ElectricBoogaloo February 16, 2015 Share February 16, 2015 During a morning hike, Brett meets Linda, a new-age believer who encourages him to get in touch with himself. Tina tries to make up with Alex by getting him an audition, Michelle helps David with the charter school and Brett takes a stand at work and opens up about his feelings. Promo: Link to comment
Primetimer February 23, 2015 Share February 23, 2015 No one can encourage you to be your best self by calling out your worst qualities like your first/best/worst friend. Read the story 1 Link to comment
Hootis February 23, 2015 Share February 23, 2015 I'm trying to like these people. I don't know, man. 4 Link to comment
BooBear February 23, 2015 Share February 23, 2015 What happened to Alex? Man, he went from jolly guy to angry guy quick. But I think the actor did lose weight because he actually, I thought, looked thinner in the face. I thought he was a little off. I do think Tina was actually trying there and he should have been a bit more greatful I kind of liked Brett did what he wanted but I also felt like he was being a bit immature to walk out of his job like that. Ask if your new friend can do the hike on the weekend. Michelle is in dangerous territory. Enjoyed that Tina got a talking to. I do not think she is trying to hurt Alex. Link to comment
ElectricBoogaloo February 23, 2015 Author Share February 23, 2015 Interesting that this week's episode shows Michelle and Brett having completely separate storylines. I mean, I know it's normal for a married couple to spend most of their day apart since people have jobs, but it seemed a deliberate attempt by the writers to illustrate how they are diverging right now. I don't think that Brett is as emotionally involved with Linda as Michelle is with David, but I think that it's the same issue - they are looking outside of their marriage to get what they need. They both want emotional support and validation but instead of getting it from each other, they are seeking it from Linda and David. With Linda, Brett gets to be honest and angry, which he doesn't feel comfortable doing with Michelle. With David, Michelle gets to feel smart and attractive and valued. I'm glad that Alex started setting boundaries with Tina when she asked him to be a clown at the party. Although he could have been less aggressive about it, everything he said was true. She expects him to come running every time she snaps her fingers and in the past, he has. She would keep running roughshod over him if he hadn't drawn a line. 4 Link to comment
peeayebee February 23, 2015 Share February 23, 2015 I was sorry to see Alex and Tina have such a big blowup, but it makes sense after what happened last week. Of course Alex feels like Tina is dragging him around by his nose. She's been cockteasing him, she uses him, she wants him to be a clown, then after telling him to get in shape, she takes him to an audition for a fat funny guy. And she sees nothing wrong with any of it. I hope they find a way back to being friends. I don't know where Brett and Mary Steenbergen are going, but I like it because I like Steenbergen. Brett acted pretty ridiculously at work, walking around scavenging food like he'd hadn't eaten for a week, but he seems to have reached his breaking point. The asshole director -- he's the director, not producer, right? -- would drive me crazy mad. I kind of wish he wasn't such a caricature. I don't doubt that there are asshole directors, but he is too exaggerated. Maybe if a different actor played him. Michelle and David. At first I was thinking that David was really only seeing Michelle as a friend, a fellow parent, but he did give her a couple of looks that suggested he was contemplating a relationship. Or maybe he's attracted to her -- no surprise -- but wouldn't act on it. I don't want him to act on it. 1 Link to comment
Turtle February 23, 2015 Share February 23, 2015 I'm really interested to see where the Brett/ Michelle relationship goes. They're drifting so far apart, and they've got to both realize it- will they keep moving in different directions until one or both of them does something that blows it completely up? Or will they both work hard to try to restore their relationship? Or will only one? Or will they just resign themselves to being unhappy? I don't think Tina is trying to hurt Alex, but I do think she is being absolutely careless with his feelings, and not just any possible romantic ones. She likes the attention and is probably used to him just going along, and she isn't thhnking about his end of things. Still not cool. 1 Link to comment
qtpye February 23, 2015 Share February 23, 2015 (edited) I liked the way the two sisters call each other out on their shit, but overall have a good relationship. It looks like Brett now has his own manic pixie dream girl (or woman). I understand Alex's frustration, but a part is a part. Many actors have had to lose or gain weight for a role. Also, it could have lead to bigger things and it is not like he has anything else going on right now. The actor that plays Alex is looking much better then he did the pilot, so good for him. Edited February 23, 2015 by qtpye 2 Link to comment
DarkRaichu February 23, 2015 Share February 23, 2015 Lol not sure what Brett's problem was. After what he did at work and what he said to the hippie woman, he still capitulated and let her (a stranger) boss him around. If I was Michelle, I would look for a more assertive person to escape to too. Link to comment
tomsmom February 24, 2015 Share February 24, 2015 Omg these people are soooo fucked up! Just order some dinner for Christs sake Brett ya pussy! 1 Link to comment
arc February 24, 2015 Share February 24, 2015 Yeah, I kept thinking that Hollywood jobs usually have union-mandated meal/rest breaks. And I think overall that the director being such a massive asshole on top of not even making good stuff is a bit implausible. He could be one or the other and I could see the producers keeping him on. Both, though? Isn't this thing that Brett's on a TV show? Most shows have a stable of rotating directors because the demands are too much for just one. But really, I don't get why Brett's boss is taking the director's side so much. All that said, Steenbergen's character didn't deserve Brett's blowup. Most of his rage was really directed back at work. This is kinda more political than the show probably intends, but I just don't trust David because I default to thinking charter schools are a con game designed to vacuum up public money and not produce better outcomes for students either. Tina does take advantage of Alex and even getting him that audition was hella oversold. That said, she did have some good points too: he can't expect to go from zero to leading man right away and live on Brett's couch until that happens. (... that said, I guess Steve Zissis was a fringe actor for a long time and then he got Togetherness, so...) 2 Link to comment
blixie February 24, 2015 Share February 24, 2015 I agree this episode was the weakest we've seen, particularly with Brett's storyline, we've seen them bringing in catered stuff in previous episodes and Brett bitching about how they throw it away, so I found wholly unbelievable an assistant didn't order a freaking pizza or some other sort of take out, and bring it in to the people working. The only reason I let it go is that they play with surreal moments in Brett's narrative so much. The wolf, the bird, and now Mary Steenburgen and her branches, so it's possible Brett is just.....nuts. I still liked it a lot especially the Tina and Alex fight, because I like the way they are brutally honest with each other, and I think Tina broke that kind of rule between them by misrepresenting the hell out of the job situation: she bribed Larry to get the role for Alex (Larry didn't volunteer it), it WAS for the funny fat guy, and it wasn't his he had to audition. So I got why he blew up at her, but I loved when she gave it right back to him about being on Brett's couch for the rest of his life, he walked in there (with the confidence she's helped instill in him) and insisted on reading for Vlad. I think Alex would understand if Tina just said, I want the make outs in the closet, but I don't want to fuck up "this whatever it is" because it's so important to her, of course it kind of already is so... 1 Link to comment
Momof2boyz February 25, 2015 Share February 25, 2015 While I understand why Alex was pissed about the fat guy part, it was ridiculous of him to insist on reading for the leading man. No matter how much weight he loses he will never be a leading man. What he should have been pissed about was that it was obviously just an audition, not a guaranteed part. 1 Link to comment
peeayebee February 25, 2015 Share February 25, 2015 I don't think he seriously thought he'd get the other part. Once he saw what the role was and that Tina had misrepresented it, he was mad at her and maybe mad at himself for getting sucked in. The whole thing with him wanting to read for the other part was a kind of temper tantrum. He didn't expect to get it; he just wanted to make a point. And he didn't want the other role because he didn't want to accept anything from Tina. I really don't see how their relationship is going to recover from this. I believe it will, but I can't imagine how that'll happen. Link to comment
blixie February 25, 2015 Share February 25, 2015 There was no indication Vlad was the lead part, most likely they would't have been open calling for the lead. Vlad was a comparable status role to Chuck only a bit larger and not the comic relief. 1 Link to comment
Clanstarling February 28, 2015 Share February 28, 2015 I still liked it a lot especially the Tina and Alex fight, because I like the way they are brutally honest with each other, and I think Tina broke that kind of rule between them by misrepresenting the hell out of the job situation: she bribed Larry to get the role for Alex (Larry didn't volunteer it), it WAS for the funny fat guy, and it wasn't his he had to audition. So I got why he blew up at her, but I loved when she gave it right back to him about being on Brett's couch for the rest of his life, he walked in there (with the confidence she's helped instill in him) and insisted on reading for Vlad. I think Alex would understand if Tina just said, I want the make outs in the closet, but I don't want to fuck up "this whatever it is" because it's so important to her, of course it kind of already is so... In addition, Tina expects him to be at her beck and call and is offended when he won't comply. I don't blame Alex at all for exploding. He'd been working hard to lose weight and get fit because of Tina's encouragement, and then to find out that not only was she misrepresenting everything - she was sending him to audition for the type of part he was literally walking away from in the beginning of the series. He thought they were close (at least as friends), and discovered she understood nothing about him. A role is not a role, not when it undermines your self-esteem. As blixie said, I don't think Vlad was a lead role. There are a lot of roles in a movie other than DUFF and lead. 1 Link to comment
Latverian Diplomat March 10, 2015 Share March 10, 2015 Brett made one of the classic blunders, "Never go with a hippie to a second location." I've gotten the sense that Brett's company really needs this project, which is why his boss is putting up with so much shit from the director. Ordinarily, I'd be very sympathetic to someone in Brett's position, but somehow, I found myself on his boss's side. After all, his boss is not asking him to do anything that he himself isn't also doing. 1 Link to comment
Margherita Erdman March 19, 2016 Share March 19, 2016 This is kinda more political than the show probably intends, but I just don't trust David because I default to thinking charter schools are a con game designed to vacuum up public money and not produce better outcomes for students either. I think the very obliviousness with which the show so clearly intends the charter school arc to be a redemptive, constructive, pure expression of Michelle's love for her children and her community, in harmony with her social values and desire for public service — well, that makes it political, and I very much share your misgivings and feel it is appropriate to link back to your post in the Media thread (thank you for that too): http://forums.previously.tv/topic/17907-togetherness-in-the-media/#entry952519 I live in L.A., and for better or worse, our family and friends are pretty close demographically to the world of Togetherness (we are a little older and further down the school path). It is a world and a set of choices familiar to us, anyway. I also have worked in local and state politics here long and deep enough to know that school funding is a zero sum game, no getting around it, so get your charter schools at the expense of improving the neighborhood school. And the for-profit (or non-profit-in-name-only) chain charters will suck up every resource, competent teacher, and non-special ed, non-ELL student they can, leaving the neighborhood school to do the best it can to meet the needs of the hardest-to-teach. It is unfortunate because I don't think that Michelle is supposed to be this naïve or unconscious about her white privilege, and it seems inconsistent with Brett's frugal vegan Leaf-driving-ness (that is a Leaf, right?) that he would be so set on private school without even touring the neighborhood kindergarten and charters. How did they pick the pre-K where Sophie attends now? 3 Link to comment
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