#1) Free Advice - Whether Lily has acquired her wisdom from parenting for the past 15 years, or from talking to other parents on her radio show, or simply because she’s found inner peace now that she’s married to Rick, her counsel to Judy was perfect. Lily tells her that what she’s trying to accomplish with Jamie is very difficult, confirming her sister’s fears. “Yet you do it so effortlessly,” Judy points out, as regards to Eli and Jessie. Lily disagrees and adds, “Judy, if this is what you want, if being a parent is what you want, this is what it’s like. Kids fall down, you clean them up, you move on. It’s not as hard as it seems. You just have to give up. .. everything.” All of us parents agree. Five cents please.

#2) Overkill, or just Aunt Sofie? - Judy wants to draw closer to Jamie, even though Jamie rebels. His natural inclination is for his parents to get back together. He finally asks his dad if that will ever happen, but gets the answer he fears rather than the one he’d hoped for. Judy reaches out to Jamie several times during this episode, but even she realizes she’s pushing too hard. Her b&w scenes provided this insight nicely.

#3) Pressure Points - Tiffany wants Jake in her life, but rather than hounding him, she allows him to be himself. Her attitude is pretty remarkable, and when Jake comes through for her and their daughter Maddie (short for Madison), she’s impressed. However, he tries to retain his freedom, and Tiffany sees it immediately. “Uh oh, Jake’s back,” she intones. While he tries to sluff off the implication of those words, he knows it too. Tiffany’s method seems to be working nicely. Her consistent positive attitude plus her nonchalance continues to pull Jake into her life.

#4) Changing of the Guard - Nina, Jake’s newest employee, is Booklover’s barista. She’s very young, and very beautiful. Jake gives her his personal attention, and we quickly find out she’s not too qualified for the job. However, she did find something she was good at, and like any good employee, she pursued that goal. Although Nina showed no interest in fatherly Jake, he soon caught her with Eli in the office making out. I’d like to add that I like this girl, who when caught, hops down off the counter/desktop and pulls her skirt DOWN to where it belonged. Eli, although somewhat embarrassed, tries to hide any smugness by saying “Well, I guess my breaks over…” and gets back to work. As we watched this week, we saw Jake slowly acknowledging that Eli was the new stallion, and that bothered him. Jake tried hooking up with Gerri, and old flame, but found himself unable to commit to the act. Rather, his desire lead him back to Tiffany and Maddie. Jake, you can’t be young forever.

#5) Daily Fodder - Food is something everyone is accustomed to having. However, Lily’s cupboards are bare, and the kids are revolting. She offers apologies for the lack of essentials, and offers to make brunch when she gets back with new vittles. Can they wait that long? Grace, mimicking a zombie, slowly stalks Lily as she intones “Need Nourishment!” Quickly Eli, Jessie, and Zoe follow suit. Lily playfully escapes their reach by ducking into the laundry room. As she giggles with delight, she sees Rick also haunting her. It was a wonderful scene, and while short, gave us a sense of the blended family. It concluded with a cute exchange with Lily asking and receiving money from her hubby. J

#6) Family Affair - The title says it all, but I’ll expound. This was an especially poignant moment for me. Judy began dating Sam in Season 1, before she knew he was married. When she found out, she broke up with him, but he didn’t give up. Since then, it’s been on-again/off-again. In the meantime Janine, Sam’s wife, found out about his cheating and furiously hired a vicious lawyer, making life difficult for Sam whenever she can. Which she has the right to do, since she’s the victim. However, in this episode, Janine and Judy come face to face, at Sam’s place. Up until now, Judy’s only heard of his ex-to-be, likewise Janine pictured “some blonde floozy.” When they stood mere feet apart, the reality of the situation hit Judy head on. Now she’s seeing the person she’s harmed by her actions. Janine, on the other hand, sees the person who knowingly participated in the destruction of her marriage. Mouth hanging agape, Judy stammers a “Nice to meet you,” which is echoed by Janine before she runs out on the verge of tears. A very powerful moment, in which few words were necessary, to convey the magnitude of the adultery and it’s effects.

#7) Food Fight! - At Lily’s brunch, Jamie snaps at Judy about foods he’d rather not eat. It must have been contagious, because soon Grace and Zoe are barking at each other about how much food to take. (An interesting side note: Take a look at Jessie’s face when she looks at Zoe’s plate.) Because Jessie is sitting between the two sisters, their fight becomes hers as well, as she takes sides with Zoe. Lily steps in, and offers to get more toasted bagels. But with any good food fight, something must be thrown. When Jamie brings in a pile of plates delicately balanced in his small hands, Judy tries to assist. Repeatedly saying “I’ve got it,” he jerks back and, in the process, drops his load and shatters the dishes. Blaming Judy, he runs from the room. Judy, sensing yet another failure on her part, bends to pick up the pieces. As Lily offers to help, now it is Judy who’s intensely saying “I’ve got it!”

#8) Executive Order - Janine, Sam’s ex-wife-to-be, continues to give us the impression that she’s not a good mother. We’ve seen her before, beside herself with anger. She’s not trying to hide her pain from her child, and he’s suffering because of it. One of the saddest things we’ve had to note is how Janine will call to announce how she will not be coming to pick up her son, thus dumping him on Sam instead. This is a real problem, because Jamie needs consistency, and to know he’s loved. In my opinion, I think Sam does care about his son very much, and so each time he receives a call from her, he alters his plans accordingly.  One interesting b&w showed Sam with his hands tied.

#9) Is It Apparent? - “Fertile” Judy, with her “perfect eggs,” hears her biological clock ticking, or should I say, thumping ever more loudly. Her original goal was to be married at 31, and by 33 have two children - one boy and one girl. However, now she is 37, involved with a married man and his child. She so wants to be a parent, that she’s willing to work with what she’s got. However, she finds that it is more difficult that she expected to “adopt a family.” Never having been a parent before, her taking on an 11 year old boy becomes a daunting task indeed. I’m sure she wonders about the time when she was “Cool Judy” with the leather jacket from France. L

#10) Driving Me Crazy - This obscure moment was enjoyable for me, and thus made the list. The kids all need to be somewhere right now, and none of them want to be delayed. As they cross through the kitchen, they argue about where they need to be and why their destination is more important the other’s. Grace suddenly pleads with Lily to borrow her car. Lily says no. Grace parries with “What do you need it for?” Lily replies with “I don’t know yet,” with a great face of mirrored exasperation, not unlike Grace’s a moment before. Grace abandons the idea, and leaves with the others.

Marc