Parenthood: Because You’re My Sister(S4E15)

Oh my goodness, all the feels.  All the feels!

Just about every storyline was wrapped up this week, and it’s a good thing too, considering this was the season finale, and possibly the series finale, depending on the vindictiveness of NBC.

Let’s jump right in.

Adam and Kristina are super excited about her final chemo treatment, and optimistically visit her oncologist for a checkup.  Turns out, there is some blood liver abnormalities, and he wants her to get a PET scan to make sure nothing is wrong, though he thinks it is just from one of her meds.  Kristina doesn’t take it well, and quietly begins to freak out. 

Later, at the chemo treatment, they run into Gypsy, who has relapsed.  Adam is still optimistic, but Kristina is a real downer through most of the treatment.  After, they are toasting to themselves and Kristina’s final treatment, when Adam pulls out a gift: a vacation to Hawaii.  Kristina is still scared she is going to relapse, and leaves the room crying, telling Adam to cancel the trip as she passed through the door.

Kristina does apologize at the luncheonette, and they get their groove on, until Crosby butts in, interrupting their macking session.  Kristina goes into her PET scan in much higher sprits, and finally heads to her doctor to hear the final word:  she’s cancer free!  Yay!  That means we won’t have this story line if Parenthood comes back!  I mean, they did it well, but it got really old after a while.  I’m glad it’s reached its (not unexpected) conclusion, nicely capping off with their trip to Hawaii.

Amber and Ryan had their arc wrapped up as well, and it started with Ryan showing up at Amber’s loft with a hugemongus bouquet of flowers.  He tells her everything he’s accomplished, including getting his job back, and starting therapy.  He tells her that he loves her, that she’s all he can think about.  Amber just bawls the whole time, and Ryan leaves without her saying very much at all.

After Amber has had some time to think, she goes over to Ryan’s house.  She tells him about her car accident a few years ago, and how she needs to know he can be responsible with her love.  They hug, and kiss, and it is basically super cute.  They’re back together, and it’s great.  They are actually a cute couple, and it seems like a grown up, mature relationship, one that would last in the real world.

Sarah and Hank have a bit of a downer wrap up.  Hank is headed to Minnesota to bang some heads together to help Ruby get enrolled in school or something?  I’m not sure, it was explained rather vaguely in the episode.  Anyway, he tells her they need to talk when he gets back.  Sarah puts on her thinking hat, and is totally ready for anything, except…

Mark, showing up at her house to tell her that he still loves her, and will do anything to get her back.  He then exits stage right, leaving Sarah slack-jawed in the process.  The next day, she does go and talk to him, though, right in his class, presumably so he can’t make a scene.  Sarah tells Mark she does love him, but that she is going to try to make it work with Hank.  Mark looks rather devastated as he sits back at his desk and Sarah pulls an exit stage left on him.

Soon after, Hank comes back, and has a bombshell for Sarah:  he is going to move to Minnesota, he needs to be closer to Ruby, and he can’t miss her growing up.  From his build up, though, Sarah thought he was going a different direction, and ends the scene with “That’s not what I thought you were going to say.”

The next we see them, Hank is in a cab at Sarah’s house, and he tells her he loves her, and that she should go with him.  Sarah doesn’t agree to go, but she doesn’t say no either.  I am so glad that she didn’t get back together with big dumb Mark, and now I kind of hope she actually does come to Minnesota, just because I feel like that is something Sarah needs in her life, to be away from her family, to learn how to stand on her own two feet again, since it seems like she has forgotten.

Crosby and Jasmine are all excited, it’s their anniversary, and Crosby has some fancy dinner reservations.  Jasmine is a bit apprehensive since Crosby pissed off her mom, and has yet to apologize, but Crosby is fully convinced they can get her to babysit.  Except oops:  Grandma is moving out, and going to live at her son’s house, thankyouverymuch.

Her son, Jasmine’s brother, is not impressed Grandma is going to share his 700 square foot apartment, but Crosby has no cares to give, and helps her pack up.  Later, when Crosby and Jasmine are at the fancy restaurant, Jasmine is all pissy, telling Crosby he really needs to apologize to her mother.  She doesn’t like that Grandma doesn’t feel welcome in her house, and besides, they are going to need help with the new baby!!!

Ok, not that that wasn’t telegraphed from a million miles away, but AWW.  They visit Grandma and break the news, and it is the second cutest moment in the episode.  But what it number one, you may ask?

Joel and Julia are getting Viktor and Sydney ready for the adoption ceremony, and Sydney is a royal pain, saying she’s not going to the ceremony, therefore she doesn’t need a new dress, and she doesn’t need to get ready for it.  Julia sends her to her room, but she was headed there already, so it’s no skin off Sydney’s nose.

Viktor later decides that football in the house would be an appropriate activity, and manages to break a very expensive vase or something.  He worriedly asks Julia if she’s going to change her mind on the adoption, but Julia quickly reassures him that there was no way that was going to happen.  Viktor then talks with Sydney, and asks her to come to his ceremony, since he wants her there, and she agrees, and Aww.  But not the big one. 

Finally FINALLY we reach the big day, and the entire Braverman clan is standing outside the courthouse, making small chat, just waiting their turn.  They finally get called in, and the judge goes through all the legalese, lastly asking if anyone has any objections.  First Zeke, then everyone else in the family speaks up, not to object to the adoption, but to officially welcome Viktor into the Braverman clan, and I’m pretty sure there was an onion cutting in the next room, because I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.

This was a great episode, especially if it does end up being the series finale.  Every family unit got some sort of resolution, besides Sarah, but the Hank thing seemed fine unresolved as it was.  Everyone seemed happy, and it is nice, for a change, to have a large group of people that genuinely love each other. 

Parenthood: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (S4E14)

Hmm.  So this was not a strong episode.  At least two of the plots made me hate the characters, and the rest were utterly predictable, or overly schmaltzy. 

Lets jump right in.

Adam and Kristina start off by having an utterly adorable moment with Nora, until Hurricane Max storms into the house ranting and raving about the fascists at his school, his obsession with the vending machine having finally grated on the student council advisors last nerve about as much as mine.  Adam is all for letting him learn the hard lesson of ‘things don’t always go your way,’ but Kristina thinks they should punt that down the road again, some more, and she decides to give Max a bit of a helping hand in getting the vending machine back.

She starts out by hitting up the other moms while waiting for Max outside of school.  They are basically sanctimonious bitches, and I kind of wanted to punch them in the face.  Kristina looks like she wants to do about the same, and so goes back home to regroup.  She and Adam devise a plan:  they will divide and conquer, getting people individually to agree to the vending machines, and then bringing the proposal to the PTA.  She finds a bunch of information on healthier vending machines to bring to the meeting, but it turns out it wasn’t even necessary:  one of the teachers is jonesing for a pop, and would really like the vending machines back yesterday, thank you.

When next we see this story, Max is dancing in a shower of Skittles.  As you do.  And thus ended the schmaltz.

Parenthood: Small Victories(S4E13)

Oh, my gosh, all the feels were in this episode.  It took me all this time to sort my thoughts, but boy, do I have thoughts.

Let’s start with the lighter stuff, shall we?

Sarah and Hank are doing their dating thing, but Mark decides to show his big dumb face, and Sarah is all conflicted again.  I really hope she doesn’t get back together with Mark, because they have no chemistry at all, and she and Hank are just so darn adorable, it verges on ridiculous.

Adam and Kristina are also having a bit of a light arc this episode, in that Max is growing up, and boy, does he stink.  And I mean that literally.  Kristina could smell him from the hall, and she insists Adam talk to him about all the changes he’ll be going through.  They start the talk, mostly insisting on more than bi-weekly showers, and Max…doesn’t see the point.  Kristina and Adam regroup, and Kristina makes Adam go in solo like he made her do for Hattie.  Adam is apprehensive, but goes in and gives a kick ass talk, and Max really seems to get it.  Well, he at least decides to take more than two showers a week, so progress?  In any case, it was really cute, and a natural progression for Max, a situation I think Kristina and especially Adam handled really well.

Crosby and Jasmine, on the other hand, are finally reaping the ‘benefits’ of Grandma moving in.  Her stuff is all over the house, she uses the bathroom like she’s the only one in the house, and routines are being altered to fit Grandma’s needs, and Crosby is NOT happy.  At the Luncheonette, Adam and Crosby are discussing the situation when Crosby get a call: Grandma got a job!  Crosby brings home cupcakes to celebrate after dinner, but Grandma isn’t going to take the job for some BS reason or another, and Crosby acts like kind of a douche to her.  She calls Crosby out on it, Crosby is suitably shame-faced, and they kiss and make up, and everyone starts looking for jobs for Grandma.

This storyline was a bit…odd for me.  The writers clearly wanted me to feel sorry for Grandma, but I really felt more empathy Crosby.  I would hate it if someone came into my house like they owned it, and messed around with everything I knew.  And the whole not taking the job she was offered was just frustrating.  I understand the pain this economy causes better than some, and not taking that job was the ultimate in selfishness on her part.

Parenthood: Keep On Rowing(S4E12)

Well, after a nice long break, we finally are back with new episode starting on Tuesday, apparently!  I think I heard about Parenthood coming back, but completely forgot.  Good thing for OnDemand, amirite?

Let’s get right into this heavy on character development episode, with a side helping of plot, shall we?

In the most lighthearted pieces of the evening, Sarah and Hank are still dating awkwardly, and after the urging of the Braverman girls, Sarah tells Hank to ask her out on an official date.  He does so, incredibly awkwardly yet again, and they set a date for Thursday.

Of course, Sarah goes home and spots Drew messaging Mark on Facebook, and pangs of jealously run through.  On the date, she is all distracted, while Hank is lightheartedly complaining about the $17 salads.  Sarah asks if he still feels jealous when his ex is with another guy, and they commiserate over their shared experiences.  Hank decides that the fancy pants place is really not them, and so they go back to his house to play War and eat Chinese on the floor.  As you do.  Hank gets super cute too, expositing how he’s not great at eye contact, but with Sarah, “I find it hard NOT to look into your eyes.”

The next morning, Sarah awakes to find Hank gone, and she starts packing up to go.  Just then, Hank walks back in with breakfast, and they share another tender moment.  I’m kind of growing on them as a couple, I think, cause I wasn’t feeling the urge to snark on their relationship the whole time, which was definitely a first for me on them.

Parenthood: What to My Wandering Eyes(S4E11)

Again with the dusty viewing experience, geez.  This week, we had a bunch of stories that all convalesced into one, with tons of tears to go around.

Adam and Kristina have gone all out for Christmas, buying everything on all the kids’ lists, though Kristina is not looking very good while wrapping them all.  On Christmas Eve, she can’t stop coughing, and Adam insists on bringing her to the ER.  After taking care of the kid situation(Crosby and Jasmine are going to watch them), Adam and Kristina are at the hospital.

They don’t want to alarm anyone in the family, so they try to keep everything on the DL, but when Zeke stops by the house, Max, in his normal blunt way, tells him Kristina is in the hospital.  Zeke shows up at a terrible moment, when Kristina is crashing, and Adam yells at him to go home.

Adam asks the doctor what is going on, and Kristina is in septic shock, and is very touch and go.  The doctor kind of fails at comforting, and Adam continues to freak out.  A little while later, Kristina is awake, and tells Adam about a file she has on the computer, and to make sure the kids see it.  Zeke makes a second appearance, and he came bearing gifts: a sandwich and things to get through a hospital stay.  There are hugs and tears all around, and Adam seems a bit more calm.

That is, until he pulls out the computer and watches the video.  Oh, my goodness, I was crying the whole way through it.  It was basically a goodbye video, and even though it was kind of…off, the just the idea of it was tear-inducing, so yeah.

Meanwhile, Julia and Joel are having Christmas fun with the kids, who are sneaking around trying to find their presents.  When the kids get caught, Julia warns them that Santa won’t give them good presents if they are all sneaky and things, but Viktor is having none of that.  “It’s just a  fat man in a suit, he’s not real.”  Sidney is decidedly distressed, and Julia and Joel have much handwringing about the loss of innocence and blah blah blah.

Crosby and Jasmine are having a great time watching Adam and Kristina’s kids with Jabbar, even doing a better job at the whole Aspie parenting then Adam and Kristina. 

Amber and Ryan, on the other hand…  They are making cookies and generally enjoying each other’s company when he lets her know that he is not going to Wyoming for Christmas.  Later, Amber is visiting Julia and Joel, and finds out that Ryan left the job after the first day.  Amber talks to Ryan about it, and she insists Ryan go and talk to Joel, and even to take her car to do it. 

Cut to several hours later, and Amber is frantically calling Ryan, since he isn’t back yet, and hasn’t been answering his phone.  One loud tire squeal later, Amber and Ryan are having a huge fight in the parking lot, since he is drunk and never even went to talk to Joel, let alone the damage he caused to her car by rubbing against a parking pole.

Sarah and Hank are the mall Santa photographers, and Sarah is being a complete and utter bitch to the customers, and Hank basically has to talk her down.  Later, they are at the mall bar comparing pathetic life stories, and Sarah wins with the ‘living with her parents at 42’ card.  The next thing we see, they are in bed, grinning awkwardly at each other.  Hank manages to stick his foot in his mouth yet again, but Sarah gets the Kristina phone call, and rushes out.

So, everyone is at Zeke and Camille’s house, and Zeke gives everyone the lowdown on the hospital situation.  Everyone is kind of down, but then Jabbar comes running in, asking about Santa, since Viktor is still going around crushing dreams.  Zeke tells the story of how he met Santa, and the kids are all enthralled. 

Jasmine and Crosby, though, are on the porch with Nora.  Jasmine is contemplative, and tells Crosby she wants another baby.  Crosby goes for the fake out with a long pause, before admitting he wants another baby, too.  Even though Nora is a trouble-maker for starting all this.

Hank shows up at the door later, and pulls his foot out of his mouth with a beautiful portrait of Sarah, and the arc that you could see coming from episode one has finally come to fruition.

The next morning, Amber gets a text from Ryan.  He’s terribly sorry, of course, and promises to fix everything that is wrong with him.  Amber, though, has seen this story before, and doesn’t want to end up like her mom and Seth.  She tells Ryan they need time apart, because as much as she is in love with him, she can’t be dragged down by him, either.  And so Amber and Ryan are on a break.

And then!  Kristina is sitting up, drinking water, and feeling 1000 times better.  And it’s made even better by all fourteen of the Braverman clan, allowed into the ICU by a bribe to the desk nurse.  Cause that is something that would definitely be allowed.  Of course, it is fully adorable, with matching scarves and a surprise appearance by Hattie.

Oh, man.  This was a highly emotional episode.  It was nice to see some of the arcs hitting fully expected beats, and even some unexpected ones, as well.  I’m pretty sure I was teary-eyed through most of the Kristina stuff, for sure.

Parenthood: Trouble in Candyland(S4E10)

And suddenly, things get interesting…

Sarah and Mark are finally going on their trips, Mark to the wedding, and Sarah to the job thing with Hank in LA.  They are completely awkward while packing, and Mark is clearly harboring resentment, though he does a terrible job of hiding it.  When Sarah finally makes it to LA, she calls and leaves a whiney message for Mark, saying how much she misses him and blah blah blah.

After the day of job stuff, Sarah and Hank are drinking at the bar, and Hank is fully depressed over his daughter moving to Minnesota, so they get to drinking.  As they are getting back to their rooms, drunkenly stumbling down the hall and leaning on each other for support, who should be at Sarah’s door, but MARK!  They get into a huge argument, and Mark stalks away, feeling stupid for wanting to apologize for arguing with her earlier.

The next morning, Sarah is very short with Hank, telling him it’s not her job to fix him, and it gets very awkward from then on out.   The next we see of this threesome, Mark is on a treadmill, and Sarah and he agree to dinner and a discussion.  Clearly there are still issues though, as Sarah says “I love you,” and Mark says “me, too.”

When Mark is headed to the dinner, he runs into Hank in the elevator.  Hank tries to smooth things over, telling Mark that Sarah knew the LA job thing was a sham, but obviously THAT didn’t go over too well with Mark.  When he gets to dinner, they stare at each other awkwardly(I think I’m sensing a pattern…) until Mark blows up, and breaks up with Sarah over her inability to be happy for once.

And in the end, Hank says good bye to his daughter while Sarah says goodbye to the life she had been living with Mark.  It went not good.

 In other news, Amber tries to get Ryan a job at Joel’s construction site.  Joel acquiesces after a bit of coffee bribery, and Ryan starts the next day.  Except Ryan is kind of a fail construction guy.  He measures once, cuts twice, and can’t even break a piece of sheetrock correctly.  But the piece de resistance is his complete and utter failure to recognize that long poles plus short corners equals a broken $800 window. 

Ryan quits on the spot, and stomps off the yard even though Joel tries to stop him.  Joel stops by his house later, but Ryan doesn’t answer the door, clearly going into a depression spiral, and most likely his and Amber’s arc for the next part of the season.

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.

Parenthood: One More Weekend with You (S4E8)

This was a really heavy episode, right up until the end.

Adam and Kristina open on a chaotic house, one that gets even more so when a kid in a wheelchair gets dropped off for the weekend.  Kristina is adamant that she can handle it even after the chemo, but Adam is not fully convinced.  And he is vindicated when Kristina spews all over the staircase while attempting to make a quick getaway to bathroom.  She spends the rest of the weekend upchucking in the toilet, and it is really harrowing.  I really felt for her when she was like, “I’m gonna be the ONE person that doesn’t get sick from chemo.”

Oh, and Max is a complete and utter brat the entire episode.  First, he refuses to take out the dog, even as it is peeing on the carpet.  Then, he continually barges into A/K’s bedroom, even though Kristina is in there sick out of her mind, and Adam insists he stays out.  Then he refuses to play with the kid that is over for the weekend because he beat Max at checkers.  They really need to learn how to parent a kid with Aspberger’s.  Just because Max doesn’t catch on to social situations like a mainstream kid doesn’t mean you can just ignore when he does it wrong.  You need to remind, reinforce, and retrain when necessary.  I honestly wanted to punch Max, but it was much more an issue of parenting than action.

Amber and Ryan, to add to the heaviness, head to a funeral for a friend of Ryan’s a few hours away.  When they get there, there are a few others reminiscing outside the hotel, and things get very heated: turns out, the friend committed suicide.  But in the end, it is turns nice, as the couple gets even closer, and they take a dip in the ocean to top it all off.

Julia and Joel are having kid issues again.  Viktor is really starting to fit in, but at the expense of Sydney.  She is really getting the short end of the stick with parent time, and is acting out because of it.  The little girl that plays her did an exceptional job of playing the angst, and it was very satisfying when she finally let them have it by ‘running away,’ even though it was only to the end of the block.  Julia and Joel finally realize they need to give her attention too, and they go to the skating rink, where Sydney finally starts to accept Viktor into the family.

Sarah and Mark have their own little thing, where Mark walks in on Drew having sex with his ex.  It’s about as awkward as you can imagine.  Drew swears secrecy out of Mark, and Mark stupidly agrees, even though that lasts for all of an hour.  Sarah tiptoes around the subject a bit, but eventually everything comes out, and Drew is a giant brat.  And then, Sarah apologizes for reasons.

Lastly, Jasmine and Crosby are throwing some sort of party, but Crosby is not terribly interested.  Jasmine wants him to participate, though, and insists on his assistance in getting ready for it.  They basically fight for the whole episode, until the party starts, and Crosby mingles like a boss.  Things are going swimmingly until…

Adam shows up with all the kids in tow.  He’s there to score some pot, because of course.  Crosby unsurprisingly has some, and Adam brings it back to Kristina to help calm her stomach, and it works.  Of course.

 
This was really heavy, but most of the pieces were really well acted.  I was wondering when the ocean scene with Amber and Ryan was coming, I saw a couple of set pictures with it, and I was curious how it would be incorporated in.  I did enjoy their plot, I think the writers did a good job of making the arc seem natural.  I really hope they get a autism adviser, or if they have one, a new one, because what A/K are doing is practically 100% wrong at just about every turn.

Parenthood: Together(S4E7)

This episode was kind of meh.  There was a bit of plot movement, but the bulk of it was character stuff, and a lot of people acting terribly for no good reason.

Adam and Kristina were dealing with the chemo thing.  Adam was attempting to help Kristina with the housework and stuff, and she was not very appreciative.  I realize that she is going through a lot, but her entire arc this episode was ‘quit helping me, I’m gonna mope cause my Mom doesn’t love me like I want her to.’  Totally valid feelings?  Probably.  Is it something I want to watch for an hour?  Not so much. 

Camille came over to help, and Kristina even snapped at her, but she brought her a hand-me-down chemo quilt, and everything was all better. 

Even Crosby noticed how stressed Adam was, and offered to take him to a bar, Crosby’s treat.  Adam was amusingly surprised, but then acted like a giant douche at the bar.  It was almost like they didn’t think we’d believe them with the multiple show and tells, and so had to throw the anvils of angst at our heads for the entire bar scene. 

Parenthood: I’ll be right here…(S4E6)

This was not quite the cry fest that last week was, but Parenthood gave us another strong, if Adam/Kristina-centric episode.

So let’s jump right in.

Adam and Kristina are getting ready for her surgery.  Adam passes off some pre-surgery duties to Crosby, who utterly fails(but I’ll talk about that in his section).  Max decides to drop the bombshell that the election is on the same day as the surgery, and he has to give a speech for it.  Kristina asks to hear the speech, but Max has it all in his head.  Hattie is still home, and is thinking about deferring to spring semester, which both Adam and Kristina are adamantly against.

After Kristina says goodnight to the younger kids, she finds Hattie in the kitchen, talking to the Dean about deferral.  Kristina fights against it again, but Hattie wants to do all she can to help, which includes watching Max’s speech the next day.

While Kristina is in surgery, Adam is joined in the waiting room by all his siblings, all of whom offer him tea, to Adam’s increasing frustration.  Meanwhile, Max is waiting to give his speech, and Hattie is there to give her support, and also gives Max the words he needs to give a rousing, if treacly, speech fully about his Aspergers, and how it affects him.

Of course, Kristina comes out of her surgery just fine, and we learn that Max won the election, completely unbelievably.  Unfortunately, at Kristina’s follow-up appointment, we learn that one of the nodes pulled for biopsy has cancer, and the type she has is more aggressive than expected. 

So what do Adam and Kristina do?  They immediately go home, and tell Hattie that Kristina is fully cured, and that Hattie should go back to school, of course!  Nothing like a gigantic lie to your grown daughter to make her trust you, guys.

Anyway.

Crosby does his best to help, and fails miserably at every turn.  In an attempt to calm down a freaking out Adam, he give Adam the most awkward shoulder rub in the history of the planet.  He then convinces Adam to let Crosby take some day before tasks, like taking the dog to the dog park, and getting Kristina’s favorite meal before she is cut off from eating before go-time.

He manages to let the dog, Otis, loose, only to get attacked by a bigger dog, requiring Otis to get two stitches, and forcing Crosby to be late with Kristina’s final pre-surgery meal. 

To end, Crosby was putting Jabbar to bed, and asked him to teach Crosby how to pray.  It was really cute, especially when Jabbar cut Crosby off in giving the backstory: “He already knows.”

Sarah had a minor plot, in the move-in with Mark day.  Drew was being a little putz, basically throwing a temper tantrum, but they get to Mark’s with little to no issue.  That is, until Mark doesn’t have cable, like some sort of dirty hippy.  This is quickly rectified, as Mark wants to be a good guy, so they get cable, and there is bonding, and only a little weirdness with Hank being all skeevy at work and whatnot.

Julia was the only one with less of a plot, which was basically her being supportive of Adam, and scheduling and stuff.

All in all, not a bad episode, though the whole ‘lying to Hattie’ thing was obnoxious.  I also wasn’t impressed with Max actually winning the election, but I think it may give him more to do this season, which may be a good thing.