his parents hear about it.  They convince him to let the other students plan the dance, but he refuses to go.  Adam is fine with him not going, but Kristina REALLY wants him to.  They argue back and forth for a bit, with Kristina even getting him some nice collared shirts, but Max is having none of it. 

Adam tries to talk to Kristina about having Max not go, but she has a very good reason for wanting him to: What if she doesn’t make it?  What if this is the only dance she’s around for?  Adam is taken aback, and manages to convince Max to go to the dance, if only for 30 minutes.  When Max comes into the living room, Kristina is so happy.  She helps guide him in how to ask a girl to dance, and what to do if she says no, or if she say yes.  They dance around the living room a bit, with Adam smiling in the background, and dang, is that dust back?  It was so cute, I almost couldn’t handle it.

This was a pretty good episode.  You can see the arcs falling into place, and are starting to see where each character is going, or at least, is trying to go.  I could have done without the Crosby plot, or at least, it should have been handled differently, but the Kristina stuff was great.  The Sarah/Mark/Hank love triangle is already getting on my nerves, but writers don’t move an unmarried couple in together cause they don’t want drama.  Let’s hope it keeps up with the strong stuff for the rest of the season. 

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