Sunday, September 19, 2010

Parenthood: Season 2, Episode 1 "I Hear You, I See You" Season Premiere Review


Since the Series Premiere I decided I must review this series, but I preferred to get to know each character first before I began. There are so many characters to follow in this dram packed series. It is filled with family issues, teenage dilemmas and basically every obstacle faced in life has partially begun to be debated in this value themed picture. We come across issues like; affair, teenage rivalry (crushes, boyfriend drama, sex, lies, deception), rebellious teenagers, challenged toddlers, brilliant toddlers, school life, marriage, divorce, single parenthood, all dipped in the dilemmas that come with being a family, like any family the list would go on and on.

The 'Pilot' premise focused on these large groups of different family groupings, stemming from the same family root. Now I could not believe that they were all related and it was troublesome figuring out who was related to whom, but when I grasped that concept, the strong bonds wrapped in the middle, filled with some imperfect cracks painted the true picture for me.
'Parenthood' brings each storyline to home, and makes you go through each challenge with them. Be it Sarah's struggle to stand on her two feet and find a lasting job that would bring in the cash, Adam's strain to be the big brother, husband, father and exemplar, Haddie and Amber's struggle to get along, Crosby's novelty to fatherhood, Julia's urge to be a better mother, and Camille and Zeek struggle to hold their marriage, the struggle is one familiar to us all.

This Episode Premiere brings last season's issues to the forefront and continues on a new spin. Amber was hardly screened, but Haddie's learning to drive and a mother becoming over obsessive does bring back memories for most. Was she probably as controlling? Probably! It always seems that way until you have children of your own. This show brings you to think about real life situations and each character is almost perfect in their role that may be certain you were watching someone else's life right before you, experiencing each detail with them. For a first time, we got into the heart of what Adam does for a living, we knew he invented stuff, but we didn't know the strain on him from his boss, or even who his boss was at all. William Baldwin's guest appearance as Gordon Flint was interesting at best, its uncanny how closely the Baldwin brothers are so much that you can't tell them apart, without a trained eye.

The dilemma's dealt with this time:
How to repair a leak, without breaking everything else?
How to tell your brother he stole your idea for his job without making him or yourself feel bad for outing him on the matter?
How to tell your father in law he sucks at something, without crossing that family line?
How to keep your family away from the job and keep the boss from walking in on them every second of the day?
How to convince your boss why you should keep your job, when family is taking first preference?
How to control and already difficult situation when a promise was broken?
How to tell your baby mama you want her and your son home without trampling on her career dreams?
How to keep yourself from falling for someone else?

The list goes on again, it encourages us to decide 'if we were in that situation, how would we handle it, or how we should have handled that very same situation'.

The final 'How to' relates to Crosby and his strange fondness for Gaby; Max's sitter. I guess the writers were pulling Jasmine away, just to give Crosby enough time to grow closer to Gaby; at least those are my suspicions.

Thumbs up to "Max Burkholder" for his representation of Max that must not be an easy role for a child to play. He seems so convincing for his audience. This show may have many Emmy's its way without question. The values are too true to go unnoticed.

In the mean while, I look forward to the next episode, within an hour, I am astonished the amount of material they get with each second. Truly Moving.

Lexa

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Five Stars

Grade A
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