The meat of this Parenthood episode transpired in two extremely intimate locations: A bedroom and in a circle of chairs arranged in front of a roaring fire.
And it was in these locations where this episode shined by delving into what it feels like to be a parent of a young child — particularly one with Asperger’s — and what happens when parents disagree about how to handle sticky child-rearing situations.
The strongest stories in this jam-packed episode involved Adam and Kristina’s quarrel over whether they should both attend a parent support group for those with children who have Asperger’s, and Julia and Joel’s differences of opinion over whether their young daughter should be allowed to continue to sleep in their bed.
Kristina and Joel, the parents who are at home with their children, movingly tried during the episode to express to their working spouses their frustrations as they did that delicate little dance parents do when they vigorously and defensively proclaim their undying love for their offspring, while at the same time saying that caring for that child (or children) can suck the life out of them and sometimes make them feel resentful, particularly when Joel couldn’t even be alone with his wife in bed and Kristina’s entire life seemed tethered to her son Max’s moods.
Kristina’s challenges was aptly and simply summed up by another parent of a 6-year-old with Asperger’s: “My husband leaves for work at 7 in the morning and sometimes I don’t see him again until 9, so it’s just me and Anthony all day. And don’t get me wrong, I love my son to pieces, but it’s a little like living on an island all day with these weird rules that don’t apply to other people … always living with that pressure, always, so much, that it feels like you can’t breathe sometimes.” Powerful stuff.
I like how the writers are not falling prey to the easy trap of demonizing the career-focused parents or presenting Julia as a two-dimensional workaholic absentee mom. (They did that in season one with the swimming pool episode, but have since righted the ship.) Both Adam and Julia are afforded their say, their point of view, like when Julia explained that she let her daughter into her bed because that’s the only time when she feels as though she can be available for her kid, even though her husband said he needs the evening hours to be his time “off” from being a dad.
Peter Krause, who plays Adam, absolutely killed in his support group scene when he reluctantly attended a session and opened up the wound that is his son’s diagnosis with searing honesty by saying that they hadn’t yet told Max that he has Asperger’s and that his heart breaks at the thought that someday they’ll have to tell Max about it. *pass the tissues*
The other storylines — Zeek and Camille’s dance lessons, Crosby and Jasmine pretending to be married to help Jabbar gain admission to a private school, Amber declining pot from a friend and Sarah accompanying her boss to a trade show (after which he kissed her) — felt rushed and somewhat shallow. The show works best when it pares down the number of stories it’s trying to address and doesn’t over-stuff it like it’s an episode of Brothers & Sisters.
That being said, there was something uncomfortable about the Sarah-Gordon flirtation, other than the fact that Sarah’s an intern who’s busting her hump to do a good job and Gordon runs the company. Or maybe it’s just my reaction to seeing Lauren Graham and Billy Baldwin together.
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Oct 13, 2010 @ 14:02 EST5EDT
