Parenthood – Adam is an idiot

Good God, Adam. Just. Shut. Up.

Telling Kristina that the hottie, Rachel — whom he and Crosby hired as their assistant — had kissed him was bad enough. No wife would be exactly thrilled that a young woman was walking around half undressed while she’s serving her husband lattes every morning, even before the kissing incident. But to then lie to Kristina and say that Rachel was fired when she wasn’t … well, Adam may as well have just waved 47 red flags in his postpartum wife’s face indicating that he’s got mixed feelings about his underling.

From beginning to end, the Parenthood writers took Adam, a normally thoughtful character who thinks things through, and turned him upside-down, flustered him with sexual attraction while his wife was at home doting on their newborn and feeling insecure about how she looks. This was the Adam who was so tender and considerate a few episodes back when Kristina fled to his office during the Luncheonette launch party after breast milk leaked all over her dress.

To take that same guy and have him behave in a nonsensical fashion was unusual for his character, so much so that it rattled Kristina and prompted her to announce that she’s going back to work, almost as if her resuming her career is a punishment for Adam. Both Peter Krause and Monica Potter delivered strong performances in this episode, notably during the scene in the kitchen when Kristina confronted Adam over his idiotic lie about firing Rachel.

Whether Adam’s discomfort and odd behavior is because he actually has feelings for Rachel, or he’s just truly confused about how to handle the situation, hasn’t yet been made clear. I’m hoping that the writers don’t go the affair route. It’s so much more interesting to watch a couple struggle through their problems rather than just give up on the relationship.

Meanwhile, it was a shame that the writers opted to have Zoe’s baby daddy demand cash from Julia and Joel in exchange for their unborn child, something Julia and Joel refused to do. It seemed incongruous to see Zoe — who has, up to this point, been strong and opinionated — meekly fall in behind her boyfriend Troy who was extorting money from a couple whom Zoe has grown to respect. The conversation over dinner, where Troy would’ve been overjoyed to have a cashier’s check delivered to him alongside his cappuccino, was awful and cliched, representing a negative stereotype about money-hungry birth parents.

It will be extremely unfortunate if this money issue prevents the adoption from proceeding. Zoe changing her mind about giving her baby away is one thing, because childbirth is such a powerful experience and Zoe doesn’t know how she’s going to react after giving birth. But Zoe changing her mind about Julia and Joel because they won’t cough up cash … that would be a lousy way for this story to go, and be inconsistent with her character to date.

As for Crosby and Jasmine hooking up in the wake of that devastated look on Jabbar’s face after they told him that they weren’t going to be the kind of family that lives together under the same roof (seriously, the little guy was fantastic in that scene), it involves Crosby. That means we have no idea where it’s going to go next. Makes for a good story at least.

Clacked by Meredith O'Brien
on Nov 23, 2011 @ 13:13 EST5EDT