Descent Out Of Charm: Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life Peaks Early!

The Good: First two episodes, Most of the acting
The Bad: Second pair of episodes, Character and plot direction
The Basics: Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life starts with an intriguing reuinion of beloved characters who are all experiencing some sense of loss . . . before the show treads in the most familiar and unpleasant directions that Gilmore Girls went in.


When Netflix started producing Netflix Original Television programs, it was interesting to watch how quickly they moved from producing new content from previously-cancelled shows - like Arrested Development - to creating original content, like House Of Cards and Hemlock Grove. What seemed intriguing was how long it took the "network" to go back to buying up shuttered projects to revive them with new seasons. The latest revival is Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life, a four-episode season that returns the viewer to the world of Gilmore Girls (reviewed here!). Picking up ten years after Gilmore Girls is an interesting concept, though it is hard to see the inherent need (the final season of Gilmore Girls did a very good job of closing the book on the portion of Lorelai and Rory's lives that the show chronicled) and requires a lot of faith that the writers would do a condensed season justice.

The concept of Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is a solid one: there are four ninety-minute episodes, each one presenting a season of a year in the life of the three main Gilmore women - Rory, Lorelai and Emily. Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is a tough execution of the concept and it is strange that executive producers and writers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino skew toward where Gilmore Girls went before instead of treading into something truly new. After an initial high level of charm as Rory and Lorelai come back into each other's lives in more meaningful ways, there is torsion in their relationship and both protagonists find themselves aimless. But fans of Gilmore Girls have seen that before; when Rory had an affair with Dean while he was married and lost Lorelai's respect . . . and Rory ran away to Richard and Emily's.

It wasn't until the end of "Summer" that I came to recognize that I had some expectations for Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life and that those expectations were not being met. Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life could have been the story of an adult child floundering in a world beyond her control and her turning to her floundering mother and the two lifting each other out of their depressions and fears. But long before "Summer" ends, it is painfully clear that Rory has become unlikable in addition to aimless (her disdain for the Thirtysomething Crowd seems arrogant and her cheating on Paul with Logan creates a forced level of moral ambiguity that feels entirely cheap) and Lorelai has become so painfully emotionally distant that when the musical number in "Summer" comes up, it shines a light on just how broken Lorelai has been.

But the real wrench in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is how the characters - who have been characterized by communications - are simply not communicating. Fans of Gilmore Girls who might be thrilled to seek Lorelai and Luke living together soon realize that there is no passion in their relationship; fans of the mother/daughter story of Lorelai and Rory quickly see that the two aren't actually having conversations (which is a real bummer because Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life opens with a classic patter between the two). So, instead of growth and development, Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life quickly forces conflict between Lorelai and Emily and Lorelai and Rory.

Opening in winter when Rory returns to Stars Hollow after leaving her apartment in New York, after getting a piece published in The New Yorker, Rory and Lorelai are reunited. Rory is trying to remember to break up with her utterly forgettable boyfriend, Paul, while jetting around trying to sell her next piece and crashing at various friends' homes. Lorelai is struggling with trying to find a new chef for the Dragonfly Inn and with her estrangement from her mother, following an incident at her father's funeral. Rory's return forces Lorelai and Emily back together and an offhanded remark from Emily causes Lorelai to explore having children with Luke. After a somewhat disastrous visit to Paris Geller's surrogacy business (while Rory is off in London meeting with Naomi, the subject of the book she wants to write, and hooking up with Logan), Lorelai and Luke reach the conclusion that they will not be having a child together.

In Spring, Lorelai goes to therapy with Emily, which is completely unpleasant for both of them. While Rory tries to get good material out of Naomi in London, Stars Hollow struggles with b-list actors who are working on a film in Woodbury occupying the Dragonfly Inn. When Conde Nast continues to put off their meeting with Rory, she turns to Logan Huntsberger's father for help. Emily has a private meeting with Luke where she reveals that Richard left money for Luke to franchise his diner . . . and then she takes him out to look at properties. Rory's life comes unhinged after an alumni event at Chilton when her writing options are winnowed away and she tries to write an article for GQ, but ends up having her first ever one night stand with a cosplay Wookie!

Rory moves back to Stars Hollow (despite her protestations) in summer. April visits Lorelai and Luke's and soon after, Jesse visits the town. To try to bring revenue to Stars Hollow, Taylor commissions a play: Stars Hollow: The Musical and Lorelai soon cuts out of the therapy she had continued after her mother bailed when her therapist auditions for a role. Emily becomes listless and obsessed with getting Richard's headstone right, after Rory encourages her to go back into the world. Stars Hollow's secret bar becomes the setting by which Michel tenders his resignation to Lorelai and when Rory pitches writing a book about their lives together, Lorelai rejects the idea soundly and decides to go on a walkabout.

Fall finds Lorelai going on a Wild-style walkabout in the Pacific Crest Trail. Jess returns to Stars Hollow to help his mother and T.J. and Luke. While Lorelai struggles with her walkabout, Rory is reunited with the Life And Death Brigade for a wild night. After Logan offers her a place to write, she rejects the offer and returns to her job renewed. When she cannot find her permit, Lorelai goes for a very short walk and it leads her to call her mother to tell her the story of her best memory of her father. When Lorelai returns home, Luke stands up for himself and their relationship. And Lorelai finally makes a leap with Luke that shows him how she feels.

As one might expect, the return of the beloved characters from Gilmore Girls are a key aspect of Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life. For those who are unfamiliar with them, the key characters in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life are:

Lorelai Gilmore - Rory's mother and the owner of the Dragonfly Inn, she is struggling to make her relationship with Luke Danes work when she comes to realize that years prior he hinted he might want a child with her. She drinks a lot of coffee and is psyched to have Rory in her life more frequently again, even as she searches for a replacement chef for Sooki. She attends therapy with Emily, but when her mother abandons her grief counseling, she continues on her own. She tries to guide Rory, but is unsettled when Rory returns home. Goaded by Emily, she starts to see the dysfunction in her relationship with Luke and she decides to go to nature rather than actually deal with Luke and Rory.

Rory Gilmore - Having written a piece for The New Yorker that makes everyone in Stars Hollow proud, she is struggling to find her next piece that will sell. While finding that she is in a two year relationship with Paul, she meets with the eccentric Naomi Shropshire in London and pitches a book deal with her. She has boxes of her possessions shipped all over so she can crash with anyone of her friends and family. She finds Naomi is too drunk to be coherent and when the website that has been wooing her changes their mind after interviewing her, she moves back in with Lorelai! She takes over the Stars Hollow Gazette when the old managing editor abruptly retires. After taking a few stabs at doing things her way, she returns the newspaper to its traditional narrative. She is encouraged by Jess to write a book about her life with her mother and when her mother rejects the idea, she turns to Logan for support . . . only to discover that his arranged relationship plans with a French society woman are finally being executed.

Sookie - Having gone on sabbatical from the Dragonfly Inn, her absence forces Lorelai to try to hire someone new to cook. She pops up, though, to help Lorelai at a key moment in her friend's life.

Lane Kim - She is still married, with her two children and she is still in her band. She has not seen Rory for quite some time before Rory returns to Stars Hollow and has some boxes shipped to her place. At the Spring food event in Stars Hollow, she runs the Korean food table. She starts supporting Rory when Rory returns to town full-time, including trying to help her kick her Logan habit. She and Zack play music at the Silent Bar in Stars Hollow.

Paris - Now the owner and manager of Dynasty Makers surrogacy service, she is estranged from Doyle. She is as aggressive as ever, but is highly successful (namedropping to Lorelai and Luke that her service was recently used by Neil Patrick Harris!). She turns to Rory for help when they go back to Chilton for an alumni event (she terrifies the students she speaks to!) and she is psyched when Rory is willing to look after her kids occasionally.

Kirk - Still flitting from project to project, he starts as the owner of Ooo-ber, a car service, before he starts a grog cart business. He helps Taylor run the Spring International food celebration in Stars Hollow. He releases his second film, finally, and he is shocked (as a pig owner) to realize that his love of BLTs makes him a purveyor of pig genocide.

Michel - Married for five years to Frederick, he still works for Lorelai at the Dragonfly Inn. He is anxious about Frederick suddenly wanting children and about Lorelai firing every great chef who comes to work at the Dragonfly Inn. He becomes restless when the b-list actors stay at the Dragonfly, which makes Lorelai convinced he will abandon her, just as Sooki did. After visiting New York City and one of the prestigious hotels there, he tenders his resignation as he knows Lorelai cannot afford to pay him what he is worth. He starts to act kindly toward children visiting the Dragonfly Inn to prepare for possibly having a kid of his own.

Emily Gilmore - Lorelai's mother, widowed by Richard four months ago, she has been estranged from Lorelai because of things Lorelai said at Richard's funeral. She mistakenly gets a portrait of her dead husband made in a massive size and tries to declutter her mansion because things there do not bring her joy. She takes Lorelai's advice and gets into therapy. After a few unproductive sessions with Lorelai in therapy, she turns her attention to franchising Luke's diner . . . even though he has no desire to franchise. She retreats from the world, but is encouraged by Rory to re-engage. Getting active in the D.A.R. and at the club again brings her a renewed sense of vitality. She begins to see one of Richard's old friends socially. She stands up to the artifice of her old life rather abruptly.

and Luke Danes - Living with Lorelai and giving out false wi-fi passwords at his diner to patrons there, he is now ambivalent to the idea of having a child with Lorelai. He is still annoyed by Taylor (who is obsessed with a Stars Hollow sewer project) and put off by Rory's unmemorable boyfriend, Paul. He lives with Lorelai and is shocked when Emily tries to execute Richard's wish to have his diner franchised. He has been going along with Lorelai's arrangement for the two of them and he is shocked when Lorelai decides to go on a walkabout.

Fans of Gilmore Girls are likely to love the cameos, both integral (Sebastian Bach!) and obscure - the appearance of Jason at Richard's funeral is an excellent touch that makes perfect sense for the continuity, even if he was a largely forgettable relationship in Lorelai's parade of men. The Town Troubadour is back and characters like April, Doyle, and even Francie make brief appearances. There are some fun cameos for those who love the actors on Gilmore Girls - like Mae Whitman, Lauren Graham's on-screen daughter on Parenthood, who shows up just long enough to be recognized. And when Jason Ritter and Peter Krause show up, it is hard not to smirk.

Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life misses the opportunity to tell a fresh story, though, as the characters move toward a predictable sense of conflict. Gilmore Girls was often at its best when it was the Gilmore women against the world - woman vs. society stories. In fact, the essential conflict that opened Gilmore Girls was one woman struggling against a sense of poverty that pushed her to fight for something better for her daughter. Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life has everyone unhappy and there is nothing entertaining about that. Lorelai has been in a relationship with Luke for nine years . . . but they don't talk, they don't connect, they just live together. Rory is cheating on one man with a man who is engaged to be married . . . there's nothing interesting or compelling about her lack of integrity or character in not cutting Paul loose and maintaining an emotional dependence upon Logan. And Emily's journey through her grief in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is woefully underplayed (in favor of a strange series of jokes involving her new housekeeper who does not speak a recognizable language) and is not used to truly advance the character or the relationship Emily has with her daughter or grand daughter.

On the acting front, Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life provides some wonderful actors with familiar parts to play and more than giving viewers something new to thrill to, it simply reminds the viewers what they loved about the performers before. Lauren Graham has a good cry in "Summer" that allows her to illustrate emotional range without any lines and when Scott Patterson's Luke finally stands up for himself, it is a welcome thing. But Alexis Bledel is overshadowed by Liza Weil in every scene they share and Bledel playing Rory as listless quickly wears thin. Bledel never acts loving in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life and given that the core relationship of Gilmore Girls is the bond shared by a mother and daughter, Bledel and Graham lacking chemistry is somewhat devastating in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life.

The fact that one of the biggest emotional scenes of Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life allows Milo Ventimiglia and Scott Patterson to illustrate a depth and development of their characters' relationship says something. Jess and Luke grew into a relationship where they can be emotionally honest with one another, while Lorelai simply goes where Wild (book and movie) went before. Kelly Bishop is consistent as Emily, though she is unfortunately underused for her range and abilities.

Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is not bad, but it belabors the references to Gilmore Girls - the return of the Life And Death Brigade is particularly droll and seems like time that could have been better spent doing something with Rory and Lane to actually develop their adult relationship - while highlighting a number of the worst character aspects of the beloved characters and neglecting the aspects that made Gilmore Girls fresh. The dialogue in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is nowhere near as fast, the references are far more sparse and the relationships are more strained than they are emotionally deep or connected. Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is not bad, but it peaks early and becomes dramatically less charming as it progresses.

For other Netflix exclusive television shows, please check out my reviews of:
Luke Cage - Season 1
House Of Cards - Season 3
Orange Is The New Black - Season 4
Daredevil - Season 2
Jessica Jones - Season 1
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Season 2
Grace And Frankie - Season 2
Sense8 - Season 1
Arrested Development - Season 4
Stranger Things - Season 1

5/10

For other television series and episode reviews, please visit my Television And Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Fights And Conflict Dominate The Depressing Parenthood Season 5

The Good: Decent acting, One or two moments of plot development
The Bad: Utterly oppressive tone, Soap operatic elements, Goofy character choices.
The Basics: A significant change in tone makes Parenthood Season 5 the toughest season to endure yet and one not quite worth watching.


When I sat down to binge watch the fifth season of Parenthood, my wife and I had a discussion about how baffling it was that the series is always on the bubble. Constantly in danger of being cancelled, despite having an amazing cast and likable characters (and being unlike anything on television today), Parenthood has required fans to rally and lobby on behalf of the show each season to get renewed. After watching the fifth season of Parenthood, the only real surprise my wife and I had was that the show actually managed to get renewed for a sixth season!

I am a fan of complicated cinematic works with intriguing characters and I can live with depressing storylines. That said, the fifth season of Parenthood makes Magnolia (reviewed here!) look like a short, peppy movie. No, outside binging on the fifth season, it is hard to see why anyone would come back to the show week after week (interestingly, the inverse reason is one I usually use to argue why the show should survive despite low ratings – that people find it and buy it by the season more than watching week by week). The reason for my complete change of perspective on Parenthood comes from the change in tone that the fifth season has. In its fifth season, Parenthood is not only depressing, but it is utterly oppressive to watch. Watching Parenthood is a thoroughly unpleasant experience, almost from the first episode of the season and certainly the longer the season goes on.

Packed with conflict, Parenthood centers around the three generations of the Braverman family; Zeek Braverman (an ex-Vietnam vet) and his artistic wife living in Berkley, California. They have four adult children: Adam, Sarah, Crosby, and Julia, all of whom have families and children of their own. Adam and his wife Kristina have a young son, Max, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, and a newborn daughter, Nora. Sarah has an adult daughter, Amber, and a college-age son, Drew. Crosby has a son, Jabbar, with his wife, Jasmine, along with the born-in-the-season premiere Aida. The youngest Braverman, Julia, is married to Joel and they have a daughter, Sydney, and an adopted son, Victor.

The fifth season of Parenthood picks up several months after the end of the fourth season (reviewed here!), as Jasmine had pretty much just discovered her pregnancy then and she and Crosby are shopping for baby products when she goes into labor. Hank has moved back to town and when Max’s camera breaks, he stops in at Hank’s studio to get it fixed. Sarah, who is now the superintendant of the apartment building where she has moved, is annoying Amber because she no longer has Drew to rely upon. The initial joy of Aida’s birth and Kristina’s new lease on life inspiring her to run for mayor against Bob Little quickly turn sour. As Joel becomes a serious contender for a housing development project, the abandonment his family faces leads Julia to an emotional affair with another parent at Sydney and Victor’s school. Camille, frustrated by Zeek’s reticence to try new things, abandons Zeek to go to Europe on a painting trip.

As the election nears, Kristina is devastated when Bob Little goes negative, drudging up all he can of Adam’s dirt to destroy her campaign. When Ryan returns from Afghanistan, he and Amber promptly get engaged, which causes a deep rift between Amber and Sarah. Drew’s college experience is dominated by the headgames of a young woman with whom he is infatuated (who wants a no-strings relationship, yet tugs on him when his ex-girlfriend comes to visit). Max’s friendship with Hank leads Hank to suspect that he, too, has Asperger’s Syndrome and Crosby’s life becomes complicated by both his house getting infected with mold and his mother-in-law’s insistence that Aida get baptized. But the story gets worst for Julia and Joel when Julia kisses Ed Brooks and Joel moves out and Camille’s return from Europe has led her to want to explore more of the world . . . and the only way to do that is for her and Zeek to sell the Braverman house!

Because the plots, which are heavily serialized, are an ongoing family drama, the plots are far less important than the characters. Unfortunately, in the fifth season of Parenthood, many of the character choices and plot developments have more of a feeling of being a soap opera than legitimate and organic developments. As a perfect example, as Julia heads down the road to an emotional affair, there is not a single callback to the relationship Joel had (that she was jealous of) in the first season with another parent. In other words, for people who actually appreciate the characters in Parenthood, the fifth season forces viewers to roll their eyes as characters make choices that completely betray their former experiences. In the fifth season, the principle characters in Parenthood are:

Adam Braverman – Thrilled to have his wife back again, he is less than supportive of her desire to run for Mayor than she wants him to be. When one of the more problematic acts recording at the Luncheonette is dropped by their label, he convinces Crosby to start their own label. More peripheral than usual, Adam works to support his family but has little to do on his own (though he clearly latches onto Hank for hope that Max might have a real future),

Kristina Braverman – Having survived cancer, she has a new lease on life. Determined not to simply work for a candidate she does not believe in, she runs for Mayor of Berkeley. Pushed by an efficient campaign manager, Kristina has a rough time of raising money and winning over hearts and minds until a debate where she openly uses Max to score political points. Refusing to go negative, Kristina holds to her values through the entire election. When Max is treated poorly by his history teacher near the end of the school year, Kristina becomes determined to open a charter school for Berkley’s special students,

Max Braverman – A child with Asperger’s, his last year of middle school is riddled with social problems. While he has fewer outbursts, he becomes inflexible when spending time at Hank’s studio doing photography (which causes complications with him and Hank’s daughter and his aunt Sarah). He loses his best friend and is bullied at school, which causes Kristina to once more take up

Sarah Braverman – The eldest daughter of Zeek and Camille, mother to Amber and Drew, she has a new job as a building superintendant and she starts a new career as a photographer. She competes against Hank for a bid for a surfing magazine and when she wins it, she has to turn to Hank for guidance and supplies. One of her tenants annoys her, until she realizes that the man is not the womanizing cad he appears, but an amazing humanitarian. Even so, she finds herself gravitating more toward Hank, especially in the wake of her fall-out with Amber,

Amber Holt – Sarah’s daughter. She impulsively accepts Ryan’s impromptu proposal when he returns to the United States. Soon, though, she begins to question whether or not the relationship is viable (thanks to Sarah’s meddling) and she starts forcing issues with Ryan. While working at the Luncheonette, she starts to draw the eye of a musician and she gets empowered by doing some vocals of her own. In the wake of Ryan’s decision to return to Afghanistan, she and Drew go through their depressed phase together,

Drew Holt – Sarah’s son, he is a Freshman at the University Of California at Berkeley. There, he becomes confused by Natalie, a young woman who lives in his dorm and seems to be deep and interesting, but just wants casual sexual hook-ups. He does not get along with his slovenly roommate and works with Adam and Crosby to develop an appreciation of Joni Mitchell (to try to win over Natalie). When Natalie’s headgames begin to unsettle him, Amy’s sudden appearance gives him more of the type of relationship he actually wants. When his roommate sleeps with Natalie, he moves in with Amber and discovers the joys of pot,

Crosby Braverman – Now happily married with Jasmine, he gets seriously sleep-deprived when Aida is born. While he initially tries to support Jasmine with the nighttime feedings, he soon reverts to form. Even so, he works to be a good dad and is sure to take Jabbar out from time to time. He quickly comes to loathe the lead singer of the band Adam signs and he is distressed when his mother-in-law insists on Aida being baptized. He is forced to accept that Camille is selling the house and the mold that infests his home is his fault,

Jabbar Trussell – Crosby and Jasmine’s son, he is largely a nonentity this season, though he begins ballet, much to Crosby’s chagrin,

Jasmine Trussell – Taking care of Jabbar and Aida, she becomes a level-head that keeps Crosby in line. She is unwilling to fight her mother when Renee insists on Aida getting baptized. She helps campaign for Kristina and is upset to learn that Crosby is not registered to vote. She is actually the sane voice that gets Oliver Rome to head back to the studio when he temporarily moves in,

Julia Braverman-Graham – Wife of Joel, mother of Sydney and Victor, she is late to signing up for parent assignments on the kids’ first day. She ends up on the sustainability committee with Ed Brooks. As she and Joel get more and more distant, she turns to Ed for emotional support. Unable to find work as a lawyer thanks to her vindictive ex-boss and shocked when Ed’s marriage falls apart, she attempts to find meaning in her life. When she admits Ed kissed her, Joel leaves and she struggles with their separation and his unwillingness to fight for their marriage,

Joel Graham – Now a serious contender as a developer, he wins a bid on a housing complex, working with a famous architect, Pete (who is a woman). He becomes deeply focused in the project, to the neglect of his children and Julia. At a school fundraiser, he sees Julia and Ed (who is drunk) and attacks him. When Julia admits she has had an emotional affair with Ed, Joel walks out. Refusing to accept Julia’s apologies, he starts spoiling their children and dealing with life on his own. Abandoned by most of the Bravermans (like Crosby and Jasmine who replace him as Aida’s godfather when the baby is christened), he only experiences a pull when the children are involved,

Sydney Graham – Pretty much a nonentity until Joel leaves, she snottily accuses Victor of breaking up the family,

Victor Graham – After his teachers reveal that he is very far behind in his reading level, he is struggles to read better. After much debate, he is pulled back from fifth to fourth grade, which causes him all sorts of issues. However, his reading improves when Zeek tutors him by having him read the manual to the car he (and Victor) rebuild,

Hank Rizzoli – The photographer returns to Berkeley having failed to start a decent life with his daughter in Minnesota. He almost immediately begins to bond with Max, who starts coming in and showing off his photography. He is compassionate toward Max and tries not to use the boy for information on Sarah. Coincidence has him running into Sarah when she is with, alternately, Carl Fletcher and Mark Cyr, though working with Dr. Pelikan gets him to the point where he is able to express to Sarah how he actually feels. He actually starts working for Sarah when she wins the surfing brochure account,

Camille Braverman – Furious over having her life constantly put on hold, she tries to frame her “third act” with Zeek, but finds him resistant. She takes a stand for herself by going off to Italy to paint after Zeek refuses to talk about selling the house and he gets the antique Pontiac instead. She is eager to expand her horizons and she returns from Italy with the desire to go off to France for a similar opportunity. When her children seem to side with Zeek over her on the issue of selling the house, she feels even more alone than before,

and Zeek Braverman – Abandoned by his wife after he picks up a classic car to start rebuilding, he starts helping Victor read by getting him to assist with the repairs. After Camille makes her dissatisfaction known to him, he builds a firepit for her at the house. When she goes off to Italy, he struggles with his day to day maintenance of the house. Finding he cannot live without Camille and fearing that he might have Alzheimer’s, he becomes more flexible when she returns to the States, even though she wants to continue doing things without him.

On the acting front, Parenthood Season Five has all of the principle performers acting perfectly within their (now) well-established characters. Erika Christensen and Sam Jaeger make the separation of Julia and Joel absolutely agonizing to watch (even when the plot pushes them in unfortunately predictable directions). Monica Potter makes Kristina seem perfectly mayoral during her campaign and when Max Burkholder delivers one of Max’s saddest monologues to date, Potter and Peter Krause react in the most heartwrenching ways possible without uttering a single line. Miles Heizer continues to impress with his subtle performances of Drew’s internal conflicts in his character’s arc with Natalie.

More than anyone else, it is Mae Whitman who gives the performance of the season. In Parenthood Season Five, Whitman has an erratic arc that has her character falling for Ryan, a man with many of the same character faults as her father. Amber is occasionally brilliantly self-aware and at other times entirely moronic. She also gets back into drinking and marijuana despite having the show’s most painful history with them (which she recalls in one episode where she confesses to Ryan that she was in a terrible car accident). While her character is written somewhat inconsistency, Mae Whitman’s performance is anything but erratic. Instead, Whitman is a pro and the scene where she ends up in the bar at which her father works, Whitman gives a genius performance of a drunk person that it is absolutely captivating. Seriously, it is a crime she was not even nominated for an Emmy.

But even the few moments of amazing performances are not enough to save the fifth season of Parenthood. This is a season as agonizing to watch as animal experimentation videos from the 1940s. The fifth season of Parenthood is unpleasant and only die-hard fans will want to watch the entire thing (and in as short a timeframe as possible); those tuning in to any single episode from the fifth season of Parenthood are unlikely to ever want to return to the show. The struggles these characters go through in the fifth season are excruciating and those who do not have an emotional connection to the Bravermans before these episodes will be too saddened by what they go through here to want to watch more of them than even one hour’s worth of their struggles.

For other works with David Denman, be sure to visit my reviews of:
After Earth
Smart People
Big Fish
Angel

4/10

For other television program and DVD set reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Cancer And Annoying Children Make Parenthood Season Four Something Of A Wash.

The Good: Decent performances (especially from Ray Romano and Monica Potter), Moments of character
The Bad: Feels very soap opera-ish at times, Entire characters essentially get dropped for the season, Max, Sydney and Victor are all super-obnoxious making the kids virtually unwatchable this season.
The Basics: The charm of Parenthood is largely gone in its fourth season and the now-crowded cast and storylines start to seriously neglect (or make poor use of) several of the characters.


I am a big fan of movies that feature a lot of characters. Long movies packed with interesting characters unified by a single theme, like Magnolia (reviewed here!) or Cloud Atlas (reviewed here!) play well for me. So, when writers and producers have the opportunity to do even something deeper and more impressive – which is one of the potential strengths of serialized television – I get interested. Parenthood has been a television series that has, in general, played well to my tastes because it has a huge cast with interesting characters who are often in intriguing situations. But, but the fourth season of Parenthood, the story of the Braverman family is beginning to show its cracks and strains and the storylines are experiencing a real sense that the writers overreached on the initial concept and are now struggling to keep the show both grounded (one of the strengths of Parenthood has long been that the show is rooted in a very real-seeming world) and use all of the characters (and well).

Coming off of the third season of Parenthood (reviewed here!), some of the major character conflicts and plot arcs had been resolved. The “will they or won’t they” aspect of Crosby and Jasmine’s relationship was concluded with the two finally tying the knot. Similarly, the season-long build-up to Julia and Joel getting a child took an abrupt left turn in the prior season’s finale after they were jerked around and heartbroken by the woman whose child they planned to adopt running off. Even the marital problems between the eldest Bravermans, Zeek and Camille seem largely resolved. So, the fourth season of Parenthood seemed like it had a number of conceptually new places it could go and there was the sense that many of the characters could actually be used in new and different ways.

Unfortunately, in its fourth season, Parenthood went in both a different and painfully familiar series of directions. By that, I mean that the show essentially drops some of the characters (are Camille and Jabbar even in this season?! Yes, but not in any meaningful ways) and it puts others in character conflicts that are so familiar, it is hard to believe the writers could not come up with something new for them. Chief among these examples is Sarah Braverman, who is once again caught between two men and while her daughter’s former teacher, Mark Cyr, remains one of the men she is trying to negotiate a relationship with, the “fix-er upper” guy is now her new boss, Hank Rizzoli. In addition to putting characters like Sarah in painfully familiar situations, Parenthood adds a cancer storyline (which, admittedly, is fairly well-executed) and it returns children to the forefront, with most of them acting appallingly bad . . . to the point of being unwatchable.

Opening with Haddie preparing to go off to Cornell, Sarah gets a job with a photographer to whom she exaggerates her skill set when she interviews with him. Hank, however, is not much of a people person and Sarah is, so he sees a lot of use in bringing her aboard his business to help him out. Julie is dealing with her new adopted son, Victor. Victor steals Max’s lizard Guacamole, which causes some family tension. Meanwhile, Zeek is somewhat aimlessly going from one thing to another when he meets a young veteran, who helps him with a sprinkler problem at the house. Ryan, despite having trouble with job placement and post-traumatic stress, quickly bonds with Amber and the two begin a tumultuous relationship.

But the Bravermans come together in support of Kristina, who has developed cancer and who undergoes surgery and treatment (chemotherapy) to save her life. While Max is characteristically unsympathetic to Kristina (as a function of his Asperger’s Syndrome), Adam struggles to keep the family together while she fights her illness. As Crosby and Jasmine get used to married life, Crosby gets into a conflict with a new woman in the Luncheonette neighborhood. And as Sarah and Mark’s relationship suffers when they move in together, Sarah finds herself drawn to Hank, which could upset the entire family.

If it sounds like Parenthood has gone in a more soap operatic direction in its fourth season, then appearances are not deceiving. While Kristina’s cancer arc is treated with astonishing realism and coldness (the vomiting after the chemo begins and Kristina getting baked to manage the pain and get through her days is presented very directly and well), much of the rest of the show has turned into something very much like a soap opera. The gifted young daughter of Julia and Joel now throws temper tantrums because Victor is around. Victor forces Julia and Joel to visit the slums in search of people Victor once knew and in one of the least probable turns ever, Max is elected student council president.

Beyond that, the bitchy new neighbor for the Luncheonette seems like a way to kill time and utilize Crosby before Jasmine’s mother re-enters the story with a debt arc that comes out of nowhere. Similarly, Sarah’s push-pull relationship issues between Mark and Hank are instantly predictable the moment Hank enters the series (one doesn’t cast Ray Romano for a recurring role without having some larger plan for him) as is the idea that Amber and Ryan will hook up. Now lacking his sister at home, Drew is basically tossed from one situation to another, though he is given both an arc with Mark and an abortion subplot with his ex-, then back to current, girlfriend, Amy.

Virtually lost in the shuffle are Camille, Jabar, Jasmine, Zeek and (essentially) Sydney. Sydney reacts to Victor’s presence in Julia and Joel’s life/family. Her acting out trumps any of her prior characterization as a smart, perceptive and empathetic girl. After serving as, essentially, a plot tool to introduce Ryan into the family, Zeek virtually disappears for the remainder of the season as Ryan and Amber bonding takes over what started as Zeek’s story. Camille, Jabar, and Jasmine are supporting roles at best with nothing memorable in their character arcs (this is especially disappointing for Camille as an episode has her lending a hand with Kristina, but does not actually have her and Kristina reaching any meaningful new plateau in their relationship).

On the acting front, the fourth season of Parenthood has all of the actors hitting their marks consistently. Ray Romano gives one of the best, most memorable and deep performances of his career as Hank, the curmudgeon photographer. He is both funny and surprisingly easy to care about, with no traces of his popular character from Everybody Loves Raymond in his performance. While the character arc between Hank and Sarah may be entirely predictable, Romano’s performance is anything but dull or ordinary. As well, against all odds of on-screen chemistry, Romano and co-star Lauren Graham play off one another exceptionally well to make for a plausible on-screen couple (as they work their way toward that).

Actor Miles Heizer comes into his own as Drew. Heizer seems realistically insecure in the role of Drew as Drew is compelled to move between the comfortable room in his grandparent’s house and Mark Cyr’s apartment (and back). As Drew works through being dumped by Amy and then reconciling with her, Heizer plays emotionally knocked around very well. He might not get the most airtime in season four, but he might make the best use of being a supporting main castmember.

Parenthood Season Four is owned by Monica Potter, though. Starting the season with Kristina predictably drained by the new baby, Haddie going off to college, Max going through his tantrum about the school getting rid of the vending machines (and resolving to run for class president) and the financial uncertainty of Adam’s Luncheonette endeavor, Potter manages to run Kristina down for the length of the cancer arc (which is most of the season) without simply playing the same beats she did for the prior three seasons. In fact, Kristina’s video presentation to her family is one Potter’s best, most heartwrenching performances and for those who might not have been enamored with the character prior to that . . . it is hard not to be afterward.

Unfortunately, Potter’s performance and the power and realism of the cancer arc does not undo the sheer volume of annoying airtime as Max, Victor, and Sydney whine and throw temper tantrums through their time on screen. Season four of Parenthood is worth watching, but there is not much in it to encourage rewatching it, which is a departure from the prior seasons.

For other current shows from the 2012 - 2013 television season, be sure to check out my reviews of:
The Newsroom - Season 1
Game Of Thrones - Season 3
New Girl - Season 2
Happy Endings - Season 3
The Walking Dead - Season 3
Arrested Development - Season 4
House Of Cards - Season 1
True Blood - Season 5

5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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One Of Television’s Most Intriguing Family’s Stories Continues High With Parenthood Season 3!

The Good: Wonderful characters, Great acting, Decent plot progression, Better balance among the many characters.
The Bad: Somewhat predictable plot developments
The Basics: Parenthood has a pretty incredible third season that is well worth watching and picking up on DVD!


There are so few shows that I would argue get better and better as their stories progress. Parenthood is one of them! After doing a marathon of Parenthood season one (reviewed here!) and Parenthood Season Two (reviewed here!), we found ourselves eagerly going into Season Three! The third season is an eighteen episode, hour-long (each) drama and the heavily serialized episodes move along exceptionally quickly.

Parenthood centers around the three generations of the Braverman family; Zeek Braverman (an ex-Vietnam vet) and his artistic wife living in California. They have four adult children: Adam, Sarah, Crosby, and Julia, all of whom have families and children of their own. Adam and his wife Kristina have a young son, Max, who has Asberger’s Syndrome, and a teenage daughter, Haddie. Sarah got her daughter Amber and son Drew away from her alcoholic musician ex-, Seth. Crosby has a son, Jabbar, with the dancer, Jasmine. The youngest Braverman, Julia, is married to Joel and they have a daughter, Sydney.

In the third season of Parenthood, the storyline picks up few months after the end of the second season, with Amber moving out. As Adam struggles with being unemployed, he gets a surprising opportunity from Crosby, who finds a recording studio called the Luncheonette. Having determined that it is a viable option, he and Crosby go into business together, which leads to complications with his wife. As Sarah becomes more comfortable with her writing, she reconnects with Amber’s former teacher, Mark Cyr. As the Luncheonette attracts people like Cee-Lo Green and has the potential to get bought out, Crosby and Jasmine struggle to negotiate their on-again, off-again relationship.

On the child front, Haddie is growing up and showing a real aptitude for going to a great college, which comes at a time when expenses for Max’s treatment is driving up the family’s bills. Zeek and Camille begin to worry about their health and Joel and Julia become more concerned about Sydney and they work to have another child of their own, but getting a surrogate who moves in with them.

Because the plots, which are heavily serialized, are an ongoing family drama, the plots are far less important than the characters. The plots periodically involve characters standing outside rooms where they listen to what others are saying or doing. The characters have a pretty consistent way of spying on one another that would usually add a huge element or melodrama, but in Parenthood, the characters have a way of bringing out the truth exceptionally quickly, so the dramatic tension does not last long. Instead, Parenthood goes for realism much more often than not. In the third season, the very real characters are:

Adam Braverman – After much debate, he goes into business with Crosby, which becomes complicated when Kristina has her baby and their new assistant at the Luncheonette, Rachel, kisses him when they get drunk one night and Adam drives her home. He comes to Alex’s aid when Alex punches a teenager at a drinking party he is rescuing Haddie from.

Kristina Braverman – After having Nora, she drifts for a bit. She tries to enforce a family fun time, with disastrous results, and becomes very jealous of Rachel working in proximity to Adam. She comes to Max’s aid when he is mocked by his peers without his knowledge. As revenge upon Adam for the kiss, she goes back to work working for a candidate for city council and gets Amber a job on the campaign with her.

Haddie Braverman – Seventeen now, she begins facing adult problems when Alex comes to her aid at a party and hits a teenager. She is heartbroken when he breaks up with her afterward. When she gets saddled with Max for a weekend, and loses him, she works with the police and Adam to get him back. When she gets into Cornell University, the family finances prevent her from going,

Max Braverman – A child with Asperger’s, he becomes convinced Jabbar is his best friend and has a fit when Jabbar does not want to eat lunch with him every day at school. After a fallout with Jabbar, he apologizes when Kristina gives birth. He is mocked without understanding he is being mocked, for his mannerisms when he solves complex math problems. After leaving the family to go to the museum on his own, he calls Kristina a bitch and is forced to stay home during the family trip.

Sarah Braverman – The eldest daughter of Zeek and Camille, mother to Amber and Drew, she continues with her new career as a writer. She is seeing Mark Cyr, but begins to romanticize her relationship with Seth, when Seth returns and goes into rehab. She finds herself conflicted and forced to play more of a parental role when Drew starts acting out,

Amber Holt – Sarah’s daughter. She moves into her own apartment, while working at a local coffeehouse. She gives Drew advice on how to get around their mother and lets Seth stay at her place after his in-patient program ends. She gives the politician she is working for an honest opinion of his campaign and earns his respect. She works to negotiate a relationship with Bob Little, the candidate she and Kristina are working on,

Drew Holt – Sarah’s son, he takes Zeek’s advice and ends up dating a girl who lives down the street. He has his first kiss and gets a D in math at school as a result of both his new dating life and his father’s in and out of rehab. He is further traumatized by seeing Sarah and Mark Cyr having sex. He and his new girlfriend move very quickly toward being together, which contrasts his resistance to the relationship between his mother and Mark Cyr,

Crosby Braverman – With his relationship with Jasmine in shambles, he gets inspired to buy the historic Lunchonette recording studio. He gets jealous of Jasmine and the pediatrician getting into a relationship and they have to explain to Jabbar that they are not getting married. He and Jasmine hook up one night, confusing things between them. He gets jealous when Adam is spotlighted in a magazine article about the Luncheonette. When Adam is given an amazing offer on the business, it causes some serious friction between them,

Jabbar Trussell – Crosby and Jasmine’s son, he and Max become friends at school. He begins to bond with Dr. Prestige, but gets excited with the results of a very important camping trip between the three,

Jasmine Trussell – Taking care of Jabbar full time, she begins dating Doctor Prestige, Jabbar’s pediatrician. Otherwise, she and Crosby negotiate their relationship awkwardly. And that changes when she, Jabbar, and Crosby go camping together,

Julia Braverman-Graham – Wife of Joel, mother of Sydney, she is a powerhouse lawyer. With Joel, she becomes determined to adopt and the coffee cart girl at work is pregnant. That leads her to befriend Zoey and she prepares to adopt the child until Zoey’s boyfriend tries to extort the couple for money.

Joel Graham – Househusband to Julia, he starts to stand up to Zeek, when Sarah comes to him and Julia for money to get Seth into rehab. He also stands up to Zoey’s boyfriend when he extorts the couple for money. He has to discipline Sydney when she exhibits the traits of being a sore loser. He becomes protective of Zoey and he and Julia take her in before the baby is born,

Sydney Graham – When she loses at charades and a game Joel plays with her, she explodes, revealing that she is a sore loser.

Camille Braverman – Jealous of Zeek getting an acting job in a commercial, she begins to learn Mandarin. When Zeek makes the family go across the state to visit his mother, she becomes protective of him.

and Zeek Braverman – Gets a job working on an impotence medication medicine. When he becomes obsessed with bringing the family to his mother’s for her 86th birthday, he shows a dark side of himself to the family. He is diagnosed with a heart problem, which leads him to buy a mobile home for him and Camille.

On the acting front, the third season of Parenthood has the impressive cast of Peter Krause, Lauren Graham, Mae Whitman, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Ramos, and Monica Potter falling flawlessly into their roles. Dax Shepard and Joy Bryant continue to play off one another exceptionally well and they make their on-again, off-again relationship seem entirely plausible. Both play off recurring guest star D.B. Woodside decently.

But the real winners in the diverse and large cast in the third season of Parenthood are Erika Christensen and Sam Jaeger. Sam Jaeger continues to get more and more of a role and in this season, he is able to present more of his dramatic chops as Joel. He and Christensen continue to develop their on-screen chemistry and there are moments where he seems frustrated with Sydney in a way he has not been in the past. It works incredibly well.

Erika Christensen improves her dramatic presence with a greater mastery of body language and emotion in her deliveries. While, before this, I had only viewed her as a poor casting director’s Julia Stiles, Christensen is fully blooming with a range and emotive power that I’d not seen from her before. As Julia negotiates with the mother of her surrogate mother, Christensen presents an incredible range of emotion that presents her as vibrant and complex. Christensen can say more with a look and a tightening of the jaw than many performers can say with pages and pages of dialogue.

In the third season of Parenthood, the show continues to raise awareness of Asperger’s Syndrome, current economic issues, and the complexity of emotional issues in the workplace. And yes, there is a group dance scene which the show gets out of the way very fast! Even better than the prior two seasons, Parenthood in its third season is an incredible continuation to the story of the Braverman family.

For other works with Mae Whitman, be sure to visit my reviews of:
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
Nights In Rodanthe
Arrested Development
Independence Day

8.5/10

For other television program and DVD set reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Very Basic Promo Card, Six Feet Under One & Two P1 Didn’t Launch Rittenhouse Archive’s Awesome Set!

The Good: Good image, Informative, Inexpensive enough, Necessary for collectors
The Bad: It’s just one card and can usually be found for free!
The Basics: An underwhelming single trading card, the Six Feet Under Seasons One & Two P1 implied an awesome set that collectors did not, alas, flock to.


As my trading card business was growing, developing from my personal collection into a viable business, one of the first trading card sets I debated purchasing outside the Star Trek franchise was the Six Feet Under Seasons One & Two trading card set. I was both excited and skeptical when Rittenhouse Archives sent me a stack of the Six Feet Under Seasons One & Two P1 promotional cards; the card looked beautiful, but I did not believe that the viewers of Six Feet Under would translate into trading card collectors of the dark, disturbing HBO drama. I was right and in the long run, I was glad I did not invest in the Six Feet Under Seasons One & Two trading card set as the set – despite its beauty – did not take off in value and failed to find a respectable market.

Even so, the promotional card that foreshadowed the set was as nice as the set and well worth picking up for fans of the gritty television series.

To prepare collectors for the release of the Six Feet Under Seasons One & Two trading cards, Rittenhouse Archives produced a promotional card. Promotional cards are designed to give collectors a tease of the new set and generate enthusiasm for forthcoming card releases. Rittenhouse Archives gave away tens of thousands of Six Feet Under Seasons One & Two P1 promotional cards to collectors (who simply asked for one and sent a self addressed, stamped envelope) and to dealers to freely distribute to potential customers.

Numbered P1 (on the back) the Six Feet Under Seasons One & Two promotional card prepares fans for the style of the common card set for the Six Feet Under Seasons One & Two trading cards. As such, this is a standard trading card size and there is no gimmick to it. It has the Rittenhouse Archives standard UV protective coating to prevent fading and after more than a decade, mine shows no wear (though mine is nicely protected in a binder's poly pages!).

The front of the trading card features the full main cast of Six Feet Under crew posed for a promotional shot. In the sitting room of Fisher & Sons are the Fishers, Billy and Brenda, and Keith. The bottom front of the card indicates the name of the television series and the name of the card set. This is the format of the common cards and it accurately predicts how the set would look.

The photography on the front is very clear and the color contrast is decent, which prepares collectors well for the actual set, which was able to have clear images with vibrant colors. Those looking for something different to get signed at conventions, though, will find this is not the ideal cards for that. Because no one character on the card is dominant, it is a tough sell for autograph hunters.

The back of the card simply announces the Six Feet Under Seasons One & Two trading card set, illustrating that it will be a set that includes an autograph card in each box, and indicating when it would be available! Outside the most expensive cards in the set, the card does not tease potential buyers with much information and it is only insinuation and retrospect which lead those looking at the P1 to know that the common card set followed this style of card.

In the end, this card did not get me to invest, despite the fact that it did what promotional cards are supposed to do. The Six Feet Under Seasons One & Two P1 card prepares the consumer for the actual full trading card set. Rittenhouse Archives gave a slew of these away and it is not very collectible at all. As a result, those looking to purchase one of these ought to avoid overpaying. Many dealers throw promotional cards in for free (usually with a purchase) and this card only has a guide value of $2.00. Be sure not to pay more than that; it's one card and given how Six Feet Under had no real market outside the DVD set, the card is not an exceptional investment at all.

This card foreshadows a set that focused on Six Feet Under Season One (reviewed here!) and Season Two (reviewed here!).

For other reviews of single cards, please check out my reviews of:
Family Guy 2005 P1
Enterprise Season 1 Promotional Card P1
Twilight HT-1 Who Is Bella Swan? card

4/10

For other card reviews, please visit my Card Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Growing More Attached To A Strangely Predictable Family: Parenthood Season Two Succeeds!

The Good: Wonderful characters, Great acting, Decent plot progression
The Bad: Somewhat predictable plot developments, Max is annoying and everyone coddles him!
The Basics: Continuing to develop well, Parenthood in its second season is engaging and is very easy to get invested in almost all the characters.


The last few days, my wife and I have been on a Parenthood marathon. After rewatching Parenthood season one (reviewed here!), we moved right on to Season Two. The second season of Parenthood develops well and continues the growth of all of the characters in the Braverman family. For those unfamiliar with Parenthood, the show is a one-hour drama and the twenty-two episodes of the second season are heavily serialized, making it very easy to sit down and start watching it and suddenly find that they have burned through the episodes over the course of two or three days!

Parenthood centers around the three generations of the Braverman family; Zeek Braverman (an ex-Vietnam vet) and his artistic wife living in California. They have four adult children: Adam, Sarah, Crosby, and Julia, all of whom have families and children of their own. Adam and his wife Kristina have a young son, Max, who has Asberger’s Syndrome, and a teenage daughter, Haddie. Sarah got her daughter Amber and son Drew away from her alcoholic musician ex-, Seth. Crosby has a son, Jabbar, with the dancer, Jasmine. The youngest Braverman, Julia, is married to Joel and they have a daughter, Sydney.

In the second season of Parenthood, the storyline picks up only a few months after the end of the first season. Crosby has been struggling with having Jabbar and Jasmine in New York, where she is dancing, and commuting. Zeek has been struggling in his marriage with Camille and the counseling has shown some clear effects as Zeek is clearly making an effort to listen to her and not leap to imposing his own views. The situation with Crosby changes rapidly; Jasmine comes back and when she heads to Europe to tour, Jabbar is left with her mother, who hates Crosby. In stepping up, Crosby becomes more of a man.

Meanwhile, Adam has serious trouble at work when he hires Sarah as an intern and then she starts dating their boss. Their family is shaken up when the boss sells the company and Adam and his new stoner boss butt heads. When Amber scores high on her SATs, she gets an internship with Julia before collapsing entirely. As Max begins to do better, Haddie starts dating, which causes stress for Adam and Kristina. And Joel steps up to get some respect from Zeek!

Because the plots, which are heavily serialized, are an ongoing family drama, the plots are far less important than the characters. The plots periodically involve characters standing outside rooms where they listen to what others are saying or doing. The characters have a pretty consistent way of spying on one another that would usually add a huge element or melodrama, but in Parenthood, the characters have a way of bringing out the truth exceptionally quickly, so the dramatic tension does not last long. Instead, Parenthood goes for realism much more often than not. In the second season, the very real characters are:

Adam Braverman – With his marriage to Kristina seeming more stable than ever, they are thrown a little when the Lessings, who also have an autistic child, split up. He takes Sarah’s idea for the shoe clicker and runs with it at work and to make up for taking initial credit for it, he gets he an internship. When his boss sells the company, he is left as a serious man in charge of a company run by a stoner moron. He is accidentally stoned by his boss, comes to respect Haddie’s new boyfriend, and pushes to mainstream Max when the boy seems to be doing well in his special school,

Kristina Braverman – She adapts better to Max having Asberger’s and dealing with the chaos in the family. She is more protective toward Haddie as Haddie starts seriously dating,

Haddie Braverman – Sixteen now, she starts volunteering at a soup kitchen with her grandmother, Camille. There, she meets Alex and after showing him that she is not just a flakey do-gooder, the begins dating him. When Adam and Kristina demand she stop seeing the recovering alcoholic 19 year-old, she leaves home and moves in with Zeek and Camille to establish her independence. After prom, she and Alex take a huge step forward,

Max Braverman – A child with Asperger’s, he continues to act out. However, with the help of Gabby, he starts (theoretically) doing better and starts to succeed academically. He gets a bug birthday party, hosted by an entertainer who has Asperger’s Syndrome,

Sarah Braverman – The eldest daughter of Zeek and Camille, mother to Amber and Drew, she briefly dates her boss at the shoe company. When she loses her internship there, she becomes concerned at how Amber is spiraling out of control and she starts writing a play. Zeek helps her get her first play read publicly and she starts dating Mark Cyr again,

Amber Holt – Sarah’s daughter. She tests exceptionally high and gets the grades necessary to get into Berkley. She gets an internship with Julia’s law firm and makes contact with a famous alumni at the school. When she fails to get into Berkley, she goes off the deep end,

Drew Holt – Sarah’s son, he shows up but does very little until he makes contact with his biological father, whose return causes predictable chaos with him, Amber, and Sarah,

Crosby Braverman – He fights for his relationship with Jasmine and for his relationship with Jabbar even harder. He has serious conflicts with Jasmine’s mother Renee and her brother. The principal of the school Jabbar and Sydney go to asks him to spice up the school play, which puts him at odds with Joel. When the play goes haywire, he has to get Joel back on board with directing the play. When he is continually rejected by Jasmine, he gets drunk and sleeps with Gabby, ruining things for Adam, Kristina, and Max. At the height of his conflict with his family, he sells his houseboat and buys a house as a hail mary, which brings him and Joel closer,

Jabbar Trussell – Crosby and Jasmine’s son, he and Crosby bond quite a bit as Jasmine travels more. He shows no real reaction when Crosby and Jasmine get engaged . . . or when they stop living together,

Jasmine Trussell – Moves back to California with Jabbar, but then goes off to Europe to dance, leaving her son behind with her mother, who is hostile to Crosby. When she gives up dancing overseas, she and Crosby begin a serious relationship. Even so, she gives in to her mother quite frequently, which draws a wedge between her and Crosby. She resolves not to forgive Crosby when he cheats on her,

Julia Braverman-Graham – Wife of Joel, mother of Sydney, she is a powerhouse lawyer. When Joel begins to stretch his legs away from their family, she accidentally snaps at him about how much money she makes. She and Syndey actually begin to bond finally. She decides she wants another baby, which Joel does not seem to want as much. She gives Amber an internship and is disappointed when Amber begins to screw up on the job,

Joel Graham – Househusband to Julia, he begins to stretch his wings. He helps Zeek repair the Braverman house, even when Zeek continually screws things up there. That leads him to return to doing some contracting work, which causes some stress between him and Julia. He makes Sarah a desk, feels displaced when Crosby takes over the school play, and feels needed when Crosby makes his hail mary house play,

Sydney Graham – Steps in for Jabbar on the school play when Jabbar gets stage fright. She has drama with classmates involving playdates that various friends are not invited to,

Camille Braverman – Patching up her marriage with Zeek, she begins taking a class that her fling is temporarily teaching, which makes Zeek jealous. Otherwise, she continues to support her adult children in their various enterprises,

and Zeek Braverman – Working at changing his longterm behaviors, he and Camille find themselves on firmer footing. He reads for Sarah’s play and kicks Seth’s ass. He becomes very worried for Adam when Adam punches another man at the supermarket (when the guy calls Max “retarded”). He is characteristically protective of his family this season.

On the acting front, the second season of Parenthood has the impressive cast of Peter Krause, Lauren Graham, Mae Whitman, Craig T. Nelson, Erika Christensen, and Monica Potter falling flawlessly into their roles. Sarah Ramos (Haddie) is given more to do this season and she rises to the occasion well, playing off Michael B. Jordan (Alex) exceptionally well.

But the real winners in the diverse and large cast in the second season of Parenthood are Dax Shepard and Sam Jaeger. Shepard continues his dramatic ascent as the conflicted and rapidly maturing Crosby. Crosby has a fantastic character arc this season and Dax Shepard, who usually plays stoners, scammers, and losers, continues to adapt to the serious role of Crosby with an adeptness that many would not have guessed he could pull off.

Sam Jaeger is given a vastly more meaty role in the second season than he was in the first. In the first season of Parenthood, his Joel was relegated to a house husband whose daughter was overly attached to him. The character was pretty flat and Jaeger was not given much to do with the part at all. In the second season, Joel and Julia and Joel and Crosby have major arcs and their relationships are given much depth. This allows Jaeger to add more dimensions to Joel and in the second season he is funny, serious, and loving and he portrays the full range of emotions well.

In the second season of Parenthood, Max’s character is a little more annoying in that characters talk about how he is doing much better in terms of behavior, but that is not actually evident on screen. That said, the character remains interesting and actor Max Burkholder plays the part with a sense of conflict and awkwardness appropriate to the character. Max is difficult to watch at times, especially when the character learns he has Asperger’s Syndrome and exactly what that means.

In the second season, Parenthood establishes what some of the traditional conceits for the show will be. In addition to the various characters listening outside one another’s doors, each season there is an adult dance party scene which is charming and season two’s is even better than the one that introduced “The Fever” to season one!

There are few television families that I actually get invested in anymore; the Bravermans are definitely one of them, though. The writing for Parenthood is sharp – funny and dramatic – with wonderful characters who are well-performed, making for solidly entertaining and socially relevant television worth watching over and over again.

For other works with Dax Shepard, be sure to visit my reviews of:
When In Rome
Old Dogs
Baby Mama
Let’s Go To Prison
Employee Of The Month
Without A Paddle

8/10

For other television program and DVD set reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Beastly Lives Down To Its Reputation As A Problematic Reworking Of Beauty And The Beast.

The Good: Moments of performance, Make-up effects
The Bad: Terrible editing/directing, Moments of character, Many of the plot contrivances
The Basics: In retelling the story Beauty And The Beast for the Twilight audience, Beastly makes for a problematically unhip cinematic outing.


My wife loves Disney’s Beauty And The Beast. She loves it so much that when she needs emotional comfort food, she’ll put it on and watch it several times in a single day. She loves Beauty And The Beast so much that despite seeing many previews for Beastly, she really wanted to see it. So, after months of being on the waiting list at our local library to get the DVD in, last night we took in Beastly.

And even my wife thought it was terrible.

Beastly is a modern-day reinterpretation of the classic story Beauty And The Beast. It is clearly attempting to tap into the audience that Twilight (reviewed here!) pioneered a few years ago. Designed to appeal to the teens who have outgrown the Disney Channel, Beastly attempts to tell a fantasy romance story, but never quite lands it. In fact, the film is so choppy in its narrative techniques and direction that almost any chance the movie had to succeed is leeched out of it.

Kyle is an arrogant student at an exclusive school who is running for the President of the Green Committee. He appears to be running unopposed, with only Lindy running for a Green Committee position as Treasurer. At a rally for the election, Kyle promotes himself as simply a good-looking, popular guy who wants the position simply to pad his resume. Kendra, the school witch with a tattoo near her eye, is irked by this and storms out to vandalize Kyle’s campaign posters. Nevertheless, Kyle wins the election and Lindy becomes the Treasurer and the two converse for only the second time in their high school experience at the victory party. At that party, Kyle mocks Kendra, who bewitches him.

Robbed of his good looks, Kyle discovers he is now balled, tattooed and has open sores over several parts of his body. Rejected by his father, Kyle goes into isolation only to walk the streets at night, hooded and hidden from the world. After stalking Lindy for a little while, Kyle follows her on a night when her father gets in trouble looking for a fix. After killing a drug dealer, Lindy’s father is distraught and convinces him to have Lindy move into his apartment for her safety. Hidden from her most of the time, Kyle (going by the name Hunter) still tries to interact with Lindy by bringing her nice things. Despite the efforts of a tutor (Will) and the housekeeper (Zola), being nice does not come easily to Kyle and he works to soften, to break the curse. As time runs out, he tries desperately to get Lindy to fall in love with him, disgusting visage and all.

First, I wanted to like Beastly, I honestly did. I sat down to it with fresh-made popcorn excited because it meant spending more time with my wife, which does not seem to happen as much as it ought to. But, it didn’t take very long before elements of the story, characters and editing began to grate on me so much that I could not stand what I was watching any longer. For me, the editing and direction was what initially made the film unwatchable. Daniel Barnz, who adapted the novel for the screen, directed Beastly and I can only assume he figured his audience was either dumb or so thrilled by the book that they wouldn’t notice how poorly the movie was put together. Beastly features cuts between scenes that leave little concept of time or place and frequently cut out the reactions of characters, so the film fails to breathe and live. Instead, the movie cuts roughly between scenes and events and characters who we are supposed to care about never truly come alive as a result.

That said, initially Beastly grabbed me with the enchantment scene. As Kyle becomes Hunter, the blurring camera work, the use of Kendra’s face all over, made it very clear what was going on. But that might have been the last moment the movie captivated me. Even as I watched the scene, I postulated, “This would have had a lot more emotional impact for Kyle if his hair was falling out or he was inadvertently pulling it out as opposed to it simply disappearing.” But, the movie is hardly about emotional resonances.

Beastly ought to be about connections and chemistry, but it falls dramatically short of that. Kyle and Lindy slowly get to the point where they are spending time with one another – Lindy oblivious to Kyle’s true identity – but the two never click. Throughout, Kyle confers with Zola and Will, which makes it seem like his character is not truly growing. In fact, in a pivotal scene near the end, it seems very much like Kyle is just trying to get Lindy to say the words “I love you” to break the spell, even though there has not been enough in the film to actually make it a credible emotional reaction to him. Given that the end of the movie comes only a few scenes later, Beastly is hardly a great romance.

And, I’m sorry, I don’t think it’s nitpicky; how the hell did Lindy get into the school Kyle goes to?! Her father is a junkie who has no clear career and she does not seem to fit that world (when she arrives at Kyle’s apartment, she only has the two suitcases). That sort of attention to detail seems to be lacking from the movie, so it seems like Beastly is more preoccupied with reinterpreting Beauty And The Beast on as many fronts as possible without actually telling an enriching or interesting story on its own.

This comes through especially with Will. Will arrives, supposedly to tutor Kyle, as a blind sage. But what he actually does in Beastly is deliver incongruently funny lines whenever the movie gets into a rut. There is not enough Will in the film for the number of ruts the movie descends into. Will is played well by Neil Patrick Harris, who seems more the victim of an underwhelming part than anything resembling bad acting. While I was thrilled when Peter Krause’s name popped up in the credits, he was woefully underused as Kyle’s too-busy-for-the-kid archetype father.

Actually, the best acting arguably came from Lisagay Hamilton. Hamilton performs the role of Zola with a strong Caribbean accent. This is entirely unlike anything else I have ever seen her in and is a far cry from the articulate, easy-to-understand performances she gave in her role on The Practice. But even her part is designed more to make a point about Kyle than to truly embody an interesting character whom one wants to watch.

I came to Beastly with limited knowledge of the film’s two big stars. Alex Pettyfer appeared in I Am Number Four (reviewed here), which I enjoyed. While Sucker Punch (reviewed here!) did not grab me in any meaningful way, Vanessa Hudgens was not bad in that. As Lindy, though, she underwhelmed me. Hudgens, at least as directed in Beastly, seems to be working from the annoying trend pioneered by Mary-Louise Parker whereby women never close their mouths. That’s not a comment on how much they talk; it’s an actual problem with how they hold themselves. Their lips do not touch as they look at people and this concerted effort is not sexy. These women do not look like they are smiling, nor like they have something to say; they look like they are grimacing and it is unfortunate that Hudgens is going down that path, at least as Lindy.

The make-up effects in Beastly are interesting and Kyle’s transformed self looks pretty cool. Ultimately, though, they are not enough to recommend and Beastly falls – as many fantasy movies do these days – into a category of predictable, unimpressive films that simply failed to wow me.

For other fantasy films, please check out my reviews of:
Tangled
Labyrinth
Red Riding Hood

3/10

For other film reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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