Parenthood - Man versus Possum, S01E02

Parenthood continues to develop the relationships between the relatives with accurate and painful truths. The themes of selfishness and prioritizing continue, with the knowledge that some of these things simply cannot be changed, though some of course can.

The case of Max having aspergers is the perfect metaphor for these choices. Although Max is very high functioning, he still cannot process the idea of anything else having more importance than he choices. Sometimes he will give into the desires of his parents, but only when bribed. The idea of giving of himself, so hard to understand of a normal child of that age, is quite beyond him. And his poor parents, despite all the efforts they will ever make for him will have to continue to make those efforts for him always, and he will never be able to return the favour.

But despite the pain of all this, watching him and his father running around their backyard, both dressed as pirates, brought me such joy and sadness, I could not tell which was the emotion overcoming me.

At least there is a little bit of normal relationship drama. Crosby (Dax Shepard) could not tell his girlfriend about his son, and so when he needed to cancel plans with her to go away for the weekend, he said it was because of Max. Typical idiot male, who on the one hand is trying his best and manning up for the son he never knew he had, but on the other hand is failing the woman whom he seemed to think was going to be a fixture in his life. I can't say that choosing your child over your woman is wrong, but she deserves to be considered a priority as well.

But don't worry, most of the drama involved a lack of seeing beyond oneself. Sarah (Lauren Graham) was having such a bad day because she was hurt over not getting a job she had really wanted that she took far longer than she ought to have to find out that her daughter was being held back in school. I suppose that might be a sign of why parenting alone is so difficult. Perhaps if she had a reliable partner to take care of her through her current difficulties, she would not be at such a loss to take care of her kids.

I do love how, despite all the difficulties and pain, the episode ended with a sense of hope. As long as we love each other, we can get through the hard times.