BWW Recap: Hank and Max Have Breakthroughs on PARENTHOOD

Thursday night. Time for a new PARENTHOOD recap:

First, Max rushes to Kristina (who's back - yay!) because Adam's still away on business (WHAT?! 6 EPISODES LEFT, PEOPLE!) desperate to know how to ask a girl (read: Dylan) out on a date. When he does go to do it though, he finds Dylan kissing another guy. Max first asks to expel Aaron Brownstein, the guy who was making out with Dylan, which escalates to handing out flyers and then a full-on brawl in the middle of the hallway. Out of anger, Max decides to end his friendship with Dylan and keep his distance. Then, he backtracks... but goes too far... and Dylan, as such, reacts. Simply, in just a few words, amazing acting all around from Max Burkholder, and it's nice that Max Braverman is so deeply involved in his relationship with Dylan that he actually wants to do something about it. It's great, too, that Kristina shows a softer, compelling side toward him; she understands why he did what he did. And that final scene between them was perfect!

Next, Ruby wants to throw a party and convinces Hank to let her stay home alone (A HUGE step forward for Hank in his relationship with his daughter, may I add). It's sad that Sandy and Ruby aren't getting along, though. And even sadder that after all that, Ruby goes against Hank. Damn girl. Can't you see your dad is trying SOOOO HARD to do well by you? You're not helping matters by disobeying him like that! Kudos to Hank (and by proxy, Romano) for having the courage to go in and break up that party. Sure, Ruby's upset, and it hurts Hank more - but at the same time, he's learning, so that's a plus. As Sandy points out, he and she are united on the parenting front - a first for the two of them - and yeah, honestly, Ruby said that, but it can't last forever; things have to be looking up. They just have to. It's Hank. He's come too far to not have some happy resolution. And the final scene between them looked promising. Funny, though, that these "Hank revelation" episodes all happen when Sarah is NOT present. Hmmm...

Finally, Crosby/Jasmine and Amber's separate blend together this week, when Crosby's facing pressure/losing pride re: not being able to provide for his family (Jasmine has to take another job), and Amber steps in to fix it, by arranging for them to see a concert of a band they may potentially sign. Two notes on this: 1) this action again another side of Amber showing that she's grown up and becoming the "adult" to "child" Crosby - another surefire sign she's ready for motherhood. 2) Additionally, there's a scene - to illustrate how Jasmine and Drew are similar pushing their respective others - with Drew and Amber, where the former confronts the latter about being the only real money earner in the family, which I just thought was clever parallelism - go writers! When Amber goes into a series of Braxton Hicks contractions, they're forced to abandon the concert (and the deal), which leaves Crosby pondering closing the Luncheonette. Amber suggests they keep fighting, but the issue (kind of - at least between the two of them) is never resolved. So... here's hoping next week we find out what's happening to the Luncheonette - and I pray it stays open. HAPPY ENDINGS for all!

Some good progress made this week, but WHY so many PARENTHOOD characters absent? (Adam, Sarah, Zeek -- and for goodness sake, after LAST WEEK'S BIG REVELATION, NO JOEL/JULIA?! WHAT?!) We've got five episodes left! Best to utilize all these characters as much as we can!!

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