S06.E08: Aaron Brownstein Must Be Stopped

[formerlyfreedom]

After a heartbreaking discovery, Max wages a propaganda campaign against another Chambers Academy student. Kristina shields Max from punishment at school, but she can't save him from the pain of young love. Amidst financial troubles at the Luncheonette, Jasmine takes a job to support her family, and Crosby feels like a failure. Hank must put his foot down when Ruby abuses his trust. Amber suffers some pregnancy pains with Crosby by her side.

 

 

[Literata]

OK, so this is episode 8, and Mark Cyr comes back in episode 9 ... which fuels my death speculation. Could something happen to Amber?

[backformore]

Maybe something happens to SARAH.   

I don't know, if it's supposed to be a shocker, it will be someone unexpected, and we've been given hints that it's Zeek, Amber, Crosby -  all mis-direction.    So I say it's Sarah, Amber has a baby girl, and names her Sarah.  The show is ending, so why not?  

[Literata]

 

So I say it's Sarah

Sad, but makes sense.

[LaurenGraham23]

I read somewhere that Sarah appears in the next episode, so I do not think it happens to her.

[Literata]

My husband and I went old-school and watched the Parenthood movie, the one the show is based on, tonight. And if the show is going to mirror the movie, Sarah will find out she's pregnant. That could explain Mark Cyr's return -- he could be around long enough for the two of them to hook up.

Edited November 9, 2014 by Literata

[alexvillage]

Kristina playing favorites with Max in school? Shocking!

[BusyOctober]

I never liked the Mark Cyr character or Jason Ritter as an actor. I wouldn't be upset if his character is the dead man walking. Mr Cyr gets a job at Snowflake Academy. He has lunch prepared by the untrained, barely supervised child labor "cue-linary" students. He gets salmonella and passes out in the bathroom. Kristina can't dial 911 because she is using the phone to yell at Amber for disappointing Max re. Alcatraz.

[MilkMachine]

I never liked the Mark Cyr character or Jason Ritter as an actor. I wouldn't be upset if his character is the dead man walking. Mr Cyr gets a job at Snowflake Academy. He has lunch prepared by the untrained, barely supervised child labor "cue-linary" students. He gets salmonella and passes out in the bathroom. Kristina can't dial 911 because she is using the phone to yell at Amber for disappointing Max re. Alcatraz.

 

That would be a dream come true. Therefore it will never happen.

[Pickles]

This show is ridiculous. Max does not get into trouble for fighting with Aaron and distributing the flyer. Max and the girl he likes have a shrieking match in school. No one gets into trouble. Kristina just chases after Max and says she is so proud of him! Really? No wonder he is a brat. His parents reinforce his bratty, unacceptable behavior.

Amber is doubled over in pain, can barely walk. Oh yeah, those are just Braxton Hicks contractions. She would not be doubled over like that with BH contractions.

Ruby has a party at her mom's house with a hundred kids there. The house is trashed. Ruby goes to bed. Hank cleans up. The mom comes home and laughs and sits on the front step. No freaking out about your trashed house? No big deal, I guess. And the next day, Hank and Ruby are buddies again and play poker together.Ruby annoys me. She looks like she is four feet tall, but with a 35 year old face.

[aw86]

So no follow up on Julia and Joel, more coddling of Max the Menace (that kid is going to end up a murderous stalker), and more Ruby/Hank/Ruby's-mother-that-I-don't-care-enough-about-to-remember-her-name.

 

Kristina just continues to enable Max's creepy behavior by telling him how proud of him she is.  I wish a car had hit him when he ran into that street.

 

I still like Drew though, so I guess that is something

[Spencer Hastings]

There was a lot of dark, curly hair flying around in that fight scene. I didn't know who I was rooting for.

 

Max is ridiculous.  

Edited November 14, 2014 by Spencer Hastings

[AnythingCanBe]

This show is ridiculous. Max does not get into trouble for fighting with Aaron and distributing the flyer. Max and the girl he likes have a shrieking match in school. No one gets into trouble. Kristina just chases after Max and says she is so proud of him! Really? No wonder he is a brat. His parents reinforce his bratty, unacceptable behavior.

 

 

I was actually surprised that Kristina didn't go off on Dylan and the boy she kissed.  How sad is it that I totally expected Kristina to kick them out of school for daring not to accommodate Max.

 

It was so odd that they didn't move the Joel/Julia story forward at all this week after the way the last episode ended.  I know there are weird contractual issues this season, but this time it just felt ridiculous. 

[annlaw78]

Ugh, Kristina's the worst!  Stop glaring at the preteen girl your son is stalking!  Quit calling your son/student who is beating up and sexually harassing other students "buddy" and "babe."  How is stalking a girl who is clearly freaked out and frightened "courageous" and "amazing?"  How is the collage NOT creepy?  Don't tell the student who your son just handed out what could only be a Mean Girls-esque bullying "slam list" about that "I don't care who started it" -- you don't care b/c your AWFUL SON started it!

 

Seriously, how would any adult see the interaction between Max and Dylan and think Max was the victim?  Dylan was trying to tell him tactfully, he just wasn't hearing it.  He just keep getting more and more worked up and threatening -- he wasn't listening or stopping.  

 

Crosby -- it's one thing to spark up a doobie and get laced at home with your wife, but quite another to get high and drive home.  [/Cher Horowitz]  And, good lord, why is it such a big deal that Jasmine has to work outside the home?  That this show has had so many one-income households is so outdated.  

 

Ruby's just terrible and manipulative.  Boo on Hank for immediately trying to get back into "cool parent" mode after the party, suggesting that they lie to Sandy about the poker. 

 

I'm glad Drew finally told Amber the score, and that his education's important. 

Edited November 14, 2014 by annlaw78

[jb1183]

I'm at a complete loss. Are viewers supposed to recognize that Kristina was completely wrong to tell Max how "proud" she was of his stalkerish, sexually harrasing behavior and how "courageous" it was, or are the writers just as delusional as she is? Someday, when the cops find a bunch of womens' bodies buried in Max's backyard, Kristina will be crying and telling reporters, "I never saw the signs! He was always such a good boy!"

Ugh, Kristina's the worst!  Stop glaring at the preteen girl your son is stalking!  Quit calling your son/student who is beating up and sexually harassing other students "buddy" and "babe."  How is stalking a girl who is clearly freaked out and frightened "courageous" and "amazing?"  How is the collage NOT creepy?  Don't tell the student who your son just handed out what could only be a Mean Girls-esque bullying "slam list" about that "I don't care who started it" -- you don't care b/c your AWFUL SON started it!

Yeah, Kristina, way to protect a girl who is being stalked and sexually harrassed by another student at your school! She sucks as both a school administrator and a mother. I absolutely believe that If the roles were reversed, Aaron would have been immediately expelled for the same behavior.

Edited November 14, 2014 by jb1183

[AuxArx]

I really cannot stand Max.  Don't most schools expel students for fighting?  The only thing positive that might come from that story is that maybe Max will learn acceptable behavior from the other students when they tell him he's creepy, or he's being a bully.  He sure won't hear it from his worthless parents.

[Shermie]

Is Kristina the only adult at Snowflake Academy? What is all this "go back to class" that the kids talk about, what class? All I see is a bunch of teens walking around, lounging around. The whole school, even the kitchen (which wouldn't be allowed re health code) is wide open to the students.

And yes Kristina, give the stink eye to Dylan. Does she want to force a girl to be Max's girlfriend? I said it before, but Max is like the kid in the classic Twilight Zone ep ( also brilliantly spoofed by The Simpsons) where an entire town kowtowed to a boy, fearful of his powers.

Jasmine was great, imagine a Braverman using logic and common sense to solve a problem! Although, a filing job that pays $30 an hour? The hell?

So the previews indicate that The Deathening is going to happen, and that Zeek is the likely victim. Quell surprise. Where did it say that it would be a surprise death?

[Portia]

Excluding the children under 10, I hated every single person in this episode. And I can't think of a single scene that remotely reflected how real people act or how the real world works. The creators really must be delusional.

[Dust Bunny]

 

Although, a filing job that pays $30 an hour? The hell?

These writers have no concept of the real world. Or credibility in the real world. That bit proved it. 

[BoogieBurns]

it's one thing to spark up a doobie and get laced at home with your wife, but quite another to get high and drive home.  [/Cher Horowitz]

 

I love you for this, annlaw78.

[Mittengirl]

When someone knocked on the Braverman's front door, was I the only one expecting Aaron's parents, rather than Dylan?

I want a $30/hr. filing job.

I really don't get Crosby. I can see him not wanting Jasmine to work if they had to find child care, but if Camille is going to babysit, why the hell would he want her to turn down money they need? Oh, Amber and Crosby, shut the hell up and act like the professionals you claim to be. If someone is paying you, you should be counting your blessings. Frankly, if they are getting $300/ hr. they are getting overpaid. And if they are getting paid by the hour, shouldn't Crosby have been encouraging the cat food singers to do as many takes as they were willing to? Has he never heard that time is money?

It really makes no sense that Crosby doesn't want to do commercials and yet complains about the stress of supporting the family. If Adam can book the studio, at the reduced rate, for just 3.3 hours a day, that is 1000 dollars. If you can get 4 bookings a week that is about $16,000 a month. I would think that would be enough to at least keep them afloat, just barely maybe, but it beats the alternative. Add in Jasmine's and Kristina's incomes (unless we are to believe K. is working for free) and they should be o.k., at least for a while.

When the hell is someone going to decide to tell Max that his intensity scares the hell out of people? They are really doing him no favors.

[JasminePhyllisia]

The relationship between Kristina and Max just keeps getting creepier. How would she have reacted to that whole scene if it was one of her own daughters? The fact that she always addresses him as "babe" and "honey" while at school in front of the other students sends a clear message to me that she gives him special treatment there--so unprofessional--and this dysfunctional mother only started that school so she could control every aspect of her son's life.

I forgot--does Jasmines mother work at a law firm? It's one of the few places I can think of that might still use files and filing cabinets.

Edited November 14, 2014 by JasminePhyllisia

[annlaw78]

 

I love you for this, annlaw78.

Glad you got the reference!

[jester]

This was the worst episode of TV I've seen in a long time. Just bad on every level.

Amber quit being Peter Pan and grow the hell up. If not at least let Crosby be a grown up and be realistic about HIS business without you pleading about "our" dreams every other sentence.

I know there have been mentions of contract stuff but why try to tell these stories without Adam (or Sarah) anywhere around?

The writers are so lost on Max & Kristina. They have no idea where to go with them or how to get out of this shit hole they have written them into. I cannot believe they are deluded enough to think viewers would hold any sympathy for either character at this point. I wish they would have just ended at season 4 or just made season 5 nothing but Joel & Julia working in their marriage to explain why Joel became a different person out of no where last year.

I hate you too Ruby. I hate you too.

[JasminePhyllisia]

What's it going to take for Dingbat and Dumbo to realize they need help with Max?  He's annoyed me in the past and at times I think he's a real a**hole, but his parents are failing him and I'm really starting to feel bad for the kid.

Yes, keep it up Kristina and in a year or two that poster will be a weapon. Seriously what were the writers thinking?

[annlaw78]

 

What's it going to take for Dingbat and Dumbo to realize they need help with Max?  He's annoyed me in the past and at times I think he's a real a**hole, but his parents are failing him and I'm really starting to feel bad for the kid.

And, more troublingly, what would have happened if Max had had this conversation with Dylan in an isolated part of the school, or someplace they were alone together?  He lashed out and pushed his mother, he was getting physical with Aaron, and he was about to flip out on Dylan, but fortunately there were other students present and his mother intervened.  Frankly, if I'm Dylan's parents, I would be very concerned about my daughter's safety, given Max's obsession with her and his parents' inability to moderate or control his behavior.  If she'd come home and related everything to them, what would a normal parent's reaction be?  Or Aaron's for that matter?  Or anyone's, when they learn that the head-of-school's son has taken to stalking and sexually harassing one girl at the school, and supremely bullied/picked a fight with his rival (seriously -- how does this compare with the great Thermos Incident of 2013?!!!) -- and there are absolutely no repercussions for Max.  Instead, the girl gets the stink eye from Kristina (even after the girl very maturely went to Kristina and explained herself fairly eloquently and kindly for a girl her age), and the boy gets snapped at for daring to point out that he wasn't the aggressor.  Nicely handled, headmistress.  I can't wait to re-enroll my kid!

 

I guess one of my biggest pet peeves is parents who cannot empathize or think about children other than their own, cannot see the other kid's side, and always leap to defend their own kid.  I mean, Dylan's just a kid, too.  So is Aaron.  They're just as deserving of an adult's concern and compassion -- especially the head-of-school's.

 

Just out of curiosity, where did Max get all those copies of his Slam List of Aaron?  Does he just have free rein of the office at the school?  I cannot tell you how livid I would be if I learned that my tuition dollars went to buy paper and toner for the machine that the head-of-school's son used to make hundreds of nasty-grams to disseminate about my son.  For what sin?  Simply because he liked a girl who liked her back.  Forget about Adam losing The Luncheonette -- I don't see how Chambers Academy survives the duo of suck that is Kristina and Max.  

Edited November 14, 2014 by annlaw78

[CMH1981]

I loved Kristina giving Dylan the side eye glance after she told Max off. Dylan had no alternative and was backed into a corner and became overwhelmed. The best part was Max left school grounds and ran across a busy street and Kristina got pissed that the cars weren't more considerate to stop. Seriously?! I wonder how many rules Max broke in this episode that would be grounds for expulsion if it was any other student.

I was glad Drew laid down the line to Amber in regards to he is in school and can't just skip classes Bc his knocked up sister wants to go have fun. At times this show makes it seem like Amber and Drew are a couple that it's down right creepy.

Edited November 14, 2014 by CMH1981

[Mittengirl]

Did I hear Max refer to the school as being a private school? I thought it was a charter school, hence the meeting with the school board last year.

I hope we see some consequences for Max's, and Kristina's, behavior. Otherwise that may just be the most absurd story the show has done. There has to be fallout from either Dylan's or Aaron's parents, right?

Edited November 14, 2014 by Mittengirl

[Perfect Xero]

I loved Kristina giving Dylan the side eye glance after she told Max off. Dylan had no alternative and was backed into a corner and became overwhelmed. The best part was Max left school grounds and ran across a busy street and Kristina got pissed that the cars weren't more considerate to stop. Seriously?!

That was the best part, "What are you doing driving your cars on the street outside my school? Can't you see I'm chasing a snowflake!?"

[wanderwoman]

Omg. Kristina is delusional. Was anyone else waiting friends her to say, "well, Max, as your mother, I am sad for your loss and we will work together to help you understand this at home. But, as the headmaster of Chambers Academy, where we have a zero tolerance policy on bullying, you are suspended and will apologize".

It doesn't matter if every goddam thing on Max's flyer was confessional true; it was bullying and it was wrong. Piss-in-a-canteen wrong!!!! And, the physical aggression... oh hellz no! If I were a parent of Aaron, I'd be livid! There's no way the writers of this show are sticking with this.

[Everleigh]

Oh Max, you suck so much. So does your mom. And Ruby, she sucks too.

Poor Dylan. I felt so bad for her, she looked terrified when Max was lashing out at her.

Kristina is a straight up idiot. She's a failure as a headmaster and a parent. Max exhibited some seriously alarming behavior and not once was he told he was acting inappropriately. Instead Kristina is proud of him? Proud that he's bullying a fellow student and sexually harassing a girl for daring not to return his affections? Not to mention the violent behavior he showed. I pity the next girl he sets his sights on as his mother has basically now given him permission to harass and intimidate her as long as he's expressing his feelings.

Ruby continues to be the worst. Why do we have to endure Hank and Ruby drama when Sarah isn't even in the episode?

Add me to the list of people willing to file for 30$ an hour. That might actually be the least realistic thing this show has done this whole season. 30 dollars!

At first I thought Crosby was being a douche about Jasmine having to work because his ego was bruised by it. Lots of families require two incomes to get by and most people don't have the luxury of doing something they love for a living, so what's the big deal with Jasmine taking a high paying part time job to help out? But by the end of the episode I kind of understood where Crosby was coming from...it wasn't that he didn't want his wife to work, he felt guilty that she had to sacrafice her passion and work a boring office job so he could work his dream job. I think if they were both working "regular" jobs, or if she went back to teaching dance, which she loves, he wouldn't have felt so bad about it. Still, Jasmine was right...sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Amber and Drew continue to creep me out. Who refers to hanging out with a sibling as a "date night"?

[Jessie Q]

For $30 an hour, I definitely think Jasmine will be doing some type of dancing.

[Inquisitionist]

Someday, when the cops find a bunch of womens' bodies buried in Max's backyard, Kristina will be crying and telling reporters, "I never saw the signs! He was always such a good boy!"

 

This comment made my day!

[kathybgd]

I never understood every single parent on this show using the 'buddy' term of endearment for the child. That makes the show so fake to me amoung so damn many other things about what use to be a decent little show. And where are all the major actors this season? This is clearly a case of lazy, tired writing by idiots ( I say idiots because the character of Max is a laughingstock as is this school) and Amber constantly holding her belly is a joke ( and I have held back on saying anything bad about dear little Tinkerbell). but there is so much wrong with this show! And Ruby? I hate you too!

[BusyOctober]

Does Snowflake Academy offer a hotel management program along with their 4 star culinary program?  If so, I think I had a glimpse of Max & Kristina's future...

 

A 2025 Trip Advisor review: "The Braverman Hotel is a quaint little inn on the cliffs overlooking the Bay.  It's run by a socially awkward mama's boy and his "Mother" (funny thing - we never actually saw Mrs. Braverman, but my wife swears she saw her rocking in a chair one night).  The proprietor has a tendency to creep around and can't make eye contact. He developed an unnatural attraction to a blonde female guest while we were there, but she disappeared before we could chat with her. The room was OK but there was a weird vibe in the bathroom...odd red stains on the tile. Affordable, great view, but don't take any showers.

[PunkyMouse]

I checked and minimum wage in Berkeley, CA is $10. Now I know that filing can be tedious as hell, but having to pay someone $30 an hour to do it? Hell, my college kid will do it for the $10!

 

The other thing I don't get, and I may have zoned out during the discussion of this, but why the hell aren't Adam and Crosby forcing Ashes of Rome into the studio to cut an album with another lead singer? They have a contract with the band even if it doesn't extend to Oliver Rome. If Oliver or his new record label try to stop it, then it creates all kinds of publicity for FREE! And there is no doubt in my mind that either OR or his label would try to put the kibosh on Ashes of Rome. In order to stop it they would have to buy out AoR's contract and the Luncheonette would have cash again. Idiots.

[Shermie]

Is next week the fall finale? If so, I can see the ep ending with Zeek in the hospital and the heart monitor flatlining just before the end credits. Doesn't mean he dies, but it keeps viewers coming back to find out.

Max having multiple copies of the slam list isn't a big deal. He probably just printed them at home. And one perAcademy student = 45, so not that ridiculous. He's still awful, though, but I'll leave Rampant Photocopying off his list of charges.

Crosby and Amber were oh, so snooty about those jingle women in the studio. My, aren't we just above the common people now, hmmm? A recording studio being used to record ad jingles; don't these cat food people know that the Luncheonette is historical? (Sniff derisively) Gawd.

I thought that Jasmines mother would somehow reveal to the viewers (maybe in conversation to another co-worker) that she was personally subsidizing the filing wage to boost it to $30 per hour to secretly help her daughter. I mean,,how else does that make sense?

[CMH1981]

A part of me really wishes that when Kristina went to hug Max outside after saying what he did was okay that he would have pushed her away that resulted in her falling down or he would have struck out at her and some people on the street or in their cars took notice and called 911 that this boy was attacking this woman.  Max struck his mother during the first argument in school, yes struck is a strong word but that's the word I used here for what he did to his mother.  I really think that CPS needs to get involved here b/c to be honest I'm afraid for Nora.  Her cute teasing of Max at the beginning has me afraid that she will do that innocently and he will snap and hit her or worse.  I really think the only way that Max can be helped is if CPS gets involved and makes him, and the entire family, go to counseling. 

 

I really think that Kristina could be in a lot of trouble here b/c most of these kids that have seen Max's two times of acting out here...so far, would more than likely tell their parents and they would want to contact the school to find out what the hell is going on.  I know Kristina is the headmistress or whatever, but I would think there would be a school-board that would have to have meet and discuss what to do about Max as well as the headmistress who does nothing but protect only her child in this school.  I would think that Max would be expelled and Kristina put on probation or let go.

 

I loved Jasmine in this episode, so grown up and doing what she needs to do to take care of my family w/o griping or tearing her husband up and down.  I think my favorite line was her explaining that everyone will get their time to shine when it comes to their passion/love.

[ShadowFacts]

 

I never understood every single parent on this show using the 'buddy' term of endearment for the child.

 

That term is commonly used in my neck of the woods, and I never like it.  Never used it on my kids.  But it is revelatory of how they view their relationships, isn't it? 

 

 

Did I hear Max refer to the school as being a private school? I thought it was a charter school, hence the meeting with the school board last year.

 

Yes, he said that and either he is mistaken or they've changed horses in midstream.  Even last week, Adam and Christina were in Sacramento looking for more funding, and that implies public funding.  Maybe the writers suddenly want to be free of constitutional protections for the students.  I hope Max was wrong and soon we'll see some school board members and/or investigative reporters all over that  place.  Tuition-paying parents should be making some noise soon, too, if it is private.

 

Hank and his family sure have taken on outsize importance.  They are not Bravermans.  Ruby refusing to help clean up anymore and stomping off to bed, well that just pushed all my buttons.  Would not have happened in my household.  I don't care about any of that family, we know Hank is going to go back to them or why would we even be seeing any of this bonding.  They are filler and taking screen time from Joel and Julia, for one.

 

I was most bugged by Amber's moronic behavior.  Laying on the studio floor with Crosby, going out for late-night clubbing.  Grow the hell up.

 

[Shermie]

Private schools have to find funding too, even more so sometimes, since there's nothing from the government.not all private schools are filled with Richie riches.

Interesting that a couple people mentioned the school board. Yes, there should be a board for the Academy. Surely Kristina and Adam aren't the only ones in charge? How did they find 45 students? I would side-eye any school being run by an inexperienced parent whose kid was troublesome in public school, and I sure as he'll wouldn't send my kid there without some sort of impartial board overseeing things.

[Portia]

A part of me really wishes that when Kristina went to hug Max outside after saying what he did was okay that he would have pushed her away that resulted in her falling down or he would have struck out at her and some people on the street or in their cars took notice and called 911 that this boy was attacking this woman.  Max struck his mother during the first argument in school, yes struck is a strong word but that's the word I used here for what he did to his mother.  I really think that CPS needs to get involved here b/c to be honest I'm afraid for Nora.  Her cute teasing of Max at the beginning has me afraid that she will do that innocently and he will snap and hit her or worse.  I really think the only way that Max can be helped is if CPS gets involved and makes him, and the entire family, go to counseling. 

Thank you. I'm of the opinion that every adolescent boy needs to be taught to be careful about his strength, but this is doubly true of a kid like Max who has socialization and impulse control problems. I feel like Adam and Kristina's worst nightmare for Max is that he might end up friendless and mateless, whereas many of us can envision a much worse scenario involving prison or institutionalization.

 

Amber made me mad every single moment she was onscreen, but never more than at the end, when she laid some Grade-A passive agression on poor Drew. Like he doesn't get enough of that from the rest of the family. 

 

What was Jasmine's mother wearing at work--a cocktail dress? I dunno, maybe I'd dress that way for filing if it paid $30/hr. I've been without a decent full-time job for 3 years now, and I'd take a "boring" filing job in a hot second if it meant pulling $60K a year . . . especially if I were allowed to stand around and chat while filling, like Jasmine and her mom are apparently allowed to do. 

 

Ruby is all over the map. Suddenly at the end she's being civil to both parents and graciously accepting her punishment? The writing just makes no sense. But I am finding myself wanting Hank to get back with his ex and have another baby with her so they can, fingers crossed, find out what it's like to parent a good child. (Not that those idiots aren't reaping what they've sown.) 

 

I'm so over these snobby Bravermans who mock paying clients because they're not making "art," imply that clerical work is something to be ashamed of, and consider someone who goes after a well-paying career--for all the right reasons, mind you--to be "selling out."  

 

For some reason I was really bothered by Nora saying "Max has a girlfriend" in that singsong voice, because it seemed really age-inappropriate to me. Isn't that playground behavior--something you'd see in a school-age child? 

Edited November 14, 2014 by Portia

[Primetimer]

Amber and Crosby hatch a scheme to save the studio, forgetting that new bands don't come with big bags of cash!

Read the story

[JasminePhyllisia]

 

 

I never understood every single parent on this show using the 'buddy' term of endearment for the child.

 

It's not a TV thing, it's a real-world thing and it's rampant everywhere I go, I think there's some memo they issue in maternity wards (I never got it) that you MUST address your son as Buddy if you love him.  When I'm out in public anywhere there are families with kids, all boys under 13 are being addressed as "Buddy" by their parents.  I don't get it either.  But it's some kind of unwritten law.

Edited November 14, 2014 by JasminePhyllisia

[CMH1981]

Shouldn't there already be a case w/CPS out there for the Adam Braverman clan after Max disappeared/ran off that day to go to the museum and got lost?  I would think the police would have to report this if not for the fact that Max ran away and was reported lost but from the fact that Haddie called out her parents about them letting Max run rampant in front of the cops.  That type of argument would have/should have raised the eyebrows of the cops and made it into the report that the family was refusing to handle Max's behavior.  I love that episode for Haddie in it voicing her frustrations finally to her parents, and the best part was once again Kristina threw shade to Haddie over this like it was her fault.  At least Adam stood up for Haddie in the end, out of earshot of Kristina of course.  

 

In regards to parents using "buddy," my brother-in-law uses that term in regards to my 4 year old nephew all the time unless he is in trouble then he uses his first name.

Edited November 14, 2014 by CMH1981

[wonderwoman]

"I hope we see some consequences for Max's, and Kristina's, behavior. Otherwise that may just be the most absurd story the show has done. There has to be fallout from either Dylan's or Aaron's parents, right"

Surely thou jests...

Seriously, if I had to pick the one thing that bugs me the most (and it's a long, long list:), it's that actions, never, ever, have real consequences.

Over at TVClub, Carrie Raisler has a little chat with Kristina:

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/parenthood-aaron-brownstein-must-be-stopped-211860

[Inquisitionist]

I thought they said the filing job paid $30/hr. Are they filing Kryptonite?

[LakeLover]

[snipped]

For some reason I was really bothered by Nora saying "Max has a girlfriend" in that singsong voice, because it seemed really age-inappropriate to me. Isn't that playground behavior--something you'd see in a school-age child? 

 

I thought the exact same thing, way too young for this.

 

The only thing I hate more than "buddy" is "little man," especially when "little man" is a baby.

[wonderwoman]

Alan Sepinwall posed the following question (which I'm guessing is rhetorical, since clearly it's the former:) at the end of his review of the episode:

"With only five episodes to go — and potential births, deaths, divorces, etc. to deal with — will "Parenthood" go with implausible but uplifting happy endings, in which the Luncheonette somehow survives, Joel and Julia reconcile, Zeek lives to hold his great-grandchild, Drew wins the lottery, Max gets a girlfriend, and on and on? Or are we heading for some tough endings for whichever characters are budgeted to appear in these concluding chapters?"

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/review-parenthood-aaron-brownstein-must-be-stopped-look-whos-stalking#DCOwcpZ1Ge07TzwP.99

Edited November 14, 2014 by wonderwoman

[EdnasEdibles]

This episode!  WTF?

 

Y'all have done a good job of capturing how ridiculous the Max thing is but man, I can't wrap my head around how the writers think we're at all supposed to be on Max or Kristina's side?

 

It was already extremely problematic that all of the Braverman men were allowing Max to think that if you area really really nice to someone, you might move up a "score" in the person's like-o-meter.  No. That is some "nice guy" bullshit. If a girl does not like you in a romantic way, she does not like you in a romantic way.  Either be her friend or be fine with no relationship at all.  You can't niceness bully someone into wanting to kiss you.  

 

And Kristina should have a Vice Principal or a teacher who can help out when a situation directly involves her child.  My mom taught at my grade school and I had to have the other 3rd grade teacher during that year.  My mother was not allowed to deal with me.  It does not work.  There was another kid who's mom taught at my school and he had to have her once and she was a reverse-Kristina a huge hard-assed bitch to him because she didn't want to seem like she was playing favorites.  It's not fair to the kid, it's not fair to the adult, it's not fair to everyone else.  Another adult (hopefully someone with a background in adolescent education) should step in during these situations.  Because Kristina crying and saying "I'm so proud of you!" after her son uses the copier for to create hate flyers, stalks a poor fellow student ignoring her wishes to leave her alone, fights a boy in the hallway and yells at the headmistress  - it's not appropriate. 

 

I honestly don't know why Crosby was so incensed by his mother-in-law.  He knows what she is like.  This is typical of her.  Be like Taylor and shake it off. Just smile and say "Thank you for your idea, I will take it into consideration" and go on with your way.  Didn't he pull the same exact shit with her when she was living there?  Didn't he put his foot down and tell her she had to take a job, any job, to get out of his house? She's doing her version of it.  

 

But honestly if he's going to grab weed to attend a work-related event and then get pissy with his wife when she rightly objects, he needs a bit of a "you gotta grow up" smackdown.  Not sure if that realty should be included in this but come on already dude.  Life is full of people telling you what to do - if you can't find a way to deal with that in a healthy way, you need to do some growing up.

 

I have nothing to say about Ruby and her dad.  Those pepole are annoying. 

[cali1981]

After last night's horrific episode, it's definitely time for Parenthood to call it a day.  Kristina makes me seriously ill and the whole charter school story arc seems like something in an alternate universe in which, as the article noted above says, someone with literally no background, training or qualifications in the general education field, let alone the special needs area is able to get a license from the State of California and the City of Berkeley to open and operate a charter school? Hogwash!  In California, opening a charter school process is long and very expensive process which is closely regulated by the state.  I don't even know where to start in regard to Max and his horrible behavior which Kristina and Adam not only do not try to modify but, as happened last night, actually encourage. Kristina's actions throughout (like having Dylan at the house constantly) have proven time and again that she's unfit to run a school of this kind. Are we to believe that none of the kids report to their parents anything about the Max-Kristina show? I agree with many of the prior comments about how in the real world, the hostile,aggressive and demeaning actions by Max would have, regardless of his having Aspergers, led to serious consequences in any normally run school. What the hell are the writers trying to prove?  What point they trying to make, that anything goes because you're a "special" child?  Whatever happened to Dr. Pelican, the renowned expert on Aspergers?  Why hasn't he been a presence in Max's situation.  If the Bravermans could somehow pony up enough money to get through the charter school creation process, surely they could find a way to afford the person who could make an impact on Max. Do they not have any health insurance?  I doubt it. The show runners have really screwed this up and, even though I've watched the show from the beginning and have admired it, it's lurched from a pretty solid reality based foundation to insane flights of fancy. I'll miss certain aspects of the show after it closes out next week but I will not miss the Max-Kristine-Adam folie à trois that has dominated it down the home stretch.