Parenthood: A Potpourri of Freaks (6x04)

I'll just jump right in, and take this story by story.

Crosby admits to Jasmine and Jabbar that he got into a motorcycle crash, which causes Jasmine to insist that he not ride his bike anymore. Crosby therefore has to take the minivan to go track down Oliver Rome, who is at some sort of spiritual healing retreat. Crosby finds Oliver, and learns that he's already signed a deal with someone else. Turns out, the Luncheonette had a contract with Ashes of Rome, but not with Oliver Rome the solo artist. Crosby is furious, of course. He comes home and jumps on his bike, zooming off as Jasmine rushes outside to try and stop him.

This was probably the weakest plot thread. I wasn't very amused by Crosby interrupting the spiritual retreat. I think I was supposed to think it was funny, and I just didn't. I'm not quite sure I understand what we're supposed to make of Crosby's behavior here, especially his zooming away on a motorcycle with no helmet there at the end. Obviously he's got some anger issues going on... but what are they stemming from? I didn't find much to enjoy or get excited about in this plot thread, but I swear to God if Crosby crashes that bike and dies, there will be Hell to pay.

At Chambers Academy, Kristina is frustrated with a new student, a girl named Dylan. Dylan and Max immediately start hanging out. Dylan calls Max "aspergers" instead of calling him by his name, and starts putting all sorts of ideas in to Max's head. Kristina is angry, and wants Adam to talk to Max. She talks to Dylan, telling her to not call people names. Dylan is disrespectful and doesn't seem to grasp anything Kristina is saying. When Adam asks Max about Dylan, Max asks his dad what he's supposed to do if he likes a girl.

This plot offers a lot of interesting possibilities for the future. I found Dylan to be mostly insufferable, but her point about the word "aspergers" having stigma attached to it was actually well delivered. The problem, of course, is that Max needs to be able to choose whether he's comfortable with the term or not. I hope Kristina continues to hold back on her helicopter mom tendencies and lets Max work out his feelings for Dylan on his own. It will be interesting to explore this moving forward. I loved the moment when Adam was in the kitchen helping the kids prepare the food. I love seeing him in his element like that. It's nice to have a success story once in a while.

Hank is struggling to deal with Sandy, Ruby, and Sarah. He wants to keep everyone happy, but Sandy's request that Sarah and Ruby be kept separate is making things difficult. Hank and Sarah talk, and Hank agrees to talk to Sandy. When he tells her that his relationship with Sarah is serious, Sandy relents and says that Sarah can be a part of Ruby's life. Not that Ruby makes that easy for anyone... she makes a really snarky comment about Sarah's outfit and storms off to her room the minute she gets to Hank's place.

Ruby is unbearable. A lot of the children in this show have gone through their phases of being difficult... Amber, Drew, Victor, Max, etc. Sydney is going through a phase right now, in fact. But Ruby? She's not likable. There's no reason for me to root for her or want things to get better. She's just a nasty, snotty teenager who needs to be grounded indefinitely. Seriously. Despite my not liking Ruby, I did really like Hank's conversation with Sandy. I loved how he was able to overcome a particularly difficult challenge, especially since he knows communication is not his strong suit. Sarah was so proud of him. It's nice to see Hank growing in this way, and really trying hard to work on his weaker areas.

Joel and Julia take Sydney over to the house of the kid she was bullying. Sydney apologizes, but very insincerely. The parents are pissed that Julia and Joel aren't handling it better. Julia says that Sydney is out of control because of the lack of certainty between her parents. She says it's time to tell the kids that they aren't getting back together, but Joel isn't ready to take that step. At dinner, Joel comes by to drop something off, and he and Julia tell Sydney that they're really sorry, but that they don't have any answers for her yet. They tell her it's okay if she's mad at them.

I'm endlessly surprised by how much emotion and pain they're able to eek out of this whole Julia and Joel plot. This time was no exception. Sydney is being a brat, but it's understandable. I loved the moment when Julia said that Sydney was just like her. My mom and I are similar in many ways, and in fact we're similar in the same way Julia and Sydney are - the need for control and definite answers is really big with me. So I feel like I can identify with Sydney particularly well. My heart breaks for Joel, though... will they work it out and end up together in the end, or not? I honestly can't tell which way they're leaning at this point.

And then finally, we've got Zeek. After his surgery, he seems to have given up on trying to recover. He just sits there and doesn't try to move. Camille doesn't know what to do. Adam drops by, to no avail. Jasmine brings the kids over, but Zeek remains stuck on the couch. Julia comes over and cuddles with her dad, but she still can't get him up and moving. No matter what, he seems defeated. Then, Kristina gives it a go. She says she knows what Zeek is going through, with being sick. The two of them commiserate together about how hard it is to deal with everyone's sympathy. But Kristina tells Zeek that while it's okay to be scared, he can't give up. A lot of people are depending on him. Finally, he gets to his feet and goes for a walk. Camille is overjoyed.

This plot was where the emotional weight of the episode rests. Of course, it was obvious that eventually Kristina was going to come along and get Zeek motivated, but it was still so sweet when it finally happened. I loved how they both had the same complaints about being sick. And when they hugged, and went on their walk... that was so cute! Especially, of course, because it wasn't one of Zeek's children to cause the change, but his daughter-in-law. I don't know why, but I really liked that. I also liked it when Julia came to visit. Even if she wasn't successful with her dad, they still had a cute moment where Julia put her head on Zeek's shoulder and he told her she was a great mom. Very nice.

Okay, that's it for this one! I really didn't care for Crosby's plot, and I think Ruby needs a major reboot before she becomes interesting or tolerable to me. But everything else was lovely.

7.5/10