I was so happy to hear that NBC renewed Parenthood for a second season, because Tuesday night’s episode was one of my favorites this season. It was funny, emotional, realistic and further developed the stories of each main character.
For the first time since the show started, I felt like I really got to know Zeek and Camille. Up until now, Zeek had been pretty unlikable. And frankly, he still is. But at least I understand him a bit better.
Zeek and Adam went on a road trip to look at a piece of property. It turned out that Zeek had bought the property, the market crashed and he was now in danger of losing the family home. It showed Zeek in a more vulnerable position than we’d seen him before. After all, he described himself as “an irrational hard-ass with rage issues” when he was chasing away Amber’s boyfriend. But it was clear how hard it was for him to ask his son for help. In a later scene, we saw how his relationship with Camille had been strained for a long time (although I might laugh too if someone threw up on my partner’s head) even though he obviously cares about her. You’d almost feel bad for him, if you didn’t know that he was secretly having an affair.
Julia and Joel faced a fear this week when they noticed Sydney was bizarrely obsessed with a rubber band ball. Julia went to Kristina for advice, fearing that Sydney might have Asperger’s like Max does. This was a perfectly executed storyline. Kristina felt bad for Julia, but there was a part of her that was happy. Someone else in the family would be going through what they were going through. You don’t have to be a parent to understand that feeling, and the guilt that comes along with it.
It turned out that Sydney’s issues were stemming from boredom – she tested in the gifted range. Obviously, Julia was happy and relieved. But it also meant breaking the news to Kristina. Kristina was happy for Julia, but you could also tell she was disappointed.
Last week, Sarah really screwed up when she told Amber about her relationship with Mr. Cyr right before the SATs. Amber blew off the test and ran off with her ex from Fresno. This week the problems between Sarah and Amber continued when Sarah found Amber and the guy in the shower together. The most touching scene of the whole episode was when Sarah tried apologizing to Amber and told her she didn’t want Amber making the same mistakes she had made. Full of tears, Amber told her mom that every time she said that, all Amber heard was that her entire existence was a mistake. The emotions were so raw that it was almost hard to watch, but I love that the show isn’t afraid to have imperfect characters.
Amber continued seeing the ex even as Sarah tried to patch things up with her. At the end of the episode, though, Amber dumped the guy. He thought that all of technology would crash soon and man would end up living off the earth – therefore, it didn’t matter whether Amber got an A or a C on her test. It proved again that as rebellious as she may be, Amber has a good head on her shoulders.
My favorite part of the episode, though, was Jabbar’s fifth birthday party. So far, Crosby has been putting a lot of effort and kindness into his new role as a dad, but has also been making a lot of mistakes. Jasmine has been pretty hard on him, too. Then he found out that Jasmine had told her family that Crosby had abandoned her and Jabbar and the playing field was leveled.
I can’t blame Jasmine for doing what she did. What she did was wrong – when Crosby didn’t call her back, she should have told him the deal in the voice mail – but she made a good point when she said that after the third unreturned message, she didn’t want Crosby in her life. She shouldn’t have lied to her family, but she was in a difficult, scary position. It was wrong though, and she definitely should have owned up to the mistake before she let Crosby meet her family.
The entire scene where Jasmine’s brother started berating Crosby for bailing on his responsibilities was great. It was funny (Zeek boorishly tried to stand up for Crosby by accusing Jasmine’s family of racism) and emotional. Jasmine’s family was clearly disappointed in her when she told them the truth. After the party, Jasmine showed Crosby the home video of her giving birth to Jabbar, and they really connected. In upcoming scenes we’ll see that Crosby takes Jasmine out to dinner to get to know her better, and things heat up between them. Sounds like drama waiting to happen.
