Instead of introducing a problem and having it tidily wrapped up in the running time of an hour-long drama, Parenthood moved ahead on several characters’ stories, complicating them by slowly ratcheting up the pressure.
Zeek seemed a little less like a one-dimensional bad guy in his marriage. His put-upon wife Camille may not be entirely as victimized as she might seem. Amber — the girl with the tough exterior — seemed entirely emotionally fragile. And Haddie had to come to terms with a double betrayal.
On the Zeek and Camille front, we learned that Camille has been taking an art class run by a man named Matthew, with whom she’s, um, rather comfortable. She was comfortable enough with Matthew that she got glammed up to meet him at an art gallery, and opted to ditch her daughter Sarah — who’d invited herself along with her mother to the gallery — so Camille could go home with Matthew and sleep with him.
Despite the later scene where Camille covered her mouth with her hand when Sarah lightly pressured her on whether she’d slept with her art teacher, I had to wonder if this was truly Camille’s first time stepping out on her marriage, physically and/or emotionally. It’s not as though Zeek’s infidelity is new to Camille. What was new information to Camille during this time frame was that Zeek had put them on a financial precipice and hadn’t told her about it. Perhaps Camille had been flirting with Matthew for some time and just needed a reason — another lie from Zeek in a long series of untruths — to give herself permission to make it physical.
As for Zeek staying with Adam and Kristina in the wake of his big fight with Camille … obviously this is fraught with difficulties, as Zeek’s not the most gracious, agreeable houseguest, interfering with Adam and Kristina’s parenting, and loudly lamenting when the TV was commandeered by SpongeBob SquarePants and he couldn’t watch a game. He kept trying to pressure Adam to get a dog for Max, dissed their choice of a tortoise as a pet, and complained that Max ran the house. Meanwhile, Adam and Kristina know that Zeek cheated, and they’re ticked. What we don’t know is whether news that Camille slept with her art teacher would change their perspective.
The other major drama in the episode occurred between the Braverman cousins. In the previous episode, Haddie, after being encouraged by her cousin Amber, broke up with her boyfriend Steve after he pressured her for sex and she wasn’t ready. Amber, however, became Steve’s shoulder to cry on as he revealed his insecurities to her which, of course, made him all the more appealing. But Amber, being a hormonal teen who doesn’t always think things through first, didn’t make a great decision when she opted to sleep with Steve, fresh off of his break-up with her cousin.
Amber could’ve kept this information to herself, but guilt ate away at her as she sat at Haddie’s slumber party, where Haddie’s friends were breaking CDs Steve had burned for Haddie, and they asked Amber to join in on the destruction and the verbal trashing of Steve. It all got to be too much for the deeply-feeling Amber, who confessed her error in judgment to Haddie, which didn’t turn out to be a swift move because Haddie was feeling so very raw at that moment. To learn that your ex-boyfriend went so quickly from you to your cousin was a humiliating revelation. Such humiliation could lead to the kind of awful fallout we saw in the previews for next week, where a group of girls targeted Amber, taunted her, and then got physical.
What did you think of this episode, of Camille’s interlude, Zeek’s complaining, and the Amber/Haddie drama? Also, do you think the solution Julia’s orchestrating with her ex-boyfriend to solve her parents’ financial situation will turn out badly, as Joel suggested?
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on May 12, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
Loved how stoked Adam and Kristina were that Max chose the low-maintenance, non-traditional pet, over Zeek’s objections. For the first time, didn’t dislike Max once the entire episode, probably because Camille, Zeek, and Amber were so despicable.
We don’t have enough information about Julia’s plan, or her friend’s shady business practices, to be able to judge its chances for success. Joel objected, but then he disapproves of basically everything we see his wife try to do on the show, so I don’t really trust his judgment. And after what he knowingly put her through with Rachel, I have no sympathy for his petulant jealousy here.
The show has markedly improved from its ham-fisted beginnings, but it has a long way to go to become must-see television.