In some ways, tonight’s third season premiere felt like a reboot, in that we got to witness the Braverman family desperately trying to move on after the chaotic end to last season. Even though five months may have passed on the show since Adam and Julia received several crushing blows while Crosby and Sarah seemed to finally be putting it together, the effects of everything that happened last spring are still lingering around each character like an unwanted specter.
Most notably, it seems to be sending Adam over the edge, as he spent “I Don’t Want to Do This Without You” either sublimating his anger and eventually unloading or making a series of rash decisions that he may not have made otherwise. I understand that Adam is extremely restless after losing his job and I sympathize with the fact that he doesn’t want to stock soda cans for a living after being a C.O.O., but he made two blunders that I couldn’t quite understand. Here he has a (very, very pregnant wife) that just got a full-time job offer and he has to be extremely discouraging because it doesn’t make enough money? While he’s interviewing for jobs that are well below what he used to make, too? Couple that with a decision to go in with Crosby on a (trashed) old recording studio and you have to wonder if months of stress have pushed the normally conservative father of two into a make-or-break mindset regarding his finances.
Making a risky business decision when you’re financially stable is one thing, but when you have a baby on the way and a child almost in college, maybe “going big” isn’t the best choice right now. Regardless, watching Adam’s psyche continually evolve has been one of the joys of the creative streak Parenthood has been riding, so I have a feeling that the studio will either do wonders for his outlook or be another devastating uppercut to an already staggering fighter.
Adam isn’t the only Braverman still feeling pressure, as Sarah, Julia, and Crosby are all in transitional phases in their lives and are still figuring out just where to go. Oddly, I think Crosby is handling it the best, which is strange because the show has always painted him as being the least emotionally developed of the four siblings. He’s managed to keep his childlike enthusiasm and witty sense-of-humor post-Jasmine, but you can tell that the weight of loneliness and creative frustration have made him feel a little desperate; you almost sense that he wants this studio not only for professional reasons, but for personal, as it was obvious anytime he was near Jasmine that if she said she wanted to be together, he’d jump at the chance. I don’t think that’s the best move for him, in all honesty, as their relationship was built on the “white picket fence” dream and not on commonalities or true love.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Julia, whose common sense seemed to be out the window all episode. Initially, I had a hard time believing that a well-established lawyer would, y’know, want to buy a baby from the coffee girl at work (as lovely as her snark was, of course), but thinking back on it, I think this detour was meant to show us just how desperate Julia’s gotten and how heavily her medical diagnosis has been weighing on her. Plus, we know how Type-A she is, so perhaps there’s a bit of competitiveness in there, i.e. she wants to get her baby before Kristina has hers and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get it. As long as the show doesn’t actually have Julia buy Zoe (aka Coffee Girl)’s baby, it’ll be fine with me, though a little silly.
Tonight’s episode of Parenthood was a reminder of why I like it so much in the first place. Watching an episode of Parenthood, especially one after a long hiatus, is like running into an old friend after a while of not speaking. It may be a little awkward at first, but it doesn’t take long before that sense of comfort that the two of you once shared re-emerges and it’s like not a day has gone by. “I Don’t Want to Do This Without You” may not be the most plot-heavy episode in the show’s run so far, but it did a fine job of setting up the season and giving us a look at where everybody is when we rejoin the family. Parenthood emerged last season as the best family show on television and it seems that the Braverman family, in all their wonderfully goofy dance-loving glory, are showing no signs of letting go of that title.
Thoughts, Quotes, & Observations:
- Fair warning: this season of Parenthood currently has 16 episodes and they’re scheduled to air consecutively, minus winter hiatus and the occasional pre-emption/repeat. (The show looks to be ending its season in January-ish.) NBC may still order more, depending on how their new dramas perform, but don’t be surprised if it stays at that number.
- “You never flip another man’s burger.” Sage advice, Zeek.
- “I know there’s alcohol at parties. I watch Friday Night Lights.” Love.
- “Do you have that in writing?” “I have that in fist bumps.”
- “And now you’re gonna ruin the pancake house for me…”
- “It’s just a little scritchity-scratchety.” Aw, Kristina.
- “Honey, this is like a scene from Shutter Island.”
- “I moved out, Dad. I just came back.”
- “Is that like your third beer? Oh my god, it’s like spring break for you.”
- In Braverman pop culture news, Adam likes reruns of Charles in Charge and Knight Rider, while Julia likes Lady Gaga.
- Foreshadowing alert: the whole “he’s going to be lost without her” thing that Sarah said about Drew with regards to Amber leaving. Are we in for a Drew-gets-depressed-without-Amber storyline?
- I don’t know how I feel about Alex’s fight having reverberations throughout the season. Anytime you give Michael B. Jordan something to do, it’s a good thing, and I understand having obstacles for Haddie/Alex, but I can’t help but feel like that screen time could go to other characters. I’ll give it a few episodes to see where it goes, though, because Parenthood is usually pretty strong at balancing stories and rotating people in and out as need be.
- Speaking of Haddie/Alex, maybe she is too immature for a guy like him. How are you going to A) guilt your alcoholic boyfriend about not going to a party and B) get absolutely hammered at said party? Teenage girls, man…
- We’ve never seen the people that Haddie was partying with before tonight (have we?), so her whole “you NEVER talk to my friends” thing was odd. I blame it on the jello shots.
- Look at the kids growing up over summer. Haddie and Amber both changed their hair again, while Max has a deeper voice and shot up like a weed.
- Sarah and Mr. Cyr were the highlight of the episode for me. Lauren Graham and Jason Ritter have such easy chemistry that whenever they were on screen together, it just felt right. Everything they did (the kiss, Mr. Cyr stealing Amber’s diploma, the playful banter) worked for me and I’m excited to see how their relationship grows over Ritter’s 13 episode arc this season.
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