A quick review of last night’s “Parenthood” coming up just as soon as I negotiate for both popcorn and candy…
In addition to balancing stories among the four siblings (and occasionally Grandma and Grandpa), “Parenthood” generally tries to balance different kinds of stories in each episode. There’s usually a light one, like Jabbar not cleaning his room, or here Drew’s inability to sell the wrapping paper. There are a few medium-intensity ones, like in this case Crosby and Jasmine’s argument over Jabbar and the school play. And there’s a heavy one to anchor things, like Adam having to fire people, or here the schism between Haddie and her parents over Alex.
It’s on that heavy storyline that my appreciation of the show tends to rest, and because I’m not invested at all in Haddie and Alex, “Opening Night” was kind of a drag for me. I enjoyed the subplots for the most part(*), but the show is now pretty deep into a story I don’t care about in the slightest (despite my love of Michael B. Jordan). So I have to just wait it out, and hope for episodes like last week’s (which I didn’t have time to review due to press tour) where it’s a bit more on the backburner.
(*) One ongoing problem: while it’s realistic that Jasmine and Crosby would keep having this same problem, given his absence from the first five years of Jabbar’s life, and given that couples often have the same argument over and over, the show’s sympathies (and the audience’s) are so clearly with Crosby that Jasmine begins to seem more and more like a villain each time they revisit this territory. Something’s gotta give, even if I thought the line between not encouraging quitting and not pushing too hard was an interesting one.
What did everybody else think?