Shameless - S04E03 Like Father, Like Daughter

          Man, I missed Shameless. I don't know if it's because I grew up in a overpopulated house run by a matriarch - even though my similarities with anything Shameless end there - but it's the show I look most forward to watching every Sunday during this somewhat slow Winter TV season.
         I'll start out saying what I didn't like much about this episode, which is, ironically enough, what I liked most about last week's: Lip's storyline. The problem with his story this week was that it was exactly. the. same. as last week. Lip's alone, he's struggling, it's harder than he thinks and there's real competition. It's the risk you take when you take your character away from all that he usually interacts with, and I already know they're going to solve that by bringing him back home next week ("next week on!").
        It was so great to see Sheila back, and dating, and dating a Native American from Christian Mingle who is DTF!!! Too much goodness there.
        Frank, again, is showing how low he is willing to get to get what he needs - which is a liver now - flirts with his own daughter. It was so disturbing when she kisses him, even for Shameless. This show does a good job breaking down sociopathic behaviors. These people can be extremely charming and charismatic when they need to, and cruel, selfish and relentless when that's what's needed. Frank showed both aspects of his flawlessly this episode. And we know Frank well enough to know that he wants a new liver so he can drink again, not because this is some kind of chance of redemption. He's an addict, after all. Which leads me to... Fiona.
         I wasn't surprised to learn that this was an episode penned by a woman, Sheila Callagham. I say that because it was one of the finest character studies on a female character I've watched in a while, and showed Fiona's extremely sexual and adventurous side without making her slutty (ok, debatable) or objectified. It's safe to say that all viewers were waiting for Fiona to tire from her stable job/stable relationship combo. But the way it was done was fun, sexy and riveting. We know from the first time that Robbie shows up that he means trouble. Even though direction was a little heavy handed in making us fall for him too, with the sexy lighting and the one-second too long close-ups, we're hoping that Fiona will be a little smarter about how to deal with him. Instead, she flirts with him, sits on the kitchen sing with her legs provocatively open, and doesn't try to fight her sexual desire for one single second. Addict, he calls her, and he's so spot on. Even though it's never been articulated, that's what Fiona is. She is addicted to the rush, and when the rush starts slipping through her fingers -something most people would celebrate - she finds a way to feel it again. And she seems to like it, touching her ripped pantyhose in the train. The last shot, however, did it for me. She's walking away and catches a glimpse of her father, a man she despises for, precisely, his addiction and what it causes to the people around him. And that shot, without saying anything, said the world: she's way more similar to him that she would ever care to admit.

Girls - S03 E03 and E04 - Dead Inside and Only Child

        "Hanna. Why don't you place just one crumb of basic human compassion on this fat free muffun of sociopathic detachment, see how it tastes." Ray has become one of my favorite characters on this show, alongside Adam. I don't know if it's a good thing that my favorite characters on a show called "Girls" are boys, but it doesn't change the fact. Throughout these two episodes - that felt like a single episode divided in two, even more so because HBO GO had the "early view" option - Ray was repeatedly the voice of reason. In the scene where he tells Marnie what's her problem, it becomes clear how clearly Ray sees things the way they are (and how Marnie isn't really that complex of a character). I could've gone without the dry-humping, but at the same time it adds to Marnie's absolute lack of compassion - she has slept with ex-boyfriends of two of her best friends. Wow, Marnie! Way to break the gal-code!
         These episodes felt, to me, that Girls is back with all its might. Hanna is unapologetically self-centered, and this affects pretty much every aspect of her life: her family life, when she ignores that her dad had possible cancer surgery, her professional life, when she goes to a funeral home to better investigate what's happening with her book, and her love life, when she kicks Adam's sister out of the house. More on that later.
         In "Dead Inside", something quite subtle and wonderful happened. We started noticing how little Hanna knows herself. I went through a couple of ahá moments as far as self awareness during my early and mid twenties. The first ahá moment was after college, when I suddenly felt that I knew myself so well, and that nothing that I would do would ever surprise me, it would just be a part of my wonderful multi-faceted personality. Hanna has definitely had this moment, but not the second one, when one realizes how little we know about ourselves and others, how we're always changing, and how the answer to the question 'who are you' is very complex, if at all existent. Hanna has spent the last episodes (and all of season two) complaining about how much she feels. Maybe it is her defense mechanism after struggling with her OCD, but fact is that somebody very close to her dies, she can't feel, anything at all. To the point where she has to tell a fake monologue about a cousin who died of muscular dystrophy, a story Adam's sister told her, to have Adam not look at her like a monster.  Speaking of which...
         Adam's sister actually grew on me as a character (although not enough for me to remember her name). When Hanna kicks her out, she delivers one of the best monologues of the show, and, like Ray did to Marnie, she breaks Hanna down with amazing precision. Yes, Hanna will never really understand the real struggles of humanity, even if she thinks she does because, to Hanna, her own little world is all that matters. When she finally does kick Adam's sis out, it isn't because Adam's sis crossed the line, it's because Hanna is having a bad day. And when Adam comes home, she can't even understand why he would be upset because, as the episode's title said, she's an only child.
     

P.S: Also worth mentioning: I enjoyed that Jess's destructiveness has major impacts on her life. Even Shosh has had enough, and I totally bought that her friend would fake her death to get rid of Jess. It actually is a great idea that I'm starting to toy around with.

Parks and Recreation - "Farmer's Market"

          I was very worried about Parks and Rec in the episodes following Leslie's recall. It was a good decision, dramatically, but the writers had a hard time until they were able to cover that new ground with comfort.
          I think they did, though, and the idea of having Ben become Leslie's boss was a good one. I particularly enjoyed Leslie in this episode. When one of the farmer's market's vendors starts using sexy dancers to promote his Chard business, she wants to use Ben's power as city manager to revoke his license. This was Leslie at her worst. Cornerning Ben and using the political structure to get to her own goals. It was fun to watch, though, and I enjoyed that she lost this battle, as deserved. I'm excited to see how much of a strain their new professional situation will put on their marriage.
          The storyline that got the most laughs out of me was everything revolving around the "Whine and Cheese club". First of all, I WANT A WHINE AND CHEESE CLUB! Second, it got the best lines of the whole episode (everything Ron Swanson said about the amazing rectangle that contains all his music). Third, it was a great way to start saying our goodbyes to Ann and Chris. Even though the thought if it hurts, it's the right choice, creatively. It's been clear that, for a while now, the writers don't know exactly what to do with these two. Ann just needed to vent, but instead her lover would always run and try to fix her problem, never once asking Ann "how she felt", or saying what she wanted to hear which was "that sucks".  I loved how this episode showed that not everything is perfect in this relationship, but it's clearly a good and strong one, and one that will probably succeed, even if we don't follow them on the show anymore.

Parenthood - You've Got Mold - S05E14

       

 "WHAT ARE YOU DOING JOEL??" has to be the question on everyone's mind right now. This was an episode designed to bring out our tears, and I, for one, was definitely a victim of this design. The Joel x Julia separation story line is one that gets me thinking a lot. In a way, it's refreshing to see that, finally, Parenthood, which could be now called Marriagehood, is dealing with the difficulties of marriage, and exploring how apparently strong couples sometimes have very weak foundations.
          I don't know necessarily if that is the case with J&J, but I do appreciate that the show is not taking their change in status quo lightly. Things started to unravel when Julia quit her job, got worse when Victor got held back and seem unfixable now that Julia was kissed by Ed. In the real world, I do see this couple possibly divorcing, but this is Parenthood, this is Jasom Katim's world, so we're all just expecting the reversal to come in a a few episodes to come (right?? RIGHT?!). However realistic this storyline is, there are some things that still bother me about it, though. For one, it seems that Joel is being unusually cruel. They just adopted a kid together, for Christ sakes! Give Julia a chance! Sleep on the couch for a week or two, but don't make Sydney cry like that. Although Victor's quiet pain - which can easily transform itself into rage - was even more heartbreaking to me. The other aspect that seems to bother me is how quiet and subdued Julia is. Fight for your man, woman! Say something, tell him you love him, anything! It's hard for me to buy that go-getter Julia in only capable of huggin her legs and whispering "you don't have to go" when her husband and presumably love of her life walks out.
        Speaking of changes in status quo, the other strong storyline of the week revolved around Zeek and Camille. I particularly love that they're exploring a relatively new crisis in modern age: older people, with now a whole new "act" in life, not having planned to, well, basically, live that long. I totally buy Camille's longing, ever since her affair a few seasons ago. Camille wants more, she wants art, she wants adventure. And Zeek is happy living his quiet life, taking care of his car and fixing the house. I feel we were all frustrated that Zeek didn't pack his bags and go after Camille, but he finally noticed that it's his wife that is the center of his universe, and if he doesn't have her, the quiet life and the old car in the garage have no meaning. I'm very excited to see the spin-off "Camille and Zeek - Lost in Europe!" next year.
       The other storylines don't deserve that much attention. Sarah and Hank argue over a picture, Adam and Cristina are frustrated that Max doesn't fit in anywhere and she decides to open a school. It would be a storyline that deserves attention, but doing big crazy projects is Cristina's thing now, so when she says "I'm starting a school, it's so crazy!", all I can do is think "not as crazy as running for mayor!". I also can't help but mention how little I missed Amber this week.
       I did think this was a solid hour of TV, as Parenthood mostly is, but it didn't feel very mid-season-finale-esque to me. But that's what Parenthood does so well: "little" story lines that are actually very huge in these people's worlds.