Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

Review: 'Parenthood' - 'Left Field': Funkytown's closed

Max wants a dog, Jasmine wants a calendar, and Drew gets advice from Hank

By Alan Sepinwall Tuesday, Sep 18, 2012 11:00 PM

Lauren Graham, Ray Romano and Miles Heizer on "Parenthood."

Credit: NBC

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A quick review of tonight's "Parenthood" coming up just as soon as the doggie Gestapo starts asking me questions...

Due to the fall deluge, these reviews may be pretty short for the next few weeks, serving mainly as a jumping-off point for your discussion, but I want to hit a few bullet points:

* Ray Romano continues to be a perfect addition to this world, and I enjoyed seeing Hank's advice to Drew be both useful and annoying to Sarah.

* As mentioned last week, I really wish the show would clarify the money situation for Adam and Kristina. Last year, things were super-tight for them, and then Adam turned down Dwayne Wayne's millions, and now Haddie is going to Cornell, they're considering buying a $1200 dog from Selma Green, etc. If the show doesn't want to show that family dealing with economic hardship anymore, that's fine, but given how much it was emphasized last year, we need some kind of dialogue about how The Luncheonette is doing shockingly well, they were wise not to sell it, etc.

* There's a clear pecking order on the show for the level of gravity/tragedy each sibling and his/her nuclear family will deal with. At the top, you have Adam and Kristina, who get misery piled on top of misery because Peter Krause and Monica Potter are good at playing that (and also perhaps because making things tough on Kristina helps sand off the rough edges Potter usually brings to her performances). At the bottom, you have Crosby and Jasmine, whose problems tend to be simple stuff like their argument over the calendar app. And Julia and Sarah take turns between dark and light, with Sarah this week bickering with Hank while Julia tries to get Victor to finally trust her. It's a well-established pattern, and I'm sure the show will do right by the breast cancer story that gets set up in this episode's final minutes. But there also comes a point where it feels like too much being piled onto any one character. (See also Tommy on "Rescue Me," Sipowicz on "NYPD Blue," Mark Greene on "ER," etc.) If they were going to go to this place, I wonder if it would feel more effective if a different female character had to deal with it, so it wouldn't have a tinge of, "Oh God, now what?"

What did everybody else think?

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

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Ken Scott (theeitest.com)

I think it needed to be Christina if only so we could see Adams reaction to it. While I could have seen Julia with tpit, Joel has been such a bit player we dont need his reaction. It would be nice to see crosby have to really go to adult mode real quick especially after this episode. Crosby today couldn't handle it. The face that Adam gave when he saw chrstina was priceless,
September 19, 2012 at 12:16AM EST Reply to Comment
- rdave I would like to see Joel get more dialogue. I find him a lot more tolerable than many of the major characters (Jasmine, Christina)
  September 19, 2012 at 1:31AM EST
Scott Rosenberg

I found the episode to be somewhat frustrating. On the one hand, the drama with Drew was well done and not overstated, and Romano continues to be excellent in a more curmudgeonly interpretation of his usual persona. I felt the running gag about Funkytown and the Crosby-Jasmine dilemma was light and fun, but also appropriate.

That said, the greatest weakness of the writing throughout the show's run has been the ease with which Kristina and Julia can become incredibly grating as an intense sad-sack or paranoid worrywart, respectively, and we got ample doses of both in this outing. Kristina, while not at her worst, was still certainly aggravating, and the only reason Julia's actions didn't seem equally egregious was the too-predictable, too-saccharine outcome it prompted.

On the whole, the good and bad balanced each other out into an enjoyable if unremarkable hour, but with the historical ability of hand-wringing Kristina to tank entire episodes and the (fully telegraphed) surprise she received at the end of the episode, my expectations going forward have taken a big blow
September 19, 2012 at 12:16AM EST Reply to Comment
- SlackerInc I strongly disagree with you about Kristina's and Julia's grating natures being bad writing. Sure, I would find them, and all Type A people, hard to take in more than very small doses in my own life. But one thing I love about this show is that it presents realistic character types that we all can recognise from real life but which are rare on TV. If they were the center of the show, if everything was from their POV, it would be too much. But as part of an ensemble, I think it's great.
  September 23, 2012 at 6:18AM EST
amg

For me, the scene in the car between Victor and Julia, and then Julia and Joel, was heart breakingly beuatiful. He needed so much to know that there was someone who would really be there for him, even for an outlandish request (though she may have just offered to stay the whole day...). This is what we do for the people we love, and this is how we know we are loved. That someone cares so much about us that they would do something ridiculous for us, just because we needed it ---really truly, stupidly, desperately needed it. I don't know how many people can say they have that as adults. Or how many people had that as kids. I didn't, so that scene was one that resonated deeply with me. And Joel later recognizing that Julia did an amazing thing for him was just the icing on the cake. Maybe not the most realisitic of outcomes in both cases, but nice to see the good side of the coin sometimes too.

Kristina and Adam's bickering over the dog was alternately quite realistic. And though Kristina really screwed up by letting Max know of the possibility way too soon, she was mad at him for walking out of that parenting moment dealing with the fallout from that...and you can see both sides. But they are grownups in a grown up relationship and deal with it and move on and its not about winning or losing. To see how quickly all the rest faded away, and he just knew something was wrong, and went to her, at the end, was such a sweet statement on what marriage is. Overly dramatized for sure. But very sweet. Who doesn't want a partner that would respond like that?
September 19, 2012 at 12:30AM EST Reply to Comment
- CinemaPsycho Those two scenes with Julia were the highlights of the episode. When people ask me why this show is so good, it's scenes like that I point to. Great work.
  
  Best show on television. Gonna keep saying it.
  September 19, 2012 at 1:39AM EST
rdave

I would watch a whole episode of just Ray Romano and Lauren Graham together. Love Ray's character.
September 19, 2012 at 1:27AM EST Reply to Comment
- dan Yeah, Sarah and Crosby have always been my favorites, and they tend to get the most interesting characters orbiting them.
  September 19, 2012 at 2:24AM EST
- dan Agh! Except for Jasmine! Don't like her...
  September 19, 2012 at 2:26AM EST
belinda

I liked everything about the episode except for the end "twist" of Christina getting breast cancer (or at least a lump or something), exactly because it feels like piling on too much, and it doesn't even really seem all that necessary.

(I was wondering though if it does become a storyline whether it's because they're thinking to have Haddie back in the show, and medical bills would be a way to explain why she can't go to Cornell anymore.)
September 19, 2012 at 2:15AM EST Reply to Comment
- joe Belinda, I think you're reaching on that Haddie theory. My guess is that the actress has moved on to movie roles and won't be coming back to the series as a regular.
  
  As for your first paragraph, your opinion is spot on with how I felt as soon as the doctor opened his door to meet with Christina. Why oh why can't they let that family have some down time when all they have to deal with is whether they should buy a dog? Haddie's gone off to college and the family needs to readjust...that would have been totally acceptable to have as a plot point for a few episodes, but no they have go right to someone having cancer.
  
  It just feels so forced and TV-drama cliched to me...Katims ought to know better IMO although maybe I'm giving him too much credit.
  September 20, 2012 at 5:15PM EST
Alfred D.

Julia did some serious lifting last season so it just feels right (not in that sense) that it was Kristina's turn for a serious storyline. On the other hand, I'm really happy with the way they handled Drew's breakup and the evolving relationship between Julia and Victor. At some point, I'm expecting a father-son talk from Joel though. I think he is the least utilized character in the show and is way due for significant development.
September 19, 2012 at 2:17AM EST Reply to Comment
- joe Is a pregnancy and losing her oldest daughter to college not a serious enough storyline? Christina was doing plenty of 'lifting' last season.
  September 20, 2012 at 5:16PM EST
Alfred D.

Write a comment...Julia did some serious lifting last season so it just feels right (not in that sense) that it was Kristina's turn for a serious storyline. On the other hand, I'm really happy with the way they handled Drew's breakup and the evolving relationship between Julia and Victor. At some point, I'm expecting a father-son talk from Joel though. I think he is the least utilized character in the show and is way due for significant development.
September 19, 2012 at 2:17AM EST Reply to Comment
ps

I totally agree with you Alan. As I watched Kristina get the diagnosis, I was like, what? You couldn't have given breast cancer to someone else? Sarah or Jasmine? It seems to over the top to be Kristina. Also with Sarah Ramos only a guest star, it seems odd to have this storyline now. I would think a strong storyline would be a mother/daughter one dealing with mortality (as could have happened with Amber/Sarah). This is just going to focus on Adam and Kristina (though maybe we'll meet some of Kristina's family? We've heard in the past they are not so nice).
September 19, 2012 at 8:26AM EST Reply to Comment
- Ana With so much emphasis on family, I do find the absence of all the in laws (with the exception of Jasmine's mom) odd. Maybe with such a large cast, it would prove too difficult to incorporate even more characters but an ocassional appearance would be interesting.
  September 19, 2012 at 1:57PM EST
ChampSkins

Excellent episode, and great start of the season. I understand how some can be annoyed with how tragic Adam and Kristina's life appears, but sometimes thats just the breaks. Crosby's life has always been so much more easy-going and maybe always will... as opposed to Adam who seems to always be going through something. But that is life, and sometimes things just happen that way.

I am really intrigued by the breast cancer storyline. Read on EW.com that Katims wife had it and she is two years cancer-free. So I really feel like this could be one of those storylines that will resonate strongly. I also have history of BC in my family, so I know how tough it can be.

Romano already locked up his Guest actor emmy, right? Unless some of those Good Wife guest actors come around...
September 19, 2012 at 9:00AM EST Reply to Comment
jason

I wish Ray would have given the advice he said to Sarah to her son. You may have the same reaction as she did to the advice but he was right!
September 19, 2012 at 12:15PM EST Reply to Comment
pecola

Last night, as it became clear what Kristina's diagnosis would be, all I could think was, "c'mon, really?!" I understand gestational breast cancer is a reality for women (3500 are diagnosed each year) but, at some point, it just feels like Adam and Kristina are being put through the ringer.

It feels weird to think about wanting someone to have breast cancer, even if it is TV, but I would've rather the diagnosis been given to Lauren Graham or Joy Bryant to play. I'm tired of seeing Sarah's entire character being filtered through the prism of being a mom or a love interest. Sure, we had that brief storyline about her as a writer, but that seems to have been thrown into the ether along with Adam and Kristina's money woes. It would've been great to see Lauren Graham tackle some meatier material.

And why not Jasmine? Aside from the statistics (which show a higher rate of indicidence for African-American women under 40 and higher mortality rates), I'd just like the writers to try and humanize her a bit. It feels like every week, we're treated to an episode of "how can we make Jasmine appear shrill this week" and it's grown tiresome.

Thankfully, though, they broke through a bit this week with their portrayal of Julia. I thought her scenes with Victor were fantastic and really represented some progress for the character. "Old Julia" may have stayed in the parking lot, but she would've been multitasking all the while, instead, she just sat there, and delayed her work until the late night, so that Victor would know he was loved. Really terrific stuff, the highlight of the season thus far.

Like you, I wish they'd say something to reference how Adam managed to rescue the family from tough financial straits. This episode gave them the perfect opportunity to do so...when Max yelled out, "we're rich," after the breeders told them how much the dog would cost, I thought, "since when?"
September 19, 2012 at 12:42PM EST Reply to Comment
Gregory Gregson

I think if someone in the family should have gotten this kind of terminal illness plot, it's Zeke. That's a character whose not so good medical health has been stablished and it would have felt very natural and probably the first time ever Craig T. Nelson had something to do.

But I guess they're giving each core its own arc, so Sarah and Joel/Julia already have their own, now Adam/Kristina have theirs. I'm wondering what Crosby/Jasmine will get.
September 19, 2012 at 1:53PM EST Reply to Comment
- jhillery I'm with you on Zeke. Remember the episode towards the end of last season when he decided not to buy his many prescriptions? I thought that foreshadowed his death. Otherwise, what was the point? To re-establish that he's stubborn and sometimes still foolhardy?
  September 19, 2012 at 4:01PM EST
- Gregory Gregson I wouldn't go as far as to say they were foreshadowing his actual death, but certainly it felt they were foreshadowing some kind of illness. And as I said, it would be SOMETHING for Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia to do.
  September 20, 2012 at 9:23AM EST
Lurker

I also thought Kristina's diagnosis was too much. Statistically it would be more likely to be Bonnie Bedelia's character, given her age.
September 19, 2012 at 4:27PM EST Reply to Comment
- Lurker And since so many of us are dealing with aging parents, we could see how the siblings would handle a serious health threat to their mom.
  September 19, 2012 at 4:32PM EST
brian

C'mon Allan. The final scene was among the better scenes in this show. Feinberg finds reasons to hate everything, not you.
September 19, 2012 at 7:16PM EST Reply to Comment
- brian Alan* Sorry.
  September 19, 2012 at 7:17PM EST
Fiona

Is anyone else as annoyed by the over-loud music that intrudes on scene after scene? This trend has been irking me for the past couple of seasons on several shows, but it seems worst on Parenthood. Why distract from such excellent writing and acting?
September 19, 2012 at 8:00PM EST Reply to Comment
- guest Nope, your not alone. It bothers me too.
  Along the same lines I'm most impressed when music is used less or at the exact right moment.
  
  Rubicon was excellent at doing this. I still remember a scene where one of the main characters was being attacked in his home and all we heard was some odd rhythmic beat in the distant background. I can't even remember his name but I remember that sound and playing it twice just so that I could hear it again.
  September 19, 2012 at 10:27PM EST
- jason I did think it was cool that in the Ray part with music it was the Grateful Dead since it had been mentioned.
  September 20, 2012 at 2:31AM EST
chunnyboy

Let me try to shed a little light on the possible Adam and Kristina financial situation angle. Cornell being an Ivy League school has the same financial aid policy as every other Ivy League school in that if your family income is 60,000-65,000 or less they'll give you a full tuition scholarship. Now in addition to this policy they've enacted other measures such as if your parent was unemployed for a while or under similar circumstances they gave scholarship based on that. All 8 schools also have quite the effective work-study programs and of course you can take out any amount you can't cover in loans. (Family member works as Asst. Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at an Ivy)
September 19, 2012 at 8:13PM EST Reply to Comment
- Terry Just to throw in one little thing I noticed in regards to the finances... There is a really quick scene when the Lunchonette crew are talking about the upcoming schedule and they have a half day free and Adam says something to the effect of "Well that's a half day with no client!" and then Amber suggests moving something around.
  
  This is really quick and might not mean anything, but to me it suggests that they're making a good enough living off the place to not change their quality of life, but just barely. If things start to slow down they could go underwater very quickly.
  September 20, 2012 at 11:19AM EST
Clover

I don't think it's piling too much on Adam and Kristina. Stuff like that happens in families. Some get all the bad cards and others are aces. And of course I'm from the side of the family with all the bad stuff. So it's realistic.
September 20, 2012 at 3:09PM EST Reply to Comment
- Rebecca I agree. I'm surprised at all these comments about how it's too much for one couple. That *is* life. I have a friend who, within the space of a year, has had both parents fall ill (of different ailments) and moved to nursing homes, a son diagnosed with autism, a job move, and a husband being deployed. Several years ago in the space of 3 months I was dealing with layoffs, a breakup, and a serious illness in my family. It *is* realistic, in my opinion, to have events "pile on."
  October 8, 2012 at 6:59PM EST
Krystina

I just wanted to make one comment about the development of Julia's character. I feel like the Julia we met in the pilot would have been a lot less likely to miss work to sit outside her kid's school all day. Hell, it was hard to pull her away from her Blackberry long enough to take a picture with her own flesh and blood. It has been interesting to see -- even in the first couple of episodes -- her adjustment to this new kid and kind of softening in the process. It's almost as if wanting another kid and then being denied it made her refocus and realize the importance of family.
September 21, 2012 at 10:27AM EST Reply to Comment
west coast ram

I'm so sick of Max's character, while this my be real behavior for a child with that condition it make for unwatchable television.
September 21, 2012 at 11:11AM EST Reply to Comment
SlackerInc

Re: Adam and Kristina's finances. I kinda thought the Luncheonette must be making some pretty good bank for Dwayne Wayne to make that multimillion dollar offer. I know he was putting a premium on it because of its uniquely cool nature and history, but I still don't think he would make such a huge offer for a business that wasn't solidly in the black.
September 23, 2012 at 6:56AM EST Reply to Comment

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Comments

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

rdave I would like to see Joel get more dialogue. I find him a lot more tolerable than many of the major characters (Jasmine, Christina)

CinemaPsycho Those two scenes with Julia were the highlights of the episode. When people ask me why this show is so good, it's scenes like that I point to. Great work.Best show on television. Gonna keep saying it.

rdave I would watch a whole episode of just Ray Romano and Lauren Graham together. Love Ray's character.

dan Yeah, Sarah and Crosby have always been my favorites, and they tend to get the most interesting characters orbiting them.

dan Agh! Except for Jasmine! Don't like her...

joe Is a pregnancy and losing her oldest daughter to college not a serious enough storyline? Christina was doing plenty of 'lifting' last season.

Ana With so much emphasis on family, I do find the absence of all the in laws (with the exception of Jasmine's mom) odd. Maybe with such a large cast, it would prove too difficult to incorporate even more characters but an ocassional appearance would be interesting.

jason I wish Ray would have given the advice he said to Sarah to her son. You may have the same reaction as she did to the advice but he was right!

jhillery I'm with you on Zeke. Remember the episode towards the end of last season when he decided not to buy his many prescriptions? I thought that foreshadowed his death. Otherwise, what was the point? To re-establish that he's stubborn and sometimes still foolhardy?

Gregory Gregson I wouldn't go as far as to say they were foreshadowing his actual death, but certainly it felt they were foreshadowing some kind of illness. And as I said, it would be SOMETHING for Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia to do.

Lurker I also thought Kristina's diagnosis was too much. Statistically it would be more likely to be Bonnie Bedelia's character, given her age.

Lurker And since so many of us are dealing with aging parents, we could see how the siblings would handle a serious health threat to their mom.

brian C'mon Allan. The final scene was among the better scenes in this show. Feinberg finds reasons to hate everything, not you.

brian Alan* Sorry.

Fiona Is anyone else as annoyed by the over-loud music that intrudes on scene after scene? This trend has been irking me for the past couple of seasons on several shows, but it seems worst on Parenthood. Why distract from such excellent writing and acting?

jason I did think it was cool that in the Ray part with music it was the Grateful Dead since it had been mentioned.

Clover I don't think it's piling too much on Adam and Kristina. Stuff like that happens in families. Some get all the bad cards and others are aces. And of course I'm from the side of the family with all the bad stuff. So it's realistic.

west coast ram I'm so sick of Max's character, while this my be real behavior for a child with that condition it make for unwatchable television.

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Parenthood is updated

CinemaPsycho Those two scenes with Julia were the highlights of the episode. When people ask me why this show is so good, it's scenes like that I point to. Great work.

Best show on television. Gonna keep saying it.

rdave

I would watch a whole episode of just Ray Romano and Lauren Graham together. Love Ray's character.

jason

I wish Ray would have given the advice he said to Sarah to her son. You may have the same reaction as she did to the advice but he was right!

Lurker

I also thought Kristina's diagnosis was too much. Statistically it would be more likely to be Bonnie Bedelia's character, given her age.

brian

C'mon Allan. The final scene was among the better scenes in this show. Feinberg finds reasons to hate everything, not you.

Fiona

Is anyone else as annoyed by the over-loud music that intrudes on scene after scene? This trend has been irking me for the past couple of seasons on several shows, but it seems worst on Parenthood. Why distract from such excellent writing and acting?

Clover

I don't think it's piling too much on Adam and Kristina. Stuff like that happens in families. Some get all the bad cards and others are aces. And of course I'm from the side of the family with all the bad stuff. So it's realistic.

west coast ram

I'm so sick of Max's character, while this my be real behavior for a child with that condition it make for unwatchable television.

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What's Alan Watching is updated