Parenthood: Limbo (5x17)

Ah, family drama. There's nothing like it. This was a wonderfully messy episode, with a nice big culminating scene, where the entire family got together to be very dramatic and angry. Let's break it down.

Jasmine's mother is insisting on holding a baptism for Aida over the weekend. She insists that Aida's soul is suffering without being baptized. Jasmine's mother also insists on holding the brunch. When Camille finds out, however, she wants to host it. Instead, she decides to hold a dinner the night before. Aida's baptism has turned into quite the weekend event!

Things are further complicated by the fact that Aida's godparents are supposed to be Julia and Joel. Crosby goes to talk to Joel, expressing that it might be awkward for him to be the godfather. Joel agrees to step down. Crosby asks Adam to do it instead. Before he can explain to Adam that he's a backup, Adam gets really emotional and excited about it, and Crosby can't bring himself to tell Adam the full truth. While at Zeek and Camille's, Crosby and Julia watch as Sydney, Victor, and Jabbar all help Zeek work on the car. Crosby mentions that he went and saw Joel, and Julia gets upset that Joel didn't fight to remain Aida's godfather. She doesn't understand why he's not working harder to be a part of the family. Julia calls Joel to ask him why he won't fight, but Joel says that it wasn't his place to interfere, and that it was Crosby's call.

Drew finds Berto in Natalie's room, and is very upset that the two of them hooked up. Berto points out that Drew had Amy in the room for weeks, and Natalie is angry that Drew expected her not to hook up with anyone. Amber, still going through her breakup with Ryan, becomes Drew's shoulder to lean on. The two of them get high together at Amber's apartment, with the result that they must go to Aida's dinner (which they had forgotten about), while still baked. After the dinner, Drew and Amber decide that Drew will move in with Amber for a while, to keep away from Berto and get his life back in order.

Sarah has drama to deal with as well. While she and Hank are working on their project, Max comes storming in to use the printer, and completely disrupts their work. Sarah kicks Max out and walks him home. Kristina is mad at Sarah for how she handled it, but Sarah doesn't think that Max hears the word "no" enough. In the end, Sarah gets the printer for an extra week so that Max can use it.

At the dinner for Aida, all of these arguments blow up. Adam is mad at Crosby for not telling him he was a backup godfather, Adam, Kristina, and Sarah are angry over the Max issue, Julia is upset with Joel, her kids are upset about the separation, Crosby is annoyed because he's had to try to appease Jasmine's mother and his parents and the rest of the family all for a baptism that he doesn't even think needs to happen. Amber and Drew are high, Julia's upset... it's a mess. Zeek leaves the dinner to go and talk to Joel. He tells him to try harder to be there for Julia and be a part of the family. Joel shows up the next day at Aida's baptism, and Julia's happy to see him there.

Okay! There was only one element of this story that I did not like. When Sarah tries to stop Max from interfering, I was totally on her side! I mean, I guess she could have handled things a little bit better, but in all honesty, Max needed to be told that the way he behaved was not okay. Nobody ever said that he should have waited his turn. Nobody ever acknowledged that Max was the one who caused the problem. That being said, I did like what Hank said about finding something you're good at and using it as an anchor. I'm glad that it was him that got through to Sarah.

I loved everything else this episode had to offer. Julia's struggles with Joel, Crosby trying to delegate between the two mothers, Zeek going to talk to Joel, Adam's enthusiasm over being godfather... I could go on. The best part was definitely everything involving Drew and Amber. These two are great actors, and their behavior when they were high was hilarious.

Sorry for being so brief, here. I really loved this episode and I'm excited to see what's next.

9/10