S01.E02: Related AF

[Lady Calypso]

Quote

Julia is haunted by her new reality, while Roxy embraces it by spending quality time with Leon. As Edie and Tim prepare for their trial, Tim notices interactions between Edie and the prosecutor, Amanda, that make him uneasy. Meanwhile, Dr. Isaac Abadi steps up to the plate at the clinic in the all-new "Related AF" episode of ALMOST FAMILY airing Wednesday, Oct. 9 (9:01-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (AFM-102) (TV-14 D, L, S)

[Katy M]

Julia should have let him walk in.  He deserves to know his wife is cheating on him. And,, no, it is not OK to cheat just because the other person is a different sex than your spouse.

And am I the only who got a sexual harrassy vibe from the prosecutor?  Not at all professional at any rate.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Katy M

[Lady Calypso]

1 hour ago, Katy M said:

Julia should have let him walk in.  He deserves to know his wife is cheating on him. And,, no, it is not OK to cheat just because the other person is a different sex than your spouse.

It's going to be SOOO much fun to see Julia decide to keep Edie's secret for...reasons. I mean, obviously, Edie's the cheater who should be the one to tell her own husband that she's cheating on him with Amanda, but Julia, if the situation should come up where Tim could find out about his wife, should simply let it happen. She doesn't need to get involved.

Also, that "defense" with the probation officers from Edie was horrendous. I don't even know how she got away with it; it made no sense to me. She didn't even say anything like "the monitor fell off his ankle!" And I can't even blame it on her drunkenness because the court stuff was just as bad. This show can't write lawyer jargon right, it seems. 

So, Emily Osment is doing a great job at Roxy...but I REALLY find her annoying. And yes, when she inevitably gets her heart crushed by Criminal Daddy, I don't know how bad I'll feel for her. She was warned by Julia. She decided to throw herself at a guy she doesn't know, just because...of biology, I guess? Not that her parents are that great, but I felt for her dad when Roxy screamed that he wasn't her real father. I mean, guy's a pansy, but it seemed like he cared about her a little bit. Not a whole lot, but more than her mother. 

Either way, I understand completely that Roxy's life is a whole mess and she's just looking for a family who loves her and it'll eventually end up to be Julia and Edie....but she's still in an annoying stage and that's not really a good thing for me to like her any time soon.

Julia is still the only one I marginally like. Girl knows how to keep her distance and I hope she doesn't take Criminal Daddy back, since he's already doing shady shit with Isaac. 

Meh. I'm really wondering if I tune in to a third episode. This episode was already a bit of a struggle to get through with the atrocious writing and obvious plot points. 

[Athena5217]

I find myself watching this show and being interested for no good reason. The ideas are good—struggling with sexual orientation, finding new siblings as an adult, getting out of Daddy’s shadow—but the writing is not supporting these ideas well. The three lead actresses are certainly trying their best, and that may be what saves it for me. Roxie talking about her medication with her new dad and standing up for him in court were very believable to me. 

@Katy M, I agree with you about the prosecutor. If she were a man, I suspect many people would be very critical of her continued pursuit of Edie. It’s pushy to the point of harassment. Of course, I am assuming there are many people watching to be critical.

It would be convenient if Edie were not married and her husband were not a great guy, but real life is very messy like this sometimes. It reminds me of Billie Jean King, who was outed while she was married.

[sinkwriter]

Oooh, Timothy Hutton, what a manipulative character! Somehow even though he's acting like he wanted that childhood drawing saved for sentimental reasons, how much do you want to bet he also grabbed it and brought it home with him because he's got something hidden behind the picture in the frame? Maybe a flash drive of his laptop documents, or something written down. 

Not sure how I feel about the show, but I guess we'll see how it goes. I'm still testing the waters on this one.

[possibilities]

I had the same thought about the picture frame.

And I think he's cultivating Isaac and Roxy so they will testify for him, and help him scam the system. Dude is super-shady. I'm really glad they're not playing it as him being a sympathetic character. I half expect he's going to "help" Roxy just so he can access her drugs.

The clinic should have changed the locks so he couldn't just go in there, though. I hope they have security cameras and he will be caught violating the terms of his freedom.

I agree the show isn't well-written and I can't really justify my interest, but here I am.

[Lady Calypso]

9 hours ago, sinkwriter said:

Somehow even though he's acting like he wanted that childhood drawing saved for sentimental reasons, how much do you want to bet he also grabbed it and brought it home with him because he's got something hidden behind the picture in the frame? Maybe a flash drive of his laptop documents, or something written down. 

Oh, yeah, the MOMENT Leon asked Julia to grab that childhood picture, I knew it must have something of value to him. It's probably where he hides his super secret USB drive filled with incriminating information, or maybe information to blackmail certain people. I have zero doubt that he didn't want the picture for sentimental value. Leon is definitely something who is psychopathic. I genuinely don't buy that he cares about anyone but himself. I don't think he cares about Julia at all. I haven't seen any instance where he does, so I think Julia was partially wrong about using Roxy to get to Julia...at least, not in the typical "favourite daughter" sense. But she is right about Leon wanting to use Julia, rather than loving her.

I just don't think Julia knows the extent to which Leon would actually turn on her. When she told him that she turned in the laptop, all I could hear in my head was a voice saying "Leon will remember that." And he will, because he'll use it against her and who knows what he'd do to her.

[Jennabelle88]

14 hours ago, sinkwriter said:

Oooh, Timothy Hutton, what a manipulative character! Somehow even though he's acting like he wanted that childhood drawing saved for sentimental reasons, how much do you want to bet he also grabbed it and brought it home with him because he's got something hidden behind the picture in the frame? Maybe a flash drive of his laptop documents, or something written down. 

That was my thinking! At first I thought, "How sweet. He's lost everything else, but he doesn't wanna lose this drawing because it reminds him of a time when his daughter thought he was a superhero." When they actually got to the office and he picked it up, I thought, "Nah, this dude has something hidden inside of this. Shit's about to get really. Really real!"

[izabella]

I watched the first episode expecting this to be a serious drama, but it's more of a comedy drama.  With that different perspective, I enjoyed this episode more than the pilot.  And I've come to appreciate Roxy, whom I couldn't stand on the pilot.

What's with all the cheating on this show?  Two episodes in and we have two cheaters already.  I was having trouble warming up to Edie as it was, and now they saddle her abrasive personality with a cheating story, too?

[JenLily]

I'm having real trouble with this show. There's something about the tone it's taking that's not sitting well with me. It's like, haha look at these quirky girls who it turns out are sisters and the children of this oddball dude who. . . completely and utterly violated potentially dozens (hundreds?) of women. It's gross and I don't really like how the show is kind of glossing over the massive harm he's done in favor of making some sort of weird commentary that family is what you make of it. I don't know. I'll give it one more episode but if I continue to feel slightly ill while I'm watching it, it's not going to be worth the time to see where it wants to go.

[Deskisamess]

So, the authorities took stuff from his office, but left those pictures and the other stuff sitting around? No way, hiding stuff behind pictures is grade school level secrecy. And the authorities would most likely have the office locked or guarded until they were done searching, which generally takes several visits. And how did they get in? The locks would have been changed immediately when the Clinic owner was arrested.

And where were the Clinic attorneys when they "fired" Julia? Hadn't they ever read the paperwork governing the Clinic?

I also don't the cops checking on him when the ankle thing "malfunctioned" would be chased off by a ranting lawyer.

The level of acting and dialog in this show is similar to Secret Life of an American Teenager. They aren't paying anyone to consult to make sure they get legal procedures or medical stuff even half way correct. 

[emma675]

I think I'm done. I realized I really don't care about any of these characters when I started ffing through the majority of Edie's scenes and started snorting with derision over Julia being fired and then magically her work contract has a line about her running the clinic if he father is gone. Roxy is the only one who still interests me but not enough to keep watching, I think. 

[geauxaway]

Is that a bad wig or does Edie just have terrible hair?  It’s SO BAD.

Also can’t stand the predatory prosecutor.  She can’t even say one sentence without sounding smug and overly sexual.  She’s gross to me.

Other than that, I do like the show enough to keep watching.  I do find it entertaining and I am feeling invested in the story.  

[ouinason]

I FF through all of Edie's scenes away from Julia too.  She sucks.

[Josh371982]

Yeah I dont get why the writers think we should have any sympathy for Edie. Also sucks they are Making Julia a little unlikable helping her shitty new sister hide that's she being a cheating bitch from her husband 

[geauxaway]

10 hours ago, Josh371982 said:

Yeah I dont get why the writers think we should have any sympathy for Edie. Also sucks they are Making Julia a little unlikable helping her shitty new sister hide that's she being a cheating bitch from her husband 

Yeah, I’m still trying to understand if it’s being implied that Julia still has a thing for Edie’s husband (can’t recall his name), or what they are going for there.  

[Josh371982]

42 minutes ago, geauxaway said:

Yeah, I’m still trying to understand if it’s being implied that Julia still has a thing for Edie’s husband (can’t recall his name), or what they are going for there.  

Wouldnt be surprised if she does. Another thing to add to Edie's unlikeabilty is she took him from Julia and now shes cheating on him with Amanda who's unlikeable as well not giving a shit that's she married but Edie doesnt either so...

[ouinason]

I don't think Julia was as much protecting Edie as she was protecting Tim from seeing that.  Finding out your wife is cheating is one thing, SEEING it is another.  At least I hope that is her motivation, since Edie has never been anything but an asshole to Julia.

[KaveDweller]

5 hours ago, ouinason said:

I don't think Julia was as much protecting Edie as she was protecting Tim from seeing that.  Finding out your wife is cheating is one thing, SEEING it is another.  At least I hope that is her motivation, since Edie has never been anything but an asshole to Julia.

Yeah, and who really wants to be present when someone finds out their spouse is cheating?That is a pretty awkward situation. I think it was self preservation to walk away like she did, and take Tim with her.

If she starts lying for Edie next week that will be different. Is Tim a regular?

[retired watcher]

On 10/13/2019 at 12:37 PM, geauxaway said:

Is that a bad wig or does Edie just have terrible hair?  It’s SO BAD.

Also can’t stand the predatory prosecutor.  She can’t even say one sentence without sounding smug and overly sexual.  She’s gross to me.

Other than that, I do like the show enough to keep watching.  I do find it entertaining and I am feeling invested in the story.  

Her hair was completely different in the pilot. This looks like a wig. It really detracts from her looks.

[Josh371982]

On 10/14/2019 at 6:19 PM, KaveDweller said:

Yeah, and who really wants to be present when someone finds out their spouse is cheating?That is a pretty awkward situation. I think it was self preservation to walk away like she did, and take Tim with her.

If she starts lying for Edie next week that will be different. Is Tim a regular?

I'm actually expecting to see Julia to start lying for her shitty new sister. Since I believe they've shown upcoming clips where shes telling Edie she needs to tell him like shes tired of covering for her