This is
probably my favorite episode of the series.
A really interesting plot, good jokes, and a wonderful resolution (also,
no Jane, which is always a plus.) Add in
the fact that it’s a great showcase for Andrew Rannells, and what’s not to
like? (Episode premise spoilers.)
When
Bryan finds out that he and David are having a boy, he comes a little unglued,
worried that he’ll struggle to relate to his son and the child will love the
more conventionally-masculine David more.
Elsewhere, a school project lands Shania in some hot water, and Goldie
goes to bat for her with the principal.
I’ll
touch briefly on the Goldie-Shania plot first.
Some fun bits of business here, and I love how it resolves. It weaves nicely back into the A-story,
resonating thematically without the more usual “topic of the week”
heavy-handedness. Overall, it’s a neat
story for Goldie, who’s going through some insecurities and questioning of her
own at the same time Bryan is.
Before I
dive deeper into Bryan’s storyline, I want to mention my one annoyance with
it: how hard David goes into the gender
essentialism. I get the dynamic they’re
setting up – David has always wanted a son and is so happy that he doesn’t even
notice how Bryan is struggling – and I think the general thrust of it is in
character for him. But as his excitement
about future father-son activities goes into overdrive, it leaves a bad taste
in my mouth. First, who’s to say that he
couldn’t have light-saber fights etc.
with a daughter just as easily as a son?
Second, there’s no rule that says a boy will automatically like all
those things – after all, Bryan was a little boy once too. It’s not even so much the attitude that bugs
me as the fact that it mostly goes unaddressed.
The show deals really well with Bryan’s fears but drops on the ball on
the issues with David’s reaction here.
Of
course, Bryan is thinking in gendered terms as well, but I give him more slack
because his worries are what drives that.
I love how the show explores this idea of masculinity on several
different fronts. There are Bryan and
David’s contrasting ideas for the nursery, with David describing Bryan’s
designs as “precious” (feminine-coded and, implicitly, less valid than David’s.) There’s David getting swept up in the notion
of peewee football – when a friend invites him to his son’s game, Bryan ends up
sitting with the moms while David joins the dads coaching, but Bryan doesn’t
fit in there either. And most of all,
there’s Bryan’s devastating concern that he won’t seem like a “real” dad to his
son, fueled by the distant relationship he had with his own father.
Rannells
kills the dramatic scenes stone cold – honestly, it’s just beautiful work, and
episodes like this are why The New Normal
will always have been worth it, even at its choppiest moments. Whether Bryan is quietly panicking or
articulating why he’s so upset, Rannells sells it utterly, and it’s all brought
home that a great resolution that’s handled in a very Bryan way, which I
love. The moral of the story isn’t “how
Bryan learns to be a guy’s guy,” it’s “how Bryan figures out his own sort of
fatherhood,” and that’s wonderful. Oh,
and even with the heavier topic, he still brings the funny! They’re easy jokes, but his clueless sports
remarks, like “football court” or “everybody clump together!”, are hilarious.
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