S05.E20: Cold Feet

[formerlyfreedom]

Zeek and Camille come to an agreement about the house; Julia helps Kristina and Adam but remains unsure of how to tackle issues in her own life; and Sarah intervenes after learning what her children have been doing.

 

[Tara Ariano]

Zeek and Camille come to an agreement about the house; Julia throws herself into helping Kristina and Adam as she struggles with her own personal life; Sarah learns what her kids have been up to.

[Loriac]

Well, I'm glad sarah finally paid attention to what her children are doing and Adam acknowledged he has a daughter! Big day!

[AlliMo]

This episode was tolerable as long as I FF'ed through everything that had to do with the stupid charter school business.

Oh, my, Julia. I have a feeling she's going to regret this, but I can understand it.

[Cattitude]

First off what is up with Julia's hair? Is it blond is it red? It looked like snakes most of the show. Julia has always bugged me partly my love of Joel and her poor treatment of Joel, so I hold a grudge. I was totally skeeved out during her conversation with Kristina about sex with not your husband. Um Julia her husband is your brother. eeekkk! Julia you have a perfectly good sister who HAS been married and divorced to ask those kinds of questions to, not your brother's wife. Moving along to poor awkward Ed, thank Gawd she got the heck out of that uncomfortable situation, just to land smack dab with Mr. Knight.....or should I say Evan. Is it just me or is Evan like a slight variation of Joel? Julia and Evan have trainwreak written all over them. yikes!

How does Hank afford daily sessions with Dr Pelican when Kristina practically had to BEG to get Max in back in the day b/c he was so booked? Maybe word got out about what a total horrible person Max is and Dr. Pelican lost his prestige. Could Max have been any more rude to "Evan" and Kristina just laughed it off. There called manners Kristina, though I realize from your own behavior you don't have a clue what they are so I shouldn't be surprised.

****News Flash**** Hattie got a shout out from her father! Oh wait it wasn't really about her, just how SHE is draining the Braverman slushfund. Never mind short sighted Mayorial runs or charter school start-ups. The invisable Braverman is draining all the funds.

Wow who knew the way to get Drew back to school was a 2 second visit by mamma and dragging out by the scruff. WTH was that whole thing?

Not to be a total buzz kill. Camille and Zeke were all kinds of cute. I loved that Zeke found them a house she loved.

Sorry but mold house has just moved way past it's usefulness, just geterdone and move on. I hope for Crosby to never utter the word mold again.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Cattitude

[Portia]

Ugh, I haaaaate Camille. When she started her so-very-predictable "Wait, where are we gonna live, maybe this was a mistake" speech, something small but important burst in my brain.

How exactly is Sarah paying for Drew's tuition and housing? And why is he living in a residence hall when he is a local and his mom has limited means?

I can't believe I'm saying this--I was never a fan of his sitcom--but I think Ray is acting the snot out of his role as Hank.

[TheGongOfDoom]

Max deserved a backhand and forehand across the face for that. That was truly repulsive.

As far as Hank's sessions with the shrink, doctors can be pretty flexible if you are upfront about your financial situation and are straight  with them. I thought it was very brave of Hank to go to Sarah's apartment and apologize, even more so for an Aspie. I had a chuckle with over Hank's trying to shift the blame from himself to his Aspergers.

Anyone else have the feeling Hattie will NEVER come back from Cornell and that she deliberately chose to go to college as far away as possible from Max.

Craig T. Nelson is a VERY good actor.

Drew is close to attaining Max levels of dickish douchitude. I get it that  you can have problems with your college roommate, my first one didn't bathe for 4 months, and when I say, didn't bathe I mean the only reason he went to the bathroom was to piss shit or brush his teeth. SO gross. No worse than that. Drew apparently doesn't understand that these days in college random dorm hookups are the cool thing to do.

Julia is...urgh, that's just nuts. 

As for the boy band, yeah, spare me the 'these women are much too old for us and besides we're saving ourselves for marriage.' After 3 1/2 months on the road you'll have come up with system that divides the arena into sections so you can pick out the women you will invite backstage to suck your dong and it will only take a few seconds to pick them out and relay the info to the roadies.

Circling back to Julia's hair, it changes depending on the lighting, no biggie.

[bybrandy]

How exactly is Sarah paying for Drew's tuition and housing? And why is he living in a residence hall when he is a local and his mom has limited means?

 

Seriously!    I have just assumed that Drew had some sort of scholarship or financial aid.   There is no way in the world that Sarah is paying for school out of her salary from changing light bulbs at her apartment.

I'm sure she got a nice check from her surfboard ad, however, she clearly decided to blow all of that on appliances.    

And Drew's tuition and dorm fees would have been paid months ago when as far as I know Sarah wasn't working at all.

That really bugged me more than was healthy.

 

[scatteroflight]

Julia you have a perfectly good sister who HAS been married and divorced to ask those kinds of questions to, not your brother's wife.

 

Well, I wouldn't go that far. I'd take advice from almost anybody else before Sarah.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I wasn't buying any of Sarah's "I'm paying for your dorm room" crap AT ALL. Drew's financial aid for the 2013-2014 school year would be based upon Sarah's income tax filed for 2012. I don't remember if that was the year she was a playwright or a professional scuba diver or whatever, but suffice to say it wasn't a whole lot. Drew most likely has a combination of grants and loans with a very small parent contribution required so whatever Sarah paid, it was NOT the entire $27K for tuition/dorm fees.

According to the UC Berkeley financial aid office, "eligible California families with annual incomes between $80,000 to $140,000 have their Parent Contribution capped at 15 percent of the parents' total income." There is now way in HELL that Sarah was making even $80K. I would guess she was making $40K (if even that) and 15% of that is $6000, but I would guess that for someone whose household income was $40K, they would have a lower percentage required for the parental contribution.

On a related note, when Crosby said that Haddie "should have went to a state school," all I could think was wow, I hope that Haddie's Berkeley public school education taught her better grammar than Crosby got out of his Berkeley public school education since he clearly doesn't know how the correct past participle for the verb "to go."

Max being a rude little shit to Mr. Knight and Kristina/Adam just totally laughing it off is another prime example of his terrible behavior and the fact that they never correct his atrocious behavior. I was rolling my eyes so hard during that school board meeting. Notice how they kept talking about how smart Max is and how this charter school will cater to intelligent kids. STFU! I wish I were surprised that Snowflake Academy got the greenlight, but they're Bravermans so of course it's happening!

On a related note, when Julia dropped by Mr. Knight's house unannounced and he said it must be a Braverman thing, I thought RUN! Run while you can! The pop-ins and rude/inappropriate behavior will just continue and increase in frequency if you maintain contact with them! Why didn't Julia just call him or text him or email him? It was somehow more efficient to get his home address from Kristina/Adam and drive over to his house to have that conversation? Frankly, if I knew the Bravermans, I would have the blinds closed and never answer the door.

While the house that Zeke found was lovely and had a great view (and in San Francisco, just like Camille originally wanted!), I thought all the stairs were impractical for a retirement property. I don't want to be morbid because neither of them are like 100 or anything, but if this is going to be their last home then what happens when one of them becomes less mobile and can't handle all the stairs?

I'm not a Berto fan, but I liked that he was determined to make things better between him and Drew. I don't know if binge drinking is the best approach, but at least he got Drew to start talking. And I liked that Berto cheerfully admitted to all the things Drew accused him of doing. "Yup, I did that too!" I still think that Berto is an obnoxious inconsiderate ass, but at least he wasn't denying what he did or trying to rationalize what he did.

Of course, Berto lost me again when he blamed Drew for screwing up things with Natalie. I know I'm supposed to believe that every 18 year old college kid thinks that friends with benefits is the best possible situation, but I still believe that Drew did the right thing by telling Natalie he didn't want to be friend with benefits. That doesn't mean he screwed things up with her. It means that Drew thought about what he wanted and was honest about it with her, and he wasn't willng to take the scraps that she threw him with her FWB arrangement. To me, he was the mature adult in that situation. He and Natalie were just friends (without benefits) when his ex showed up.

Edited April 4, 2014 by ElectricBoogaloo

[dustoffmom]

Wasn't Julia's 'passion that blazes out of control' with the teacher guy pretty much the exact same thing that happened with Crosby and the therapist?  What is it about Adam and Kristina's employees that make them so irresistible to the rest of the family I wonder.  :)

[BusyOctober]

And of course the charter was approved!  They have papers! And a headmaster!  No staff, no facilities, no funding, no equipment or supplies, but this is Braverman World so "yes we can!".  This small school w/ a planned 4-1 student-teacher ratio will be a nightmare if all the other students/ parents are like Bravermans. Good luck dealing with an office full of Kristinas Mr. Knight!

Proposed Snowflake Academy Mission Statement:

All children are special... Of course SA students are even more special so we discourage the acknowledgement of any non-SA siblings. 

SA students shall be treated with kid gloves at all times. Parents and non-special residents in the SA student's home are required to earn a "Walking on Eggshells" certification to underscore how incredibly delicate Snowflakes are.

No child attending SA shall ever be reprimanded so as not to crush his/her independent spirit or get his/her feelings hurt

In order to be accepted into SA, the students' intellectual ability will be decreed by the SA Board as "genius".  Therefore, we will not be accountable for any State or Federal academic testing or preparedness for further education beyond SA.

Each student will be issued his/her own vending machine w/ snack of choice. 

Each student will only have to attend the class(es) that interest him/her so fundamentals be damned. 

The student will be allowed to hold the classroom hostage as s/he rants about her/his obsession (on or off topic)

If another student wants the same chair/book/copier as another, s/he will be allowed to push, shove, shout until s/he gets her/his way.

Parents are encouraged to bring any perceived slights to the school's attention and brat it out in front of the Board. 

If any student or parent at any time becomes disenchanted with the Snowflake Academy's philosophies or methods, feel free to quit and storm out in a huff. Go ahead and start your own school...it's surprisingly easy!

[Rogaine2233]

Monica Potter's nasal voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Is that her normal voice, or does she only use that awful pitch when she plays Kristina?

[Cattitude]

BusyOctober you left off the one most important statement: Max is supreme Special Snowflake at SA. Anyone slighting or otherwise pissing him off will be immediately terminated...oh wait maybe just expelled.

[leighdear]

Wait!  One more rule for the SA:

NO canteens allowed for any reason

I was kind happy to see Julia gettin' some of cute Evan.  But as dustoffmom pointed out, it's got shades of Crosby and the young teacher.  So of course, when Kristina & Adam find out who Julia banged (and of course they will), it's going to be all about them and her damaging their dream.  

Also, why is she wearing all those buttoned up, neck choking blouses?  Is she missing a clavicle? 

[Cattitude]

I was curious about how to spell The Invisible Braverman's name so I trolled the NBC site just to find she is indeed now invisible. She has no bio or credit and in the about the show synopisis this is what she gets: Their eldest is now living away from home at college across the country.

Makes you wonder what Sarah Ramos did or who she pissed off, b/c The Invisible Braverman actually drove real story back in the day.

BTW I was wrong it is Haddie not Hattie, but I will from now on refer to her as The Invisible Braverman.

Side note: it also sucks to be Victor, though he has his own bio he has no last name unlike everyone else.

[Portia]

On a related note, when Crosby said that Haddie "should have went to a state school," all I could think was wow, I hope that Haddie's Berkeley public school education taught her better grammar than Crosby got out of his Berkeley public school education since he clearly doesn't know how the correct past participle for the verb "to go."

ElectricBoogaloo, that was awesome.

I also agreed with you that the stair-filled house is a bad idea in a retirement property.

I would like Berto better if that actor had not played the exact same role in The Descendants.

[Pacodakat]

If you're going through a divorce it's not unusual for someone to cut their hair or "get a new attitude" hairstyle. Why don't they just go with whatever is on the actresses head instead of that awful wig. I noticed it right away and I never notice details like that.

I know I'm in the minority but I think Mr. Headmaster is kind of creepy. Maybe it's the glasses...I liked that actor on Happy Endings but here he feels a little gross.

I rolled my eyes so much during this episode, between the school, new house and Drew's never ending romance saga.... so much "WTF".. I burst out laughing when Sarah mentioned paying for school. When!?

I'm watching til the end but wow this show has really gone down in quality.

[BusyOctober]

Why does this show's inability to be based in reality bother me so much? 

Wouldn't Crosby (or at least the the brains of that relationship, Jasmine) be in touch daily/weekly with the guys doing the mold job?  Wouldn't they have updates on the situation as the job went along?  I can't imagine anyone would hire a contractor, let them walk in & tell the owners "get out and don't come back til I tell you to". They gave free range for these guys to do whatever?  And then Jasmine & Crosby get word it's OK to move back in, but "Oh yeah, BTW I had to make 4x6 gaping holes in your floors.  Good luck with your 2 small kids avoiding these mini mine shafts! Will you be paying me in cash or by check?" 

Zeke & Camille -Before most people sell their home A, they usually have an eye on a home B  to jump to if/when they sell A.  Yay! we sold our house for huge bucks! Boo, now we're homeless. (sad frowny face).

This show is caled "Parenthood" but these people are some of the worst, least aware parents ever!  Who's watching Nora 99% of the time A &K have to deal w/ Max? Why is Max allowed to be so intollerable?  Why has Haddie been shunned? Where are Victor and Sydney while Julia becomes super lawyer again? Why didn't Sarah know her son had basically dropped out of college or that her daughter has been hiding him? Or that both her kids have been smoking weed frequently.

It's so diffucult for me to understand how the creators of this mess were behind one of my all time favorite show "Friday Night Lights".

[Rapunzel]

Why does this show's inability to be based in reality bother me so much?

You're not alone.  I'm starting to think this show belongs under the Sci Fi/Fantasy category.

[Cattitude]

I kept hoping someone else would bring this up so I wouldn't appear so shallow, but that had to be the ugliest Boy Band ever! Ashes of Rome looked more appealing, but maybe it is just a matter of taste as IMO the Backstreet Boys were hot, Justin Bieber...not so much.

In what world does a headliner stop by a party to "beg" an opening act to open for them....so lame.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Cattitude

[purplemouth]

 

Also, why is she wearing all those buttoned up, neck choking blouses?  Is she missing a clavicle?

This really bothered me a lot last season. She would be wearing this button up shirts buttoned all the way up around the house and with the family but at work, she'd wear plunging necklines. It was so weird. She dresses like she belongs on Little House on the Prairie. It seems like it's too soon for her to be moving on, but I'm okay with it because Joel is acting like a dum-dum. I always found Zachary Knighton's character on Happy Endings gross and that hasn't really gone away on this show. I blame his hair. It just needs good, regular washing.

Of course the charter school got the go-ahead. It was so easy, I don't know why they didn't do it years ago! Whatever. Ready for this storyline to die.

The promo monkeys at NBC have been teasing Sarah/Hank for weeks and weeks and every episode, nothing happens. Well, at least last night he finally did something. I like Hank a lot (my favorite character and not a Braverman - coincidence?) and I think Ray is doing an amazing job in this role. He deserves better. 

I don't understand Jasmine and Crosby's storyline. They've been out of the house for quite a while and their mold issue still isn't fixed? And now they have money issues? Didn't Zeek and Camille get a lot of money for their house? Can't they float C/J a loan so their grandkids can, you know, not fall in a hole when they get up to pee in the middle of the night?

[Pacodakat]

This really bothered me a lot last season. She would be wearing this button up shirts buttoned all the way up around the house and with the family but at work, she'd wear plunging necklines.

 

Yes, she really looked weird on the date with Ed. Like a fundamentalist wife, long black skirt and maybe two shirts??? Is the actress pregnant? What is she hiding? Is she cold?

[TryingHarder]

Why doesn't Crosby fix the floor? Didn't he and his family renovate the house when he bought it?

[TheGongOfDoom]

Wait!  One more rule for the SA:

NO canteens allowed for any reason

I was kind happy to see Julia gettin' some of cute Evan.  But as dustoffmom pointed out, it's got shades of Crosby and the young teacher.  So of course, when Kristina & Adam find out who Julia banged (and of course they will), it's going to be all about them and her damaging their dream.  

Also, why is she wearing all those buttoned up, neck choking blouses?  Is she missing a clavicle? 

Yeah, Erika Christensen has some big boobies, they need to let those puppies out to get some air on the show.

As others have said it's hard to believe Jason Katims is/was the showrunner for this and Friday Night Lights

[Rapunzel]

Why doesn't Crosby fix the floor? Didn't he and his family renovate the house when he bought it?

I think he had a fair amount of help from Joel, a professional contractor, when they first bought the house and maybe he doesn't  feel right asking for help from him now given the situation with Julia. Zeke seems pretty handy, however, so perhaps he could help them out.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Rapunzel

[Amelia]

I know Max seeing Minka Kelly didn't end up so well because Crosby slept with her, but Max could seriously benefit from some additional behavioral therapy. The Bravermans don't think that's necessary? Max isn't going to be living with his parents forever (although with their helicopter parenting, who knows...) so I just don't understand why they aren't providing him with as many resources as they can.

[Eeksquire]

So ... Julia and Mr. Knight (I refuse to acknowledge his first name).  Am I the only one that thought, "Man, wouldn't it be awesome if she got knocked up?"  I know, I know, uterine scarring and whatever condition wouldn't allow her and Joel to have another child, but come ON: As long as this show is going to be totally ridiculous and unrealistic, at least it should be crazy dramatic and unrealistic!

[wonderwoman]

"Makes you wonder what Sarah Ramos did or who she pissed off, b/c The Invisible Braverman actually drove real story back in the day"

Actually, the actress is in NYC at Columbia. So, it was her choice. That said, they miss so many opportunities to even mention her, particularly during Kristina's breast cancer story.

Also: I don't seem to be able to have the quote appear in that little box. Am I missing something, or is it because I'm posting from an Ipad?

[Rapunzel]

The promo people for this show need to come up with some original material for the scenes for the episode the following week. They mentioned this time around that "the love of her (Julia's) life may be returning" or something to that effect and then showed a shot of Joel at someone's door smiling. They used the same "love of her life" crap in the promo for Mr. Cyr's return trying to fake us all out that he may want to get back together with Sarah. I have a feeling that it may be likely that this is the same fake out with the Julia and Joel situation.

[trucka-bubba]

 

As others have said it's hard to believe Jason Katims is/was the showrunner for this and Friday Night Lights

For those of us who watched Roswell, we're not surprised at all.

[WendyM]

I was seriously wishing/hoping/praying Mr. Knight would rip that wig off Julia's head in their moment of passion...oh well.

[FineWashables]

Anybody else think that Mr Cyr and Mr Knight look quite a bit alike?  No?  Just me?

 

Also: I don't seem to be able to have the quote appear in that little box. Am I missing something, or is it because I'm posting from an Ipad?

Wonderwoman, I haven't tried to post from my ipad yet but the way this works on a regular computer is: Copy the text you want to quote.  After you've clicked "Reply" your cursor will move to the reply box and you'll see a line of symbols for bolding, italics, etc.  Look for the quote symbol, second from the right.  Click that and the quote box will appear.  Now paste your quote and you're good to go.  (Or else don't use an ipad?)

[izabella]

You can also use the little quote icons at the bottom of every post. I know it says it is for multi-quoting, but when you click on it, a little box will pop up that says something like "quote from one post".  Click on that and a reply box with the quote appears.  Just learned that!!

[film noire]

 

You're not alone.  I'm starting to think this show belongs under the Sci Fi/Fantasy category.

I’m at the point where I’m almost sure (actually, pretty damn close to a state of absolute certitude) that everyone on the show is just a character in Max’s mind. Nothing else makes sense.  It's the ol' Little Tommy with autism on St Elsewhere bit; the final Parenthood episode will be Max playing with a snow globe in a grubby apartment and in will come an exhausted Adam -- he's the janitor, not the owner of the recording studio -- and he'll try to talk to Max and Max will (quite sensibly) push his father away and return to his lovely fantasy world full of aunts who are either playwrights or photographers or bartenders, depending on Max's mood, mothers who run for mayor of major American cities at the drop of a hat,  uncles who inexplicably -- and suddenly -- leave marriages for no discernible reason, one very special playmate who has the same problems Max does -- but he's bigger and taller and older so he can keep Max safe (especially from the other playmates who are either crippled or given to peeing in canteens, who are then banished, never to be seen again in Max World). And lastly, two sisters who fade in and out of Max's fantasy at will -- depending on his state of boredom -- everybody in his head moved around like paper dolls, no rhyme nor reason to be found other than the hyper-activity of an autistic mind seeking novelty and stimulation.  This whole crazy, illogical, sorry mess of a show is all in the damn kid's head.

Edited April 10, 2014 by film noire

[FineWashables]

So in other words, it's all Pam Ewing's dream?  That would actually be more logical than a lot of the ideas they've shoveled out on this show.  And it would be the only believable explanation for Sarah's income from doing nothing, Adam & Christina's ability to pay for a really expensive college while paying to start up a new business while paying for a failed mayoral campaign while shelling out to start the Special Snowflake Academy.