Parenthood: The One Where Everyone Appears to be OK For Right Now (S5:E1)

Max (Kristina and Adam’s autistic son) came to Hank’s studio and it turns out - has a knack for photography, in part to some of his autistic traits (light sensitivity gives him lighting knowledge most people don’t have, he’s also very sensitive to texture, etc..,) and Hank fixes the camera that was once his when he was Max’s age for Max.  They have a brief conversation about Sarah when Hank asks how she’s doing, because Max responds that she says she is much better now that she’s broken up with Hank.

Hank then retorts that it was a mutual break up and Max insists that, NO - Sarah said that SHE broke up with HIM and Hank is very adolescently bothered by this.

Regardless, he asks Max if he wants to stick around for awhile (which we later find out thru another adorable Max scene with his parents that he was there from 12:17 until 2:47 - - so cute….) and it sort of looks as though there might be a Max getting into photography storyline in the making.

Speaking of Kristina and Adam, they are doing splendidly as well, especially since things have eased up a little with Kristina’s cancer remission.  

 

 

And, can I just go off the Braverman topic here to say how much I adore Peter Krause?  

 

 

 

I first became a fan of his during his stint on “Six Feet Under” and I just think he’s not given as much credit as an actor as he deserves.  

 

 

(Ohhhh I miss this show!!)

 

 

 

That being said, their first scene of the episode shows them slow dancing in a dive bar, having a great time, Kristina declares that moving forward she is living her life by the whole “carpe diem” mantra, which that particular night meant them renting a sleazy hotel room to have lots of dirty, drunken sex.

Julia is still unemployed since quitting her lucrative attorney career last season.  Her hubby, Joel, however is up for a huge 26 home subdivision development contract.  He’s put his bid in for the job and is hopeful, the kids appear to be doing well and even their bratty little daughter seems to have lightened up a little.  For now anyway.

 

 

The following day, Kristina receives a visit from the politician dude she was a speech writer for 2 seasons ago (?) (the one who had a little thing going on with Kristina’s very young niece Amber), informing her that he’s going to run for mayor, and asks if she will run the campaign for him. Not only that, but if wins the election says he’ll put her in charge of education (her passion).

You can see instantly that she’s intrigued by the opportunity and that her husband, Adam, is most certainly not.

Things in Crosby and Jasmine’s world are also moving right along, as they give birth to a little baby girl at the beginning of the episode.  

 

 

 

By mid-episode however, they discover that their new little bundle of joy is a pretty cantankerous one, thus causing both of them to get very little sleep and to subsequently be quite crabby themselves.  This is hilariously shown when the bazillion members of the Braverman clan show up at their home to visit and bring food, see the baby, etc.., and Jasmine makes quite a few underhandedly rude comments about their being there.  I was a new mom once, I get it…. but at the same time, the Bravermans have never been anything but good to her (and - by the way - I’m surprised one of them hasn’t offered to take the baby off their hands for a couple hours if for no other reason than to give them a chance to nap) and definitely don’t deserve her attitude, whether it was meant for them to be aware of her rudeness or not.

We discover then that Amber’s PTSD-suffering (and super hot) boyfriend, Ryan, was called back to service, the details of which she was not privy to, but since he was a reservist this was always a possibility, just one they didn’t think they’d have to deal with.  She pontificates several times throughout the show how much she misses him, and goes back and forth between being hopeful about “them” and being insecure that maybe the time apart will cause him to not love her anymore.  

Just because……hot:

She has a rather adorable scene with her mom, whereby Sarah’s telling Amber how much she misses Drew who’s in college now (wasn’t he JUST 10 years old like 3 years ago??)  Sarah said all he does is text, and that she can’t understand half of what he says like “BRB” and “GTG” and that when he tells her he loves her, he says “Love u” with the letter “u” rather than “you”  so Amber schools her on what’s been around for a few years now - - the new language of TEXTING.

It completely reminded me of similar conversations my 16 year old daughter and I have:

My daughter:  You just have to open a tumblr account, pick out a theme and install the HTML, register with co.vu so that you’ll get a domain name for free and it will link to your tumblr so that when you add a post and hit publish, it will be posted on the new website automatically, send out a FB notice, and shoot out a tweet.

Me:  Wait….tumblr?? What’s tumblr?

My daughter:  OMG mom, gawwwwwd. I GTG.  Like now.

Julia has an awkward interview with another law firm, one who has been trying to recruit her for years but is now hesitant after she left the last firm under the circumstances she did.  She kind of handles the situation as best she can, only he then asks her why her last boss wasn’t on her reference list. and her best attempts at diplomacy fail her, making her appear unstable and illusive.

 

 

The same awkwardness carries over to the next scene, whereby Adam stops by Hank’s photo studio to make sure Hank wasn’t being nice to Max because he’s trying to get back together with Sarah, and when Hank assures him he is not - Adam offers to at least pay Hank for the “trouble” of Max being there.  Then they TOO have the same “Sarah said she broke with you”  "No it was mutual" “That’s not what she says” conversation that Hank and Max had, which Hank got to end by telling Adam: 

 

 

 

While I find the whole “Sarah said she broke up with you”  "Nuh uh, it was mutual" thing funny, it’s very reminiscent of the whole “WE WERE ON A BREAK!!” plotline from “Friends” in my opinion.

 

 

Back at Julia’s, we discover she did not get the job she’d interviewed for and also that the housing developer funding the project that Joel is bidding on and has been referring the whole time as “Pete” is actually a pretty attractive, slightly older woman.

 

 

 

 

Towards the end of the episode it is confirmed that Pete won the contract, so I’m sure there will be some sort of “Pete” related issue at some point down the road.

 

 

Kristina visited her friend whose cancer was in remission but had returned, and told her about the opportunity she was offered with the politician.  She told the friend that she was definitely tempted and intrigued by its possibilities but that Adam didn’t agree and pretty much informed her that it shouldn’t really even be a consideration because the guy is a proven asshat.  Her friend reiterated that if it was something she wanted to do - not to WAIT.  She said that if cancer teaches you anything at all, it’s that you should not wait to do things you want to do.

 

 

 

Carpe diem, remember Kristina???  You JUST SAID IT 35 minutes ago!

 

 

 

When she announces to Adam that night that she’s made a decision regarding the whole job thing, he immediately starts rambling on that she’s not going to take that job with Douchey McAsshat, and Kristina announces “No, not THAT job.  I’m going to run against him for Mayor.”  And I just LOVE this for some reason.  Perhaps it was the hope & excitement we’re getting to see in her character again after last season being so painful to watch her go thru her cancer battle, maybe it was her “seizing the day,” or maybe it was just her standing up to Adam and doing what she wants to do, but whatever it was - I like it.

 

 

Also - - aren’t there enough people in the Braverman family alone to get her elected?

 

 

Crosby had a conversation with Adam earlier about not feeling that “connection” that he hears parents are supposed to feel with their new babies, and was nervous about it.  Later that night while laying in bed with Jasmine looking at their sleeping (aka QUIET) baby, Jasmine says that she’s definitely difficult - moreso than Jabbar was even - but that she just felt such a bond with her, to which Crosby sort of sadly agreed with her as he’s not stupid enough to tell his wife he doesn’t feel it yet.  It’s at that moment Jasmine decides on a NAME for the baby and it’s………………..

 

 

Wait for it…………………………………..

 

 

Ayeeta.

 

 

Uh….. I’m thinking, oh hell to the no on this one?  What an awful name.  But then again, so is Jabbar so she is 0 for 2 in the ‘children naming’ category.

 

 

The final scene of the episode is Ryan returning back with his unit from “wherever they’ve been” and Amber is in the crowd of people anxiously anticipating his return, and when the soldiers enter - I can admit it - I teared up.  It was a nicely done, touching scene. 

 

 

But even better?  Once they’re “released” or whatever, and they walk up to each other, gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes, Ryan immediately gets down on one knee and asks Amber to marry him.  I actually just got chills TYPING that sentence so you can imagine how emotional I was actually watching the scene.  It was really very sweet and  moving, and even though I think she should not have gotten back together with him last season and that eventually she’ll regret it, for NOW - in the moment - it was sweet.

 

 

 

You know, carpe diem.

Noticeably missing from episode:  Haddie!!  Seriously, they didn’t even mention her did they?  Where’s Haddie??