I started watching Parenthood again - this series that I had watched a few years ago. It got too intense the last time I watched. I think I got through a couple of seasons. At the end of season 1, I can already feel the intensity. It's a cornucopia of adult problems and teenage hormones. I think parents don't need to watch it at all because the chaos is the lives they already live.
The series is a story of 4 siblings - already one too many - and their families, with their parents in the mix. Adam is the eldest and the most sensible of the lot taking responsibility for every one. He's the agony aunt of the family - and it's strange how all the siblings just walk into his office for advice even though his boss has issues with that. And he totally fails to set boundaries
Him and his wife seem to be this ideal couple who try to run their home well and communicate with each other. Adam's daughter, Haddie is almost the same age as his sister Sarah's daughter, Amber. So there's enough teenage hormones going on with the mothers and the daughters in both households. Adam's son, Max has autism so that's another level of drama. I really wonder if it's actually this hard with teenage daughters. I think it's that way more in the US where kids have new fangled ideas of freedom and independence at a very young age, where parents telling kids what to do is being controlling and parents don't have the right to say anything.
Sarah, with teenage kids, just moved back home because her husband left, I guess. She moved into her parents house since she does not have a home of her own at the moment. She has enough skirmishes with her daughter who isn't serious with her studies at the start. Sarah, who worked as a bartender, isn't doing too great professionally either. Adam and Sarah are the ones who take the responsibility among the siblings.
Julia, a lawyer, comes next. She is a power career woman and the sole earning member in the family after her husband's construction business went bust. And there is the usual judgement that she is a busy, working mother who does not have the time to do school things for her 5yo
Cossby is the youngest and the most flaky. He lives on a boat and still does his laundry at his parents. He was living the carefree life when an old girlfriend called Jasmine dropped a 5yo in his lap as his son. And je gets into the role full on without exceptions. It seems a bit convenient that she comes knocking asking for help when it seems like it works for her. She makes him work around her schedule and her rules, later her mom's when Jasmine goes travelling for work. He hardly ever stands up for himself with Jasmine's family. He shud work out a custody schedule so that he has weekends and can have a life as a single guy for the rest of the time. But even thought he knows a lot of times that he is being taken advantage of, he chooses to say nothing.
And then there's their parents with a traditional marriage where the mother raised the kids and the father cheated on her. She is fed up of him in their old age and going through therapy to make it work.
Unlike in the real world, the siblings are close to each other and seem to have no boundaries when it comes to discussing their lives. Based on the situation, they can be each other's agony aunts. As if the teenage hormones aren't raging enough, there is a cornucopia of problems with adults - mainly trying to deal with their kids. Even Julia's 5yo has issues with obedience and knows how to play games to get her way. There is a time when Haddie and Amber like the same guy creating differences between the parents too.
Sarah starts working for Adam - he is forced to offer her an internship because he used an idea she shoot offhandedly. And when she get to know that he actually pitched it to his boss, she wants more than just being dismissed, Sarah suffers from low self esteem and will take anything she gets. Soon after she starts working for Adam she is flirting with an employee and kissing the boss! Way to go Sarah! The middle of season 2 and Adam still does not know about this because she goes to Julia for advice on this.
In the middle of it all, Joel the stay at home dad has an identity crisis while they are talking about having another child! As if raising a 5yo isn't tough enough! If this all sounds complicating, imagine watching all of it. Strangely enough, I am still watching it since I have not even reached the point till where I watched the last time. So I am going to get till there and then take a break. It's intense yet addictive. But intense kinda always wins. I am not sure I can manage to watch 6 seasons of this. Definitely not in one shot. In these times of short attention spans, it is hard to watch drama series with 50 minute long episodes. It was hard even to watch something like Gilmore Girls. Downton Abbey was an impossibility. Parenthood falls in this category. So I guess I am going to be taking a bit of a break before I coninue t his hige family saga!
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