Parenthood- Family Portrait

By Photographed by Greg Hernandez *derivative work: – Kerαunoςcopia◁galaxies (Lauren Graham) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Previously on Parenthood, Crosby got something awesome that he didn’t deserve, but we’re so happy for Jabbar that we didn’t care. Max was way ruder than anyone with Asperger’s Syndrome that we know. Haddie was a regular teen. Sarah was not Lorelai Gilmore. Adam ruled. Zeke didn’t. Julia is cool too. This isn’t the kind of show that starts off with a bang. Most premieres try to get attention, but this first episode was as quiet and normal as any episode of Parenthood. Julie and Hot Joel have a new kid, Victor, and he’s a sweetheart, but Julia doesn’t love him yet. He’s acting hesitant and Max told him that he’s not part of the family yet. Aww. We love him and can’t wait for the moment when he breaks down and loves the Bravermans.

Ray Romano is an even bigger jerk than Max, but we totally understand him firing Sarah after that work day. You don’t want an employee who is a liar. For the record, we’ve never lied in job interviews or on resumes, and God knows sometimes we’ve needed to. Nothing is worth it if you get it like that. We loved how different Ray was from his Everybody Loves Raymond days. We were surprised to see him pull this off so well, but that’s our fault for not watching his critically acclaimed last show. It was so awkward watching Sarah mess up and knowing that she was going to be outed as a liar! This is a good show, but we feel like Lauren Graham should be on a show where she has a bigger, better role than Sarah, whose best plots were in season two. Last year, she was largely wasted and kind of pathetic.

We didn’t think Haddie was a brat. We thought she was a realistic, relatable teen about to go to college. It was cute when she tried to bond with Max and gave him the weighted blanket. Crosby realizes that his parents didn’t raise him with any concept of spirituality, and it was interesting to see him actually seem to resent that rather than just feel intellectual superior to religious people. We get his complaint that the church is a community solely for people who can pass their litmus tests. We liked the way he and Jasmine handled the situation. They were totally in the right. The last scene of the episode was great. This was a regular, nice episode of Parenthood. Sure to please longtime fans, unlikely to win rabid converts.

Episode grade: B