S05.E16: The Enchanting Mr. Knight

[Tara Ariano]

Kristina starts a new adventure; while Amber encourages Drew to move on, Julia has a difficult time letting go of her past; Sarah considers an offer from Carl; Hank makes a confession.

[Amy]

Is it me, or were all the Braverman kids kind of the worst this week?  In order of  just annoying to worst:

4. Crosby.  He told his mother that she's selfish!  And yet that only makes him the fourth worst of her kids!    Ugh.   Crosby needs to get over his attachment to the house and let his parents deal with their own marriage.   Thank goodness he has Jasmine to tell him how to be a normal human being.   I have to admit that I laughed when he and Jasmine were listening at the vent and he complained that his mom said he was the most selfish, because obviously that's Sarah!  They are the least bad because at least they figured out that they should leave. Even though they aren't going to.

3.  Adam and Kristina.  They showed up at a teacher's house unexpectedly!  This whole thing with starting a school is weird to me, but I don't live in a place where charter schools are a thing, so maybe it's more normal than I think.   Also, it's weird that "the enchanting Mr. Knight" is played by Dave from Happy Endings.   I guess he's supposed to be a good teacher, but he just comes off as creepy to me.   Also, they get bonus "worst" points just because Adam is Adam.

2.  Sarah.  She can't make the correct career or love life decision to save her life, can she?    Why should she need Hank to tell her to do her damn job?    I actually really like Ray Romano as Hank, and I love it when he is hanging out with Max.  And I love it when he sees Dr. Abbott, I mean Dr. Pelikan.   But I do not want Hank and Sarah to get back together.  She needs to move on!  I'm not sure how I feel about this new guy, but why can't she just let him go to Africa and see him when he gets back?  It's only for a week!   She can casually date a nice doctor!   Why is it always all or nothing for her?

1.  JULIA.  The worst of the worst.  I can not believe that she just gave in to Sydney like that just because Sydney was whining a little.   And then she just let Joel deal with the fallout from her broken promise.  Ugh. No wonder he has no interest in reconciling with her!   Up to this season, Joel has always been my favorite Braverman spouse, but this year I didn't get why he was just done with the marriage and unwilling to talk.   However, I'm starting to see that dealing with Julia can be difficult to say the least.  First, she was working all the time and just left him to deal with all the kid/school stuff.   And then she quit her job without discussing it with him first.  And so he just went out and got a job and started supporting the family. But all she did was complain about being home with her kids!    All the stuff that he had been doing without complaint for years was too hard for her!  And she didn't give his job the same respect that he had given hers.  So, you know what?  FREE JOEL. (And I hope he gets the house and custody of the kids.)

[Portia]

It's not just you, Amy. All four Braverman kids are indeed the worst. Also the worst: Ed. Camielle. SYDNEY.  I think it's to the show's credit that at their very worst, I still find all the characters kind of likeable, and at their very best, I find them all kind of awful.

[BizBuzz]

Awwww ... Peter Krause about to cry, made me tear up. I have had a crush on him for a while now, so that was pretty easy to do.

I really don't understand Camille. I don't know if I really want to either.

Amber, huh? And another huh about Natalie? Wasn't she a little loose and now she has a moral radar about Drew? Another moment to scratch my head.

So Sarah realizes she was impulsive? Like that is a shocker.

Please no, to Jules and Ed, are they taking us there? Ugh.

[HyacinthBucket]

I understand that the Bravermans want what's best for Max, but I'm tired of them only seeing things from their point of view.  What was the history teacher supposed to do with Max when he basically took over the class?  After the first or second time it happened and Max was sent to the library, he (the teacher) certainly should have talked to Adam and Kristina about it so that they could have discussed behavior plans, but I would like to see Joel and Kristina stop making excuses for Max's behavior.  Max has made great strides in the past few years, so why can't he be told - and accept - that he can't monopolize the class discussion?  Opening a charter school seems like an extreme solution, but since they are the Bravermans, nothing is impossible, of course.  I'm just shocked that Sarah didn't have to bat her eyelashes at the English teacher to get his cooperation in helping with the new school. 

 

Camille.  As a woman and an empty-nester myself, I understand her desire to take on new challenges and adventures, but I dislike the way she has gone about doing it.  She has earned the right to her wonderful month in Italy, but I hate how she shut Zeek out of the experience.  She's back, but it's as if she is living in her own little Italian cocoon, and doesn't want to share it with him.  

 

My husband and I have lived in this house for more than 30 years, and I am very attached to it, bad windows and all.  It's where we brought our babies home from the hospital, and where they grew up.  If my husband made the decision that it was time to sell it without considering my feelings at all, I'd be more than pissed off.  Crosby should not have called Camille"selfish," but it seemed as if she were implying that the past 40+ years had been a burden to her.  

[mythoughtis]

I get Camille. She’s finally got her children raised and she wants to travel.  That’s fairly common for retirees. She asked Zeek early on to sell the house so THEY could travel. He responds by bringing home a project car.  So she decided to travel without him. Yes, she should have asked him to go- but it was an art class trip. We don’t know if other spouses went.  Crisby is being selfish. Complaining because she painting his old room Lilac.  

Adam and Kristina had Max in a perfectly good private school- but that wasn’t good enough for them. They wanted to mainstream him. Now they want to start a private school.  I get they want the best for Max - but they are never objective about Max’s needs and wants vs anyone else’s.