S02.E06: Everyone And Their Brother

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Owen and T.K. risk their lives to save two brothers trapped in a homemade minefield. Meanwhile, Grace receives an emergency call from a conjoined twin whose brother is dying, Tommy interviews new candidates to fill the team's open EMT position and Paul's mother and estranged sister pay him an unexpected visit.

Airing Monday, February 22, 2021.

 

[Bulldog]

Its probably very wrong that I laughed as much as I did when the conjoined twin told Grace that he and his brother weren't that close. 

Its probably equally wrong that I laughed as much as I did when the redneck blew himself up in his homemade minefield. 

[shapeshifter]

10 minutes ago, Bulldog said:

Its probably equally wrong that I laughed as much as I did when the redneck blew himself up in his homemade minefield

I’m not sure that there wasn’t an element of dark comedy planted in the blowup scene that TPTB either missed or just figured it fit with the network and show. I mean, IRL, I doubt a guy who puts a minefield around his property is going to be all fatherly and caring towards a couple of longhaired teenage boys of color who ignored the Danger ⚠️ Keep Out signs. 
But maybe the writers were just trying to prevent the viewers from cheering when the guy with the minefield in yard got blown up ––by rehabilitating him into a nice guy for his second half of his 15 seconds or so of his screen time. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by shapeshifter

[GodsBeloved]

10 hours ago, Bulldog said:

Its probably very wrong that I laughed as much as I did when the conjoined twin told Grace that he and his brother weren't that close. 

I laughed too

[sempervivum]

I thought the actress playing Paul's little sister did a very good job explaining the loss and pain she felt when her 'big sister' left her without explanation. And it's probably not woke of me, but I was actually a bit offended at the way Paul dismissed that by saying her sister 'never really existed'. To the kid, she most certainly did. I'm glad they came to terms, but BOTH of them have valid emotions.

[iMonrey]

I actually thought the story with Paul and his sister was very well done, but I'm a little disappointed they felt the need to wrap it up in a pretty pink bow at the end and give them a tidy, happy ending. I think it would have had more impact to leave it where she stormed off. They could revisit it sometime in the future, but I think she sort of came around a little too quickly.

Also, Cleo King, who played Paul's mother, simply does not age. She was on Friends almost 20 years ago (she was the nurse when Rachel had her baby) and she looks exactly the same. There's a portrait of her somewhere in an attic that ages instead.

[DearEvette]

16 hours ago, Bulldog said:

Its probably very wrong that I laughed as much as I did when the conjoined twin told Grace that he and his brother weren't that close. 

I thought that was a great line.  The line delivery was also well done. LOL.

I enjoyed the bigger peek into the paramedics and the job search.  It was a little cliche with the unsuccessful candidates being so bad, but I thought the 'too perfect' guy's storyline trajectory was interesting.  I like that Tommy wasn't going to hold Mr. Perfect refusal to go into the mine-filed against him.  But I loved how Cap. Strand  called him 'The coward'  ha!  His line delivery was great as well.

And yeah, I agree I thought Paul's family storyline was really well done.  It did a good job of showing his sister's perspective without making her seem bratty or insulting.  And it showed how people who are struggling with their identity and transitioning in the midst of  a society that can be  insensitive or even hostile to their identity can also have their tunnel vision about how it affects their closest loved ones, especially young children who may not completely understand what is happening. 

Overall a nice episode and the writing felt lighter and tighter.  My one gripe is that we did not get any  Grace and Judd together time, especially in the aftermath of what happened with her dad.  I want to know what is going on with them....

[tennisgurl]

This was a pretty good episode, but I really wanted some follow up with Grace and Judd after what happened last week with her dad. I guess we can assume that they are still avoiding dealing with the issue for now, but maybe it will come back again in a big way later. I like theme episodes and they did a good job at exploring a lot of different sibling relationships. I can understand why TK is weirded out by his parents having a late in life baby, but I do wonder if this is affecting him wanting to become a paramedic. 

I like that they are exploring the paramedics more, now that the main paramedic character is actually doing her job instead of stalking people we get to see a lot more of what they do. Of course we had to get the whole comical terrible candidates sequence, where every perspective employee is more bumbling than the last, and you knew that there would be something wrong with Mr. Perfect. He has a perfect record because he never takes any risks, and is pretty defensive about it as well. Tommy was pretty nice about it but I laughed at Owen being like "oh, Coward McWimp?" 

The plot with Paul's family was actually quite interesting, even if the ending with the sister being sick and them making up made it a bit of an easy fix. I like how they explored more of the dynamics of his family and that his sisters issues with him weren't really transphobia as much as feeling abandoned. That's a lot more interesting than her just being a jerk who hates Paul for being trans, there really isn't a bad guy here. I can see how, especially to a kid, it would feel like their whole relationship was erased and her sister was just gone and no one was explaining to her what happened. Its too bad its taken them this long to talk, it seems like they both really just understood each other and a talk could have cleared the air a lot, but better late than never. 

I cant decide what the best dark laugh was, the redneck blowing up in his minefield as he says how he knows where every mine is, or the "Despite how it looks, we aren't that close" opener. Grace always gets the wildest calls. 

[iMonrey]

Only eight episodes this season. I wonder if these were shot before COVID. They mentioned COVID this episode though didn't they?

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I like how they explored more of the dynamics of his family and that his sisters issues with him weren't really transphobia as much as feeling abandoned

My oldest and youngest daughters are 10 years apart, and when my oldest moved out the youngest had similar abandonment issues, so it felt authentic to me. 

[anna0852]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

Only eight episodes this season. I wonder if these were shot before COVID. They mentioned COVID this episode though didn't they?

There's more than 8. They're just breaking for a month or so.

[BooksRule]

6 hours ago, sempervivum said:

And it's probably not woke of me, but I was actually a bit offended at the way Paul dismissed that by saying her sister 'never really existed'.

I was, too!  I thought he was going to say that some part of her sister (the part that bonded with the younger girl) still existed 'inside' or something.  I didn't like the way he just dismissed that whole history.

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Also, Cleo King, who played Paul's mother, simply does not age. She was on Friends almost 20 years ago (she was the nurse when Rachel had her baby) and she looks exactly the same. There's a portrait of her somewhere in an attic that ages instead.

Thank you for listing her name!  I knew the face and knew her voice, but couldn't remember where I knew her from.  Lots of things, according to imdb.com, but to me she will always be Nana, my favorite character on 'Mike & Molly'!

Edited February 24, 2021 by BooksRule

[preeya]

This is the guy that gets blown to bits in the minefield.

Is that Peter Krause?

[shapeshifter]

13 minutes ago, preeya said:

This is the guy that gets blown to bits in the minefield.

Is that Peter Krause?

Hah! Definitely not Peter Krause. 
It might be this guy: (see Jonathan Stanley as Earl Goetz at https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14018836/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast)

) 
 

Edited February 24, 2021 by shapeshifter

[anna0852]

Thought: if those twins were so conjoined they couldn't be separated, then wouldn't they share a circulatory system? So even if one chokes the other is still breathing and oxygenating both. Not a long term thing of course but at least til paramedics got there.

[shapeshifter]

12 hours ago, anna0852 said:

Thought: if those twins were so conjoined they couldn't be separated, then wouldn't they share a circulatory system? So even if one chokes the other is still breathing and oxygenating both. Not a long term thing of course but at least til paramedics got there.

Maybe they have 2 sets of lungs and 2 hearts?

[anna0852]

It wouldn't matter if their bloodstreams were inter connected though. And I am assuming that since they were 34 and weren't separated when they were born, that they're conjoined in such a way that separation is impossible. And I can't see how they can be so intertwined without sharing a bloodstream.

 I'm probably thinking about this way more than the writers did.

[jewel21]

I just kept thinking what would happen in the one brother died. Could they cut him out? It was hard to see where they were conjoined. 

[juliet73]

On 2/25/2021 at 11:36 PM, jewel21 said:

I just kept thinking what would happen in the one brother died. Could they cut him out? It was hard to see where they were conjoined. 

They were conjoined at the head.