There are two storylines in this episode: Julia-Ned's relationship and Owen's custody fight. Claudia, Maggie and Griffin stage a plan to bring back the real Julia. Maggie offers to take her to the museum in her car, Julia accepts and while driving, Maggie stops in a gas station to buy food. Griffin gets in the car and "kidnaps" Julia, who can't believe why they don't let her alone. Griffin finally convinces her of cooperate when he tells her that she is like Jill: his sister thought she could handle the drugs, their dad, until one day she couldn't... He wants to take her to some place where she can be herself, like her parents cabin in Tahoe. She seems to accept but makes him realize they are going in the wrong direction. After a while, they get stuck in the middle of nowhere when the car fails, so they start talking about the problems. Griffin says the he always let her do anything she wanted (traveling to Europe, moving to the shed, going to Stanford), but she remains stubborn, saying that Ned loves her and Griffin says that if he hits her he doesn't love her, that now she is hiding and not taking care of herself. She tells him that he has no life and is living with her family, and he answers that he gave up the life he had with her so and she could have what she wants. He is saddened that she prefers Ned, a guy who hits her, instead of the life she had with him. Finally, they reach a phone and Julia calls Ned. Griffin is left alone while the other two leave. Back in their apartment, Ned starts acting in a more controling way towards Julia and she finally realizes what she has to do. She asks Maggie help and she leaves Ned, and surprisingly, he just begs but doesn't hit anyone. Ned tells her that Griffin and Maggie are telling her what to do, what to think, but Julia admits that he is doing that, he has to let her leave, so, saddened, he does. Back in her room with Maggie, Julia explains that she realized she was losing herself, and losing her family. It was a great story and I'm glad that after almost 16 episodes, the Ned-Julia's relationship fell down. On the other hand, I highlight that Griffin still mentions Jill, how she was the only one who supported their dad's mistreat and violence, which lead her to drugs and then, her death. When he talked to Charlie in 5x13, he told the Holbrook's story, Mrs Holbrook and Griffin left the house, but Jill still spent time with her dad, something bad for her. This serves to understand more about Jill and Griffin, connecting to the events of season 1.
As for the rest, the house keeps falling apart: Bailey still acts like a whim guy, going to a lawyer to take Owen away from Charlie. The lawyer tells him there's no judge in world who would take a child away from a sober hard working father and place him under an alcoholic young man (with a DUI) who lives with his girlfriend. He tells "talk to your brother" because it's much better than taking the case to court. At a hotel, he reaches Kirsten (who now wants to forget the Salingers after what happened two episodes ago) and gives her Owen's tests. She doesn't want to get in the fight, but still defends Charlie, saying that Owen most remain with him. As almost always, Kirsten is right, taking Owen away from Charlie will cause more damage to the kid than any problem with dyslexia. Then she reaches Charlie, and when he sees her, they hug. He is a little sad that she left, but he is glad to see her, he accepted that she wanted space but he still wants her close. She says that what happened means she should stay away completely even though he disagrees. Anyway, she wants to talk about Owen, she read the tests and realized he has learning problems. Charlie tells her that he talked to some expert from Berkeley and that he will teach him to ride a bike, to improve Owen's coordination, give him confidence. She doesn't seem fully convinced but says it might work. He thinks that Owen's problems started when Diana was born, she tries to tell him that is nothing like that, but he keeps with his speech saying that he'll solve it and everything will be fine. But the next day, in the park, all turns out bad when Owen hurts his arm after falling down from the bike (Charlie couldn't avoid it, as the kid disobeyed him and went to ride alone, while he was holding Diana). Sadly, now Bailey has evidence to fight Charlie in court. Claudia tells Charlie that he can't raise two kids by himself, that mom and dad had him to help, but now he's alone. This line doesn't say the truth of real life, or even their case. First, there are a lot, and there were a lot of single parents raising more than one kid. Second, Claudia didn't include herself, like in 5x09, when she said that she was going to help him with Owen and Diana. And even if it is hard for them, Bailey's whim could never be the solution. That's why in the scene at the park, I can't help but imagine how things would have been with Kirsten there, holding the baby while Charlie teaches Owen to ride a bike. In the future, Charlie and Kirsten will be in charge of Owen, and that's how things always should have been. About her return there are some things to say. Again there's a story to guess. Kirsten spent probably 2-3 weeks with her parents and explained them well what happened with Paul and her undeniable wishes to be a mother, which caused their divorce. And she told them that she stayed a couple of weeks in the Salinger house, what Charlie did and who are Daphne and Diana. Obviously, Gene and Ellie told her that she must forget about the Salingers because even though she loves Claudia and Owen, if Charlie doesn't want her anymore, there's no case in sticking around. Besides, if Kirsten arrived totally saddened to Chicago, they realized that Charlie still hurt their daughter no matter how much time passes (that's why I hate what the writers did there). So this time, Kirsten agreed more easily with her parents advice, aware that after hearing Charlie's words, seems that he doesn't love her anymore. So why she chooses to return to SF? Well, part of the reason is the same than before, is the place where she had her life done, where she lived 11 of the last 12 years. Now, she's 29 years old, without a job, without a family, without anything but suffering on her back and a daily dosage of medication. Surely she promised her mother that this time she can start over alone so she returned, stayed in a hotel, until today Bailey visited her. And then, she probably didn't mention to Charlie how he hurt her to avoid an argument. Anyway, he should know that actions speak louder than words. Finished that part, Bailey's actions are annoying (I consider it a mistake from the writers, who surely wanted more drama and interesting storylines) because in season 6 he will neglect Owen in a worst way than Charlie. I didn't like his progressive obsession in taking Owen away. I know what happens later and still seems that the fight for custody reached excessive points.
0 out of 0 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
