NBC’s Parenthood ended its first season tonight with a lot of resolutions and pleasantness, but it didn’t leave you wondering about the road ahead. Perhaps this episode was designed to also serve as a series finale if need be, but we now know that it will be back this fall.
In the show’s first few moments, Haddie gave herself a makeover. She cut her newly dyed black hair and put on a darker shade of lipstick. While her parents were overly shocked by this, they were surprisingly unconcerned about her skipping chemistry class. Max, however, stated that, “It looks like a panther, like a vampire from Twilight, I like it!” (Unfortunately, we didn’t see much of him in this episode.) I noticed how Haddie’s new look was similar to Amber’s style, and sure enough, she later admitted to her mother that was part of the reason why she did it.
Kristina then admitted that she thought it looked “cute”, but up until then, she was very irritable throughout the episode. She still held a grudge against Sarah, treating her coldly when she asked if Adam could help Drew train for baseball tryouts.
Sarah caught some of Kristina’s aggressiveness, when she drove away and accidentally hit her brother’s van. No one saw her, so she just left. The whole situation made her want to move away, or so she said to Mr. Cyr, whom she tracked down. Cyr obviously still has feelings for her, because he said, “Please don’t leave”. Sarah then turned her attention to her parents, telling her mom that she should go to the dinner that Zeke was going to have with Timm the real estate expert. Camille said she would have gone if she was invited. Sarah’s “You don’t need an invitation to your own life” speech changed Camille’s mind, about the dinner and possibly some other things. Sarah then attempted to help Drew practice pitching, but her and Amber got into an argument, completely ignoring the boy. Later on, Lucy Schwartz’s “Gone Away” played as she discovered that her daughter had run away.
Despite the fact that Amber has ran away before, this made her and the others panic. Adam drove her to Steve’s house, where his parents were finally filled in on the situation. Surprisingly, Steve seemed worried and declared in front of everybody that he is in love with Amber. Then Adam drove Sarah to Damien’s house, where they discovered that he had moved on. But as a cop pulled the siblings over for a broken taillight, Sarah admitted that she was the one who hit it. They would have argued more about it if Amber had not called her cell phone just then. She apparently hitchhiked to a truck stop and wanted to come home. Kristina heard this news from Adam’s phone, and felt obligated to go after her. Haddie also wanted to be there for her cousin, and she was the first one to meet up with her. Ray LaMontagne’s “Let It Be Me” played as the rain poured down on Haddie and Amber’s parents while the two talked and hugged inside of a roadside diner. At home, Sarah wasn’t angry with her daughter, but she tearfully admitted that she was “scared so much” and “glad you’re my kid”.
Crosby dealt with both his father moving in with him and the news that Jasmine was accepted into “Alvin Alley” and was moving to New York. Jabbar asking if he could call him “Daddy” made him realize just how much things would change. Though his first reaction was to get drunk and sing “Good Hearted Woman” with Zeke, his father told him to “put his foot down” about the matter. When he sobered up, Adam and Sarah told him about Zeke’s unfaithfulness. This made him sheepishly agree with Jasmine’s plan of a lot of visits and weekly phone calls. Crosby later called his father out, telling him, “You screwed up with Mom” and “You are losing her…, fight for her”. This, however, made him realize what he needed to do. He told Jasmine that he’s coming with them, saying, “I hate my Dad right now for what he did to my Mom, but he was a great Dad. And I want Jabbar to have that.” Jasmine was incredulous, stating, “You’re a constant surprise”.
Julia also heard about her father’s cheating from Adam and Sarah. She still kept busy by arranging a dinner between Zeke and Timm. As she, Camille, and Joel looked on, Timm described Zeke’s property as a “money sucking hole” before politely looking down on him. Zeke saw through this, telling Timm, “Do not patronize me”, “Don’t insult my intelligence”, and “I consider myself too big to fail!” When Julia criticized him for blowing his chance to sell the land, Zeke warned her that Timm was romantically interested in her.
Still, Zeke eventually came to his senses, somewhat, telling Camille that he wants her back. He also said, “I want to spend the rest of the time that we have together, making our lives good”, before he sang “I’m Into Something Good” while playing a ukulele.
Though we don’t know if Camille will forgive him, she did attend Drew’s baseball tryouts with the rest of the family, leaving everything all wrapped up, at least for now.