Parenthood: Left Field(S4E2)

Another week, another day with the Braverman clan.

So, we jump right in with Crosby and Jasmine having grown-up fun on the kitchen floor.  Apparently, when the kid is away, Mom and Dad will play…which makes me not thrilled about playing on the kitchen floor when I was young, eww.  They are shown to be all young and spontaneous, not just because of the kitchen thing, but also because Crosby’s a jerk.  Jasmine spent a decent chink of time making salmon and rice and veggies, and Crosby’s like, screw that mess, let’s get pizza!  Incredibly rude.  Then he makes fun of his brother for having to schedule ‘funkytown.’  I do find it fun to watch how the characters seem to take on traits for a single episode to create the conflict for that episode.  There’s more arguing because Jasmine and Crosby clearly are not on the same page, and then:  Jabar gets left at school. 

Jasmine throws a conniption fit, and thus makes Crosby realize he needs to grow up…again.  He does, and just as suddenly as his spontaneity came on, it’s gone again.

Adam and Kristina are sad.  Their daughter went away to college, and now that they only have two kids, they need to fill the hole.  And why not a dog?  Kristina manages to fubar it up really quickly though, by telling Max they might get a dog.  And Lord knows, you don’t tell an Aspie something might happen, or they will freak the eff out.  Which is what Max does:  he begins obsessing, and when they visit a clearly crazy dog breeder, Max finds the dog for him.  Too bad it costs $1200, with a $200 hold deposit.  Adam was clearly not into getting a dog, so they don’t put any money down, and the dog gets sold from under them.  Max has a breakdown, and chaos ensues.  I get that they are trying to write the Aspberger’s correctly, but the writers are really laying it on thick.  With the high-functioning level Max is at, and his age, he should not really be acting like that anymore.  Or if he does, it should be seldom, not every three days.  It’s starting to verge on ridiculous.  But then, Adam and Kristina agree to get a dog, and the family goes to find one.  But first, Kristina has a doctor’s appointment.  And what do they find there?  Cancer, of course!  I haven’t been an avid watcher of this show in seasons past, but if they are hitting the cancer card already…wow.

In slightly less depressing news, Sarah is letting Drew drive his girlfriend to the first day of school…where she promptly breaks up with him.  Sarah is a helicopter parent through the whole thing, advising him what to do, trying to cheer him up, and generally being obnoxious.  She even goes as far as to vent to Hank, her boss.  He gives her the ‘good’ advice of having Drew sleep with his ex’s best friend, since that is what the ex is clearly going to do.  But in the end, Hank pulls through with some actual good advice, and tells Drew it is okay to be sad.  So of course, as Drew is lounging in his room, Sarah comes in, and he jokes about suicide, because clearly.

And finally, we have Julia and Joel, the adoptive parents who fail at parenting, like, all the time.  Viktor doesn’t want to go to school because his tummy hurts.  So what do they do?  Let him stay at home, of course!  Ridiculous.  All this kow-towing is only going to lead to a huge brat that they are going to have no control over.  They even seem to discuss it, saying how he needs discipline, and boundaries, so what does Julia do?  She brings him to school the next day, and when he refuses to get out of the car, she tells him she’ll stay in the parking lot ALL FREAKING DAY.  Julia is the most ridiculous person on the show, which is kind of saying a lot, in this show filled with ridiculousness.  So, they bond or whatever, and hopefully we’ll see one of two things from this arc.   1)  Viktor becomes a complete and utter brat, and Julia and Joel cannot control him at all(This is what SHOULD happen, if this were the real world) or 2)the subplot goes away, and Viktor is seamlessly integrated into the family(this is what MIGHT happen.)  Unfortunately, we’ll probably see six or seven episodes of Julia and Joel failing at parenting, and then we’ll have a big blowout, and then things’ll go back to status quo.  Lame.

Grade: B

So, after two episodes, here are my thoughts on this show as a whole:  While there are some ridiculously lame b and c arcs, this show is pretty solid.  I enjoy how conversation is portrayed, it seems more realistic to have the occasional talk-over than to have everyone say exactly what they mean to say one at a time with perfect eloquence.  Even with a slight liberal bent, it isn’t obnoxiously so, and I can handle it.  All in all, this is a pretty decent show, and I am enjoying it.