kili

Kevin, though drunk at the time, theorized the following: Randall: She's just gained a lot of weight. KEVIN: Of course she has. Think about her life, man. She lives with Mom, she's got the worst ex-boyfriend of all time, she thinks her dog killed our dad. And he's not far off. Just add in that their parents fostered in her an unhealthy relationship with food in two different ways. It would be 20 more years before she had a reasonable boyfriend, a dog or a civil relationship with her Mom. Kevin wasn't fighting with Randall about her care. Kevin was fighting to allow Rebecca the independence to choose her care while Randall was using guilt to get her to have the care he thought she should have. The show seems to have largely dropped Randall's saviour complex, but that was the root of that debate. Kevin has offered support, but doesn't seem to be committed to any course of treatment. It's not like Kevin is off reading studies or listening to naturopaths on the internet and arguing best treatment with Randall. Randall has researched the treatments extensively and come up with what he thought was the best treatment.

Sure, but that's not the point. If they make a big deal about what Jack eats while ignoring Hailey it is likely to give Jack an eating disorder and leave Hailey feeling transparent (to paraphrase her Uncle "You're so busy making sure that Jack's not eating too much and Jack's had enough sleep, and meanwhile where's Hailey? Oh. Guess what? She's dead!"). They remembered her for a brief moment when Kate taunted her about not telling her the secret ingredient until she is older. Little Hailey was adorable. I wonder if he is going to be better at it every episode. Maybe the awards in his house are Grammys. His friend John Legend can hook him up with some industry connections. Toby and Kate must break up soon because he doesn't apparently see the house until he arrives at Rebecca's dead bed (he is surprised at how big it is). What is the weather like where that cabin is? Is it wise to start construction at Thanksgiving? It does get snowy because it was snowing when Kate broke up with her boyfriend.

Note that all the arguments were about Jack and his genetics? There was no debate about what Hailey was eating. This could end up like the Kate vs Randall/Kevin situation where Jack ends up getting an unhealthy relationship with food. We know Jack ends up stick thin despite cooking enormous slabs of meat to eat so he does end up healthy so somebody's strategy worked. I did appreciate Kate's speech in how she has put a lot of thought into food and building a healthy relationship for her kids with food. While Toby is concerned about Jack, I'm not sure he's putting much more thought into it than "sugar bad". That "something bad" works with some kids and other kids over-indulge the forbidden fruit behind their parent's back. Everything in moderation is probably a better lesson to learn and that is what Kate is aiming for. Food is just food - it isn't love or an object of defiance or a forbidden fruit.

I don't really get having secret ingredients. If somebody says "That pie is delicious! Can I get the recipe?", what kind of psychopath gives them a partial recipe? Unless you are in the business of selling sugar pie, what does it hurt to give out the actual recipe? You could say "no", but even that is a little strange after receiving the compliment. But, at least it's honest. Leaving out ingredients leaves the poor recipient wondering why it doesn't taste right and endlessly trying to figure out what is wrong. Why are you inviting people to dinner who you dislike enough to do this to? I guess you get to lord it over your friends and family that you are the bestest cook and you do you if you need that constant ego boost. But who does that to their actual child? Isn't that something you pass on to them as a teen and swear them to secrecy? It stops being a fun guessing game ("guess the secret flavour") when you start hosting your own dinner and you are missing the key ingredient to the traditional dessert. I wouldn't be bothering with the traditional dessert if my parent wouldn't cough up the missing secret ingredient. Why even bother if it's going to be a second-rate dessert without the secret ingredient? I'd cook something I have a full recipe for so everybody can have a decent tasting dessert and Mom can go play her head games somewhere else. And what is this garbage of just passing it onto your daughter? Maybe Baby Jack wants to cook some traditional sugar pie. In "Pilgrim Rick", Rebecca mentions that her sister's sweet potato pie will be perfect. I saw no evidence of a sister at her family Thanksgiving and no mention of her at the first Pearson Thanksgiving. Rebecca should have sent Beth to confiscate the guitar as well. Hints of something dire in Boston if Malik stopped texting? Or did he just leave his phone at the library?

It was important in the early seasons and contestants had to carefully manage their money. At times, they had to make a decision between taking a cab or transit or walking between sites. Sometimes, paying the cab became an issue (including in the final leg). At one point, the show would even take all your money if you finished last and that, unfortunately, taught teams to beg. Eventually, it wasn't just the "saved-but-robbed" team begging, many of the teams started begging just so they would have extra funds for later if needed. It was a very bad look. People on a television show to win $1M begging in countries with major poverty issues was hard to watch. Also, watching those same contestants stiff impoverished cabbies was also not very attractive (the show did introduce a rule that cabbies had to be paid, but that led to them begging for a discount or begging for money). Money use was an interesting strategy aspect of the game, but begging is not. They could ban begging, but what do they do if one or more teams run out of money mid-leg? Eliminate them? Best to just take that aspect out of the game. Those rocks looked so brutal. It must have felt like they were in a BBQ. You have to squat or go on your hands and knees, because it's tough to efficiently sit down and search. It's circular and you can't mark anything, so grids are tough to mentally maintain. The rocks are heavy and hard on your hands. It's easy to turn an ankle on the rocks. Ugh. I always cringe when I see these needle-in-a-haystack challenges after the hay bail and red bean challenges. I would definitely be breaking plates after that challenge.

Sophie and Kate both went to the taping of The Manny when Kevin came back for a special episode. Kevin was upset because the writer changed the script to humiliate him (he had him dress up in a diaper as a way to try to find the missing baby) and Sophie convinced him to just do the scene. That was the episode when the family finally came to watch the tapings, but only Miguel, Annie, Tess and Sophie stayed. It's partly her coaching style and probably partly the drugs they get fed so they can be overtrained and washed up by the time they hit 20. That's why she needs the assembly line. Brian Orser is another coach with a lot of success who is supposed to be more like Beth. The truth is that students don't have all the same needs. Some students do better under a harsh coach or tutor who push them while others do better in a more supportive environment. Beth needed more support and her coach was not supportive. If Beth's father had been still alive, he may have supported her to find a new coach that worked better with her (after her current coaching situation faltered), but Beth's mother had no interest in assisting or supporting her daughter in the sport (and Beth lost her will). Beth was wrong to lay the blame on her coach. He is the coach he is and he just wasn't right for her. I think Beth's supportive style will probably have more success (measured in many different ways), though because everybody needs some support sooner or later and can't always get it at home.

I used to feel sorry for Kevin that his family never attended a shooting of the Manny. Given how they behaved when he did the return special and the way they behaved tonight, it was probably for the best. Who needs all that drama at your workplace? What was Elijah doing with the baby? Who walks around picking stuff up on a TV set? I'm sure there is a PA running around looking for it and afraid they were about to lose their job. I'm not entirely sold on Elijah being in love with Madison. He seems to love dating a girl that he ranks better than himself and being in Kevin's orbit. Still, he makes a good muffin. I expected the gum balls to make an appearance. Kevin may be in the way when Toby is home, but I'm betting that Kate will feel even more alone when he moves out and Toby is away. Kevin does need his own place. Beth needs to let her teacher go. He was just there to teach. It's her Mom that should have been there for her. The salad that night was inspired by Emeril - the cornish game hens probably were too. Maybe Miguel can keep this turkey from disaster. What is Toby's job, anyway. Before, he worked in IT and dressed like a normal IT person doing normal IT kind of stuff. Now, he's just started at a new company wear they make him wear expensive suits and he is brokering deals across two time zones? Has he moved into sales? Kevin and Madison need a custody agreement.

It was fun watching Akbar being passed like he was sitting still, but he's not the only reason Ryan and Dusty are still in the race. They also passed up two other teams on the river kayak (and probably would have packed Akbar and Sheri there too if they weren't already ahead - the final three teams on that leg showed little aptitude for kayaking and probably all took a while). Ryan and Dusty were still doing they kayak when the other two teams returned from the boat ride. If they other two teams hadn't just missed the first boat (so, they had to wait 15 minutes for the next one) and messed up the fish-finding, R&D would have been last out of the roadblock. On the other hand, it was impressive that four people couldn't remember 10 fish. Ryan could probably have done the spot-the-fish-challenge ("in prison, I learned how to patiently observe"), but Dusty would have been liked a trapped squirrel running from one side of the other while chattering wildly. Kim & Penn are wise to keep the flight attendants close. The FAs are bad navigators and tend to choose the wrong detour (only switching to follow K&P). If you are going to help somebody, help somebody you can beat. Plus, by blocking the main competition out of the early departure time, they keep winning legs and prizes. The FAs have a lot of positive energy, so they are fun to watch. It annoys me when A&N keep getting all the chances. At least Arun seems to recognize that they aren't great racers, but will keep having fun as long as it lasts.

There is that scene when all the kids have to have their report cards publicly read. Randall is upset about an A- (too much time in mathletes) and Kevin is proud of his two As (Randall is quick to tell everyone that is in PE and Art and the rest are Cs and Ds). Kate's grades aren't specifically mentioned, but it sounds like they are between those two extremes and improving. They did cover that in season 1. She gets on the plane and the woman in her row of seats gives her a disgusted look, so she re-assures the woman she has purchased two seats (and the stewardess hands her an extender). They've explained she cannot sit in a booth and she expressed concern about finding a wedding dress. They've touched on a lot of this. Stuart was her first boyfriend in elementary school. She was also dating somebody in high school (still Stuart?). In this episode, the number three appeared a lot of times. Three minute dates, three extra AP courses, Rebecca mentions her three kids, and Eddie has been married three times. I was beginning to wonder if it meant something.

Nicky asked Kevin to leave him alone. Kevin insisted on trying to repair Nicky's leaking camper and bought a brand new RV to park next to him. When Kevin left to go back to LA, he asked Nicky to look after the new RV (basically, suggested he move into it). Nicky was more receptive to help at that time, so he took over. Kevin, Nicky, Cassidy and Eddie were in the old cabin this episode. The new cabin/house is being built over-looking the old cabin (which we still see when somebody is entering the new house in the future). The 80s were full of so many bad dieting advice. Lemonade diets, grape fruit diets, maple syrup diet (seriously!), new diets every week. Lots of wonderful stuff to destroy your metabolism and doom you to failure.

In Season 1, Chrissy mentioned that her contract required her to lose weight. At first, she would talk about it in interviews because she thought it was a great incentive to help her lose the weight. But anybody who has tried to lose a lot of weight knows that is more complicated. Chrissy has an eating disorder and there are probably a lot of psychological issues (here is in article discussing it) I think that the show runners planned on having Kate lose weight be part of her arc on the show. When the actress had trouble losing the weight they just moved onto other stories. Why compound the psychological issues for the actress? It's like when Katy Sagal miscarried while her character was pregnant on "Married with Children". The actress was devastated. Out of respect for her, rather than carry on the story or have her character miscarry as well, the writers just retconned the storyline. The weight loss story would have been an interesting one. For reasons that are none of our business, it couldn't happen. Kate has more stories to tell. I appreciate that the show-runners respected the actress and moved on.

Well, in all fairness to Deja, it was her plan to wait until dessert to drop the bombshell. That's what the strategy meeting with Tess and Annie was. They were to jump in and divert the topic during dinner so that the plan could be presented after most of the eating was done. It was Beth who rejected all TACTICS and insisted that Deja spill whatever she was trying to keep secret. "When are you gonna tell them? We're thinking right before dessert. Malik's making blueberry pie." The blueberry pie could be significant. That was a plot of one of the episodes when Randall was campaigning and he had to get a blueberry pie (but they were sold out, so somebody else gave him their blueberry pie). Beth can't start the New Year without a blueberry pie as a family tradition. So, does it signify Deja/Malik wanting to start a new era or do they just know Beth really likes blueberry pie? In any event, blueberry pie did turn out to be comfort food for Beth while waiting for Randall to come back inside.

Won't Deja's answer to "what if you break up?" be "Why do you keep doubting our relationship? Why don't you trust me?" Deja and Malik seem so invested in this plan that whatever the parents say, won't they just keep thinking they have this? Their epic love will smooth over all difficulties and they don't need much. Deja has already lived in poverty and a car, she'll believe that she can live through any financial problems. Plus, she will have a job. This is the girl who wanted to stay with her mother because she loved her and that was enough. The mother that kept putting boyfriends before Deja (using their rent money to bail them out and holding guns for them). The mother who failed to get it together for years and Deja had to try to keep the household running. Deja already expects nothing from her loved ones and to have to sacrifice her everything. Deja is so determined and Malik is drowning so he's not seeing what he's asking of somebody he supposedly loves. IDK. If Deja and Malik are go through with this hair-brained scheme, what should Beth and Randall do? Do they cut her off financially and hope the hard realities wake them up? Do they provide minimal financing to keep the channels open and hope the hard realities wake them up? Do they provide maximum financing to avoid Deja having to face realities no 17 year old should face? Sometimes teens are impervious to logic and have to make their own mistakes. And a miracle could occur and this all works out.

Totally agree that is what college is for and I would be supportive of Malik if he wasn't dragging Deja down to get that experience. Deja is willing to give up her final year of high school and reduce her chances of getting into a good university to help Malik live his dream. He's told her how much he is struggling, so he's aware of that struggle he is encouraging her take on. He knows how hard it is to get into Harvard, so surely he must understand that somebody who gets their GED and then spends a year (or years) working to support him and babysit his child is going to have a harder time getting into a place like Harvard than somebody who had the luxury of living at home with their parents support and finishing high school like he did. He is trading his dream of Harvard and exploring courses for hers. He gets all he ever wanted and a 17 year old girl who has faced more struggles than she should picks up the slack for other choices he made before she even knew him. He should admit that and show his love for her and encourage her to not take on this burden. If they truly are Romeo and Juliette, then Romeo can be there waiting for her when she finishes her time to explore and grow. Deja's not making great choices, but she is dealing with years of dysfunction while growing up. He's just being selfish. And I don't understand Beth comparing herself to Randall. Sure, they were both madly and love, but neither Beth nor Randall were making stupid decisions. They were helping each other and being sensible. If we want to compare the great Deja/Malik romance to somebody on this show, compare it to Kevin and Sophie. While they were at least in a better position of having both graduated, not having a three year old to support and not having to interact with the ex who has shared custody, they followed their dream of being together straight out of school while one studied and one worked and it all exploded spectacularly.

Malik had and has a lot of options. He was accepted at five schools in the Philly area, but chose to go to Harvard to study Russian Lit as the foundation to becoming a Michelin Chef. Nobody will argue that Harvard is not prestigious, but it does not seem to closely align with his target career. He could have stayed in Philly (some truly excellent schools in the area) and have his parents continue to help raise his daughter. They have been rock solid for him - providing just the right level of support. Plus, they have been a big part of his daughter's life. He would have had somewhere to live and wouldn't be complaining that he has to work long hours to pay for housing. He could also be close to the girlfriend that, supposedly, he cannot live without. He picked Harvard. He picked what he wanted. Deja may be right in that she had to be mature for her years, but she is wrong in thinking this is why she should go move in with Malik. She's already spent too many of her young years being the "Mom", trying to make ends meet, cleaning the house and supporting somebody else whose dreams always have to come first. She needs to spend more time being a kid herself. To join school clubs and find new interests. To go to her graduation and have late night chats in her dorm room. To take a completely irrelevant course like Russian Lit because why not - she is young and free. There is plenty of time to be a step-mom, clean house and struggle to make ends meet when she is older. If Malik loved Deja, he would want her to be everything she can be. Would her leaving home at 17 to move in with him and babysit his daughter and clean house make his life easier - yes it would. But he chose to make to his life harder than it needed to be and he shouldn't be stealing her best years to continue to allow him to be impractical. He should be willing to make some sacrifices himself. Look into transferring into the Philly area so that he regains his support system and can see the love of his life without expecting her to be a Mom and his caretaker at 17. Ugh. Malik. Get some sense Deja. Statistically, this relationship should implode. But, I have a feeling that the writers are going to turn it into an epic love story. I'll just have to grit my teeth at this terrible message being sent to young girls because rarely does this kind of situation work out well for all involved. Beth was amazing at dinner, but I don't like that she seems to be giving into the plan which doesn't even seem like much of a plan. Can we get more Annie?

I'm not sure that it's Jack's job to do the heavy lifting in this relationship. He and his Mom were both horribly abused by Stanley, both mentally and physically. Jack grew up knowing little normalcy at all. Describing the sounds that still terrify him (a footstep, the creak of a chair, the sound of a beer opening) shows that he is still impacted by the abuse. The fact that he couldn't protect either his Mother or his little brother haunts him. It took me until the eulogy to understand that their presence impacted each other. Even talking to each other brought them back to their abusive home. Both Jack and his Mom were very tense when she came to visit and ended up having an argument about the hot dogs (and we got our only mention of Nicky for the night). If Jack punished her by not visiting her and being distant, she punished him even more. He at least told her about his new safe family. His Mom didn't even tell him that she had a cat let alone boyfriend. Sure, the phone calls were awkward, but letter writing was something she could have done. Now, she may have told herself she did it so that she didn't impose on Jack, but the real truth is that she wanted to protect her new life. She iced out her own son just as much if not more than he iced her out. They were two very broken people who badly needed therapy. And add Nicky.

Well, the nanny thing is kind of on Toby. Kevin and Madison had Toby and Kate over for dinner and Toby/Kate were talking about getting jobs and childcare issues. Kevin offered that they would be happy to help with childcare and that it would be great if the cousins could grow up together and offered to hire another nanny or a teacher or a special aid. It would be like their own daycare. Toby exploded and told Kevin "Damn it, Kevin, just stop. Just stop. All right, I don't need you paying for my kids' lives." Kevin tried to explain that he makes stupid money and this would be a good use for the money and he got called condescending. Kevin says that he sees his money as money for the entire family, but Toby just made rude comments about how Kevin's family is not normal and Madison isn't really a Mom. In that episode, Kevin and Madison did have a nanny (the magical nanny that used to work for Timberlake). Kevin would happily pay for a nanny for anyone who asks (probably even Malik), but he is probably afraid to offer one again. If the offer was rudely rejected when both Toby and Kate were unemployed, another offer when they are employed would not be warmly accepted. Who takes care of Hailey when Kate is teaching? Jack might be at school, but the babysitter who only sits sleeping children is probably not the one who looks after the kid(s) when Kate is teaching.

Yikes - I hope not either. Deja's mom was 16 when she had Deja, but she also initially had the support of Deja's grandmother. While there are people who married their first love they met when they were fourteen and are now happily celebrating their 50th anniversary, they are the exception. There are probably even people who can chime in and say that they quit school to get married at 16 to help their Harvard boyfriends raise their toddler and once their husband graduated to be a Michelin three star chef, they themselves went back to medical school and are now happily celebrating their 50th anniversary, but they would be even rarer exception. I hope there is a realistic payoff for them introducing Malik, but I fear there is not. At best, I'm hoping for an exception than an even rarer exception. People grow and change so much in their late teens and early twenties. Also, if Deja and Malik end up together and Deja is pregnant in the flash forward, Janelle will be in her early to mid teens when her new half-sibling arrives. That would certainly be a change for Janelle.

I recall that her education was spotty because of the turmoil in her home life. Deja had to repeat Grade 7 when she started school after being adopted because she had so much to catch up. Then, it became a plot point that her teacher had thought she had caught up and wanted her to skip Grade 8, but Deja didn't want to do that and upset the stability of the house. Then, they moved to Philly and it made sense for her to skip the grade because it was a new school. Deja has always been smart, but her mother's chaotic lifestyle did not give her the opportunity to be a good student.

Realistically, Deja should probably be shown having some relationship issues. Shauna had a lot of issues and one of the was how she consistently compromised her self (and Deja) to please her useless boyfriends. Deja first ends up coming to live with Randall when her mother goes to jail for holding a gun for her boyfriend. After returning to live with Shauna, Deja becomes homeless because Shauna uses the rent money to pay for her new boyfriend's bail. At another foster home, Deja witnessed the man abusing another foster child, contacted social services and was removed from the home. The other child was upset because they were willing to take a beating to have their own bed. For twelve years, Deja received the message that one must sacrifice oneself to make the man in your life happy because being in a relationship is just that important. Even in the Pearson home, one of the first things she saw was Beth deciding to give up on her dreams and her home of many years to allow to Randall pursue his dreams. Beth constantly capitulates to Randall's wants because Randall won't budge. But Deja appears to be the exception. She went from being a parentified, neglected and angry teenager that hacked off her own hair, took a bat to Randall's car and who felt abandoned by her Mom, to a completely balanced teenager who excelled at school and gave sage advice after just a few months. She appears to have cured all damage from her pre-Pearson days. A true testament that adoption done correctly will yield perfect results while an adoption done incorrectly will leave you with lifelong scars which everybody must make allowances for. Deja is also fortunate enough to have her first love at 14 be an equally well-balanced 16 year old who is happy to take care of his infant daughter while getting grades good enough to be accepted at Harvard while also dreaming of being a Michelin star chef. Bringing back Jennifer into Malik's life would make sense if they want to explore issues Deja might have and how she grows to deal with those issues. I think they were hinting at that this episode.

Isn't this one of the reasons why they recommend you get a driving instructor rather than have your parent's teach you? Randall learned how to drive back in the 90s and now he is going to pass on all his old-fashioned driving habits on to his daughters like "10 and 2". A decent driving instructor is going to be familiar with the latest driving rules and recommendations, but your average parent might not. As well, parents tend to teach their kids their own bad driving habits not even realizing they are bad habits. Though, Randall being Randall, he probably would have researched how to teach your kid how to drive. Where I live, Deja would have lost her learner's license if stopped by a cop for using her phone and having it placed on the console. They have strict rules on learners and tech. Plus, it was her first lesson - Randall should have had her focusing on the road, not debating song choices or having conversations about teachers. Those conversations should have waited to fill in the time when Randall was driving them back home. Randall better hire a trained driving instructor. Of course, his own father decided to teach two feuding kids to drive at the same time and the distraction almost caused an accident, so I guess Randall is a better instructor than Jack.

Kevin is still the same person who chose to sleep on the old couch in Randall's basement while he was paying for an expensive hotel room in the middle of NYC in season 1. And the same person who gave all his Hallowe'en candy to another kid so he would be nice to Kate. Kevin uses his money, but it doesn't seem to mean anything to him. It's just there and he's happy to use it if it is needed. Plus, I think he'd rather have contact with family than a nice house. He may also feel that it helps him stay sober - when he came home from rehab, he lived with Rebecca and Miguel because they told him not to live alone. Still, he needs his own house. A house his kids can come to and so that he is not intruding on Kate and Toby (I'm sure his presence isn't helping the marriage, but Kate does like him there when Toby is not there). If Deja is as mature as she thinks she is, she should have gone to a clinic for birth control before going to Boston. In real life, condoms have an effectivity rate of 85% (it's only 98% if everything is done perfectly every time). We don't know if Malik had condoms, but he seemed surprised that's what Deja wanted to do. Would he have planned to have some non-expired condoms in his college apartment where he is struggling financially and time-wise just in case his visiting junior high-school girlfriend decided this weekend was the time for a first time? Maybe. But, as mentioned in this quote, it's wiser for Deja to be in control of her own birth control. But, Deja's mistake is pretty common one for teens to make (just ask Malik and Jennifer). I think all the focussing on the dress was to show that Deja wasn't sure she was sure about what she went to Boston to do. She paused about packing the dress and she paused about removing the price tag - and then removed it decisively. It was Deja's seduction dress and part of her plan. Malik wasn't expecting to have sex with her - he was surprised (happy surprised). He would have been happy just spending the weekend with her like they did back in Philly. She would have also enjoyed the weekend. So, I believe the focus on the red dress was to show her considering whether to take the relationship to another level. What concerns me a little is that she did not remove the tag on the dress until after the encounter with Jennifer. I'm hoping that part of her decision wasn't driven partially by that encounter. I don't think either Jennifer or Malik want to resume their relationship, but Deja has always been a little troubled by the presence of Jennifer. Jennifer's familiarity with Malik's apartment (stealing the food was a jerk move) may have increased Deja's insecurities enough to push her to make the decision she made.

Kevin has twins. His character has twins. Maybe he'll get them cast as his twins and get to spend lots of time with them. Of course, Kevin should know that kid actors often end up with problems, so that probably is a terrible idea. "Well, that's going to be a problem" ? Well, that is a problem. Deja's parents are taking it remarkably well after she lied "straight to their faces" and took a six hour bus to go sleep with her boyfriend. Now is not the time to try to dictate to them. Beth is smart about the birth control because it is far better to be safe than sorry (and it appears that Deja and Malik aren't mature enough to take care of it themselves or learn from Malik's past mistakes). Toby just couldn't win, but he did give Kevin some excellent advice. Kevin needs to get a house and a custody agreement and work on his triangle family. Glad he called Cassidy instead of making yet another destructive decision. I was thinking that the movie theatre looked pretty authentic with it's brown tiles and hideous snack counter, but then little Kevin waltzed past his father like it was nothing. I've been in an 80s shoebox theatre and no human, no matter how small, is getting past a grown adult male's knees without some kind of bizarre dance because the seats had no leg room. Jack's first memory is of getting burned on the green egg and his parents marriage exploding? How old is he when this happened? Most little kids wouldn't realize that themselves getting injured wrecked their parents marriage. Of course, it didn't ruin their marriage - it was just the incident that was the tipping point that led to the exposure of all the problems. Kate has been unhappy since she was 8. Even her dad had limited success overcoming her unhappiness. Toby didn't stand a chance.

Doesn't Harvard require all freshman to live in campus housing? Getting everybody to live on campus is one of the ways you build connections at Harvard which is one of the reasons you go there. If you aren't going to live on Harvard's campus and you want to be a chef, why not go to one of the other four top tier schools you got into that are close to your support system? Why does somebody who wants to be a top chef taking Russian Literature? Malik is all over the place with his education. It's nice to go to Harvard, but he's juggling chain saws at this point. He wants to be a chef, there are more direct paths to that destination than killing yourself taking courses that will not help while struggling to make ends meet and raising a child. And why is he struggling to make ends meet and get scholarships? Harvard is sitting on piles of cash and if you don't have any, they offer lots of aid (needs based). Harvard would be giving aid to Malik since his parents aren't rich and he's a single dad. IDK Harvard is an odd choice for the writers to have made given all the aid they give and the live on campus rule. I totally missed that until the morning text. The entire episode I was thinking "Last year, they wouldn't let Deja and Malik be in her room together without the door being open and this year they let her travel by bus to spend time with him alone?" What? Then Randall sent the "Breakfast at Tiffany's" text and I was thinking that takes place in New York, not Boston and then I finally realized that Deja totally lied to her parents. I can kind of buy it. Nicky was so focussed on regrets from the past that he was stuck. He was traumatized by his father growing up, regretted not going with Sally, regretted getting a low draft number, regretted not fleeing with his brother and deeply regretted causing that boy to die. Resolving things with Sally is finally allowing him to really move forward again. He can flirt because he isn't cheating on his unresolved "young love". That was the most awkward dinner ever. Only Miguel was appropriate. Miguel is a treasure. His speech to Rebecca in the car was amazing and you know he means it.

It's interesting that all three Pearson children have recently faced the "move for work" dilemma. Randall decided that he needed to dedicate his life to politics in the town his Dad lived in. He unilaterally decided to do this, but promised to quit the campaign if it caused issues. When it caused issues, he reneged on his promise and belittled his wife's job (the only job she could get after months of trying). Result? His wife decided to give up everything and move to follow his new job. Children were uprooted from the schools they had gone to for years. Family all seems happy (except for Tess, but her unhappiness is rooted apart from the move). No resentment between the couple. Toby was let go from work in the middle of the pandemic on the day his daughter was born. He struggled for months to find a job and finally found one in another city as their savings were exhausted. Kate refused to move because she had a part-time job she loved even though that did not pay the bills. Kids are not yet in school, so uprooting them is not as big an issue. She would miss her brother support system and being there for her Mom if she moves. Result: Kate unhappy with Toby. Toby does not appear to resent Kate at this time. Kevin has an existing job that requires him to travel a lot. The mother of his children asked him not to travel so much after the kids were born. He has agreed to take a job he hates with a boss who is toxic and loves humiliating Kevin. Results: Unknown. Interestingly, the two who had the more doting parents expect their dreams to be the only ones that matter.