<p>I’ve had the flu over the holiday break so it gave me a chance to watch a marathon of all four seasons. I really liked the first two. The third was good but not great. The current season, though, has been disappointing. Sarah and Hank have absolutely zero chemistry together. The writers want you to feel some type of empathy for her, I suppose, but now I just loathe her. Everything wrong in her life has been self-inflicted. This last episode really disturbed me. When Victor threw the bat at Sydney but it went flying threw the glass door, I was shocked at how cavalier Joel was, “It was an accident,” he told Julia. Even if he weren’t aiming for Sydney, it didn’t accidentally slip out of his hands. It was an aluminum bat for goodness sake, and he threw it with force. I can’t imagine any parent reacting as calmly as Joel.</p>
<p>Sydney may be a child, but she is a smart cookie—and a spoiled brat. She often taunts Victor and then acts innocent when the adults appear. Zeke seems to be the only one with ‘her number’. In this episode, while there is no justification for Victor letting the bat fly, Sydney’s taunt that his biological mother doesn’t love him would definitely give rise to high emotions. I know of a very mild-manner kid who idolized his father (and still does) who died of cancer when the boy was 10. When the boy was 16, in a fit of anger, his mother told him his father never wanted him (not true, the father doted on his son and worried about how he would be raised after father’s death). The mother’s taunt was more than the boy could take and be hit her, was horrified at his response, and closed himself in his room. He’s never done anything similar since. </p>
<p>But don’t taunt someone who has that kind of loss by telling them their parent doesn’t/didn’t love them. Joel and Julia need to address Sydney’s issues, too.</p>
<p>Agree wholeheartedly, treehaven, that Sydney’s remarks and behavior should be addressed for she was taunting him; however, like you said, nothing, absolutely nothing short of self defense, justifies throwing an aluminum bat at another person. If that would have hit her in the head, it would have most likely killed her. I would never allow the life of any of my children to be endangered by anyone, and I was just shocked at Joel’s response.</p>
<p>Re post #978:
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<p>That part was always implausible to me. I don’t think it is even possible in California to do a simple adoption of an older child via social services – I think they would have asked the family to do a fost-adopt instead. ( See: [Bay</a> Area Homes for Kids FAQ](<a href=“http://bakids.org/start/faq/]Bay”>http://bakids.org/start/faq/) ) There is no way that a 10-year-old kid would have simply been dropped off one day with a family he had not previously met for an adoption. There would have been visits before the placement, and ongoing supervision of the social worker for many months before the adoption could be finalized.</p>
<p>^^Agreed. It’s just one of the many implausible details in so many of the storylines. Don’t get me wrong, I like this show but it’s this kind of thing that really drives me crazy.</p>
<p>Sydney is my second least favorite character. She’s manipulative to a point that I don’t think her parents even get. Agree that the adoption story always has bugged me.</p>
<p>No comments? It’s almost 1 a.m., and ds and I just finished talking, post-show.</p>
<p>That Sarah. Oy.</p>
<p>Hoping to catch my recording later tonite, youdon’tsay!</p>
<p>Thanks for the warning re: Sarah. Though nothing really surprises me about that character.</p>
<p>Re: The adoption storyline. DH muttered, “It’s at about this time I’d return the kid.”-Which got me wondering if the parents (forget their names) have/had a true affection for the child or if they just can’t see themselves at failing in this task of parenthood.</p>
<p>why can’t they get it when Victor says,“you’re not my mother”, seems like emotional intelligence 101, the kid needs to honor his feelings about his own natural mother. And it doesn’t take a psychologist to figure out that a 10 yr old Hispanic child who’s likely been through some challenges, would need real time to adapt and attach to his adoptive non Hispanic, family. Kind of off that they would be this clueless, he wanted to at least talk with his mother, and yet they didn’t mention that to the social worker. </p>
<p>And I found the puberty conversation over dinner preparations weird. Way to reinforce to Max that you can talk about sexual matters among guests. </p>
<p>not really eager to see the battle for Sarah’s heart either. </p>
<p>not my favorite episode or couldn’t you tell ;)</p>
<p>I was glad to finally see Drew express some emotion. I was beginning to wonder if Miles Heizer can act but he tugged at my heart in this episode. He’s usually so one-note with not a lot of range between happy and sad.</p>
<p>There were parts of this episode that I really liked. Joel has clearly bonded with Victor, but has also started to set some boundaries for him with how he is treating them (particularly Julia). Although she was only in the episode for about a minute, I loved the always talented Mae Whitman (Amber) being the real rock of support for Drew. Sarah is so clueless and self-absorbed that she didn’t want to drill deep enough to find the root cause of Drew’s stress. We seem to all detest Sarah in this thread, but I credit Lauren Graham for being able to play this warped character so well.</p>
<p>I think all the characters were true to themselves in this episode. Crosby was his usual selfish self, but part of him knew that he was being rude. Sarah her usual concerned mother, but not quite intuitive enough and would rather believe that Mark just wanted to see her and it wasn’t really about Drew. Julia, so sure of her mothering skills thinks that the problem is Victor and not that the family needs outside help. And the Braverman’s, tackling the problem the best way they know how. I loved how Christine just blurted out “skittles!” as the quick way to avoid talk and get Max in the shower. And Drew - I thought the teens were just like most teens - not a lot of talk. A lot of thinking but not articulating what they felt. The very last scene with Drew and Sarah had me sniffing too.</p>
<p>I think the writing for the Sydney character in the (awkward) Victor storyline has been great. They haven’t shied away at all from having her be bratty and manipulative, which is completely realistic given her situation. But I am sick to death of Julia. Full speed ahead in one direction, then full speed ahead in the other, and a complete tin ear to anyone else’s needs, including her children. And, yes, it has increasingly strained credulity that the family is so alone and so clueless in the face of textbook adoption challenges with a 100% probability of occurring.</p>
<p>Did anyone else wonder about the hyper-hetero quality of the sex discussions with Max? I am not the most PC guy in the world, but when I had conversations like this with my kids, I always kept open the possibility that it might not be people of the opposite sex to whom they felt attracted. That was relatively natural, because a bunch of their friends had lesbian moms, they knew various other gay adults (both danced), and my son’s 5th-grade girlfriend ultimately decided she was gay (much heartbreak for him). Their school did sex education starting in first grade. The Bravermans live in a world that shouldn’t be that different from mine.</p>
<p>Not such a big deal, but I never said anything like “You are going to look at girls in a new way!” Adam’s talk was so over-the-top about girls, when Max cut it off I half expected him to say “I feel that way, but it’s about boys.” Friday Night Lights at least touched on homosexuality at times (two minor characters were identified as gay, and a couple of short plotlines made that relevant), but Parenthood seems to avoid it like the plague.</p>
<p>(Also, I don’t know about Asperger’s kids, or kids in general, but I know I never went through anything like latency, and I don’t think my son did, either. I had crushes on girls back as far as I can remember, which is kindergarten.)</p>
<p>JHS, yes that bugged me. During his speech I said out loud “or boys” at the appropriate times. It’s kind of a family joke because whenever dh and I had discussions with our sons we’d be sure to include both genders. About two years ago, they told me, “We get that you’retrying to be inclusive, but at this point, it’s really not necessary anymore. We’re straight. But we get that it would have been OK if we weren’t.” :D</p>
<p>I’m getting ready to watch the episode. I have come to like to commentary at least as much as the show! lol</p>
<p>I’ve never commented here before but when the social worker said, “it sounds like you’re doing everything right” I lost it. What are they doing right? Where do they find the writers for this show? I don’t have any direct experience with adoptions but even I know that all of if it so implausible. How hard would it be to do a little research?<br>
I feel like the show has lost focus. When I started watching I liked how close the extended family was and how they helped each other out but lately it seems everyone is on their own and you never see the whole group together…
I really should stop watching…I remember feeling this way about Gilmore Girls when it started down hill. Sigh time to read a book!</p>
<p>JHS and youdontsay: I had the same thought! </p>
<p>I feel for Julia and Joel (and Sydney who I agree is a brat - of her parents’ making - but nonetheless, what an upheaval of HER world). What a tough situation for all involved. I think they would have had a lot more education/training/transitioning (e.g.foster to adopt) in the real world. </p>
<p>Agree that characters are being true to themselves. Crosby has his likeable and less likeable moments, IMO; I guess that is realistic! </p>
<p>Continue to love Amber (and the talented actress protraying her) and be frustrated by Sarah! </p>
<p>I with there had been a little more discussion about Amy’s choices. I am curious to see what happens with Drew/Amy going forward.</p>
<p>I agree that I wish they had explored Amy a bit more. I liked that they showed her dad coming over and chatting them up, thinking everything is normal. Her character didn’t become “flawed” with some kind of family dysfunction to explain away her desire for an abortion. I think it was really realistic.</p>
<p>I found it interesting that Planned Parenthood’s logo and name were so prominent in the episode, rather than just a generic “I’ve made an appointment at a clinic.”</p>
<p>One of the questions ds asked me was what I thought about Sarah being so clueless about what was going on with Drew. Hmmmm …</p>
<p>I am going to have to re-watch the beginning because I fell asleep for the first part. It was interesting to watch my 17 year old son, because he didn’t understand why she wouldn’t consider adoption. Crosby was selfish, but he had some points. No job is perfect, the mom was being way too picky considering her current position, AND it was rude to do her son’s laundry at Crosby’s house. I don’t like Sarah but I really like Hank and Mark. I thought the Planned Parenthood Logo was strange too, but maybe they wanted to make a point that they do go over all options.</p>