Monsters of Television

“You can be the best!”

Now that everyone is introduced, the show can settle into a groove that allows characters and stories the chance to breathe, maybe not focus on everyone very closely, while developing the stories laid out in the pilot. And by and large the show does that. The upside of the multiple storyline aspect is that it makes it easier to see which ones are and aren’t working, and then I can pretend like the latter ones don’t exist, making my job hobby a lot easier.

This episode finds the Bravermans figuring out what to do next now that their family is reunited in one geographical space, each with conflicts to overcome (finding a job, coping with kids who have different and specific needs, and in Zeek’s case, chopping wood and being a busy-body) and how they can do it and still remain a family.

Let’s talk about Julia first since she drew the short straw in the pilot and gets a bit more story in this episode. The pilot established Sydney has being a daddy’s girl since Julia is never around (what with be a lawyer and all). As a result, Julia gets proactive and starts creating time to see Sydney, mainly by driving her to school (while complaining about how it prevents her from getting to work). Additionally, Joel is the hit with the stay-at-home moms at Sydney’s school (aren’t many hunky stay-at-home dads, I guess), specifically Racquel, a free-spirited Buddhist who is all over Joel.

There’s a number of frustrating things going on with Julia’s storyline, namely the frazzled and seemingly inattentive working mom character type. It doesn’t seem like Julia has a hard time getting home at night (we haven’t seen much of her work life), so I’m really unclear on the how and why Sydney doesn’t seem to care for her and why she feels that she has to carve out time to see her daughter (and, hopefully, Joel). It’s a lazy character type that I really hoped had gone by the wayside with the end of the 90s, but my hopes have been dashed.

The show needs to be careful to balance Julia a bit. Her comment at the auction that Racquel doesn’t even work isn’t only a jab at Racquel (heard by all the other non-working moms because of a live mike), but is also a jab at her husband. There’s no martial spat about this (maybe in the next episode?), because if I were Joel, I’d be a little miffed. The good thing about all these storylines is that they’re able to unspool across the episodes, creating on-going stories for each character. The downside is that the stories still need to move at a smart clip to be really effective, which is (hopefully) where Julia’s storyline is going.

Less attention was given to Crosby and his newly met son Jabbar this episode, though the previews hint that it’ll be a focus of next week’s. I do like that Crosby is the family’s other black sheep (along with Sarah), but another balancing act has to be performed with Crosby between being a semi-slacker and having (probably soon to be) competing women in his life. My one hope is that the Jabar and Jasmine storyline doesn’t become a drawn out, pointless storyline (I’m looking at you, fake pregnancy plot on Glee). Katie seems wrapped up in her own baby-wanting world that it might be able to go on for a bit, but not too long.

Which leaves the show’s A & B plots in Adam and Sarah. Adam and Kristina are trying to figure out how to get Max properly diagnosed, which leads them to the house of a couple with a child who has Asperger’s as well. I’m incredibly curious if this sequence, with what can only be described a comedically nightmare case, isn’t really comedic at all. But the sequence’s low angles and kid in the background running amok didn’t help the sense of dread Adam and Kristina are probably feeling. It does play into the sense of being overwhelmed by the whole thing (only enhanced by Adam’s Web search montage), but I don’t know about issues of representation here.

Adam’s struggle with the possum felt a tad silly and then turns out only to be a device with which to discover Haddie’s pot. Clearly Haddie has been, prior to the show’s pilot, trying to be be as perfect and low maintenance for her parents as possible, but cracks are starting to come through. No doubt much of it will be revealed to Haddie feeling neglected by her parents as they focus more and more on Max.

I don’t have much to say about Sarah’s plots in the episode. Between getting a job and convincing the school principal not to keep Amber back a grade, it all felt fairly routine. Lauren Graham carries the routineness perfectly, but I will say that the portrayal veers into Lorelai Gilmore a little too often, especially during the interview scene. This could just be me and my inability to detach Graham from Lorelai, so we’ll see how that develops for me.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• I do appreciate the show seems willing to have one Braverman sibling scene (Adam, Sarah, Julia, and Crosby) each episode (so far). The dynamics of these scenes are really solid, which is why I felt that Kristina was really outside the loop in the pot smoking in the school yard scene.
• At first I thought Racquel was played by Amy Brennan, but it turns out that Erinn Hayes is just the lovechild of Brennan and Jorja Fox.
• It struck me as odd that Nelson and Bedelia didn’t get childhood photos in the opening credits (like the rest of the adult cast). Also: using real photos of the cast, while a nice touch, feels a little weird, and I can’t explain why.
• Of course the show’s nightmare example of Asperger’s has name my name. Why can’t we have more dreamy and hunky Noels on television? I can’t even get a keychain with my name on it! Sheesh.
• Peter Krause in a pirate costume was pretty much the coolest thing ever, and a nice step forward for Adam.