Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Parenthood:Everything is not okay(S4E3)



Tearjerker tonight, so let’s get right into it.

Adam and Christina are at their first oncologist appointment, where they meet Gypsy from Gilmore Girls(okay, not really, but same actress), who also has cancer, and a very open attitude.  They go in and discuss with their doctor, but the doctor is rather cold and clinical, for lack of a better term.  He even takes two phone calls during her appointment.  Adam and Christina later discuss the coldness of the doctor, and Adam convinces Chrstina to go get a second opinion.  They do, and the woman doctor is much more friendly, and focused purely on them.  Adam really seems to like her, but Christina is still feeling all depressed and whatnot, for obvious reasons.  She goes and visits with Gypsy, who has an open and frank discussion with her, talking about spousal support, and what she needs.  And from this, Christina realizes it’s okay to be scared, and that Adam can’t fix everything, nor should he try.  She tells him this later in the evening, and it honestly really hit home, and was a misty moment for me.   We don’t need the husbands to fix everything, we just need them to say it’s okay to feel. 

Max on the other hand, did not have nearly the heavy story line.  The vending machine in his school was taken away, and he nearly had a breakdown over it.  He was fixating over the course of the whole episode on it, to the detriment of nearly everyone, and it even lead to some actual nearly good Asperger’s parenting.  Max was only focusing on the vending machine when his friend was over, and so his friend wanted to leave.  Adam went and talked to Max about expectations in friendships, and how he should behave in those kind of situations, which I thought was really good.   He did kind of foul it up in the end, but seeing as that’s the first time I’ve even heard him attempt this form of behavior modification, it was a pleasant surprise.  Anyway, Max decided that instead of talking about how unfair it is that the vending machine is gone 24/7, he is going to run for student council, and get the vending machine back.

Zeek, the patriarch of the whole family, is pulled over for doing an illegal u-turn, and manages to get himself arrested with a backseat full of grandchildren.  Turns out he had an expired license as well, and when the kids were discussing if they felt comfortable with him driving their kids around, it came out that Zeek is on heart medication.  Drama drama drama, angst angst angst, and the kids have a family meeting to discuss with Zeek his driving, and everyone manages to get PO’d at one another.  It does seem like they may be working toward a driving issue, when Zeek and Camille were practicing for the driving test, she was reminding him of a couple of things to remember while driving, but it didn’t lead anywhere tonight: he passed with a 98%.

Sarah is still working with Hank, and I think we saw the side Max’s Asperger’s came from.  Sarah was fixating hardcore on Hank’s unpersonableness, to the discomfort of Mark, who she bitched to for at least two scenes.  Hank didn’t want to do a wedding, and she practically forced him to do it.  After they finished, and were watching the dance, Sarah and Hank had a little conversation about past relationships, and it was a bit strange.  Sarah was talking about how her next wedding to Mark was going to last forever, and you could practically see the story arc forming:  Sarah and Mark plan their wedding, Sarah and Hank subconsciously flirt, Sarah and Mark plan, Sarah and Hank flirt, plan, flirt, plan, until it all blows up, and Sarah and Hank are together.  The only thing I’m not sure of is if it’ll happen before or after Sarah and Mark get married.

Amber had the last story of the evening, and the other one with a misty moment.  So, Amber is working, and Adam comes in all tense.  Amber had burned some coffee, and Adam flips out, not wanting burnt coffee smell, or disorganized magazines, or any mess whatsoever.  Amber freak out a bit, and starts manically cleaning the entire building, and manages to stay until 10 in the evening, when Crosby shows up.  He calms her down, and asks if she wants to start her apprenticeship, and she of course agrees.  However, the next day, Adam is in again, and when she talks to him, he still wants her to be the gofer.  Amber is not impressed, and they have a chat.  Amber NEEDS more responsibility, and she is being underutilized, according to her.  Adam breaks it down for her:  my wife has cancer, so suck it up.  He may have said it a bit more eloquently.  That was my second misty moment, Mae Whitman’s reaction killed me dead.

Grade: B+

There were some nice character building moments, and the emotional stuff was well played, I think.

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