Parenthood – Recap & Review – Qualities and Difficulties

photo: nbc

Parenthood
Qualities and Difficulties

Original Air Date: Mar 1, 2011

Karen Belgrad – Associate Editor
Karenbelgrad @thetwocentscorp.com

It’s a shame that the Emmy Awards do not have an outstanding younger actor category.  Because if they did, I have no doubt that Max Burkholder (who portrays Max Braverman) would be a shoo-in after tonight’s outstanding performance.  At such a young age, to be able to portray such raw emotion,  I can only imagine how his talent will grow.

Tonight’s episode largely dealt with the fallout from Max overhearing Adam telling Crosby about his Asperger’s.  The writer of this episode, Jason Katims, has an autistic child, so the authenticity of information is never in question and the dialogue clearly comes from a very personal place.  So let’s review how it all played out.

Immediately following Adam’s outburst, he and Kristina sit down with Max to tell he has Aspeger’s , a form of autism.  With Kristina choking back tears, the explain it first as a disability, then as a syndrome, then as wired wrong, but both clearly lacking the words to articulate it to the very literal Max.  They go to see Dr. Pelickan (played by guest star Tom Amandes) and he suggests a do-over with Max, using a script that highlights the qualities (strong memory, determined) and difficulties (reading other people’s cues, making friends) of Asperger’s.  Adam balks at the suggestion, feeling as though the over positive language is a lie.

Instead, after a stressful morning, he opts to play hooky from work and school with Max, taking him to Galaxy Point Park to ride the Velocerator roller coaster all day.  (To the best of my google research this place/coaster does not actually exist.) The day is going great until the roller coaster breaks down before they can ride it.  Max has a full on screaming, running, thrashing meltdown that is absolutely riveting and heartbreaking.  Max Burkholder sells every moment of it.  Adam embraces Max in a bear hug to calm him down.

Back at home, Adam shows a combination of exhaustion and defeat as he admits, with a stoic cry, to Kristina that he just wanted to have a good time with his son, to show him he’s not limited or alone.  They agree to try to talk to Max again using Dr. Pelickan’s script as a guide.  Kristina tells him he’s a good father.  They sit with Max again and go by the script praising Max while confirming that yes, he will always be this way, but they are so proud of him.  Max seems to listen, but displays little reaction as he goes off to play a video game.  Adam tells Kristina she’s a good mom.

Wow, did they hit it out of the park with those scenes or what? It could have veered into Lifetime or after school special territory and really didn’t.  It was portrayed so organically that you almost felt as if you were peeking into a private family moment.  Truly a tour de force in televised family dramas.

The other stories truly felt like filler in comparison to the main story, but they did have their good moments.

Sarah spent a full night writing after Seth encouraged her last week. She’s unsure what she wrote and seemingly quite nervous about the quality of it.  So she brings it to her ex-boyfriend/Amber’s English teacher Mark (played by returning guest star Jason Ritter).  They cutely flirt a little, but after he reads it he lets her know that it’s not a story, but a play and encourages her to continue writing it.  She also toys with the idea of being a manager at her bar, but backs off when she realizes it’d be a huge pay cut without her tips.  I must say, Lauren Graham was in full-on Lorelai Gilmore mode tonight with her fast paced nerves and interrupting of Mark while he tried to compliment her.  It was a cute scene, but the pacing took me a little out of the Braverman world.  Also, holy Erin Brockovich!, what was up with Sarah’s necklines tonight?

Crosby repeatedly tried to apologize to Jasmine, but she really, really does not want to hear it.  She’s not ready to forgive him and shows it by dumping his belongings back at his boat.  He goes to his sisters, who reconfirm just how badly he screwed up, but Adam will not speak to him.  When Zeek and Camille try to get Adam to talk to Crosby, Adam rails at them for basically babying Crosby and fostering his irresponsible nature (seriously Camille, stop doing his laundry!).  Proving Adam’s point, Crosby gets into a drunken brawl with one of his neighbors and ends up arrested.  Zeek bails him out and Crosby cries into Zeek’s arm that he knows how badly he messed up.

Julia and Joel are hemming and hawing about Sydney having a sleepover with Jabbar’s with Jasmine.  Their plan is to go out for their eighth anniversary during the sleepover, but they clearly don’t want to appear to take sides in the Crosby/Jasmine debate, even though even readily admits how bad Crosby screwed up.  When Jasmine calls to confirm the plans, they decide all systems are go and (dressed to the nines) bring Sydney over.  However, a distraught Jasmine is really too upset to hang with the kids, so Joel takes over babysitting duties (hide and seek, Israeli army style?), while Julia comforts Jasmine.  Later, while alone, Joel loving assures Julia that he will never cheat on her, regardless of what they go through.

Joel and Julia, finally not being used as comic relief, really did show a beautiful and loving side to their relationship, which was nice to see.  While Crosby did mess things up by sleeping with Gaby, I hope the show realizes it was only the proverbial cherry on a host of issues between the two.  Yes, he has some groveling to do for the infidelity; they still have to work on her controlling and his passive natures.

And for those wondering, the song played over the closing montage was “Make You Feel My Love” by Adele.  Such a beautiful song!

Well, those are my TwoCents!  What are your TwoCents?  Share your comments, thoughts, and feedback below!