Was this some kind of statement about what happens when a mother goes back to work after having a baby (and has a husband who’s also working), that her kid with Asperger’s goes missing and the police have to be contacted?
Maybe that’s not what Parenthood writers intended when they crafted this episode, but it’s an unfortunate coincidence that the moment Kristina becomes gainfully employed (that was quick!) that her kid decides to take off and go on an adventure, furious that his plans to visit the museum had to be postponed because his parents had to work.
I really like seeing Kristina in the work environment, as well as how excited she is about being there, so I take umbrage at any suggestion that her working was the cause of Max’s freak-out. He has two parents. Also, hearing Adam give Kristina a hard time for failing to give him a “heads up” that she had to work on Saturday — when, ironically, he didn’t give her a heads up that he too had to work on Saturday — was highly irritating.
Having Kristina opt to ignore her cell phone during an important meeting (she silenced her phone because she was angry with Adam for failing to fire Rachel) didn’t make her look all that good, mom-wise, but there have been plenty of times when Kristina couldn’t reach Adam when he happened to be tied up with work, like, oh, I don’t know, when she went into labor and Crosby was there with Kristina while Adam was trying to land a rapper as a client. And yet there Kristina was, the mom beating herself up and blaming herself for Max taking off.
I did find the argument Adam and Kristina had over bribing Haddie to take care of Max while they both worked — Adam offered her $10/hour, after Haddie had asked for a car, while Kristina said there’d be no compensation — very realistic as I’d just had a disagreement with his own spouse over bribing our kids recently, so it was a relatable moment.
Meanwhile, the whole Zoe situation is continuing to unspool oddly and unevenly. Julia freezing Zoe out because she and Joel won’t pay Zoe and her boyfriend Troy in exchange for adopting their baby, seemed an odd choice for her, though it makes sense if Julia’s trying to erect a wall of protection around her heart, girding herself in the event that she doesn’t get the baby. Despite Zoe showing up teary-eyed on Julia’s doorstep after she had a fight with Troy over his whole pay-for-baby scheme, I do not get a good vibe from this storyline. At. All. I’m not optimistic about some legal battle with Troy over signing the adoption papers either.
By the way, how cute were the Sarah and Mark scenes with baby Nora? Mark was so excited about watching the video he’d made of them with the baby that watching him blurt out, “I could totally see having a baby with you,” wasn’t entirely unexpected, given that Sarah had told him in an earlier scene that when she was his age she had two kids. Sarah’s response, that she wasn’t totally freaked out by his statement, was surprise though.
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Nov 30, 2011 @ 17:54 EST5EDT
My husband and I love this show but have noy seen it in over a year it was on sat then gone and we can not locate it.we both work early am and sleep early pm weekdays so we are assuming it has moved to a later time and week days.
I thought the scene of Hattie unloading her anger on Max was spot on. A lot of siblings of autistic children probably live with resentment of being forced to accommodate for them constantly. And I wouldn’t doubt that family members wish that sometimes they could tell that child exactly that. And Max’s response was so realistic. The fact that he didn’t even acknowledge what she was saying but wanted to know if she was going to get in trouble for yelling, shows that these writers get it. I love this show for its honesty.