<p>I finally watched the finale and yes like others I cried, but that Lesbian storyline was ridiculous! They could have added a new character to add such a storyline, but Haddie was never written even remotely as Lesbian or Bi in fact she was written as a card carrying (confirmed by every storyline ever for her) heterosexual. I would have bought it if they had showed us some angst or even hints in the past but it’s obvious they threw that in to check a box. I was really hoping she would somehow reunite with Jordan Knights character. I know folks can go to college and change, but if the convention wisdom is “born this way” we would have been given a hint somewhere. I’m sure they wouldn’t dream of writing it the opposite way where a confirmed gay character goes to college and becomes straight.
In other musings, how long has time supposedly passed between Amber’s tryst with Ryan and the pregnancy test? Is it a pregnancy from when they were together before he went back to the service? They made it seem like it was just a few days.between his hospital stay the Grandparents move and the dinner at the new house.
I hope there is another season though!</p>
<p>About 2 years ago, I would have found Haddie’s story not believable as well. However, I know several college students that found they were sexually attracted to particular people who may be different genders. I find the story line very believable (maybe something a writer had personal experience with rather than checking off a “box”) and shows that sexuality is probably very fluid for some during the adolescent years. Because Haddie might be with a woman she cares about very deeply, it doesn’t mean she can’t also have a meaningful relationship with a man at some other time. It is one of the more “real” storylines I have seen on TV. There was a similar storyline in Buffy. Up till now, one of the flaws of Parenthood is that it is too heteronormative. </p>
<p>I’m not disagreeing that it can’t happen, Im pointing out in this instance ,it is not believeable. We are the audience, so we are given the glimpse into the characters inner workings that the other characters wouldn’t see. I would have bought it if the writers had crafted it as such. Therefore for this show (for me and judging by comments Ive seen about this storyline), it smacks as a stunt to address that issue. The character of Haddie was never intended to be homosexual, or bi until they had to consider season renewal. I always thought for some reason Natalie was going to be revealed as bi. It was so rushed as well. I dont buy Adams reaction. I don’t care how progressive or whatever they tried to make him, from season 1 to now Haddie was his precious girl. Let’s not forget how he flipped out when the boyfriend was older. Throw in a wrench like this and he just looks around like everything’s a ok? He’s dealing with a child with Autism who he hopes may one day have some type of relationship and I’m sure he’s afraid Max will never get married, it has to have crossed his mind that now that could be up in the air for Haddie. </p>
<p>I finally got to watch the episode a couple days ago.</p>
<p>I thought the absence of drama around Haddie’s relationship was both refreshing (for TV) and realistic. TVenee – on what basis would anyone think in 2014, in California (a) that being gay would preclude marriage, or (b) that being involved in a lesbian relationship in college reflected a permanent life choice? Not that they have shown it on Parenthood, but realistically someone like Adam in real life would know any number of married lesbian couples with children, probably an equal number of women married to men who at one point or another between age 18 and 25 had a significant lesbian relationship, and plenty of other parents whose daughters had brought a girlfriend home at one point or another. In my world – which is nowhere near as hip as Berkeley – all of the above is so common that to get dramatic about it would seem bizarre.</p>
<p>One aspect of the season (I hope) finale that we haven’t discussed at all is the actress who played Haddie’s girlfriend: uber-teen Tavi Gevinson. Gevinson – if you don’t know who she is, use Google – represents a kind of CC ideal: the kid whose ECs really are so impressive that she could waltz into any college she chose, regardless of her GPA or test scores. A thoroughly middle-class suburban kid, the child of an English teacher and a SAHM/weaver, she has been a celebrity of sorts since she was 12 based on her intelligence, charisma, writing ability, and ambition. The Parenthood role is really only her second public acting gig. The first was a featured role in the Louis-Dreyfus/Gandolfini film, Enough Said, and the next is going to be playing live at Steppenwolf and on Broadway with Michael Cera and Kieran Culkin in a Kenneth Lonergan play. (Which she seems to be doing in lieu of going to any college she chooses, although she may be enrolling at NYU, too.)</p>
<p>Getting Gevinson for the finale was a great inside-baseball coup for Parenthood. I think the show barely registers with young viewers, in part because it plays opposite Scandal. But it sure can’t hurt to have the public endorsement of the hippest high school senior in the world.</p>
<p>@Teevee, I couldn’t disagree more. @JHS, your analysis hits the mark for me. My dad, 91, is completely accepting of “nontraditional” relationships now, so much more than he was a decade ago. The times they are achangin’! And college is prime time for discoveries and experimentation. (High school too but everyone is different!)</p>
<p>
How has that changed? Being concerned about an older boyfriend cannot be compared to finding out his daughter is in an age-appropriate relationship. He has no reason to think the relationship is not a healthy one. Fortunately, Haddie’s abilities to marry and have children are not curtailed by her choice of partner - at least not everywhere. It was presented as the “no biggie” moment it should be. </p>
<p>Are we talking about Haddie’s relationship with Michael B. Jordan’s character? It wasn’t just that he was older; he also was a recovering alcoholic, had been homeless, was of a different race, came from a dysfunctional family. </p>
<p>I think Adam’s reaction was totally believable. Cristina surely had told him about her and Haddie’s talk and confirmed his suspicions.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of Tavi Gevinson.</p>
<p>Just ran across this great story about Alex and Haddie …</p>
<p>Oops, sorry. That was a HuffPo blog.</p>
<p>Who is Natalie? </p>
<p>Drew’s new gf at Berkeley.</p>
<p>TVeNee, the story line is close to my life, which is why I know that the story line and the parent’s reaction is realistic and believable. You much live in a very “traditional” values community. </p>
<p>I guess I thought the Haddie storyline, and the parents’ reaction, were believable. I did not however think their reaction was cavalier at all—the look on the dad’s (Adam’s) face as he watched his daughter was priceless and so well done. As was the mom’s reaction when Max told her what he’d witnessed….appropriately flustered and curious. </p>
<p>I have been thinking more about why I cared so much about the Drew - Natalie storyline.</p>
<p>I think the writers pretty much crafted Natalie, as a character, out of all the pop psychology articles that have appeared over the past few years talking about college women and hook-up culture. She was initially presented as an agglomeration of the attitudes cataloged in those articles: fearing the emotional drain of commitment, enjoying the power of controlling her own sexuality and not wanting to cede that to a boyfriend, cynicism about romance. Then, of course, the story arc domesticated her. When push came to shove, she did want romance and commitment, and was willing to do that on conventional terms. </p>
<p>A very satisfying morality tale for us oldsters! The sexuality of the young isn’t going to destroy the world we know; they are going to come around to our way of thinking.</p>
<p>As you know, JHS, I also had strong feelings about Natalie and Drew. I have sons, not daughters, and I think I felt so strongly about her because I think of what I’d say to a dd if I had one. And what I’ve said to my sons when they went off to college about hooking up with the wrong people. I don’t want to totally derail this thread so I won’t even go there, but I guess I felt protective of Drew, who, I think, is too naive for his own good. I’m fine that they are together now that she admitted how she was being manipulative, but if they never got together that would be OK, too.</p>
<p>It’s delicious to speculate about these characters, who really resonate with us (most of them, most of the time) and then realize that they are all make-believe. Of course the solutions are very 2-dimensional as are the characters; we don’t deal with them 24/365, but it’s fun to think about them. Such a great show for that, for us parents of high school/college/post-college kids.</p>
<p>I have turned so many parents on to this show and told them to watch with their (age-appropriate) kids. This was appointment TV for ds2 and I before he went to college this year, and over his breaks I binged watched with him so he could be caught up. 
</p>
<p>My daughter and some of her friends (twenty-somethings) love this show. A lot of young people in that generation also loved Friday Night Lights. Maybe there is a yearning to see fairly functional families dealing with more ordinary issues.</p>
<p>all my 20-something kids love this show. </p>
<p>Someone upthread wondered if my thoughts concerning my unbelief in Haddies storyline was born out of where I live. That would be a big old no. It is born out of watching this show from it’s inception. Since when do the Bravermans down play any event? I maintain giving her that storyline was a stunt. I put that one right up there with the Joel and Julia storyline in the side eye category. We’ll see what happens next season. </p>
<p>When will we know if it is renewed for next season? </p>
<p>I am still binge watching all previous episodes to try to catch up with what I taped on my DVR. I discovered this show from this thread and I love this TV show. It makes me laugh and it makes me cry. I have been trying to catch up for about 6 months now. Right now I have to put my Computer Monitor up on a table and sit and try to watch the first half of the season on the computer with all these annoying commercials and buffering problems - because the episodes aren’t available any other way for the current season. I have to restart each episode at least once and try to get it to advance to the last commercial break. Very annoying, but obviously I’m dedicated !</p>
<p>Since I read this thread every now and then, I kind of know what’s going to happen in the episodes, but I pretend I don’t know anything because I watch it with my H </p>