Parenthood - Perchance to Dream

Network: NBC
Time: Tuesdays, 10:00-11:00pm
Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Bonnie Bedelia, Lauren Graham, Peter Krause, Dax Shepard, Erika Christensen, Monica Potter, Sam Jaeger, Joy Bryant, Mae Whitman, Sarah Ramos, Miles Heizer, Max Burkholder, Savannah Paige Rae, Tyree Brown

Summary: Adam has his hands full taking care of Max and Haddie when Kristina goes out of town.  Meanwhile, Sarah tries to get Amber to start thinking about college.  Julia tries to teach Sydney a lesson about lying.  And Crosby takes Jasmine on a date without Jabbar.

Review: I'm really glad I didn't give up on this show.  It's starting to become one of my most highly anticipated shows each week (it helps that it's been one of the few to have new episodes for the last couple weeks).

Part of what I really like about this show is that it's very real, but not in an uncomfortable way.  Too often, shows go one of two ways: either they're super-fluid and fast-talking, with characters who always have a quip ready (i.e. The West Wing); or they're really awkward with long pauses that give the illusion of real life (i.e. The Office).   

Parenthood is neither of those things.  It's realism comes from the fact that almost every time a character reacts to the situation around them, it doesn't surprise me because I know someone (if not my own parents, then a friend's) who would react the same way.  They actually act like real people, instead of an idealized version of real people.  One of my favorite scenes from this episode was where Sarah, Julia and Kristina were talking about their daughters because it really sounded like the kind of conversation three mothers would have.

Each story allowed us to see the characters in a slightly different way than normal in this episode.  For example, normally we see Julia as the sort-of-absent parent (the working mom, who's there less frequently than Daddy).  Joel seems to be the one who interacts with Sydney most about the day-to-day stuff, while Julia tends to interrupt the mundane to do things her way.  But in this episode, Julia believed Sydney broke a lamp and was lying about what happened to it.  So she cordoned off the room and left the lamp there until the person who broke it cleaned it up.  It was such a typical lesson that a kid has to learn (who among us didn't lie at the age of four when we thought we were going to get into trouble?) that it was surprising Julia was teaching it.  But it was nice to see her take on this role too, while Joel was relegated to the sidelines.

We normally see Crosby as either the ladies' man or the new father, but never both at the same time.  In this episode, he wanted to take Jasmine out without Jabbar so he could get to know her better.  And while their date is interrupted by their son, we do get a glimpse at a different kind of Crosby, the one who is learning to balance responsibility, commitment, and his desire to sleep with a beautiful woman.  While I'm not convinced I like the Crosby/Jasmine relationship (mostly because I'm not convinced I like Jasmine), I don't feel strong dislike towards it either.  I'm waiting for it to unfold naturally before I pass judgment.

So far, we've only seen Amber and Sarah at odds with each other.  Our very first introduction to them was a fight, and a lot of this episode was as well.  But there seemed to be a bit of a breakthrough towards the end, where each of them opened up a little and suddenly everyone could see that there was a loving mother-daughter relationship underneath the animosity.

Also, Amber and Drew, despite being siblings, have actually had very little interaction up to now.  There was that whole thing with Drew and the shower, and they shared a room for a little while, but there wasn't much conversation between them or anything.  We actually got to see Drew go to his sister for advice for a change and, even though the conversation was dominated by Amber and Sarah fighting, Amber seemed to be actually trying to help Drew with his girl problems.

And finally, Adam, Kristina and Haddie.  This branch of the Braverman family has been dominated by the Max storyline for the first few episodes, and it's only been recently that they've been giving the others some screen time.  Kristina, who is the quintessential housewife/stay-at-home mom, went back to work for the weekend to help her old employer, leaving Adam to stay with the kids.  This might have been better if Haddie wasn't in the process of getting closer to her boyfriend.  Adam reacts... not well, and he and Haddie fight.

In the first few episodes, Haddie seemed like the perfect daughter.  Her parents' world revolved around Max and, while Haddie certainly wasn't thrilled about that, she seemed to understand and tried to make things easier.  Now, she's acting out like only 15-year-old girls can, and it's a nice reminder that she's just a teenager, and she's going to be selfish sometimes.

I also liked that this episode brought back the Adam/Drew relationship.  Drew needs a father-figure in his life, and he can't turn to his dad and shouldn't turn to his grandfather (Grandpa Zeke scares me), so he goes to his mom's older brother when he needs help with guy stuff.  I really like this relationship, and I hope they continue to build on it.

It's kind of amazing how much stuff they cram into each episode, but it's stopped being overwhelming (mostly) and instead is a lot of fun to watch.  The season finale is coming up, but that's okay because NBC already renewed it for season 2, so there's plenty for fans to look forward to.

Are you looking forward to the rest of season 1?  What was your favorite part of this episode?  Leave a comment and let me know.


Favorite Lines
Amber: Poetry reading?  Yeah, I'd rather sell an organ, but thanks for inviting me.
Sarah: You know what?  If you don't change that attitude, it may come to that because I don't think you need both livers anyway.

[After discovering the sexy bra he thought was Kristina's is Haddie's]
Adam: Get it off me!  Get it off me!

Rating
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad