Season 3, Episode 13
After last week's oddly-placed yet still incredibly wonderful side trip of an episode, Parenthood goes back full steam into serialized storytelling – or at least as serialized as this show can get. Given it's large ensemble cast and purposefully lax pacing and tone, Parenthood rarely manages to carry too many plots from episode to episode, and so apart from the occasional “cliffhanger”, it's rare to have any episode feel like it banks too heavily on any particular ongoing arc. So even if this episode didn't have that “gotta watch” quality that we expect from most show when they make similar returns to serialization, it did capture the show's “slice of life” feel in a way that made each of the stories pop.
Strangely, this episode was one of the simplest that the show has ever produced, for the main fact that there were exactly four plots, no runners, and two of those plots actually intersected into one another. It's a bit strange that a show that usually manages to turn the chaos of familial anarchy into a driving force would feel so inclined as to give us a episode with so much structure and order, and while I usually decry shows that split up their ensemble, Parenthood tends to make these stories work, and tonight was no exception. (Well, except for one, but we'll get to that.)
Let's start with Sarah's story, if only because it was the one that featured most heavily in the promos for this week, and I really have no other way to differentiate which of these was the A-story. It was only a few weeks ago that the idea of Sarah andMr. Cyr Mark having a child together was introduced, and that moment where Lauren Graham showed off her amazing skills by letting about five different emotions wash over her face in the space of three seconds was so amazing that it sort of propelled this plot line into high gear, while also setting a high emotional and acting bar for all future developments.
For the most part, this worked, by mostly avoiding too much drama and just allowing it to evolve naturally, which surprisingly mean separating the two for most of the hour. (That Parenthood, always zagging when we expect a zig!) Really only Sarah used the hour to mull over the decision (since Mark had no idea the question was coming), but watching her come to her decision while Mark was at risk for backing out, since he was suddenly being thrown into the Braverman Gauntlet via the poker game, was quite engaging. And then the show upped that even more by teasing us with a possible drunken argument between the two (which actually ended up being quite funny), before taking it away by giving us the more rational conversation the next morning.
The other main plotline lies with Adam and Crosby, and as the only standalone of the bunch, your mileage out of seeing yet another story that places the two brothers in contention. It's a core of their relationship to be sure, and it makes sense that they would still run into problem with the Luncheonette, but I'm not really sure if this was the time or place for such a debate, especially considering that it wrapped up so easily. Now, Dax Sheppard and Peter Krause did good work with the material, so it's not like it wasn't somewhat entertaining, but it's lack of importance in the overall plot did sort of draw away a good deal of energy.
(Oh, okay. The tangent plotline to this, with Crosby flirting with the musician of the week, does hold some interest, as it seem primed to become important. Of course, I'm not sure if I'm going to like where this storyline seems to be headed, but that's an issue for next week, isn't it?)
You know who's been awesome this season? Amber. Between teaching Max social skills through the use of Tootsie Rolls and letting her recovering alcoholic father borrow her apartment in order to adjust to life after rehab, this has been a stellar season for the character, and Mae Whitman to boot. Though she all too often was typecast as the “troubled child” in the show's early run, and now that she's on the road to self-improvement once again (after that ill-advised backslide at the end of last season), her and her stories have become interesting once again.
Which is all to say that even though her storyline as Christina's new assistant – of course her non-college educated background would end up giving her some sort of advantage over the much more qualified interns – it was still highly enjoyable nonetheless. This season, we've seen her struggle with financial issues in particular, and becoming an adult in general, and it's been difficult enough that we feel for her and her struggles, but has made the important decision that she remain steadfast in the face of that adversity, and that's allowed us to root for her in a way that we haven't in the past. It's an excellent deployment of the small-scale storytelling as the simplest – and yes, quite predictable – becomes much more powerful by simply allowing the audience to become immersed in a character's life, and see how important these things are to them.
The last story, Joel and Julia's, was one I was primed to hate, but actually sort of ended up liking. Now, I'll admit that I haven't been the biggest fan of this season's Joel and Julia storyline (though it's not as if season two's was that much better). I have already come out against plots that introduce new babies to a show, but Parenthood's problem isn't that introducing babies would wreck the current tone of the show. (I mean, just look at the title.) No, the real problem is that the idea of Julia adopting the baby of her office's coffee girl is just so ridiculously stupid that it threatens the quitter, realistic tone of the show. And the rest of the storyline hasn't really worked out all that well either, with Julia's ridiculous mothering of Zoe coming across as annoying, and Troy, the obviously contrived dick of a boyfriend, just asking to turn against this storyline.
Yet tonight seemed to take a step in the positive direction by reversing a lot of these trends and letting the story develop in a far more organic fashion. Joel and Julia became a lot less annoying as they just fucking quit meddling for two goddamn seconds, and let Zoe sort of take the lead on this one. Now I say “sort of” because even though Zoe showed agency by breaking up with Troy and getting him to sign over custody of his child, but we didn't really see any of this, which sort of stole away some of the dramatic weight. But Zoe's face as she tried to remain strong while telling Joel and Julia what she had done was fantastic, and hopefully proves that with her now fully committed to this adoption, the story should remain interesting for the home stretch.
Let's start with Sarah's story, if only because it was the one that featured most heavily in the promos for this week, and I really have no other way to differentiate which of these was the A-story. It was only a few weeks ago that the idea of Sarah and
For the most part, this worked, by mostly avoiding too much drama and just allowing it to evolve naturally, which surprisingly mean separating the two for most of the hour. (That Parenthood, always zagging when we expect a zig!) Really only Sarah used the hour to mull over the decision (since Mark had no idea the question was coming), but watching her come to her decision while Mark was at risk for backing out, since he was suddenly being thrown into the Braverman Gauntlet via the poker game, was quite engaging. And then the show upped that even more by teasing us with a possible drunken argument between the two (which actually ended up being quite funny), before taking it away by giving us the more rational conversation the next morning.
The other main plotline lies with Adam and Crosby, and as the only standalone of the bunch, your mileage out of seeing yet another story that places the two brothers in contention. It's a core of their relationship to be sure, and it makes sense that they would still run into problem with the Luncheonette, but I'm not really sure if this was the time or place for such a debate, especially considering that it wrapped up so easily. Now, Dax Sheppard and Peter Krause did good work with the material, so it's not like it wasn't somewhat entertaining, but it's lack of importance in the overall plot did sort of draw away a good deal of energy.
(Oh, okay. The tangent plotline to this, with Crosby flirting with the musician of the week, does hold some interest, as it seem primed to become important. Of course, I'm not sure if I'm going to like where this storyline seems to be headed, but that's an issue for next week, isn't it?)
You know who's been awesome this season? Amber. Between teaching Max social skills through the use of Tootsie Rolls and letting her recovering alcoholic father borrow her apartment in order to adjust to life after rehab, this has been a stellar season for the character, and Mae Whitman to boot. Though she all too often was typecast as the “troubled child” in the show's early run, and now that she's on the road to self-improvement once again (after that ill-advised backslide at the end of last season), her and her stories have become interesting once again.
Which is all to say that even though her storyline as Christina's new assistant – of course her non-college educated background would end up giving her some sort of advantage over the much more qualified interns – it was still highly enjoyable nonetheless. This season, we've seen her struggle with financial issues in particular, and becoming an adult in general, and it's been difficult enough that we feel for her and her struggles, but has made the important decision that she remain steadfast in the face of that adversity, and that's allowed us to root for her in a way that we haven't in the past. It's an excellent deployment of the small-scale storytelling as the simplest – and yes, quite predictable – becomes much more powerful by simply allowing the audience to become immersed in a character's life, and see how important these things are to them.
The last story, Joel and Julia's, was one I was primed to hate, but actually sort of ended up liking. Now, I'll admit that I haven't been the biggest fan of this season's Joel and Julia storyline (though it's not as if season two's was that much better). I have already come out against plots that introduce new babies to a show, but Parenthood's problem isn't that introducing babies would wreck the current tone of the show. (I mean, just look at the title.) No, the real problem is that the idea of Julia adopting the baby of her office's coffee girl is just so ridiculously stupid that it threatens the quitter, realistic tone of the show. And the rest of the storyline hasn't really worked out all that well either, with Julia's ridiculous mothering of Zoe coming across as annoying, and Troy, the obviously contrived dick of a boyfriend, just asking to turn against this storyline.
Yet tonight seemed to take a step in the positive direction by reversing a lot of these trends and letting the story develop in a far more organic fashion. Joel and Julia became a lot less annoying as they just fucking quit meddling for two goddamn seconds, and let Zoe sort of take the lead on this one. Now I say “sort of” because even though Zoe showed agency by breaking up with Troy and getting him to sign over custody of his child, but we didn't really see any of this, which sort of stole away some of the dramatic weight. But Zoe's face as she tried to remain strong while telling Joel and Julia what she had done was fantastic, and hopefully proves that with her now fully committed to this adoption, the story should remain interesting for the home stretch.
There was no way that “Just Smile”, with it's segregated plotlines and need for table-setting was going to be as good of an episode as “Road Trip” was, but I think that's okay, because given the limitations of what the episode needed to do, it was still quite the winner, and more importantly, it whets our appetite for the last leg of the season.
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
Absolutely no Zeke, Camille, Jabbar, Jasmine, Sydney, or Drew this week. See, I knew that Cee-Lo episode was going to pilfer the show's budget.
Multiple times tonight, we were reminded that Sarah (and Lauren Graham by extension) is in her 40s, which is something I have a hard time remembering. I mean, you lookin' good girl.
Was it just me, or was candidate Bobby perhaps a bit too friendly with Amber? Man I hope it was just me.
That was Courtney Ford playing the musician of the week, doing what I like to call “her Courtney Ford thing” - flirting with a male cast member and thus offering up the possibility of sex.
Oh, and Alexandra Daddario popped in for about 20 to remind us that
“I thought 40 was the new 30.” “Not for you ovaries, no.”
“Want me to stab him in the face with my bow?” “No, he's a good guy. You can stab the reporter in the face, though.”
“In what universe is Adam intimidating?” “In the universe where I'm dating his little sister, and he's a full foot taller than me, and he has a deep, scary voice.”
“Thank you for coming to eggs. There's something I want to talk to you about: MY EGGS!”
“Both Christina and Julia and your gynecologist – both of all three of those?”
No comments:
Post a Comment