The only way to break down this week's Parenthood is to take it family by family and focus on what happened in each household.
First, let's start with Sid because, man, is she's a spoiled brat. Even before Vincent came around, her attitude sucked. That tantrum in the restaurant was ridiculous, as was the scene where she decided to "runaway." Of course, her tantrums worked on Joel.
"Maybe she's acting out because she's getting the short end of the stick," Joel said questioningly.
Yes, Sid may have recently gotten the "short end" of the parent-time stick. But, she's an only child and had the entire stick for most of her life. Meanwhile, Vincent came from an awful situation. They need to do a better job explaining that they took Vincent out of a really rough life and that now he needs love and attention. She still doesn't get it.
Next, Ryan tried to cancel his date with Amber because he needed to go to Bakersfield for a funeral of a fellow soldier, Evan. Amber invited herself along and the two spent the day on the road. When she asked about Evan, Ryan said he was killed in an accident. Did anyone believe him?
The truth about Evan's death came out in the hotel parking lot while a small gang of soldiers and their girlfriends shared a few beers. When one of his fellow soldiers started talking crap about how Evan took his own life and that he didn't deserve full honors, Ryan gave the kid's face a well-deserved pounding.
The next morning, when Ryan apologized for last night's anger, Amber comforted him by telling him she's not leaving. Those two are even more adorable when, on the way home, they decide to stop off at the beach for just a little bit of fun on their otherwise depressing road trip.
Ryan's fist throwing wasn't even the only fight on the show.
Crosby and Jasmine had a spat because Crosby said they should invite over some parents from Jabbar's school. Except, when it was time to prepare for the party, Cros didn't want to help. Between Jasmine's hard work and Crosby's fun-loving attitude, though, the party was still a success.
Sarah and Mark also went at it when Mark caught Drew and Amy having sex and promised not to tell Sarah. He, of course, turned around and told her, which was exactly the right thing to do. But his promise to Drew made things worse than they needed to be, as did Sarah's agreement to let him handle it... only to turn around and try to talk to Drew.
She was right in talking to him, but it should have been handled differently. Between Drew's attitude and Mark's way of handling it, it's becoming even more obvious that the two moved way too fast with moving in together .
The best part of the show was definitely the weed that Adam scored off Crosby to give to his suffering wife. Kristina leaned back with the joint while Adam asked off-camera, "Is it helping?" The look on Kristina's face was priceless. It'd help a lot more if Adam would chill out, too.
Another week in the lives of all the Bravermans has come and gone with touching success. Parenthood continues to be the show many fans wish would never end, not even for summer. Luckily, summer is still far away and we've got a whole new episode next week.
Images courtesy of NBC
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