Parenthood Review: “Too Big to Fail” (6×06)

I’m not going to lie, that “three months later” title card pretty much blew my mind the first time I watched this episode.

Not because anything particularly shocking happens as a result of it, but because it’s the sort of thing that Parenthood wouldn’t typically do in previous seasons. Between seasons, maybe you would see something like this, but here, this is a purposeful attempt to accelerate the storylines to cover the necessary narrative ground before the series ends. It’s audacious, and it can be very useful; in fact, most of the storylines this season could benefit hugely from such a time jump. The only one that it wouldn’t and doesn’t really have an effect on is Adam, Kristina and Max, and it’s no coincidence that, in their scenes, it’s not even altogether clear that three months has passed.

But then scheduling and budgetary issues rear their heads in the worst way possible: Joel and Julia, as well as Zeek and Camille, the two segments of the show apart from Amber who would benefit most from a time jump, are completely absent from this episode. Considering where we left these stories, a lot could have changed in this time, and it’s frustrating at best to have the two strongest stories of the season hit a wall so forcefully.

Rather that lament what we’re missing, though, let’s try to enjoy what we have. “Too Big to Fail” is a functional, frequently solid episode of Parenthood, even if it’s a bit of a structural mess. Plus, though I’d still rather have seen what’s up with Julia or Zeek, their absence does allow for more time spent with characters there would otherwise not be room for, like Drew and the long-suffering Jasmine.

The impact of the three-month time jump is most obvious on Amber, who is suddenly much more pregnant than she was when last we saw her. Her growing realization of the difficulties of raising an infant (as well as the fact that it costs a lot of money) leads her to ask Adam and Crosby for a raise at the Luncheonette. The only problem is, the Luncheonette isn’t making any money. Money woes are at the root of many of the stories this week, as Amber worries about how she’ll provide for her baby, Crosby worries about how he can provide for his own family, Adam worries about his own income (which is also gutted by Chambers Academy, another shockingly unprofitable Braverman business venture), and even Drew gets in on the worrying action, fretting about which major he should choose to be able to provide for a hypothetical family that is years from existing.

Frankly, the idea of any of the Bravermans having financial trouble is a tough pill to swallow, given the way that Parenthood treats money as no object most of the time. It makes at least some sense with Amber, at least, and even as far as Crosby goes I’ll buy it. But Adam and Kristina have never been portrayed as anything less than comfortable, and usually much more than that. Parenthood is an upper middle class fantasy most of the time, and given that approach, it feels somewhat disingenuous to suddenly decide now that money is a serious issue, and even more so to do so after a three month time jump that skips over any of the events that led to this point.

On the bright side, at least the focus on finance gives some focus to Crosby’s story, which until this point has been a sort of aimless malaise; now, at least, we have some sense of his dissatisfaction that goes beyond the show’s desire to portray him as a mirror to Zeek. And as the youngest, most reckless Braverman sibling (well, perhaps not as reckless as Sarah), it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that he’d find himself in dire financial straits.

While I usually appreciate when Parenthood episodes revolve around a theme, this week the most successful stories are the ones that abandon the ideas of money and responsibility. Unfortunately, these are also the stories that make the least use of the time jump; in fact, they basically ignore it. For Max’s part, his continued courtship of Dylan is sweetly touching—it certainly got dusty in my living room when he tells Adam, “She said I nice eyes.” I also love how the show has inverted the initial dynamic of Kristina and Dylan’s relationship—it’s clear Kristina is warming up to the girl, even if it’s in her own, awkward, almost disbelieving way. It’s easy to see even now how Dylan’s presence will lead Kristina and Adam to see Max in a new light, as a person and growing young man rather than a problem to be solved or a victim in need of protection. In their own quirky way, Dylan and Max are more normal than many of us can manage most days.

Hank’s story with Sarah and Ruby is also touching, and even manages to draw Amber in for the game night Sarah plans. The story doesn’t cover much new ground—Ruby and Hank have tension, the combination of Sarah and Amber begins to soften her cruel, hard teenage heart—but it does introduce the idea that Hank’s difficulty with her owes just as much to his Asperger’s as it does to her pubescent brattiness. In that sense, the episode gives some dimension both to Ruby’s character and her relationship with Hank, and as we spend even more time with them, that’s a great thing.

It won’t go down as one of the all-time great Parenthood episodes, and it wastes a lot of the opportunity that that “three months later” card suggests, but “Too Big to Fail” is by no means bad, and its component parts range from good to great, even if they never come together into a very cohesive whole. Ultimately, though, even the individual parts aren’t great enough to forgive what the episode squanders.

 

Stray Observations

• “We’ll go to Target or something.” Drew goes baby furniture shopping exactly the way
• Caring for drunken teenagers is in fact exactly like caring for an infant. Good call, show.
• Max is dating Dylan now. And of course Adam and Kristina walk by the room constantly.
• “We’ve been on two dates now. Would you like to stay the night?” It’s cool, Dylan still only likes Max at a two and a half.
• The Lowe’s commercial with Parenthood’s set designer is the sort of advertising I wouldn’t mind seeing more of.
• Oh hey Jasmine, how ya been? Nice to see she hasn’t completely vanished, and her Harry Potter party for Jabbar hits that perfectly Parenthood level of schmaltz, even if the song choice, with its repeated refrain “I’m trying the best that I can,” is too on the nose.
• Did Drew Holt get a haircut? Three months have not been kind, let’s put it that way.