PARENTHOOD “Happy Thanksgiving” Season 2 Episode 10 – The Braverman Thanksgiving resembles a mine field with all the conflict and drama, but all’s well that ends well in the “Happy Thanksgiving” episode of PARENTHOOD.
Wow, does this episode capture the pitfalls–and joys–of gathering with family or what? This is a well-paced, emotionally involving, funny episode that does an excellent job weaving storylines together.
Oh, please let this be the end of Gordon. He’s wreaked enough havoc and been unforgivably boring in the process. I’m impressed at how restrained Adam was–”important phone call from the hair gel trade”-type jabs notwithstanding, and at how long he lasted before finally letting Sarah know what a jackass Gordon is. Thank goodness Sarah didn’t take Gordon up on that charming offer to meet him on the road to “stay connected.” Is that what the kids are calling it these days? There is some excellent work from both Peter Krause and Lauren Graham.
We go from stalking, rage-filled Zeek last week to empathetic awesome grandfather Zeek this week. I much prefer this version–he listens to Drew and talks to him like he’s a person. He does what Sarah should have done and gets Seth to call his son. I also kind of love his sad and cringetastic attempt to love life advice from a teenager and the way he approaches Camille at the end. It’s completely inappropriate of course, but completely in character. Drew had actual lines tonight!
I’m so glad Camille and Julia have their moment because Julia was looking too forlorn about Camille’s earlier reactions to how Julia dealt with Sydney. Actually, I love pretty much all the Camille scenes tonight. Her bewildered expression when Amber tells her to take the wine and go because someone (not her–hee) would clean up is just too adorable and I love that she helps Haddie be able to see Alex. We need more scenes with Camille and her granddaughters in future episodes because they’re always wonderful.
Yay to Alex and Haddie’s first kiss, though she should remember that inside is best for that unless she’s trying to give her mom a stroke. “Who is that man; boy?” Kristina looks like she was hit by a truck here and on an over-protectiveness scale of one to ten, I think she`s about to hit an eight.
My only complaint about the Turkey bowl, besides the fact that no one injured Gordon, is that we didn’t get to see a trophy with a troll doll nailed to a 2X4. I love how seriously they take it–”They’re committed and crazy.” Even better is the way Jasmine gets right into the game, not needing Kristina’s well-meaning advice at all.
Yay to continuity on the Joel-Crosby front with some nice sniping between the two. “She was a massage therapist, a healer.” Heh, but I’m still worried about Joel because he’s not bouncing back very well and Julia doesn’t seem to be helping.
I’m such a mush for Parenthood episodes where everyone is together and we get more and different interactions than usual, and this episode definitely delivers on that. As Crosby says, “That was a pretty eventful Thanksgiving. Plenty of fireworks.” It ends perfectly with the siblings dancing to Naughty by Nature’s “O. P. P.” (Adam does “The Sprinkler.” Love.) and Zeek and Camille joining in, so that all is right in Braverman world for a bit. Julia and Sara share such a sweet hug and I love this cast’s chemistry. “This is Zeek Braverman, over and out.”
What did you think of the episode? Do you think Gordon is gone for good? Let me know in the comments.
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