S01.E11: The Bateses go to Florida

[maraleia]

The family heads to Florida to visit John and Alyssa.

[CarolMK]

I wonder how John will feel about all of the Bates invading their home. Will Chad and Erin, along with Zack , Whitney and Bradley also be visiting?

[Absolom]

Chad said in the last episode that he had to get back to work.

[Sew Sumi]

ABC with Juju Chang also filmed when the family was in Florida. It was confirmed then that Chad and Erin didn't make the trip, but Zach, who works at the same place as Chad, managed to get the time off (and some pics with Bradley at the beach). 

 

Don't forget that Alyssa put up her Christmas decorations early in anticipation of the filming, so it's going to look like it's a lot closer to Christmas than it actually was (it was really only Dec. 1/2). 

[trimthatfat]

I would never want to host that many people during a visit. I got a little twitchy last weekend when a relative came for a quick 48 hour visit. I couldn't wait to have the house back.

[Sew Sumi]

Wow, Gil's grifting skills were on full display as he weaseled multiple discounts out of the poor ticket vendor at the aquarium. 

 

Poor little girls HATED that monster truck ride. :( 

 

Alyssa is SOOOOO happy to be rid of that circus. 

[Micks Picks]

Yep I noticed the grifting as well.  Also the "fellowship" word rather than we are going to visit our family.  A couple of other things too.  I got UP channel again today.  Now if only they mistakenly cleared Nat Geo Wild my dog and I would be happy campers.

[RedBaron]

I want to dislike this family as much as I do the Duggars but I just can't.  The Duggars come across as fake and playing a role for the cameras.  The Bates's seem to genuinely love and enjoy each other and are just more likable.  I realize their core beliefs may be the same but the the interaction of the family members -- especially the way the parents interact with the children -- is very different.   

 

Oh, and Micks Picks, your cable company is not mistakenly broadcasting the Up channel.  All of the major cable and satellite companies are offering UP free this month.

Edited March 13, 2015 by RedBaron

[SpaghettiTuesdays]

It's strange to me how different the accents in this family are. Everyone has varying degrees of a drawl and it cracks me up.

[Micks Picks]

Oh I noticed at the beach the big conversation of which part of the beach to go to.  Sparsely occupied with less temptation for eyes to rove to immodest costumes.  And the boys get to wear shorts, long ones, which is ok, but the girls still get the short shrift.

 

However what gave me a soft mushy feeing in the Thanksgiving epi was Keliy giving an apology to the kids for not aways being the best parents and sometimes being unfair or not listening enough.  How I wish my mom had done that with me.  My love would have grown by leaps and bounds and lasted a lifetime.

[anstar]

John wants the baby to be a month old before the Bates field invasion and Josie (or was it Katie, I still don't know all their names) says, "John can say what he wants, I'm gonna go meet my niece."  

Alyssa loves her family, but it looks like she'd prefer them in much smaller doses!! A couple at a time maybe.

As for requesting a "group discount" at the aquarium...I don't really fault him there.  Most places offer discounts for large groups.  Nothing wrong with asking, as long as you're willing to accept it if the answer is "no", and take the discount they provide, not try to "negotiate" a better one <cough>JimBoob<cough>.

[BitterApple]

I think the Bateses mean well but I understand why Alyssa doesn't want anyone around right after the baby is born. Even if it's just family staying in your home you always feel like you're in "entertainment mode." I also think it was a little unfair for John to get the bad edit in regards to guests when it's clear Alyssa doesn't want a steady stream of visiters either. Although in her defense if I were a sleep deprived new mom I don't think I could deal with Tori, Carlin or Katie either. Their window between fun and annoying is very small.

[trimthatfat]

When the Bates went to Zach and Whitney's home after she had the baby, Whitney looked very overwhelmed when people went to reach for her son. Everyone kept yelling 'I want to hold the baby first' and Whitney had the patience of a saint. I don't blame Alyssa and John at all for wanting some time with their daughter before the family invades. They have a modest home - not a mansion - and it's overwhelming enough as it is to be a new parent.

 

Gil asking for a group discount is not unusual. I used to work for a Museum in the guest services department and we provided discounts to large groups when requested, particularly if the group had over 8 people.

[maraleia]

Just a little FYI. The episode title was The Bates go to Florida which is grammatically incorrect so I changed the title here. It's so sad that people don't know the plural of their last name.

[bybrandy]

Yeah, the discount thing didn't bother me at all.   We had a teacher in school who was always volunteering to drive on field trips.  He'd only stop for lunch at McDonalds because they did free lunch for bus drivers, and if there was another fast food, you could go there, but only after he'd secured his free cheeseburger.   They had like 20 people, the group discount?   They earned it.  

 

I felt for Alyssa because I don't really love entertaining and then the idea of having to do it with a new baby, and 21 people?  Yikes.   I liked that she set up boundaries although I have some doubts about her family's willingness to respect those boundries.

Chad and Zach work in the same place?  

And Nathan's in college?   Did Kelly say it was his last day of school?  Whose last day is immediately after Thanksgiving?   So many questions.   

[BitterApple]

Even though Alyssa looked like she was about to lose it, I did appreciate that Gil and Kelly tried to set some ground rules with the little ones.

Last weekend my cousin brought her four and six year old over and they literally spent two hours tearing up my house. Running upstairs without permission, opening drawers and pulling things out, turning on faucets, taking food out of cabinets etc. Needless to say they won't be invited back.

[trimthatfat]

It's so sad that people don't know the plural of their last name.

Guilty as charged. It's not done purposefully though. I hadn't realized it was a big deal.

Edited March 13, 2015 by trimthatfat

[Dr.Scully]

Good for John for trying to set some boundaries. I hope they stick to them. The girls need to stop being selfish and recognize their desire to see their niece does not trump the desire of the new parents to bond quietly with their child.

I couldn't help but notice Kelli at the animal sanctuary, with baby Bradley nestled up against her chest like it was totally natural. Because Kelli, unlike Mechelle, actually carries grandbabies around and for her, it actually was natural. I would fall over dead of we ever saw such a scene from little miss "missing back muscle."

I keep having to remind myself about their archaic beliefs because the family is just so darn personable. I genuinely enjoy watching the children interact with each other and actually look forward to this show. Honestly, as long as the subject of religion wasn't brought up (probably impossible, but still), I wouldn't mind hanging out with them.

[Barb23]

I thought the same thing when Kelly was holding baby Bradley- she looked like a typical Grandma. They are definitely a more personable & happier family than the Duggars. Even at the beach, they really didn't make a big deal of how they go about not looking at the other people when they were walking in the sand. Gil even laughed about it saying something like they really know or like the sand from looking down at it so much. If it had been the Duggars, we would have had to listen to a 5 minute TH sermon by MEchelle telling us of their modesty beliefs/convictions.

[zenme]

They don't seem so holier than thou as the Duggars are.

I still can't tell all of the kids apart yet because so many of the littler ones look alike! With the Duggar kids each of them look so different. The Bates kids are cuter and look healthier.

[CarolMK]

I hate to keep comparing the Bates to the Duggars, but overall, I thought that the kids really did seem to enjoy the aquarium and the beach, more so than I've seen the Duggars when they did field trips with their kids..half the time, the older ones looked bored. I also like the way Kelly and Gil talk to the camera, they don't seem  to be nearly as obnoxious as Jim Bob and Michelle with their constant talk about their values and also Jim Bob's goofiness. Nice to see that Gil is a secure enough man that he doesn't need to smooch in front of his kids every 3 minutes, either. 

 

I agree with everybody who noticed that Kelly is a natural mom/grandmom, holding the baby. Loved seeing that.  One question, where was Michaela? Still at her grandparents or did she have to return home to work, too, at her nanny job?

[SongbirdHollow]

I wish they would have left out the part with them trying avoid the "immodest" people on the beach, so I could continue believing the best about them. Despite my post in the T'giving thread where I said I liked them despite the Gothard thing, I'm getting the feeling they are getting a very generous edit here and this was a slip-up.

[KarmaG]

I agree with everybody who noticed that Kelly is a natural mom/grandmom, holding the baby. Loved seeing that.  One question, where was Michaela? Still at her grandparents or did she have to return home to work, too, at her nanny job?

 

She returned with with her brother in law and sister from the Grandparents house because Brandon's flight was leaving the day after the rest of the family left for Florida.

 

Another episode I enjoyed. I didn't have a problem with them asking about a discount. Large groups typically do and I wouldn't understand why this family shouldn't.

 

I like that Alyssa didn't just throw John under the bus with the visiting thing. She also said she wanted the limits. New moms need the space. Also love that Kelly and Gil backed her up on it.

[Sew Sumi]

The thing with the discount is that they already got in for free due to an obvious quid pro quo situation (filming behind the ticket taker is a dead giveaway). Gil just wanted to show what he *could* do. He tried to work about three discount plans in there, when most places will only honor one, otherwise they wouldn't turn a profit.

[Stripper Glitter]

Just watching this now. The beach thing did and didn't bother me. I felt they carried on a little too much - after all the beach is not the only place you might see immodestly dressed people but as others said it did mainly focus on them just having fun. Gil though - would it have been that hard to wear some shorts or trunks? Seriously.

Edited March 16, 2015 by Stripper Glitter

[leighroda]

I really did not think I would like this show, but the Bates' have endeared themselves to me...like most others have said they are just more likable. I think... At least for me I don't really care how much kool-aid they drink, but when they talk about how they do things they don't give me the holier than though vibe like a certain other super sized family does. Like, when they say "we don't wear regular bathing suits" that's that... They are simply expressing how they do it. When the other family does it it's more "WE don't wear regular bathing suits... Sotherestofyouaregoingtohell". Or when they were packing it was a brief announcement of what was expected, and a few shots of the process (which include most everyone packing for themselves). But the Duggars go into the whole diatribe that they have 19 kids and so you have to pack a lot of stuff, all in a voiceover over the remaining sistermoms walking throughout the house and making a million trips to the stink bus while the boys sit idly by.

[Absolom]

I loved it that little Jeb wanted to pack in his bucket and they let him.

[flyingdi]

I don't mind their stuff on the beach about modesty, especially when one of the oldest boys said something like ,"Look at all those weirdos on the beach with their clothes on!"

These kids are funny.

[SpaghettiTuesdays]

I loved it that little Jeb wanted to pack in his bucket and they let him.

That cracked me up. He's such a cutie.

 

I'm with Alyssa on the waiting a bit for the crowd to come down. She said she wouldn't mind them coming down in 2s and 3s as long as her parents came down first. I think that was nice of her.

 

ETA: It's so strange how different Erin's voice is now. I can't believe it's the same woman.

Edited March 21, 2015 by SpaghettiTuesdays