Parenthood: Life in the Fast Lane

Another new Parenthood! I can hardly take it. I know it’s all building up the season finale, but I’m enjoying every new episode as it airs. Tonight’s show opens with Haddie having the sexy sex with her boyfriend, followed by a scene with Adam and Kristina driving home from the grocery store, talking about whether or not Haddie’s favorite frozen waffles made it into the cart. The phone rings. Adam answers his fancy phone system and puts the call on speaker. Sexy sex is clearly happening on the other end, as much as Kristina and Adam want to think that isn’t.

While Haddie is having the sex with her steady boyfriend, Amber is having a party at Julia’s law office after hours with Gary, the gopher guy who wanted to party with her last episode. She’s clearly out of control, a sharp contrast to the girl who was helping her out of control friend at the the beginning of the season. By the middle of the episode, Amber has embarrassed Julia and quit her job. After all, she’s not going to college, so she no longer needs money.

As Kristina and Adam are putting away the groceries, Haddie comes in talking about her evening at the bookstore. Oh, teenagers.

The next morning, Joel is at Crosby’s house, which has turned into a construction site. Crosby adds to the project, and when Joel mentions that will cost more money, Crosby immediately says he’ll sell his motorcycle. He’s clearly a man on a mission, even though he’s not sure when he’ll be ready to tell Jasmine about the plan he’s hatching.

For the first time in several episodes, we get to see Adam’s new hippie boss, Cory. He’s got all kinds of ideas for the graphic ads, and it’s a good reminder that Adam still has a stressful-for-Adam work environment. Cory’s anything but stressed, and he’s sharing edibles for those who want them.

I have to hand it to Kristina for keeping a cool head about the Haddie situation. She’s not really sure what to do, but she does bring it up to Haddie without mentioning the phone call. Haddie initially denies that she and Alex are doing it and asks Kristina how old she was when she started having sex. Kristina says she was 22 and in college, and there’s a slight expression that crosses Haddie’s face.  A few scenes later, Haddie goes to Kristina and tells her the truth, that yes, she is having sex with Alex. Again, Kristina stays calm, saying, “It is what it is.” She then tells Haddie she was really 15 and that it was awful. Haddie tells her mom they’re using condoms, and that she’s happy. Kristina’s not so happy, but she keeps it together. Kristina is charged with the task of telling Adam, who is visibly confused and angry at the situation.

Richard Dreyfus is back as Gilliam, Sarah’s play-writing mentor. He takes Sarah and Zeek to an event to meet a colleague of his. It’s not until they get there that Gilliam tells Sarah that Mr. Craft will need some softening up, since Gilliam once called him incompetent. Sarah does a good job of taking things into her own hands, and Craft agrees to read the play. At least one thing is going right for Sarah.

Going back to the Crosby story, Jabbar comes to play with Syd, Julia asks Jasmine if she’s talked to Crosby. She mentions that he’s really different and grown up all of a sudden. Jasmine blows it off, saying “I don’t think I’ll ever not be angry at him.” Julia sees that her brother is definitely taking a long shot, and when she talks to him about it, he even agrees it’s a Hail Mary pass.

One of the funniest scenes in this episode is dinner at Adam’s house. There is an uncomfortable silence, and Adam can’t look at his daughter. Haddie knows he’s uncomfortable/upset and doesn’t know what to say either. Max starts giving facts about chickens and then moves on to Haddie’s soccer game.

Max: “Haddie scored three times today. I’ve never even scored once, and she scored three times in one day. That’s amazing.”

Poor Adam just takes a big swig of wine.

Once again the scenes switch directly from Haddie’s life to Amber’s life (in re-watching the episode, this was used throughout, a scene with Haddie followed by Amber). Amber’s now getting hot and heavy with Gary in Julia’s office. She sees the time and jumps up, saying she needs to get to dinner with her mom. This is the dinner that she and Sarah have planned to talk about Amber’s new plan, whatever that may be. When Amber does get there, Sarah can see she’s high. Amber is ambivalent. I feel really badly for Sarah, because she’s suddenly realizing what a hard time Amber’s having.

The next morning, Sarah is talking to Drew about what Amber’s been up to. He doesn’t know much, but when Gary calls Amber’s phone, she hangs up on him. When Amber walks in, she flips out that her mom is going through her purse and her brother is letting her. Gary pulls up, Sarah tries to stop her, and Amber knocks Sarah to the ground. Amber drives off with Gary, and Drew is left there trying to help his mom.

As Sarah is still calling Amber’s cell phone, Gilliam walks into the scene. He tells her that Craft has read and liked her play. It’s not really what she’s thinking about at the moment. Later that day, Adam is at Sarah’s and they’re discussing teenage girls. Sarah still hasn’t heard from Amber. When Adam laments that Haddie’s having sex and he doesn’t know what to do, Sarah has a revelation. She sternly tells him that when teens are pushing you away, that’s when they need you the most. THAT’S when they need you to show up. You can tell Sarah has a bad feeling about what’s going on with Amber.

Adam then shows up after Haddie’s soccer practice, where he sees a scrape on her arm. Haddie laughs at her dad’s attentiveness, and he just says to her, “I just don’t ever want you to get hurt, Haddie.” They then take off to the movies together, and you can hear in Haddie’s voice how glad she is that her dad’s adjusting to the situation.

The show ends going from Haddie to Amber one more time. Amber’s passing a flask back and forth with Gary, and they’re rambling on about where they could go and what they could do and CRASH. A car hits Gary’s, straight into Amber.

My jaw was on the ground, and now we have to wait a whole week to see if Amber’s okay. And? In the previews? Adam finds a positive pregnancy test in his trash! Speculation, anyone?

(Screenshot of Haddie from NBC.com)