Parenthood: I'm Still Here (5x21)

Yikes, this one was a bit of a tear jerker. We didn't check in with Zeek and Camille this week, instead we focused on the other characters. Let's get started.

Adam, Kristina, Julia, and Mr. Knight are continuing to push forward with plans for the school. They find a historical building that Kristina really loves, but it looks like it will be difficult to get. Kristina learns that Gwen is dying, and goes to say goodbye to her good friend. Kristina is determined to get the building, and goes to Bob Little to try to get him to help. Bob is hesitant, but Kristina reminds him that it's the right thing to do. Gwen dies, and Kristina decides to name the school after her.

Amber brings Max to Hank's place a few times, and is impressed by how well Hank handles Max, and gets him to finish his homework. As Amber leaves Hank's place, she gets a phone call and learns that Ryan has been in an accident. She's panicking, so Hank offers to drive her. They wait at the hospital, where they can't see Ryan because he's in surgery. Sarah, meanwhile, isn't sure what to do about Hank. She can't decide if she thinks she could be with him again, and part of that is because of his possible aspergers. She rushes to the hospital when she hears about Ryan, to see Amber asleep on Hank's shoulder. Amber goes in to see Ryan, who is badly injured, but looks pleased to see her.

Natalie tries to talk to Drew, but he's still angry with her about sleeping with Berto. Finally, she demands Drew's attention long enough to talk about how she's feeling. She says that she felt forgotten when Amy showed up, and Drew ditched her. Drew doesn't seem ready to accept this just yet. However, Drew finally does go to Natalie, and tells her that he was angry, and maybe he just needs to scream it out. He then tells her that he doesn't want to be just friends, and he doesn't want to sleep around. He wants Natalie to be his girlfriend. Natalie says yes.

Crosby asks for Joel to come over and take a look at his floor. Joel doesn't want to get tricked in to doing the work for Crosby, so at first he tells Crosby to do it himself. However, after a talk with Peet, Joel does indeed go over to Crosby's and help him fix the floor. Jasmine and Jabbar are thrilled to be back in their own home! Joel realizes that he's a family man first, and he starts to make the first step towards reconciliation with Julia. He goes over to her house and asks her how she's doing with Zeek and Camille selling the house. The two of them have an actually pleasant conversation about something other than the kids. Julia, after having sex with Mr. Knight, goes over to his house and tells him it was a one time thing. He doesn't seem to mind, and they part amicably.

I guess that's it for the plot. What I realized when writing this is that most of these plots are interconnected very well. Sarah talks to Adam about Hank... Adam and Kristina deal with this school stuff... Julia is also mixed up in that, just as Joel starts making things better between them... and Joel came to his realization when working with Crosby on the floors. I like that. Without having one big unifying event, like a dinner or a party, we still got a real sense of how these families are tied up in each other - how they are simultaneously multiple families, but also one big one.

But let's look at a few weaker moments.

Drew and Natalie. I'm just not convinced. I'm not convinced that Natalie had any right to be mad at Drew for Amy, and I'm also not convinced that Drew had any right to be mad at Natalie for Berto. The whole thing was just... off for me. Natalie always acted like Drew was a good friend who she didn't mind sleeping with. She didn't seem to want a relationship until suddenly Drew wasn't available for one anymore. That doesn't seem to bode well, in my opinion.

Also, I get sort of annoyed with how much everyone is catering to Max. For example, in this episode he throws a tantrum, and Hank fixes the problem by agreeing with Max that adults are stupid when they change schedules. I don't think Hank should be reinforcing these harmful thoughts, even if it does help Max do what he's supposed to do in the moment. Maybe some more discussion of this is necessary.

But let's talk about the good stuff.

I loved, loved, loved the conversation between Sarah and Adam about Hank. It feels so realistic to me that Sarah would be struggling with the thought of dating someone with aspergers. It's not about Sarah being a bad, ignorant person, it's about her being a human being with certain insecurities and the knowledge that Hank has real problems with his relationships. She doesn't want to get hurt again. But she can see how hard Hank is trying to do better, and she's happy about it.

Mae Whitman's acting. Of course this is always praise-worthy, but she did a really good job with the breakdown when she found out that Ryan had been hurt. All of the scenes with Amber and Hank from that point on were just really lovely. It was so funny and yet unexpectedly sweet to see Hank let Amber fall asleep on him.

Joel! Finally, man, you're seeing some sense. I was getting so fed up with him over these past few episodes. Now maybe he's finally getting past some of this stuff? Of course, Julia sleeping with Mr. Knight will have to come out eventually, and I'm sure that will make things even worse for a while. But for the first time, I saw some hope that we're working towards a reconciliation between Julia and Joel, and I'm excited about that.

Crosby has gotten back into his house! I was a bit disappointed that the whole mold plot didn't give us more screen time for Crosby and his family. Crosby used to be one of the best things about the show, but lately I've been worrying that he's not getting enough interesting plot threads. Hopefully that will change very soon. I feel good about the fact that he's back in his own territory and can finish this season off on a strong note.

Yeah, I should mention - next week's episode is the season finale. Jeez! That went fast. All I can hope for is that this season of Parenthood leaves us off with some strong setups for next time. I hope they don't try to wrap things up in pretty bows, since I think a lot of this stuff needs some serious unpacking.

Okay, I'll stop there! I'm excited to see what the finale brings!

8/10