S01.E05: The Fall

[starri]

I've got plenty of schoolwork to do, so this is going to have to be my limit for now, but subtract out Fonda's being so "on," and this was the best episode yet.

 

Brianna and Frankie get stoned and drag Grace out for frozen yogurt.

 

I am June-biased, but I'm hoping this episode indicates that the producers realized what a breakout character/star Brianna/June is, because watching her play off Tomlin is just delightful.  

[bybrandy]

Brianna was great fun in this ep. Also loved the breathing appuratus but that's just because I was recently at the hospital with somebody trying to make them use a similar contraption.

[Morbs]

Brianna seems like the only child who is fun, so far.  It took me so long to recognize Ethan Embry.  I wonder how much June adlibs. 

[bybrandy]

I like Bud and Coyote but Brianna really is the most interesting, most fun of the kids.  

[Julia]

I agree. I read Brianna as being the daughter who's an alpha bull like Robert and Mallory as the one who's Perfect like Grace. Only, Robert had Grace to be socially fluent and always do the right thing and smooth the rough edges of his life for him - he clearly sucks at people - and Brianna feels as if she should be able to do Grace's stuff too.

 

I think it may kind of suck to be Brianna, but she's really interesting to watch.

Edited May 13, 2015 by Julia

[Febgirl]

Watching Lily Tomlin and June's characters smoke up, and demand frozen yogurt was all kinds of wonderful.  I feel like Frankie and Maura from Transparent would be great friends ( they have the same taste in apparel :) )

[pricklypear]

Watching Lily toke up made me want Jane to join her (and made me want Dolly to make an appearance, too ;-).

[Chaos Theory]

Watching the olds do drugs is funny and I don't know why.

[Crs97]

Crap, that one made me cry.  The look of terror on Grace's face when they started the MRI - I am claustrophobic and could feel her pain, and Jane knocked that out of the park.

[Clanstarling]

Crap, that one made me cry.  The look of terror on Grace's face when they started the MRI - I am claustrophobic and could feel her pain, and Jane knocked that out of the park.

I didn't even realize I was claustrophobic until I was getting an MRI. I had so many coping mechanisms I thought were related to other things. It was the closest I ever came to completely losing it in "public." So I really felt for Grace there as well.

[charliesan]

I knew Jane and Lily had chemistry, but didn't think it would be as important as it is for me, this relationship is the heart of the series IMO.

Almost cried when Grace was in the MRI and Frankie held her hand only to realise everything was in Grace's imagination, so touching.

 

Glad we got Brianna for the entire episode sans the other siblings. Am I the only one that doesn't care at ALL about what went down between Mallory and addict guy? 

[morakot]

[unpopular opinion] I can live without Brianna. She's my least favorite of the children.[/unpopular opinion]

[Crs97]

I can tolerate the kids in small doses, although I did love when the boys saw Brianna on a date and came over to hassle her.  The girls grate more than the boys, but I hope they all can be fixed in the second season.

[PokerNerd]

I'm loving June Diane Raphael as Brianna. First heard her on How Did This Get Made? podcast a few years ago but hadn't seen any of her work until NTSF: SD: SUV (also worth checking out). The first few episodes she was just asked to be smart, snarky comic relief, but in The Fall her character really grows. I love her initial manipulation to get Mom so sign up for Match.com ("Or you could just hang out here with Frankie all day.") Then later she plays well with Frankie and helps catalyze the bond between Frankie and Grace. Her scene at the end where she admits "My life is a lot of sad chicken too." made me go "awww" 

[Chai]

I freaked out the first time I had an MRI done. I compared it to being buried alive. I had no idea I was claustrophobic until then. Jane Fonda conveyed it perfectly! Lol! "You can radiate the hell out of me just don't put me in the tube!"

[Bastet]

I like getting our first look at the Brianna and Frankie relationship in this one, but for me it's all about the conversation between Grace and Frankie in the yogurt shop after Frankie saves her from falling.  "I'm the other person that all this happened to" is the entire basis of their new relationship, and it really starts to coalesce here, when Frankie stands up for herself and says she appreciates Grace and considers her a friend now, but Grace doesn't treat her right.

And, yes, as everyone said back in the day, Jane Fonda really sells Grace's terror in the MRI scene.  I love when the guy tells her if she has any trouble once she's in the tube to squeeze the ball in her hand and she immediately starts frantically squeezing it.