This week’s episode brings us Krisitna’s lumpectomy, Sarah moving in with Mark and a date for Amber. Crosby continues his transformation from man-child to man, and Max stuns his parents.
Kristina’s surgery is the focus of this episode. She and Adam are organizing the day, down to two hour shifts for the Braverman siblings to sit with Adam while Kristina’s in surgery. Crosby begs for ways to be truly helpful, and wants a task bigger than walking the dog. Of course a mishap happens with the dog, and he ends up being late with Kristina’s pre-surgery dinner, but he does deliver.
Sarah moves in with Mark this week as well. Drew is not happy about the move, and accuses Sarah of not considering him in this decision. Mark, is wonderful, as usual, and goes out of his way to make Drew feel at home. He even orders cable as a goodwill gesture. Maybe things will be alright on the Sarah and Mark front. My fingers are crossed.
Amber has finally met a sweet potential love interest. Ryan, the vet Zeek met at the VFW, comes a-courting, and happily buys Amber a burrito. He’s a bit awkward (he shook her hand!), but says that he can’t stop thinking about her and doesn’t want to screw this up. It’s a beautiful thing, and I hope that she gets more screen time and a happy story line this season. Also, is it weird that it’s their grandparents bringing home young men for Amber (Ryan) and Haddie (Alex)?
Haddie does make herself useful while she’s home from college. On surgery day, she goes with Max as he makes his speech during student council elections. His parents are concerned about his lack of preparation for the speech, but they needn’t have worried. After he said his prepared remarks, and got an encouraging thumbs up from Haddie, Max launched into who he is and why he should be president. He explains that Aspergers has it’s problems and good things. I got chills when he delivers the line, “I have Aspergers and I think it’s the best thing about me.” The kid is convincing, and he even says himself that he is tenacious.
As the episode wraps up, Crosby asks Jabbar how to pray, Amber gets a kiss on the cheek from Ryan, and Drew concedes to smile in his new home. Kristina wakes up from surgery to learn that her son is indeed the new student council president of his middle school.
Kristina and Adam meet with the doctor post surgery for the pathology results. The good news is that the tumor has been removed and her margins are clear. The bad news is that cancer was found in one of her lymph nodes, and it’s an aggressive kind of cancer. She’s going to need to start chemotherapy.
The episode closes with Adam and Kristina returning home to Haddie and Max. They decide to hide the truth from Haddie so that she’ll get back to school. As the episode closes, Kristina tells her daughter that she’s cancer-free.