Season 3, Episode 12
Parenthood is one of those shows that I don’t really
write about, both because it airs in a timeslot where I’m already covering
another show, and because while I enjoy it every time I sit down to watch it,
it rarely stirs up enough of a response in me that I can feel as if I can work
up a suitable review. Granted, I took a stab at doing so once, but that was in the early days of the blog, when I seemed
to want to write about every show I watch, which is a lot, and something that I
don’t really have time for. And while I’ve been open to the idea of writing about
this season, nothing has really grabbed my like the arc kicked off by “Do Not
Sleep With Your Autistic Nephew’s Therapist” (which, incidentally, was one of my favorite television episodes of last year).
However, since I’ve got the next couple of weeks off from
school, and Justified won’t come into this slot until the 17th, I
thought I would take a stab at writing about it, as an writing exercise sure,
but also so I can finally get my comments down on record, and so that I may
possibly (possibly) write a post for the show’s finale come the
end of February.
Writing of the arc mentioned above, Alan Sepinwall summed
up Parenthood better than I think any other critic ever has, by comparing it to
the Hulk: “the madder it gets, the stronger it gets”. I haven’t really felt
that anger this season, and while I still enjoy the storylines that this season
is telling, and I am in some ways moved by them, it just hasn’t been as
gripping as I’m used to. (The closest was probably Crosby’s arc where he’s
forced to face the fact that Jasmine’s dating again, and I’ll give props to the
fight between Max and Jabbar in “Clear Skies from Here on Out”, but the former
wasn’t angry enough, and the latter only lasted one episode.)
Now, changing tone and storytelling approach isn’t
necessarily a bad thing, especially as it keeps shows from getting stale and/or
producing diminishing returns by hitting the same beats over and over again. However,
given the subject matter at hand, Parenthood
is a show that seems to chug along at a certain pace and tone for a while until
it can give a proper shakeup to that order in to give the audience proper
drama. I realize this sound like a knock against the show, but I don’t mean it
as such. As a family dramaedy, Parenthood has to be “nice” more often than not
so that we would believe that these people would want to hang out with each
other, and in turn so we want to hang out with them. It’s a formula that the
show makes work, and I think that what
this season has been missing is such a proper shakeup, which is weird
considering how, at various times, the show seems to have a varied amount of
groundwork laid out for one.
So giving us an episode like “Road Trip” which, in the
grand tradition of road trip stories, splits the larger group off into smaller subgroups
while also keeping an eye on the connective tissue of the umbrella story, would
seem to be like another step away from that grand shakeup that I’m still
convinced might happen this season (there are six more episodes after this one,
after all). However, in spite of once again moving away from the winning
formula, I would argue that this was still a pretty great episode of the show, and
perhaps the best of the season.
Episodes in this vein tend to work best when we already
have ongoing tension, as, much like with bottle episodes, putting people in a
confined space tends to work best when there are established emotions that can create
some natural drama. But yet again, Parenthood
subvert this expectation by giving us a lot of stories that are easily
solved within the hour (except maybe one, but will get to that.) What’s so innately
wonderful about the Bravermans is that even though we’ve only been privy to
their lives for two and a half seasons, there’s a wonderful amount of backstory
to their lives that can be more easily summoned here than in most seasons, if
only because the size of this clan can bring about something of a consensus, and
thus legitimacy, to whatever previously unheard of thing they’re suddenly
discussing.
And that’s a good thing, because the impetus for all of
these actions is Zeek’s apparently fragile relationship with his mother. While
having all of the Bravermans telling their horror stories of Grandma Blanche
while driving up to her place lays some great ground work (as well as getting some
hilarious reaction lines from Joel), what really sells it is the fantastic work
of Craig T. Nelson, especially in that later scenes with his mother, but who
was generally good all around. (It’s times like these that it becomes easy to
forget this was the guy who also starred in Coach.)
In fact, it’s telling that so little of the episode features Blanche on screen,
and yet her presence still works. All the buildup to the family arriving at her
house does all the heaving lifting by allowing the other characters reactions
to her fill in her characterization, to the point where when we finally see
her, we feel as if we already know as well as they, and their perceptions of
her turn out to not be that far off.
Now, Zeek’s storyline introduces a theme that the show
has dealt with many times across a few variations – that of parents being
disappointed in their kids, and vice-versa – but never perhaps to as full of an
extent as it did here. Now, as with just all the other creative decisions in
this episode, it’s quite possible that all the storytelling weight – Zeek’s
disappointment in his kids for not wanting to go on the trip, Camille’s
disappoint in Zeek for not being able to control his anger, Adam being disappointed
in Haddie for her not communicating with him, Drew being generally weirded out
at having seen his mom having sex with Mr. Cyr – could have made the episode collapse.
But, if Parenthood is at strongest when it’s angry, in antithetically does the
small stuff really well too, and by keeping the small scale of these stories in
check, none threatened to overshadow the other. Instead, all the interweaving plots
made the episode stronger overall, by doing what is does best: presenting the
Bravermans as a patchwork quilt of a family, where all of their various want
and needs sometimes run at odds with each other.
For whatever reason, three Bravermans couldn’t really
take part in this storyline (at least not till the end), as Christina, Max and
Nora had to stay home in order to punish Max for his acting out. (It’s quite
possible there was some narrative logic for this, but I like to pretend it’s because
Monica Potter had other commitment, and needed a lighter load this week. I don’t
know why I think this, but it makes me happy to do so.) Now, Max’s struggle
with his autism has been perhaps the only arc that has encompassed the entire
series (no surprise, considering that Jason Katims has an autistic son of his
own), but what I think makes it work and keeps it from getting stale is that
the show’s not afraid to add new layers, to keep showing not only how Max is
changing, but how is family is changing as well. This season we saw Jabbar’s
reaction in “Clear Skies”, and Haddie’s in “Missing”, but the strongest is
always going to be from Christina, mostly because Monica Potter’s so good at
emoting. Playing up this struggle here felt different from all the other times because
of the severity of Max’s actions and Christina’s punishment, but also because
the extra layer it added to the titular road trip.
Next Week: Babies?
BABIES!
Quotes and Other
Thoughts:
Seriously, the show used Joel well for what feels like the
first time in forever, and all he did was make a bunch of sarcastic quips,
which may be my favorite mode for the character. It of course helps that the
current arc that he and Julia are in, where she’s attempting to adopt her
office’s barista’s baby, is just the stupidest thing ever, to the extent that I
was thankful for the reprieve that this episode brought us from that storyline.
Admit it: When you saw the motorcycle gang passing the
Braverman caravan on the highway, you were suddenly itching for a Parenthood/Sons of Anarchy crossover. (Of course, I’m still waiting on a
Community/Parenthood crossover, but that’s just my own white whale.)
“This is Nightwing, over and out.”
“Yeah, we don’t think what you two think, and were all
smashing successes.”
“An intimate union of bodies…”
“You know, he’s here grandma, he can hear you.”
You are right! I was totally thinking about SAMCRO when those motorcycles went past!
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