<p>I love that so many of us watch this show!</p>
<p>What? It’s not real life? I also feel like these characters are real.</p>
<p>I felt the same way about Friday Night Lights (in the earlier seasons) - didn’t watch it much in the later seasons - I don’t think it was on any of our channels for some reason.</p>
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The other thing about him that I think some people (of either sex) might find attractive came out in his conversation with his brother last week when he was asking for advice about his troubles with Jasmine: He’s a genuinely kind and gentle person, a good listener and a natural peacemaker–the kind of person people feel comfortable confiding in. The flip side of that, unfortunately, is that he’s easily freaked out by conflict and tends to withdraw from it if it can’t be resolved quickly.</p>
<p>I too was disappointed that the storyline with him and Gaby went to sex so quickly. I thought they were doing a great job of evoking the tension between two nice, responsible people who are intensely attracted to one another but feel obligated to resist the attraction. Putting them in bed might be a useful way to drive other plot elements but it felt untrue to the characters and a bit of a copout.</p>
<p>OTOH, I almost shed tears of gratitude at the healthy-minded way they presented the material about Joel and Julia’s sex life. It’s so rare to see TV treat sex as something sweet and funny and OK. I especially loved Christina’s response to stumbling on them in the bathroom–it was surprising, and yet not uncharacteristic. She’s a control freak, not a prude.</p>
<p>Love the show. Love the characters. Love the actors.</p>
<p>bump- ok so I have a question for anyone who knows more about aspberger’s than I do:</p>
<p>Does it make sense that Max would not “know” he has aspberger’s? This is not judgement, Im really just interested in knowing if this is an approach that some folks take with their kids? He goes to a special school, I think. And different parents have different approaches, but Max would be in a class with at least some other Aspie kids. So is the sense of self such that he would or wouldnt have the thought “I belong to this group with George, Jim and Mary, Mary and Jim’s mommies told them they are Aspberger kids, since they are in my group, I must have Aspbergers too?”</p>
<p>In other plot lines: Adam needs to give it up about Alex. He should be besides himself with joy that his daughter is dating someone who wants to hang out with the family, instead of just hanging with other teenagers and getting up to no good. </p>
<p>Who agreed with granddad about the food? I kind of did.</p>
<p>I thought it was brilliant that Jasmine came to apologize. It just piled up the tragedy of what Crosby did even more. Like how some of us can learn from our mistakes (Jasmine) and some are just doomed to repeat…</p>
<p>I found last night’s show especially moving at many points – so many irresistible forces meeting unmovable objects!</p>
<p>Also, in terms of my family’s TV obsessions, it’s a lot of fun to see Lyla Garrity hook up with Veronica Mars’ fiance, to the dismay of Casey McCall. Lots of great memories of quality shows that didn’t make it there!</p>
<p>I thought Zeek was right, but for the wrong reasons. He was right that when Sydney refused both the original meal and the extra one, she was stepping over the line. If you refuse the meat dish on moral grounds, then you can’t refuse the vegetarian dish because it tastes yucky. At some point your preferences need to yield to politeness.</p>
<p>However, I don’t think this was foremost on Zeek’s mind–he was mostly just offended at the idea of a 6-year-old vegetarian (especially in his family) and wanted to exercise his alpha-dog privileges to squelch this (in Julia’s accurate words). I think Camille stuck up for Zeek mostly because she knows he needs to win some battles and thought this was a battle Julia could afford to lose.</p>
<p>I agree that Jasmine’s apology scene was beautifully done, as was the conversation between Gaby and Kristina. Great, economical physical acting from Monica Potter in her reaction to the news.</p>
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<p>I was thinking something similar, JHS, except that it was Nate Fisher instead of Casey McCall. I was also remarking to one of my Ds that it was somewhat amusing to see Adam’s reaction to Crosby’s irresponsibility because the Crosby character is so similar in many ways to that of Nate Fisher.</p>
<p>I think that the last couple of episodes have been very strong. Monica Potter’s performance in last night’s was excellent.</p>
<p>I think (as a non Aspie mom) that kids know their strengths and weaknesses. We had a dear friend who’s child went to a school in New York (private) for children with challenges. He had language challenges and a learning challenge or two. He described a meltdown of a fellow student during a birthday party. (coincidence?) No one put a label on it. This is the normal for them. Max (as all kids do) knows that he is different…but so is Jake down the block…and Annie across the street. Remember Sydney becomes a vegetarian. Is that “normal”? Are her feelings about eating animals “normal”? To her…yes. To Max, bugs are normal. Meltdowns are normal.</p>
<p>The actor who plays Max is amazing.</p>
<p>As for Sydney. Sorry, Zeke was right. Not insisting that she eat the meat…but that she eat something (remember she asked for dessert in lieu of dinner). There was salad on her plate which was untouched. Also: her parents didn’t tell the grandparents that their daughter had become a vegetarian. AND they didn’t have dinner for her in the house. What were they expecting?</p>
<p>Great show last night! Our kids were picky eaters, but not vegetarians, and we offered dinner and if they didn’t eat it fine, but no dessert. THe pediatrician said if they say they are hungry just say “go to bed and it will be morning sooner and you can have breakfast”. So I think Zeke was right in that respect. I thought Amber was great in this episode. I think Max will be relieved to know that he has Aspergers. The parents are so afraid that it will upset him, but I think he obviously already knows and won’t be upset by it. I think Crosby should not have slept with Gaby, but Jasmine wasn’t right either.</p>
<p>I missed it last night. :(</p>
<p>When you ask your parents (or friends for that matter) to babysit for you and they do so, they are in charge and the kids have to know that. Even if grandma/grandpa have somewhat different rules, while they are in charge, the kids must obey them. After your parents have done you the favor of babysitting, you don’t complain about what they did. And, I agree it’s odd that the parents hadn’t prepared something for Sydney to eat, especially given her new vegetarian status. </p>
<p>Another thing bothered me–the way Julia was dressed was completely inappropriate for a law firm function–which is where she and Joel were going.</p>
<p>I want to second, third, or whatever the appreciation expressed for some of the actors. Yes, the actor who plays Max is amazing, week in and week out. Yes, Monica Potter does a great job, and never, ever better than in the shot in last night’s episode when she is not saying a word, but finally figuring out why she is losing the person who has made her life livable for the past year. Yes, I am a big fan of Mae Whitman (Amber), too, and her last scene with her brother last night was one of the (many) points I almost cried. (At her guilt that she had driven their father away, and at Drew’s recognition that “If he was a real dad, that would never have made him leave.”)</p>
<p>Even Lauren Graham had her moments last night, and she usually annoys the heck out of me.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone else that Zeke was right about Sydney’s dinner. I work with young children and am appalled at how many young parents allow their kids to be “in the driver’s seat” for things that should be the adults’ decision. </p>
<p>I really liked the Lauren Graham scene when she went after John Corbett (after he told her he was leaving and wouldn’t make the Alcatraz trip) and demanded that he show up at the house to say goodbye to their kids in person. Then the scene where he told Lauren Graham goodbye and said that her that her songs were always his best ones…I thought LG did a great job. You could see the conflicting emotions on her face…feelings for this man she once loved so much versus sorrow/regret for how it all turned out for them.
I almost cried at that one.</p>
<p>JHS, & PackMom, I agree that Graham was at the top of her game in last night’s episode. She hits just the right note when she’s giving Seth his marching orders for saying goodbye to the kids. And the later scene, where he offers her his hand in farewell and she instead gives him the hug they both have been needing so badly…that one turned on the waterworks in our house.</p>
<p>Not only the writing and the acting, but the visual storytelling was great. I loved that low-angle shot from Amber’s POV of Seth, Drew & Sarah standing behind the kitchen counter, looking unmistakably and problematically like A Family. Or the close-up of Camille’s foot pushing the door shut at the end of their love scene.</p>
<p>Youdon’tSay- watch it on Hulu, that’s what I did. Love the kid that plays Max and I agree that Monica Potter’s facial emotions were great in this episode.</p>
<p>I think Zeke was right and I think he was coming from the right place. It was obvious that Sydney was being rude and obnoxious and I think the “you won’t get up until you’ve eaten” tactic was appropriate. I loved the scene that showed mature adult married people being passionate. </p>
<p>I cannot understand what makes Crosby appealing to women.</p>
<p>I have never watch Parenthood, but now I’m trying to figure out how I can sneak away some weekend to a comfy chair and a good internet connection to Hulu.</p>
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<p>Ick, that’s the character I really dislike…so very weak. Never did go for those hang dog weak kinda guys. Although I like the writing…the Jasmine character grates on me, also, simply because she is so perfectly written as a controlling person. So classic, Crosby tells her he doesn’t want to talk and she just keeps on going… we’ve all known people like that.</p>
<p>I loved the Zeke and Sydney scene because it, too, shows the difference between some of today’s parents and parents of the past. Sydney wanting desert but not eating any food and her parents indulging her whims in the name of whateever. We knew people who would make multiple dinners simply because they had kids that wouldn’t eat this or that. I grew up with eat what’s on your plate or don’t eat at all…and forget any kind of desert…that was taboo unless you ate your dinner.</p>
<p>Love the show just because I think the writing and the characters are just enough stereotype that you can recognize yourself or others or your parents or your kids…it’s right up there with shows I try or tried not to miss and I’m not a huge TV consumer: Northern Exposure, West Wing, 30 Something, House…</p>
<p>Question: I thought Max knew he had Asperger’s? I thought his parents already tried to describe the situation to him? I think I am wrong on this. Maybe they described it very lightly to him. </p>
<p>Last night’s episode was great overall. I am huge fan of Lauren Graham in general and I think she is lovely every week. I have always said this but this show reminds me of FNL or other handheld type shows. FNL was very handicam and didn’t have set camera movements and Parenthood reminds me of it. They have strict movements they need to see but it is very free which is why a viewer feels like you are coming into the life of this family.</p>
<p>When Max was first diagnosed with Asperger’s they asked the doctor/specialist if they should tell him and he said that Max will let them know when they should tell him. Or something like that. So they never officially told him.</p>