Parenthood’s hundredth episode is something of a miracle. The series, much like Jason Katims’s previous show Friday Night Lights, has never been a ratings success. It has held steady in its Thursday at 10 time slot, ostensibly a slot for prestige dramas, but renewal has never been a sure thing for the show. After an (ill-advised) full season order for season five, that the series is back for this victory lap is nothing short of amazing. (It helps that NBC has nothing better to put here, cc: Hannibal.)
The thing about Parenthood is that it is not a prestige drama. It’s not even quite on the level of Friday Night Lights; it lacks for example that show’s formal specificity, its realist edge. Parenthood is utilitarian, the last of the family dramas, not quite a soap, not quite prestige. It knows what it is, knows what it can do, and more often than not does it well.
The same is true of “How Did We Get Here?”, which encapsulates all of the things the show does well, along with some of the things it does annoyingly, if not quite poorly. It is in other words exactly what a hundredth episode should be, and it functions perfectly as a summation of the show. In fact, if not for a few outstanding threads of plot, “How Did We Get Here?” would serve as an excellent finale. As it stands, it sets the stage for the final three (!) episodes of Parenthood rather nicely.
What I love most about this one is the way it functions as a sort of bottle episode, containing all of the Bravermans in the hospital for the bulk of its running time. I cannot emphasize enough my joy at getting the whole cast in the same place again. Budgetary issues have meant leaving several characters out of episodes, and some of the show’s unique chemistry was lost as a result. That spark is back in full force here, and it shows. Right from the beginning, with an otherwise silent musical montage that is super effective, the script sets some of the highest emotional stakes the series has ever seen, and pulls the audience right back into the lives of the Braverman clan.
Zeek’s health issues have been by far the strongest thread this season, not least because they provide a means to bring the entire cast together. It makes sense that this milestone episode would put him in crisis once more. When we left the show before the holidays, it was on a note of cheap, telegraphed shock—but here, dealing with the aftermath, is where Parenthood truly excels. Emotional realism is what the episode has going for it in spades. The Bravermans are all sitting around helpless with the world rushing around them, and all they can do is react and lean on each other. Looking back, very little actually happens in “How Did We Get Here?”, but that doesn’t matter. It’s scenes of characters reacting, talking to each other and processing the fact of Zeek’s mortality, that are what we’re here for, and on that count, the episode delivers.
Take this week’s MVP, Bonnie Bedelia, whose Camille has her most substantial episode in ages here. Her wonderful chemistry with Craig T. Nelson contains within it decades of history; it’s impossible not to be moved when Camille breaks down in the chapel with Adam, or when her voice cracks with palpable relief when she learns that, for now at least, her husband is okay.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Miles Heizer also gets a couple great showcases here. Parenthood doesn’t always know what to do with Drew, and I felt that last episode’s conflict between him and Zeek was forced, to put it mildly—it didn’t really land for me that even Zeek would be quite so harsh to his grandson. But once again, the fallout from those harsh words provides fertile ground for drama here, as Drew worries that his last conversation his grandfather might be one where Zeek told him how he’d let him down. Is they symbolism of the Pontiac breaking down maybe a little too on the nose? Sure. But Heizer is great in the scene, and throughout the episode. He’s paired off with Hank at the hospital, which is a no-duh character pairing that the show hasn’t really mined yet. Like so many of the pairings in Parenthood, it’s an emotional goldmine. Ray Romano is practically a national treasure, and watching him navigate the latest Braverman family crisis is not without its humor—I love how he decides to stay because Joel is doing it, too.
Unfortunately the episode isn’t entirely successful. The Luncheonette has never been the greatest idea Parenthood had, but this ransacking-slash-burglary is even more unbelievable than the idea of the Luncheonette in the first place. What, the thieves loaded up the entire damn recording booth on their shoulders and just waltzed on out of there? It would take literally hours to do the damage we see. It’s absurd and immediately lets the air out of the story. What’s worse, a story that seemed like it was jettisoning the Luncheonette in time for the home stretch actually ends up reaffirming it as the driving force behind what will be Adam and Crosby’s final major storyline. Booooo.
Somewhere in between these two extremes is the ad hoc baby shower the ladies hold in the hospital waiting area for Amber. On the one hand, it’s a sweet scene, though it’s a little too saccharine even by Parenthood’s standards. On the other hand, it’s oddly placed at the end of the episode, as though it was tacked on simply to have the women share their reflections on motherhood as part of the hundredth episode festivities. A nice enough scene to be sure, but one that feels like it might belong to a different episode entirely.
Overall “How Did We Get Here?” is a strong return for Parenthood, and the missteps that it does make are minor. As a celebration of the show’s legacy, it definitely works, and as a set-up for the final episodes, it does a good job of setting the stakes and putting all of the pieces in place for a satisfying finale.
Stray Observations:
– Hank’s proposal to Sarah is so very typical of him, and it’s beautiful to boot. What a journey this character has gone on.
– “That was my first instinct, not to talk to you.” Hank is also very comforting.
– “You’re right that it’s practical, it’s practically not a Porsche.”
– Joel and Julia are now maybe getting back together, or something? Chris is, I don’t know, I guess he’s dead or something? I assume there will be more conflict yet to come on this front, but it’s all very swept under the rug this week in a way that’s off-putting to me.
Michael Wampler is a graduate of The College of New Jersey, where he completed both B.A. and M.A. degrees in English literature. He currently lives and works in Princeton, NJ while he shops around his debut novel and slowly picks away at his second. Favorite shows include Weeds, Lost, Hannibal and Mad Men (among many more). When not watching or writing about television, he enjoys reading, going for runs, and building his record collection.