<p>Would have been really cool if Hattie found out the way most kids do - online- with parents hovering anxiously nearby.</p>
<p>This episode was a big “bleh” to me. Everyone in the Haddie-Cornell storyline seemed to be going through the motions, and it wasn’t exactly like Adam to do a 180-degree turn on impulse with no plan. (It wasn’t exactly like Adam or Haddie to apply ED to Cornell without a financing plan, either, so this whole arc started off wrong.) The Crosby-Beautiful Cellist storyline is soap opera at the moment. As is the Julia-Zoe storyline. (Will she? Won’t she?) And I got really angry at Julia for not giving the obvious correct response to the watch thing: “Keep your grandfather’s watch and give it to your own child, the baby you will have some day that you will keep as your own. Don’t worry for a moment that this baby will not know what a wonderful, strong woman conceived and gave birth to her, and how much you loved her.” The Amber-Bobby storyline is ridiculous. No aspiring politician with half a brain would flirt like that with a known 18-year-old. And the Zeke-Heart Disease storyline is pure cliche so far.</p>
<p>I’m rewatching it now. I’m staring to feel like the Amber-Billy storyline is more realistic. When I was 19 I seriously dated a 30yo, so I know it’s possible. The high-profile candidate part is bothersome to me – so reckless! – but politicians are known to be reckless in their personal lives.</p>
<p>JHS, have you ever known anyone in an open adoption situation? The response you want from Julia is just not one someone caught unaware would make up on the spot under the pressure that “if I don’t agree to anything this woman wants, she’ll change her mind and I’ll lose this baby.” </p>
<p>I also assume that your D has no interest in politics. Anthony Weiner, Bill Clinton, JFK, presumably Ted Kennedy (the name Mary Jo Kopechne sound familiar?), etc. all did more than flirt with interns. (One of JFK’s mistresses was an 18 year old senior at the Brearley School in NY.) A family I knew when I was growing up adopted a child who was the product of a romance between a MARRIED city councilor in a small town and a 18 year old secretary who worked at city hall—and that was about 55 years ago. I assure you the married councilor had big political ambitions.</p>
<p>My own feeling is that Amber isn’t going to go along for the ride…and that’s going to upset Billy’s ego. He’ll “fire” her for incompetence and she won’t want to tell her aunt the truth. At least that’s how I’m hoping the story line goes because it usually is in real life.</p>
<p>I looked up the Cornell financial aid and if their income is low as stated (but then what is low to them?) say lower than $120k, they should get decent aid from Cornell, limited loans, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for looking that up, somemom. During the commercial, I was telling my dh and ds2 what they’re next steps should be – a letter to FA office explaining the change in their financial situation, etc. :D</p>
<p>I wish I understood why she is so set on Cornell.</p>
<p>jonri, I like your possible Amber-Billy storyline better – maybe throw some sexual harrassment in there.</p>
<p>jhs, and I agree with previous poster that Julia could not possibly have summoned the composure to say such a thing to Zoe. Besides, what’s wrong with Zoe giving the watch to a child she may never see again? The child she will have and keep will get her.</p>
<p>Since the lost job, depleted savings, and the starting of the new business, etc… all happened in the last year you would think they would be ideal candidates for financial aid.</p>
<p>Yeah, but he didn’t lose the job until last spring, right? And then I’m guessing there was some kind of severance package …</p>
<p>Good point! I hadn’t thought about a severance package.</p>
<p>I am still confused why Haddie would choose Cornell or if she did the whole ‘apply to all the Ivies and see which one I get in’ thing. Not that I am doubting her choice just a little curious.</p>
<p>Funny how the cc crowd is so curious as to why Cornell is the right fit! Has she indicated what she wants to study? Maybe hotel/restaurant mgmt! :D</p>
<p>reading this thread is more entertaining then the show , you should all write a new show, I’m sure it would be a hit lol :)</p>
<p>jonri: I know perfectly well that there is a long and dishonorable history of male politicians dallying with young women who were barely of age (or not). A good friend claims to have been chased around a desk at 17 by a cabinet secretary / soon-to-be U.S. Senator, and I am plenty old enough to remember Mary Jo Kopechne. But since then, and certainly since Monica Lewinsky, that kind of thing has been much curtailed.</p>
<p>(My daughter did substantial work on a political campaign, by the way, during her first college summer, under circumstances not so different from Amber’s. The candidate was definitely old school in these respects, but as far as anyone knows he limited himself to actual adults. In retrospect, the work she did then launched what is currently her career.)</p>
<p>The watch: Yes, I understand Julia’s anxiety about the adoption. But Julia generally thinks things through pretty well, so I imagine she would figure out that it’s a mistake to let Zoe give a family heirloom to a child who is not expected to be part of her family. Julia does not want Zoe to think of this baby as her first child. Julia should be emphasizing to Zoe that she should expect to have a rich, full life, in which this will be a minor part.</p>
<p>Cornell: Of course the whole financial aid discussion made no sense. They have a year of reduced income – lots of references to spending their savings in last spring’s episodes --, no clear baseline for current income, and extraordinary expenses for a special-needs child and a baby. It’s not a slam dunk that they will be able to afford Cornell after their aid determination, but it’s not a foregone conclusion that they WON’T be able to, either.</p>
<p>I am not even sure that they would have a financial aid offer yet.</p>
<p>Can you imagine how annoyed we all would be if we knew anything about recording studios? No doubt there are huge inaccuracies there, too.</p>
<p>Having a special needs child would be a serious item in the application for FA, would it not? That has been a constant… So they should have knows that the budget for college would be limited under any circumstances. Certainly, the arrival of a new baby during this difficult this year would raise a few eyebrows, however!</p>
<p>I am with JHS- all too soapy for me. Not deep, conflicted, realism with a twist, as I have been led to expect from this show The crucial scene between Adam and Hattie, where he says she can go to Cornell was probably the weakest scene I have ever seen on this show- poor acting, poor plot-line, dialogue blah…</p>
<p>Sarah - you are becoming annoying in your awkward immaturity- hard to watch, not funny.</p>
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<p>Curtailed? Maybe. Non-existent? I don’t think so. It did come out, after all, that Weiner was emailing or texting some high school girl. Plus, Amber is at least 19, probably 20, and working, not in school. She’s hardly jail bait. He’s not married. He doesn’t seem to have a girlfriend. A story line either way—they end up dating or she tells him she’s not interested–doesn’t seem all that far-fetched to me. I personally think the “Amber’s just not into him” angle is (a) more likely based on Amber’s character and (b) more consistent with what we’ve seen thus far. (Amber didn’t exactly jump at the chance to grab something to eat with him). Obviously, your mileage does vary…which is fine. </p>
<p>And, Julia’s not Zoe’s therapist. She’s also got a good heart. For both selfish and unselfish reasons, it just wasn’t the time to tell Zoe that she shouldn’t be thinking of this child as her first born child. Feelings are feelings. The one part of the Haddie story line I liked was when Haddie told Kristina that she could accept the fact she couldn’t go to Cornell if the money wasn’t there, but it was unfair to ask that she not be upset about it. </p>
<p>So, Zoe is struggling with her feelings. It’s just not Julia’s role to tell Zoe how she “should” feel about this child. For all we know, they’ll be some sort of counseling for Zoe when she gives up the child and Julia will talk to the counselor about the watch. Or maybe sometime after the baby is born, Julia will suggest that she “rethink” the watch. But now was just not the time.</p>
<p>Have they said how old Bobbie Little is? </p>
<p>One interesting discussion that could come out of an Amber/Bobbie relationship is with her mother about dating age differences. </p>
<p>I think it might be more likely that Amber will rebuff his advances. That will cause problems for her and Kristina and may cause Kristina to choose between her job and her loyalty to Amber. </p>
<p>At one point, Bobbie mentioned at the fundraiser that he and Amber were having a conversation that they had not had. Amber hesitated before agreeing. The political stretching of the truth may not sit well with her, or it may be telegraphing that she will catch him in other more important exaggerations, go to Kristina about it and put Kristina in a moral dilemma.</p>
<p>Interesting, cartera. That’s not how I took that scene at the fund-raiser. I took her hesitation as evidence she doesn’t want to keep getting pulled in because she lacks confidence and questions whether she should be there at all.</p>
<p>I agree that my favorite scene was Haddie telling Cristina that she doesn’t get to tell her not to be sad about something. I was unhappy how they brought Max’s special-needs costs into the whole conversation as it, once again, pits kid against kid. Such a no-no.</p>
<p>What do y’all think will happen with Jasmine and Crosby? I like the way they showed Dr. Joe watching her watch him.</p>
<p>I think she does lack confidence, but he put her in an awkward position by asking her in front of the donor about a conversation they had not had and I don’t think that will sit well with her. He clearly didn’t even remember the name of the event with the donor, but pretended not only to know it, after Amber came up with it, but said they had discussed it back at the office.</p>
<p>Another vote for “You can’t ask me not to be upset about it” as the high point of the episode (along with the stuff around Beautiful Cellist’s “secret sign” to Jabbar to let him know which part of the quartet she really loved).</p>
<p>I think it’s realistic for everyone to acknowledge that Max eats up a lot of resources, and for Haddie to be both accepting and resentful of that. But it wouldn’t be a conversation they were having for the first time after she had already been accepted ED at Cornell.</p>
<p>Bobby – and note, people, that almost all men and many women who aren’t selling cosmetics spell it with a “y” – seems like he is in his late 20s/early 30s. My guess as to this story arc is Amber gets over her ambivalence and develops a full-bore crush on him, and is devastated when his interest turns out to be mere friendship (and maybe he’s gay – this show needs a gay character pretty badly). We’ll no doubt get to see who is right.</p>