By Lucy Sweeeney
The mid-season finale struck just the right balance between resolving some of the tensions of the past few weeks and introducing enough new ones to keep us eagerly hanging on for the second half of the season. Kristina’s still got a bee in her bonnet about the way Adam dealt with the Rachel situation, which makes it even harder for them to cooperate with her returning to work this week. Unfortunately seeing as Adam never fired Rachel, he can’t give Amber a job at The Luncheonette (which I could see her being totally perfect for). Kristina swooped in with an offer instead and reassured Amber of her capabilities, which was sweet and unexpected coming from Kristina. It was definitely something Amber needed to hear, and Sarah was beyond grateful to Kristina for “taking care of her baby”. Speaking of babies, all those in favour of Sarah and Mark having one of their own?
After everybody breaks their promises to take him to the dinosaur exhibit at the museum, Max decides to take matters into his own hands and run off alone. It didn’t have the catastrophic outcome I was imagining, but it managed to bring Kristina and Adam together in the end. Haddie’s outburst on the front lawn was the most powerful moment in this arc – Kristina and Adam are so acutely aware of Max’s social difficulties that they often avoid disciplining him, so I can completely understand Haddie’s frustration. We haven’t heard or seen a real emotional reaction from Haddie since Alex’s departure, so it’s about time.
A little accident in the park shows Crosby just how much Dr. Joe cares about both Jasmine and Jabbar, which leads him to step up and make the decision to let Jasmine go. Having Crosby and Jasmine get back together would be too cliché for Parenthood, so co-parenting this way adds a much more interesting dynamic to the show.
Julia’s trying to move on after the dinner disaster with Zoe and Troy. I would’ve loved to see Juls and Joel actually discussing their thoughts on the situation, but they’ve made it pretty clear where they stand. Zoe (bless her cotton socks) obviously wishes more than anything to give Julia her baby, and I really did feel for her reaching out in desperation at the end of the episode. Thought: could Julia and Joel just adopt Zoe AND the unborn baby? Call it cheesy or unrealistic but that’s the only way I can imagine they’ll get their baby, and I have a feeling the writers wouldn’t have wasted a whole season on this storyline if it wasn’t going to achieve anything.
Parenthood resumes January 3rd – I can’t wait!
Loved the episode! Haddie finally had some great stuff to do here (btw – it really seems like they have written out Alex, I thought it would be temporary and he’d be back right away!!). Kristina acted just the way I thought she would act, but I’m glad she has resolved things with Adam (and Rachael). Also glad to see Amber getting the job with Kristina, I just hope she doesn’t fail like she has with pretty much every other endeavour.
Still don’t know what to think of the Julia/Zoe business, feels like they are running in circles at this point – we want the baby/i want to give you the baby/boyfriend won’t sign papers – so hopefully this goes somewhere.
Btw, the Lauren Graham and Jason Ritter stuff with the babies was adorable!
Agreed! Loved the awkward “i-could-see-having-a-baby-with-you” half conversation and cute little private smiles afterward.