I don’t spend too much time anymore worrying about whether a show will be canceled; I take the “enjoy it while it lasts” approach to everything. So Season 3’s penultimate episode of “Parenthood” took me off guard, first with the sad-tears moment of Julia not getting to adopt the baby, then with the happy-tears moment of Jasmine asking Crosby to marry her, then with the preview of the season’s final episode, which looked very much like a series finale.
It also played like a series finale, with the Jasmine-Joe and Crosby-cellist romances being dispatched in montages, and then with no less than four relationships arriving at big moments (Jasmine-Crosby, of course, along with Sarah-Mark, Amber-Bob and Drew-Amy), not to mention the huge conflict — one that leads to a salsa-infused throwdown — between Adam and Crosby about whether they should sell the Luncheonette. Throw in the fact that the finale was only the 18th episode of the season (full seasons are 22 episodes), and this doesn’t seem like a show NBC wants to keep.
But then I read an Entertainment Weekly prediction that “Parenthood” will be back next season. So just as the writers and actors had no idea if they were working on the final episode, I have no idea if I’m reviewing the final episode.
At its worst (theoretically, because it’s never been bad), “Parenthood” throws so many threads out there that you’re bound to be hooked by some of them. But throughout Season 3, it rarely struck a wrong note. The storyline that seemed the blandest — Julia and Joel wanting to adopt coffee girl Zoe’s baby — had me balling by the end. Meanwhile, my favorite character, Haddie (Sarah Ramos) was sidelined for the back half of the season — her only contribution is to tattle on Amber — and it didn’t even bother me that much.
It’s hard to describe what I like about all the various Bravermans, because if I actually make a list of their actions, they will sound like jerks. But if getting close to reality is a mark of good writing and sympathetic characters, then that’s “Parenthood’s” secret to success. I can be forgiving of the not-so-real moments (The studio is really worth $2.5 million? I thought the music industry was struggling.) when they are surrounded by poignant scenes such as Sarah trying to break up with Mark and Mark trying to argue against it and not finding the words as he fumbles with the canned goods for the dinner he was about to make. (If anyone gives out genuine acting awards anymore, Lauren Graham and Jason Ritter deserve them for that scene alone.)
The fact that the characters decide to get married in their very next scene smacks of “forced happy ending” — as does Drew-Amy, a rare TV romance that never saw a misunderstanding or a rough patch — which makes me think this was indeed the series finale. And although cancellations of my favorite shows don’t sting as much as they used to, the loss of “Parenthood” would leave a rather sudden void in the TV landscape. In its first two years, “Parenthood” was Jason Katims’ “other show,” as the beloved and more-lauded “Friday Night Lights” wound down.
Now “Parenthood” is on its own and doing its best work, and if there’s another family ensemble drama about living in 2012 that’s this true and this good, please tell me so I can immediately watch it.
I hope I’m wrong and EW’s prediction is right, but I’m afraid this is my fond farewell to “Parenthood.” If so, thanks for the memories and the tears of joy and sadness I got to share with the Bravermans.