S06.E03: The Waiting Room

[Portia]

Symbol or not, that's one ugly-ass ring.

[izabella]

Does Amber not have a car anymore? I don't remember seeing her jalopy since her car accident. So she took the bus to visit Drew in his dorm and then they took the bus to whoever's house his car is parked at so they could go on this road trip.

 

Amber does still have her car.  She told Drew that her car wouldn't make it all the way to Wyoming, so she asked to borrow his.

[Panopticon]

This episode is the first episode of Parenthood I've watched in probably years with no fastforwarding and minimal feelings of disgust. Because it can't be said enough: no Max and no Kristina is a vast improvement.

 

Even though it made no sense for Amber to insist on telling Ryan on THAT particular day, I did think it worked very well structurally to have the road trip as a subplot while the older two generations were busy at the hospital. I liked Amber apologizing for letting Drew find out from someone other than her. I liked Drew insisting on driving Amber. I liked Amber teasing Drew to play I Spy. I liked Drew being polite to Ryan but side-eyeing the drugs. I liked Amber being tempted to fall back into trying to "fix" Ryan. I LOVED Drew being assertive and dropping truth all over Amber about how she can't do that anymore and pulling out the "remember Dad" card.

 

I'm okay with the Ruby storyline. The show has done adoptive kids (badly) and long lost kids (simplisticly) but not step kids. Ruby is a lot less annoying to me than Gilmore Girls' April because she has always existed (just not always on screen) and because she isn't being pushed as a perfect younger version of one of the show's main characters.

 

That is, I WAS okay with it until I had to roll my eyes out of my head at Hank's ex-wife forbidding contact between Sarah and Ruby. At first I thought it was a nice surprise when she believed Sarah's story about the lipstick right away, like a mother who knew her kid and was mature enough to set aside her own feelings about her ex having a current. But then... nope. Revert to the most sterotypical lowest common denominator melodrama.

 

I thought the filmwork with Crosby getting on his bike in a rage and weaving back and forth over the yellow line was excellent. I continue to be amused that Crosby seems to be far more reliable and competent professionally than Adam at this point in their lives. Adam going in for the hug and inadvertantly hurting Crosby was very well done too.

 

Poor Julia and Joel. I did feel for them. I would, however, feel for them more if Joel had ever gotten a point of view last season. It's insane that neither the viewers nor Julia know for sure why he gave up on their marriage last year or why he wants to try again now.

 

Here's hoping we don't have to have double Max next week to make up for this week's reprieve.

Edited October 11, 2014 by Panopticon

[txhorns79]

That irked me too...wait a minute ex-wife, you moved the kid half way across the country away from her father, then you move back when the kid's having issues, and tell your ex to BE A FATHER and fix it, oh and to hell with any personal life he may have now.

 

In fairness to her, it isn't as though she told him to break up with Sarah.  She just said that Hank had to be focused on Ruby when Ruby was with him, and to not have Sarah around when Ruby was over.  I could agree that her demand is somewhat over the top, but Hank is pretty disengaged with his daughter, and it seems obvious that he has to dramatically change his focus and work on his parenting, which would mean his girlfriend should take a backseat temporarily. 

[Cattitude]

In fairness to her, it isn't as though she told him to break up with Sarah.  She just said that Hank had to be focused on Ruby when Ruby was with him, and to not have Sarah around when Ruby was over.  I could agree that her demand is somewhat over the top, but Hank is pretty disengaged with his daughter, and it seems obvious that he has to dramatically change his focus and work on his parenting, which would mean his girlfriend should take a backseat temporarily. 

 

This is the same point I got from it. What bothered me about that scene is she is his ex-wife for a reason, and he has since done some reality checks and is trying to change his habits based on the fact he may be autistic. They have a lot of baggage and I think it is unfair for him to be keeping her in the dark about some of the reasons they may have not worked out and how that can still be affecting his relationship with his daughter. I think his ex sees him as a guy who purposely loses himself in work to keep from having to deal with hard stuff and her ultimatum was her way of trying to get HIM to parent his daughter. All it would take is for him to meet with her in private and discuss his autism and she might be another member of team Hank to HELP him and Ruby connect better, plus it might deflate some of her residual resentment from their divorce to understand better why they didn't work.

[BC Mama]

To just drop in on Ryan like that was a pretty crappy thing to do.  He had a point: it's not exactly fair of Amber to say he doesn't have his paternal act together when he just learned he was a father two minutes ago.  Drew's also right -- in all likelihood, Ryan is never going to be dad material.  But Amber's handling of the situation wasn't optimal.  I'm not sure what, exactly, qualifies her to be super-judgy about parental qualifications, as she doesn't exactly have it all figured out or all together, either.  

 

I'm a Ryan fan, and I hope he gets his act together by the series finale, but I am with Amber on this one. He has lied to her in the past about the extent of his problems and about his dependence on meds, and suddenly reenlisted without warning. She has the right to have her guard up, and put the baby first.

 

That irked me too...wait a minute ex-wife, you moved the kid half way across the country away from her father, then you move back when the kid's having issues, and tell your ex to BE A FATHER and fix it, oh and to hell with any personal life he may have now. 

 

Me too! Hank is really out of touch with his child, but it is not through a total lack of effort on his part. He did leave his business and Sarah to follow Sandy and Ruby across the country. It would be nice if the show gave us a bit more detail as to why this arrangement didn't work out, but he did try. And, saying to an out of touch father, she's fallen in with a bad crowd is incredibly vague. Sandy needed to be more upfront with the extent of Ruby's problems, before she punished him for not staying on top of them. 

[txhorns79]

All it would take is for him to meet with her in private and discuss his autism and she might be another member of team Hank to HELP him and Ruby connect better, plus it might deflate some of her residual resentment from their divorce to understand better why they didn't work.

 

I think that may just piss her off.  Hank doesn't have a diagnosis, and we really have no idea why their relationship didn't work.  It feels like that would be a way for him to retroactively excuse whatever he did, while she gets left on the hook for her behavior.   

 

 

She has the right to have her guard up, and put the baby first.

 

One thing I find interesting is that Amber doesn't really seem to be considering that Ryan can make things very difficult for her if he wanted to.  It's his baby too, and he can easily go to court to establish his rights, custody arrangements and a visitation schedule, whether she likes it or not.  I would agree that Ryan is not in the best place to be a parent, but I did feel like Amber just showed up at his house, dumped all this information on him and did a whole emotional hit job where she vacillated between "we can do this together!" and "you and I both know that you can't do this right now."  I didn't think that was particularly fair to him.   

[Mittengirl]

As far as Ruby and Sarah spending time together, if Ruby is going to hang out at Hank's studio then she is going to be around Sarah. Is Hank's ex aware that Sarah works there? If they are going to force Ruby to be there after school (doubt it is her idea) then Sandy is going to have to deal with it.

All in all, the Sarah storyline seems superfluous in a final season. If there was one more left, maybe Sarah and Ruby trying to have a relationship might be interesting. But given we only have about 10 episodes left, I think there are more important things they could do with Sarah. Really get to know her kids, find a good, steady job that allows her to get a nice place to live, just get her shit together as a woman inching up on 50 years old. Beyond her surfing ad campaign, what else has she done as a photog?

[takalotti]

Symbol or not, that's one ugly-ass ring.

Agreed. It looked like a class ring more than a wedding ring. It was just weird.

[Shermie]

Yeah, that was an odd wedding ring, especially for one from way back in the day when simple gold bands were the standard.

So are they going to have a different Braverman death fake out in each episode until the finale? I'd almost admire them for having that level of cheeseballs.

Or maybe the Luncheonette will be the one that dies. Of neglect.

[backformore]

Yeah, I was surprised at Zeek's wedding ring.   He's of the age where women wore wedding rings, and for men, it was optional.  Men rarely wore any jewelry other than a watch.   Wedding ceremonies didn't even always include the bride giving the groom a ring.  

Men of his generation either had a simple gold band, or no ring at all. 

 

I do think that Crosby has some sort of internal injury that will cause him to keel over next episode.   Just a hunch, not a spoiler.  It just seemed they were setting us up for that.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I know senior college students living in dorms.

I know fifth year seniors who were able to live in the dorms at their schools. I also know of some schools that required students to live on campus for three years. But the point is that Cal is not a fictional college where Parenthood can make up whatever crap they want.

 

UC Berkeley is a very large public university that is quite well known and it's pretty common knowledge (at least in California) that most UC campuses only have enough space for students to live in the dorms during their first year, which is why sophomores do not live in the dorms at Cal.

 

You can apply to continue living in the dorms, but your name gets put into a lottery IF there are any rooms available after all the freshmen are assigned rooms. In this day and age with how overcrowded the UC campuses are, it almost never happens at the larger campuses. Maybe UC Merced, but at UC Berkeley, you will almost never find sophomores living in the dorms. At this point, I know better than to expect realism from Parenthood but it's really annoying that the show doesn't bother to do even the most basic research about things that lots of viewers will know are incorrect.

 

ITA that they could have easily converted the set for Drew's dorm into an off campus studio without much cost and it would have been way more believable and would have required very little explanation. They could have done the entire scene of Amber at Drew's new dorm room saying exactly the same thing: "So this is your new place?"

 

Is he supposed to be living with the same roommate from last year (the lacrosse player)? For schools that provide on campus housing for second and third year students, it is always interesting to see what happens when people are allowed to choose their roommates (as opposed to getting assigned a freshman roommate). I have seen major drama over that ("Why do you want to live with her instead of meeeeeeee?").

[txhorns79]

But the point is that Cal is not a fictional college where Parenthood can make up whatever crap they want.

 

In fairness, unless you attend the school, or have some kind of specific knowledge as to that one university, you aren't going to know either way whether sophomores live in the dorm or not, so I can't really fault them over such a small point.  At least for me, it doesn't seem like all that big a deal on a show where we are supposed to believe Kristina is running a school.  

[Shermie]

Yeah, this is a fictional show set in a different universe. Sure, they are using real places sometimes, but they're also using fictional characters, so I have no issue with, of all minor details, Drew living in a dorm. In all the areas that Parenthoood asks me to suspend my disbelief, this is not even in the top 50.

Interesting that several people think Crosby might have more serious injuries. It did seem like a pointless scene - not just the crash, but the entire bike ride of aggravation - so it might lead to something more. Of all the movie-show parallels, Crosby is the least like his movie counterpart at this point, so I guess they could kill him off for dramatic effect. At least Jasmine would get to do something besides hold Aida.

[potatoradio]

I have every confidence that the show will go out in a flaming ball of cheese and Amber will give birth to baby Zeek when Zeek collapses in his garden, but, for the record, I'm intrigued with the idea of Crosby having suffered a mysterious internal injury for his stupid moped ride of rage and a surprise death.

 

I confess to being a completely cynical, angry hatewatcher, but I gotta say...I would not turn down a finale where Special Snowflake Academy burns down ala Little House on the Prairie "May We Make them Proud." Think of it - MW could ugly cry while BB battery rams a window with the new baby Zeek. Kristina could scream at the fire that it's not fair and it can't burn her precious snowflakes. Adam could mope and say "well, we're all going to die...Max, get out." Max: "No. I'm not going." Sydney shows up with Julia, tries to reverse her brattiness and runs inside to save everyone. Sarah shows up with sudden training as a fireman and puts out the fire. 

 

 

I mean, I know it would suck that Snowflake Academy wouldn't exist to "make kids happy," but I'm just evil and mad enough at this show to really hope for something on a LHOP level of melodrama. I mean, I thought schools were for teaching, not fulfilling a kid's every demand so that they're happy. The things you learn...

 

 

 

 

[Beezella]

Twizzlers notwithstanding, I still think Julia's BF, , Mr. Permastubble, looks like a sleazeball.

 

I agree and I don't even know why. He does nothing for me and I don't see why he does for Julia. He seems to still have a college crush on Julia and nothing more.

[CMH1981]

Some of us may think that Mr. Permastubble may be sleazy or have a darker side we haven't seen yet, but let's face facts he is hot piece with a ripped hair body and seems to be meeting all of Julia's needs in the bedroom.

 

I'm curious about something though, I have no experience of my own or others to draw on, but can a marriage survive after a separation if one or both parties has been meeting/dating/intercourse w/others before the divorce is finalized, if it even happens?  I mean i'm one that hopes Julia and Joel get back together, but I mean he had problems before w/Julia and Ed and that was just a kiss, and now she is going full out horizontal w/different guys.  I'm not sure I could look past that, and i'm not sure Joel can either.  I do understand he is at fault for this current situation after all, so he really can't say anything.  Does anyone know of people that have dealt with something like this?  I don't mean an open relationship either.

Edited October 12, 2014 by CMH1981

[Branchop]

My biggest thing with the whole Ruby thing:

As soon as it came up, Hank told Mom about it and she wasn't surprised - like it happened before. If she expects Hank to "Father Up" shouldn't she give him the whole picture? Hank may have not let her go to the store or at least given Sarah a heads up.

Telling Hank not to have Sarah around is stupid and unfair. Sarah may not be the greatest mom, but she has already done this age with two kids. If I was so unhinged with my daughter, I would welcome a new perspective. If Sarah knew this was not the first time Ruby may have shoplifted, she could have handled the situation differently.

On Crosby:

I immediately thought internal injury.

[takalotti]

And, saying to an out of touch father, she's fallen in with a bad crowd is incredibly vague. Sandy needed to be more upfront with the extent of Ruby's problems, before she punished him for not staying on top of them.

My biggest thing with the whole Ruby thing:

As soon as it came up, Hank told Mom about it and she wasn't surprised - like it happened before. If she expects Hank to "Father Up" shouldn't she give him the whole picture?

I wholeheartedly agree. When Sandy chastised Hank, saying, "What part of our daughter being in distress did you not understand?!?" I really wanted Hank to say, "Uh, how about the part where you said 'she fell in with a bad crowd' and gave NO other details!" Out of character, of course, but that's what I shouted at my TV at least.

[JasminePhyllisia]

Since we're talking about what is and isn't realistic, how realistic is it for a patient about to undergo major surgery to be assigned to a room overlooking a graveyard?

What hospital actually has patient rooms with a graveyard view? I'm thinking this wasn't sloppy writing but maybe some attempt at foreshadowing.

[KaveDweller]

When it comes to veterans struggling with PTSD it's my understanding that where they live is very relevant.

 

Wasn't the whole reason Ryan went to Wyoming because his mother lived there? While she obviously had her issues, I thought she was bringing Ryan there to stay with her.  That didn't seem to be the case, so Ryan's current situation seems pretty unhealthy.  If there's no family there he should be somewhere with resources that can help him.

[BC Mama]

Wasn't the whole reason Ryan went to Wyoming because his mother lived there? While she obviously had her issues, I thought she was bringing Ryan there to stay with her.  That didn't seem to be the case, so Ryan's current situation seems pretty unhealthy.  If there's no family there he should be somewhere with resources that can help him.

I think he was living with his mom. He made a comment about the place being a mess and his mom always smoking.

[Eeksquire]

 

What hospital actually has patient rooms with a graveyard view? I'm thinking this wasn't sloppy writing but maybe some attempt at foreshadowing.

A lot of older hospitals do - it was expedient back in the day, especially when dealing with infectious diseases pre-antibiotics.  In fact, the hospital room my mother was in a couple of weeks ago overlooked the cemetery next door (and the rest of the city - all of the patient rooms are on much higher floors than Zeke's was in the show).

 

[Joel] had problems before w/Julia and Ed and that was just a kiss, and now she is going full out horizontal w/different guys.  I'm not sure I could look past that, and i'm not sure Joel can either.

He's going to have to if he wants to get back together, especially since he was the one who repeatedly said that he wouldn't try, he wouldn't go to counseling, everything was over.  What did he expect her to do? 

 

All of that aside, Drew was the MVP of this episode.  For once he grows a spine! AND, miracle of miracles, Amber actually LISTENED to someone! Unless they're blowing sunshine up her ass, she generally ignores everyone's advice.

[stillshimpy]

Yeah, I've got no sympathy for Joel at this stage.  He keeps trying to unilaterally decide the fate of his marriage, without benefit of a conversation.  I get that he thinks, and that there's validity to the belief, that Julia did not treat him as an equal partner.  One of his specific complaints was that Julia quit her job without even discussing it with him.  Discussions are warranted in general, Joel. I like Joel and I appreciate that the show finally got around to rendering him as a human being, rather than Saint Fix-it , but he's got no one but himself to blame at this stage in the game, for the hurt he just incurred.  

 

I don't have a lot to add, other than Crosby Cruise of Rage really was a time-waster if nothing comes of it, but I have been assuming it's Amber's baby that is doomed, not one of the characters.  

 

By the way, I think I have proof that Bonnie Bedelia has never watched herself on this show: her hair.  My word, it takes a lot to get me to notice bad hairdos, but she's really still very lovely and the permanent bed-head-in-the-back of her current cut is something that keeps trying to upstage her.  

 

 

 

Amber does still have her car.  She told Drew that her car wouldn't make it all the way to Wyoming, so she asked to borrow his.

 

I liked that Drew managed to not say, "Are you deranged?  No way am I letting you drive my car to Wyoming, while upset.  It would be  swifter to burn it for the insurance money than subject it to that doomed voyage.  Yikes."  

I'm not hate-watching, by the way, I just watched the series on Netflix and joined in for the last season.  I think a lot of the more troubling and annoying aspects of this show are reduced in severity when you take it all at once, rather than spread it out over years.  

 

Except for Kristina and Max, by the way. Throw Adam in high dudgeon and the insufferable-meter collapses from exhaustion.  

Edited October 13, 2014 by stillshimpy

[camom]

I may have missed it, but when Crosby returned to the hospital after his bike ride and accident, I don't think anyone asked him where he'd been or why he was limping.  I mean, I know they were concerned about Zeek, but they're really an unobservant bunch.

[3 is enough]

On a truly shallow note, what was up with Amber's shorts?  I know the character is supposed to be quirky and unique, but those were beyond ugly.  Seriously.

[CynicalGirl]

^ They had to make them ugly, to go with that uglier shirt?

[ShadowFacts]

Amber looked altogether unkempt, maybe we're supposed to think she's having the early pregnancy blahs. 

[txhorns79]

By the way, I think I have proof that Bonnie Bedelia has never watched herself on this show: her hair.  My word, it takes a lot to get me to notice bad hairdos, but she's really still very lovely and the permanent bed-head-in-the-back of her current cut is something that keeps trying to upstage her.

 

Bonnie has had horrible hair since Season 1.  At this point, I just assume she thinks she looks awesome, and the hair people on the show drink heavily in her presence.   

[stillshimpy]

Bonnie has had horrible hair since Season 1.  At this point, I just assume she thinks she looks awesome, and the hair people on the show drink heavily in her presence.

 

Yeah, I'm aware that she's actually reverted back to her first season haircut.  For a little bit she had it at least semi-fixed, but she's gone back to the 'do that made me wonder if she'd ever seen it from a distance and now I have my answer: Pretty sure that's a no.  

 

One thing I do like about the show is that the characters have very consistent flaws -- as maddening as that can be at time -- and that was never truer than with Adam in this episode.  His demanding, micro-managing, fit-throwing response to feeling like he has no real power in a situation has been present since day one. I have to really hand it to Peter Krause, because the man commits and just releases any internalized need for his character to be liked in those moments.  

 

Random thought of the episode though was that wasn't it nice that Camille and Zeke downsized to a place with a bazillion stairs with an incoming, giant, recovering heart surgery patient?  

[kathybgd]

Potatoradio, I'm still lmao especially about Sarah showing up with her instant fireman skills! How perfect! Now THATs a series finale that would satisfy me. This show has turned into such a cheesy mess that to go out all serious at this point isn't going to cut it with me.

[takalotti]

I'm realizing that I really don't get what the show's position is regarding Ryan and pills. When Amber and Drew showed up, Drew gave the bottles the side-eye, and later Amber asked how he was doing with them. The implication to me is that the show seems to be trying to say that taking pills is bad, and being off them is good. This is consistent with how Amber acted back when they lived together and she found a newly refilled bottle that he was hiding and lied about.

And this would be okay with me if they were saying Ryan has an addiction to his pills. But I never really got that message explicitly. Maybe I wasn't paying attention, or maybe it was buried in some over-talking/excessive-crying scene.

So without that explanation, I always thought the issue was that Ryan had an actual issue (like PTSD) that legitimately warranted taking pills, but that he was mismanaging using them. Not in abusive way, but in an unbalanced way like, "I feel better now, so I'll decide on my own I don't need to take pills," even though the pills were the reason he felt better and then, "My problem is back! I'll decide on my own to take the pills again and how many I should take even though I've been off them for a while!"

That's a real situation that people get into, and that's what I thought the show was portraying way back when. But now everyone's acting like pills are bad. Not if you actually need them and use them correctly.

On the other hand, I don't know why I'm expecting this show to give a consistent message on anything.

[Lovecat]

I have no experience of my own or others to draw on, but can a marriage survive after a separation if one or both parties has been meeting/dating/intercourse w/others before the divorce is finalized, if it even happens?

No idea, but I'm going to have to incorporate "going full on horizontal" into my lexicon ASAP :)

Add me to the Crosby Deathwatch Team...and it would make me very sad if they bumped off Crosby, because he's one of my favorites. I was actually yelling "Noooooooooooo!!!!" at the teevee during the motorcycle scene.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Lovecat

[BC Mama]

Bonnie has had horrible hair since Season 1.  At this point, I just assume she thinks she looks awesome, and the hair people on the show drink heavily in her presence.   

 

I think her hair has been pretty horrid since Die Hard! 

 

I'm realizing that I really don't get what the show's position is regarding Ryan and pills. When Amber and Drew showed up, Drew gave the bottles the side-eye, and later Amber asked how he was doing with them. The implication to me is that the show seems to be trying to say that taking pills is bad, and being off them is good. This is consistent with how Amber acted back when they lived together and she found a newly refilled bottle that he was hiding and lied about.

And this would be okay with me if they were saying Ryan has an addiction to his pills. But I never really got that message explicitly. Maybe I wasn't paying attention, or maybe it was buried in some over-talking/excessive-crying scene.

So without that explanation, I always thought the issue was that Ryan had an actual issue (like PTSD) that legitimately warranted taking pills, but that he was mismanaging using them. Not in abusive way, but in an unbalanced way like, "I feel better now, so I'll decide on my own I don't need to take pills," even though the pills were the reason he felt better and then, "My problem is back! I'll decide on my own to take the pills again and how many I should take even though I've been off them for a while!"

That's a real situation that people get into, and that's what I thought the show was portraying way back when. But now everyone's acting like pills are bad. Not if you actually need them and use them correctly.

On the other hand, I don't know why I'm expecting this show to give a consistent message on anything.

 

I agree. I have been taking pills for depression and OCD for ten years, and they are a healthy part of my routine. I resent the implication that they are a weakness. But, I don't think that Amber judged him for his earlier pill use though. I think she was concerned and hurt that he felt the need to hide them. I wonder if the pills in this episode were painkillers Ryan had become addicted to since his accident. 

[backformore]

That's a real situation that people get into, and that's what I thought the show was portraying way back when. But now everyone's acting like pills are bad. Not if you actually need them and use them correctly.

 

I agree.  Addiction to narcotic painkillers is a real problem, but it's not a weakness, exactly, it's just that doctors prescribe meds that are addictive, and people can end up abusing them.  that said, looking at pill bottles and implying that they are part of a problem gives the impression that meds=bad.  i know plenty of people who take antidepressant and anti-anxiety meds and are able to work full-time and take care of families, BECAUSE they take meds. 

 

I'm kind of getting hints that the creator of the show has several agendas that we are seeing. 

Like - 

Psych meds - bad

Regular schools for kids with autism - bad

charter schools - good

gluten-free - a fad  (which I agree with to some extent, though SOME kids with autism respond to a gluten free diet, most do not) 

[alexvillage]

I agree with you about the meds. It is something that is vital for some people, not necessarily bad. And most people who take medication actually say that their quality of life improves because of the meds.

This is one reason why I don't think the PTSD story was done well, and because I already said I don't really care about Ryan and Amber, I wish they had not gone there.

Oh well, one more thing.

 

I had forgotten about the gluten free thing with Jabar. Did that get anywhere? And he was also lactose intolerant in the first season, they probably forgot that too.

 

The problem with gluten free as a special diet "for autism" is that people confuse co-occurrence conditions with symptoms. Many Autistics do have GI problems, which is not autism, but because they are also Autistic, things get bungled together. I have serious GI issues, I am not Autistic. My friend and roommate is Autistic and has no GI issues and I know enough people to work all the combinations of autism and co-occurrences that are just that: co-occurrences.

 

Of course, if a gluten free diet (or any other diet) helps with such conditions, the reactions to the environment and to discomfort an Autistic can experience in a much intense way, will reduce and the overall "behavior" (for lack of a better word) will improve.

But the diet is not "helping with the autism", it is helping the person in a broader way

[BluenoserGal]

I just got back from a week-long conference in the US, and I heartily agree about the US/Canadian twizzler situation. I innocently bought a US package thinking they were the same and summarily threw them in the garbage. Awful awful awful.

Kind of like this show right now. The entire Lorelai/Sarah/Hank storyline is a non-starter. I DON"T CARE about his ex or his kid. I really don't. Sarah's been inconsistent with her 'career' all along, so the fact she keeps changing her mind doesn't bother me. What does bother me is that she is instantly successful at whatever she chooses. Writes a play, it gets performed. Takes a picture, hired to shoot a whole ad portfolio. UGH. It's a wonder she didn't offer to help with Zeke's surgery.

Joel can suck it -- he deserved the phone call admission -- he put Julia through hell for almost a year. Fuck him.

I'm on the bandwagon about the tm Snowflake Academy going down in metaphorical, if not literal, flames. Hey, the mayoral also-ran can then start something new. Again. I'm so tired of Christina.

[Eeksquire]

You know I was going to complain about Kristina, but I think all roads of discontent and this show (and me, YMMV) lead to Max.  I didn't mind and even kind of enjoyed Kristina when she was dealing with Haddie and Alex.  (Also, it is uncanny how much those two actresses are alike - I don't know if it's looks or mannerisms or some combination of the two, but they are extremely convincing as a mother and daughter.)  I don't think it's the actor's fault, I think it's just that the story lines are SO OUTLANDISH and annoying.  Student Council President! Skittles! Pee canteen! Snowflake Academy!  Just ... make it stop.  It's particularly egregious when the first season (with the pirate costume and the initial diagnosis and change of schools) was so well done.

 

I beginning to think Katims shouldn't be allowed to move past the first season of any show he begins.

[KaveDweller]

I think he was living with his mom. He made a comment about the place being a mess and his mom always smoking.

 

Okay, I missed that line.  It doesn't seem like she's being that helpful for him, so hopefully the baby will be motivation for Ryan to get his crap together himself.

[MaryPatShelby]

From your fingertips to god's ears.

Hearing Betsy Brandt talk to someone named "Hank" again just made me chuckle. At least she's not all in purple.

Not only that, but it completely cracked me up when "Marie", of all people, was appalled at shoplifting!

[islagirl]

Well, not necessarily. It would only be a week or two, at most, for a time skip, right? I'm not really sure how long this surgery recovery time is, but it's still possible for there to be reprecussions for Crosby's accident, especially if he doesn't get himself checked out for further injuries. 

 

They boot you pretty quickly even after open heart surgery.  My 78yo dad had an emergency quad bypass last July. He was sent home (in what I thought was rough shape but he was ready to go) four days later.  And yes, the blood thinners would be a huge issue - my dad had to go back into surgery overnight to find a bleed, and that was just having had aspirin sometime in the week before surgery.  

 

But don't you understaaaaand? It's a symbolllll! See, the ring represented Zeke's strength. He's a tough guy, you know. It's hard to tell because no one mentions it. Anyway, taking the ring off meant he would be vulnerable, so he HAD to wait until the last second to take it off. And he had to have it back immediately afterwards, regardless of the fact that he'd likely be bloated from IV fluid, to show that he was gonna make it. So not cheesy at all!

 

Not that I want to watch a realistic depiction of how awful it is right after open heart surgery (it would be very poignant TV but it's too fresh for me to relive), but that was ridiculous.  My dad didn't wake up in the ICU until 14 hours after his first surgery, he was vomiting and incoherent for his entire stay in the ICU, and couldn't fit his shoes or belt on four days later to go home because of all the IV fluids.  I guess Zeke's ring of strength really did bring him right back to normal within hours.  My eyes are going to roll out of my head if he goes right home to climbing all the stairs in that Victorian of theirs.

 

Cynicism aside, since they went down this road I hope they mine this storyline for all the dramatic potential it has, and really examine the shift in family dynamic that can come with an elderly parent's serious health issues.  This show has always been best at the intimate family interactions, and I'd love to see a return to that in these closing chapters.

[ShadowFacts]

 

You know I was going to complain about Kristina, but I think all roads of discontent and this show (and me, YMMV) lead to Max.  I didn't mind and even kind of enjoyed Kristina when she was dealing with Haddie and Alex.

 

I agree.  There is a lot to like about Kristina, leaving aside all Max issues.  She has handled many tough situations pretty well, in my opinion.  Amber's situation with Bob the candidate, Adam's kiss with the first receptionist at the Luncheonette, her own cancer, her friend's final days and death, voters when she ran for mayor.  She is caring and nurturing and has to put up with a huge family's worth of crap at times.

[Beezella]

I would call this a nitpik, and I suppose they did it for drama, but during a many-hours long serious operation, someone (obviously not the doctor, but a nurse or liaison person) would have come out several times and kept the family updated on the progress.

 

Might it be Ryan who dies? Did they say main character, or original core character?

[mythoughtis]

On 10/11/2014 at 4:34 PM, Cattitude said:

 

This is the same point I got from it. What bothered me about that scene is she is his ex-wife for a reason, and he has since done some reality checks and is trying to change his habits based on the fact he may be autistic. They have a lot of baggage and I think it is unfair for him to be keeping her in the dark about some of the reasons they may have not worked out and how that can still be affecting his relationship with his daughter. I think his ex sees him as a guy who purposely loses himself in work to keep from having to deal with hard stuff and her ultimatum was her way of trying to get HIM to parent his daughter. All it would take is for him to meet with her in private and discuss his autism and she might be another member of team Hank to HELP him and Ruby connect better, plus it might deflate some of her residual resentment from their divorce to understand better why they didn't work.

She didn’t tell him what was really going on with Ruby. She said she had problems.  It was only after he told her about the shoplifting that she admitted this was already happening, and more besides.  If she thinks Hank isn’t leaving Ruby’s side she’s delusional.  

I’m glad Drew cares about his sister... but Amber is pregnant with Ryan’s baby. Ryan will be part of Ambers life. 

How did we go from Zeke’s surgery having a 96% success rate with some complications if not successful... to the family acting as if he has a good chance of dying on the table.   It was maudlin and not realistic. 

Joel- you left your wife a year ago, you flat out told her you didn’t want to work on your marriage... you are surprised that she is seeing someone.