<p>Re: Friday Night Lights…the coach’s wife lost her job. And the girl had a terrible time.</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay: Sorry you don’t get my point. It is called foretelling.</p>
<p>So, you think because the other girl walked out it foreshadowed Amy doing so as well. Maybe. As I said earlier, that occurred to me right away, with Sarah and Mark raising the baby they thought they wanted last season. But if that’s the case, it will be a real jump-the-shark moment for the show, and I’ll be disappointed.</p>
<p>I think she had the abortion already.</p>
<p>I hope she had the abortion – not based on my feelings pro or con, but I agree with ellebud about the foreshadowing (I sensed the same thing), and with Youdon’tsay about the jump-the-shark moment. It’s a cheap trick for the writers to portray one thing and then follow up in a later “didn’t really happen” episode. If Amy was feeling conflicted or hesitant about the abortion, they should have portrayed that. Or they could have written in some conflict between Drew and Amy, where Drew was more forceful in advocating a different choice… and clearly left things hanging. </p>
<p>I do think that even as portrayed, they gave the story line short shrift. It became much more about 2 kids whose parents are clueless about their lives than about their own relationship and the abortion. Some more character development would have been nice.</p>
<p>Just some thoughts–Amy did not seem to lean on Drew because he is not, in fact, the father. Or she is not sure. I did see the foreshadowing but think that may be a tease.
It is in her character to have an abortion. Still, she did not look physically strained. So the writers did a great job because we have no idea!
As for Sidney–yep–could very well be a nice studious kid. I struggle with the fact that they adopted an older kid. My H and I adopted when our pretty perfect D was 6. Our S was a baby and never ever would we have displaced her space in the family with an older kid. I think this was just very poor research on the writers side. I think a very bratty 3 year old would have been much more realistic and interesting.</p>
<p>I didn’t take the girl leaving as foreshadowing. I thought it was put in there to show what a difficult decision it is, how conflicted the girls are and to give Amy an opening to leave, too, but she chose not to.</p>
<p>Last night when writing about jumping the shark, I thought to myself if they do that – come back later and say, She didn’t really do it – I would be so mad I’d consider no longer watching the show. It occurred to me that the reason Drew shows up at Sarah’s door crying is not because he feels bad about the abortion but because Amy didn’t have the abortion and the weight of it all is getting to him. I guess we shall see next week. I hope.</p>
<p>I was surprised that they didn’t show more conversation between Drew and Amy last week. I mean, didn’t it occur to Drew that it might not be his? If so, you never saw that conversation. This is a much more important storyline, I think, than Max’s showering habits. I think we’re going round and round about it because it was given such short shrift.</p>
<p>Drew is the most emotionally constipated kid I have ever seen. Perhaps the dam of emotions broke and that is what we are seeing. Incidentally I have never seen a family so oblivious to a child’s emotions and needs. And I am going back to the first season. </p>
<p>I do not know a single parent (real life or reel life) who wouldn’t be acutely aware that her child had so many issues. The character has been a shadow most of this series. </p>
<p>Perhaps the Max character is meant as comic relief. It is hard to watch so many family challenges and not feel burdened by brick around one’s neck. And in one sense it does make sense. Families face challenges every day big and little challenges. And at this moment the challenge for this Braverman family is a stinky kid.</p>
<p>Oh, please! This speculation about the pregnancy not being Drew’s is way overthinking. This is a TV show. The Berkeley boyfriend was on camera for 15 seconds, and had a couple of lines. He’s not worth a pregnancy. Drew is a title-sequence character; we care about him. His relationship with Amy has been a multi-season story arc. If Amy is going to get pregnant, it’s going to be with Drew . . . unless it’s an opportunity for Drew to be all noble, but that’s not the way they chose to go.</p>
<p>Also as between two explanations for Drew’s sobbing in his mother’s arms, which is more plausible?:</p>
<p>-- Amy didn’t go through with the abortion, and he is overwhelmed by stress about the future? Or, </p>
<p>-- Drew understands perfectly well that Amy’s going through with the abortion means that she loves him a lot less than he loves her, as confirmed by her statement that she was going to need space, “a lot of space,” in the future? And he feels guilty for causing her pain, and furious at himself for making a mistake that has caused him to lose Amy again, and desperate because he has lost Amy again?</p>
<p>Feel free to believe that the first is possible, but I submit that the second is far more in tune with this show and its themes. Remember that in Friday Night Lights, too, Katims gave a lot of screen time and texture to the post-abortion relationship of a boy and girl who clearly liked one another, but whose relationship was not mature enough to handle that kind of emotional pressure.</p>
<p>As for the idea that Sarah and Mark were going to raise Amy’s baby – you have Sarah Braverman confused with Sarah Palin. Different show.</p>
<p>The show could definitely benefit from a better humor ratio. The original movie ended with the rollercoaster metaphor for parenting. There’s way too many lows and not enough highs. And, the biggest thing that really annoys me is how the Adam-family and Sara-family talk over each other. It’s unnerving to the point that sometimes I hit the mute button.</p>
<p>I’m with JHS that Drew’s breakdown into his mother’s arms was as much about losing Amy as it was about the abortion itself. Amy pretty clearly was not that into him despite responding to his neediness when he talked about Kristina having cancer. And the pregnancy seemed to have cemented for her that she didn’t want to be with him.</p>
<p>
I’m not sure it really matters – or would have mattered to Drew. Obviously he cares about Amy, and he knew about the relationship with the college boy. If Amy had come to him and told him she was pregnant because of the college relationship and needed help with money for an abortion, I think Drew would still wanted to have helped her. Same deal if she had decided to go through with the pregnancy – Drew would have been there for her, and probably would have wanted to step up to the plate even if the child was not biologically his. (The world is full of children who have been adopted in infancy by their stepfathers – it is a fairly common scenario)</p>
<p>Anyway, it’s just a t.v. show. We’ll see how it goes. I think the program may already have moved past the point where there is natural evolution of the characters and their lives, and instead be at a place where the writers are just throwing new elements to spice up the drama. They’ve done adoption, cancer, abortion… what next? Oh yeah, ditzy Sarah Braverman with 2 men vying for her affections…</p>
<p>When Amy said they had to make a decision in a week, I just assumed that the writers chose that to put tension in the decision. I never thought it had anything to do with how far along she was. It just sounded like one of those TV “medical facts” that they throw in to support the plot line.</p>
<p>Having said that, I do think it was Drew’s baby and I do think she had the abortion. And there was apparently some to-do about this in the real world. My husband, who does not watch, just casually said to me and my D last week, “I hear there’s some controversy over your Parenthood show and how a character gets an abortion.” </p>
<p>After which D and I yelled, “^$@<em>@&</em># we are behind on TiVO! Please don’t say anything more!!!”</p>
<p>I just caught up and watched the episode. I agree with everyone who talked about Adam’s bizarre ultra-hetero talk. And they are supposed to live in Berkeley! (As do I.) I was watching with my 12 year old daughter and was so proud when, after Adam insisted Max would start to feel differently about girls, she instantly said “That’s mean! What if he’s gay?”
I also assumed Amy went through with the abortion and feel her decision is totally realistic and believable. I disagree that the decision is, in and of itself, a rejection of Drew. Her decision wasn’t about him. It was about her and whether she is prepared to have a baby at 17. If it turns out there is some switch in the next episode and it turns out she “couldn’t go through with it” I will be seriously disappointed with the show.</p>
<p>MY S is Drew. He was raised with the birthcontrol/sex what have you as both H and I are in the healthcare field. And my sister became pg in 1964 and I watched it all unfold.
AND YET!! my S and his GF (he age 22 and her 20)(barely) had a child. Yes, I so saw how the many ways this might have (or yet go) gone.
We do not yet know if Amy did get pg by her past guy and that is why she is not leaning into Drew. And I have no idea if she did or did not go through with the abortion.
If they go for adoption–it is about 3% of any female in the USA that actually reliqushes.</p>
<p>You know what no one has mentioned is, they didn’t discuss anything about whether their BC failed or what. When the teacher (name?) walked in on them having sex, he made a point of telling Drew to be careful and use protection and all that and Drew said they were.</p>
<p>So I’m surprised that Drew didn’t say to Amy “how did you get pregnant? We used a condom/you’re on the pill” etc etc. It would have been a good message to get out to teens that BC isn’t always 100% effective. Or did they just “accidentally” forget one time to use BC?</p>
<p>I watched the show with my D so of course I kept pausing it to talk about things with her, and give her the opportunity to smile politely at me, roll her eyes and assure me that she knows all the facts :)</p>
<p>I think Amy did have the abortion. I also think the point of this story arc was not the abortion, nor Drew’s relationship with Amy. I think it was about how kids hide secrets from their parents out of fear of disappointing them. Drew went to his sister for help, but in the end he needed his mom. Sara is a ditz, but she loves her kids unconditionally. So I think showing that was the point of this story.</p>
<p>I also think the baby was Drew’s. Amy would have had a pregnancy test following her first missed period; they surely have been back together for 6 weeks. My feeling is that she wanted space from Drew because she is so upset/disappointed/sad that their actions together has resulted in an abortion and being with him will be a constant reminder of this.</p>
<p>Had breakfast with a friend who thinks we’re overthinking this. (well, YEAH!) She said that some of these side issues – Drew’s or not, had the abortion or not – were beside the point and what she found so refreshing was that this was designed to come from the male perspective of wanting to support his partner no matter what and that he was bawling to Sarah because, basically, he’s lost everything – the baby, Amy, everything.</p>
<p>Yeah, I hope Drew has finished those college apps because he’s in no shape now.</p>
<p>Well, I talked to my D who also watched. She said that the idea that anyone other than Drew was dad was silly because although we didn’t hear the whole spiel, Drew was in the same room as Amy during the consultation in which she was told her options. If she were far enough along that Drew might suspect it wasn’t his, she wouldn’t have let him be in there with her in the first place. She thought the one more week wasn’t for an abortion, but for RU whatever…the oral medicine. That would also explain why Amy didn’t look that sick. </p>
<p>She also said that it seemed that Amy had just found out and freaked. It’s not in character for Amy to let it run on unresolved for a long time. </p>
<p>So, I caved and gave up my theory that Drew might not be dad. We both agree that Amy had the abortion already.</p>