<p>I agree with the above comments, but also think Julia should get a shout out for her quiet resolve that she won’t pay for a baby, but her support of Zoe as she struggles with her baby daddy. I really, really loved how Haddie articulated her fear for Max mixed with her frustration over how his needs dominate those of everyone else in the family. It was definitely an above average episode.</p>
<p>Agreed with all of the above, and I want to highlight another little touch: At the end, when Adam and Kristina’s family visited the dinosaur museum together, how similar Haddie and Max’s body language was, how Haddie uniquely knows how to join Max on his reality plane from time to time. It’s not the only time the show has done this; it happened a few episodes ago with the two of them playing rock-paper-scissors while some more vocal drama was happening in the foreground. It’s both true to the nature of sibling-hood and, especially last night, in a long shot, beautiful and balletic. Lovely storytelling with no words.</p>
<p>Agree with all of the above! Great episode.</p>
<p>^^^yes, JHS, lovely storytelling with no words. There are so many subtleties in the settings and body language that makes the show especially captivating. So many layers of quality work…acting, filming, editing, music…in this show, it has become our family favorite, hands down. In fact, S1 will be getting the first season for us all to watch since we only started tuning in last season. Great episode again last night…love Tuesday nights!</p>
<p>loved how Cristina did not acquiesce her move into the work world out of guilt but instead took her strength to move forward by being the beloved wife who could call Rachel and make her own statement.</p>
<p>the final scene was touching…a family who could be imperfect, experience difficulty, find solutions and remain connected to each other. loved it…</p>
<p>I am just wondering how the camera-work is done. Each scene is so realistically disorganized, multiple conversations, talking over, important body language all over the place, plus it is obvious that much is improv’d in the group scenes. (in fact, re-watching episodes can be fun, if you focus on different characters each time…)</p>
<p>I also love the way the characters grow and evolve over time (and sometimes regress!) before our eyes.</p>
<p>Do they just film everyone with multiple cameras, and then pick the shots and angles to splice together later? Or does the director sort of know as the scene is being filmed where the cameras should be focusing?</p>
<p>It is a touch of reality-show and a bit more improv with deep messages that the director sort of trusts the actors go with and coordinate out of each other. I might not use the term balletic, but more modern dance. </p>
<p>My only complaint is that there can be poor transitions between scenes- there were a few last night that left me confused and disappointed, felt let down. The scenes could linger a bit longer in some cases.</p>
<p>I also felt that while Kristina’s ego was healing and her priorities were renewed by the Max getting lost crisis, but I still felt that the call to the secretary was unrealistically redemptive. Maybe she is just a better person than I would be!!!</p>
<p>There is a bit of predictability and also jumping little sharks in the plot-line, but that is the nature of the beast, I guess.
I would prefer to be thinking “Wow, how will X deal with that?” or “That is so in character for X” to “What will they think of next?”</p>
<p>But it is a very good good show for so many reasons cited above.
I really enjoy reading all the reactions here, too!</p>
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<p>Well, if you thought THAT was unrealistically redemptive, how about Crosby’s big speech to Jasmine? They have to come up with a whole new Kohlberg level for that near-alien level of moral reasoning.</p>
<p>Part of the attraction of this show is the fantasy conflict resolutions that are so much more admirable than any of us could actually manage in real life. It’s like relationship porn.</p>
<p>It was an outstanding episode and I think the actress who plays Haddie was perfection last night. I only have two minor complaints. One was the commercial scene where we hear the grandmother is not in the room, but we never see a follow-up. The only reason to have that scene was to focus on their relationship or her reaction. The second complaint I have is Adam’s inability to track Christina down. Sure, she didn’t see her cell phone. But are we to believe that with a newborn, she has not given every number possible out as contact information? Are we to assume that there are no landlines at this campaign or that Adam doesn’t know where she works? He could drive to the museum and run through it five times, but not drive to his wife’s office? I realize they needed him to be unable to reach her, but it strained credibility. And no matter how angry Christina might be, she has both a newborn and a special-needs kid. She would keep a constant eye on that phone.</p>
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<p>Actually, those two scenes turned me off last night. Not convincing. Too convenient. Too easy.</p>
<p>I agree this was a good show, but I hope for two things. </p>
<p>I really hope Jasmine doesn’t get pregnant and not know who the father is. </p>
<p>I really hope the young guy for whom Kristina works doesn’t end up kissing her in some flight of campaign revelry.</p>
<p>Also, I believe I saw that the campaign was for City Council. Aren’t they in San Francisco? If so, there is no city council in SF. They are Supervisors.</p>
<p>^^ I think they are in the Bay Area, but more like Oakland or a surrounding community. I think they mentioned that Julia lives in the Oakland Hills.</p>
<p>I had to watch in pieces – the end last night and then the beginning this morning on hulu. Need to rewatch the whole thing, but I’m soooo glad Cristina didn’t beat herself up about the Max thing.</p>
<p>I think the parents live in Berkeley.</p>
<p>If it’s Berkeley, then there is another problem. Nobody running for city council in Berkeley or Oakland could have a campaign staff like that. Amber might be able to volunteer but no assistants for assistants. Oh well, can’t expect everything to be realistic. I’m sure no one cares but a political junky and former campaign manager like me.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed last night’s episode. It had a lot of good moments that highlighted different cast members. It was also the mid-season finale so it had some cliffhangers but nothing extremely major or life threatening. </p>
<p>@Performersmom:
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<p>Like Friday Night Lights, Jason Katmis will usually shoot with 2 or 3 cameras going at once. Katmis is known to not standardized his filming. It is mostly handheld where the small moments are caught. They probably don’t do a lot of blocking beforehand unless they have the big family scenes. </p>
<p>Looks like we will be waiting until Jan 3rd for the next episode…</p>
<p>Well, I may be outnumbered here, but I thought last night’s episode was just awful. Take Kristina: she has a newborn baby, who she has never left before, and a special needs 10 year old, and she is back to work in a new job and “conveniently” unavailable to reach. Oh P l e a s e.</p>
<p>Then there’s Max: Now I have a kid with Asperger’s. He is pretty high-functioning, but when he’s only 10 years old, I was dealing as much with the worry-about-the-kid-issues as I was worried about the Asperger’s issues. Of course you can’t leave a kid that age alone! But the show is all about the Asperger’s issue; did the writers forget that Max is simply a young kid too?</p>
<p>And about that Asperger’s stuff: Nonsense! All kids get disappointed something doesn’t work out as planned, and yes, Asperger’s kids like schedules and routines and don’t ‘roll with change’ all that easily, but Max is simply a spoiled brat. He acts the way he does because he’s spoiled, not because he can’t think of anyone else, or because he likes his routines, or because he’s “special needs”. If no one was paying attention to a real kid who struggles with Asperger’s, he would not have done what Max did; they begin to act inward. Get on a bus and ride around the city? Not on your life! Also note that Max doesn’t have a “special focus” on museums. [Often, Asperger kids tend to have a special focus to their interests, like knowing the periodic table, or a RR schedule, but Max does not seem to have a museum-special focus.] The writers had Max want to go to the museum because he had planned to go to the museum and disappointed no one was able to take him there. Maybe his “special focus” is simply yelling at people, because that’s all he seems to do. </p>
<p>I really, really objected to that whole scene. It isn’t easy to cope with Asperger’s kids, but not because they yell and scream, and get on busses to places unknown if they don’t get their way. No. They are timid. They don’t stand up for what they need or want. When they’re 10 years old, they may break down and cry and act like a kid much, much younger than their years. They take comfort in things like a RR schedule or the same show or the same book. They may even leave the house and wander away, but not because they can’t handle disappointment. Max is none of those. He’s a high-functioning spoiled brat.</p>
<p>I didn’t perceive Kristina’s call to Rachel as her offering her forgiveness, but her demonstrating her power as “wife”. I thought she and Adam reconnected after the Max situation. She then realized that she needed to find a way to accept that Adam was not going to fire Rachel, therefore she needed to accept Rachel’s continued position at the Luncheonette and she found a way to make it right for herself. She was putting Rachel in her place, and Rachel seemed to honor that, so Kristina was then able to soften…</p>
<p>Last night was the first time I had a chance to watch the show this season, and I thought it was a great episode. I enjoyed it … which is, frankly, all I want from a TV show.</p>
<p>Re post #546 (limabeans): Thank you for your post. I also felt that Max’s behavior was inconsistent with Aspergers, but don’t have the direct experience you do. (Just a lot of second hand experience working with people who in turn work with Aspie & HFA kids). I just felt that the attempt to take the bus to the museum was too purposeful, involving way too much intent and planning. Basically it’s a plan of action that involves a high level of executive function, and I didn’t think that fit in with with ASD. I also felt that Max asking his parents whether his sister would be punished for yelling at him was similarly far off the mark. I think that’s the sort of stuff that siblings with a “normal” and very sophisticated understanding of emotions & relationships do – it’s manipulative. A neuro-typical 4 year old might already be a master of that particular game, but I don’t see an ASD kid saying something like that.</p>
<p>mdemdivizi-
Thanks for the interesting info about how these more spontaneous shows are filmed.
I also have loved Fri Night Lights.
Howe tightly scripted is Parenthood? What about FNL?</p>
<p>p.s. are you in the business??!</p>