What I’m Watching: Parenthood

Parenthood: Season 5, Episode 21 “I’m Still Here” (B+)

For at least three of the Bravermans, it looks like there’s hope of reconciling past relationships. The development most evidently positive and likeliest to last involves Drew, who finally managed to get back together with Natalie. It was enjoyable to see them fight in public a bit as Drew lashed out and then Sarah happened to be present before they realized that all they wanted was to be together. They deserve their young love, and someone ought to be happy. Amber’s reunion with Ryan was far less joyous, and it was sweet that, without much hesitation, Hank hopped in the car to drive her there. I’m not sure whether he and Sarah are going to get back together, but at the very least they might be able to be friends again. Despite Julia’s tryst with Mr. Knight and Pete’s rather blatant appeal to Joel’s more oblivious side, they might also be headed to a good place, and, surprisingly enough, it’s all thanks to Crosby, whose efforts to guilt Joel into coming to help him fix his house worked and produced a truly hilarious interaction which mainly featured Joel making fun of Crosby’s abilities. Kristina’s plotline more than made up for the light-hearted nature of most of the other developments of the episode. Her final interaction with Gwen showed just how far Kristina has come since the days when she was facing almost certain death, and her visit to Bob to appeal to his humanity didn’t go well either. Gwen’s generous gift was inspiring, and it’s great to see that there’s renewed hope for the charter school.