"Marriage is like a rowboat. Sometimes you’re in it together, sometimes one of you falls out, sometimes she helps you back in, sometimes she smacks you in the head with the oar, sometimes you row together but one of you rows so hard that you wind up just going around in circles."
If A Deer Sh*ts In The Woods
Hi, there, still catching up here, so let's get to it to get ready for the next episode tonight. We learn Ramon seems to have brought up a lot of ugly memories for Farid who has hellish scars on his back, and we'll see in the next episode the avatars on Ramon's new video game have the same scars (so, yea, we continues with the creepy stuff), he has the idea to analyze Ramon's video game to see if he can understand better his state of mind, so I wonder what will happen when he sees this. Anyways, to take the edge off he ends up buying pot and smoking with a homeless lady, no clue what the significance of that could be.
Malcolm is angry that Duc he didn’t tell him what Ashley was doing with Randy, which is an unfair position to put him in, but the fight doesn't last long. Malcolm and Ashley host a dinner to get to know Henry better and takes the chance to set Duc up with Carmen who's an intuitive (some fancy word for psychic?). Anyways, she seems to throw Duc off his game which is nice to see for once, since it is established almost all the Boatwrights are control freaks. Carmen reads Duc in five seconds and there is a lot of shade thrown his way, and his family eats this up. In the end, they exchange business cards and a hug which Duc really seems to need.
Kristen tries to talk to Randy about the chlamydia and we learn he's more of an asshole than we thought, thankfully he's not interested in her anymore. Later, at work, Ashley sends everyone home for a photo shoot with just Randy, and though he thinks it’s good luck for him, she gets him to admit on camera he’s guilty of statutory rape and says it’ll go viral if he ever goes near her sister again.
Greg continues his search by getting lost in the woods (where yes he sees a deer) and continues to let his identity crisis affect everything he has so carefully built. He’s at war with his own philosophy, he's confused about what to do with that at first, but then he realizes that now that truth and facts are no longer a thing, nothing can be the same, his whole life takes on new meaning.
Audrey finds herself in a complicated situation on her own when they find a black dummy hanging from a tree with a sign that says "I feel dead", mocking her I feel suggestions. So she, as director of the Empathy Initiative comes out to make a statement on TV where she says the kids shouldn’t be prosecuted because they're impressionable and the hate that’s attacking them everywhere is unavoidable. Then the principal informs her she's fired.
When both Audrey and Greg get home they take comfort in each other, they spend some alone time and connect for the first time in a while. After that, he uses his computer to send a message and ends things with Famiko, when he looks up, he realizes the feather drawings over their bed could easily look like 11 11.
Hide And Seek
The next morning Audrey tells Greg everything that happened to her and they strategize about what to do about her job. She decides maybe it’s time to quit because she feels like she’s disappointed in herself, Greg says she shouldn’t and proposes they take a trip together. There are also some other ideas they discuss like asking a friend, Steve Benjamin, for capital to finance the Empathy Initiative, or maybe a kick starter. At Greg's work, we see a little bit more of his relationship with Michael, and I'm still convinced there's something else there. Duc shows up to ask his father to write the foreword for his book and Greg accepts but once Duc leaves Greg admits he just can’t relate to his son’s philosophy, so Michael offers to read it and help him analyze it.
Farid and Layla's faith debate doesn't seem to be getting any better, and though he wants to make an effort he agrees to have dinner with a guy from her congregation, Chuck, but it doesn't go so well. They inevitably end up talking about religion but Farid is not okay with a lot of aspects about it, one of them being the celebration of Ashura, which is probably how he got his scars. For those of you who don’t know (and correct me if I misunderstood because as of five minutes ago I didn't either), Ashura is the celebration of the tenth day of the Islamic calendar, not everyone celebrates the same way and it was banned in many places, but some still march to the temple while hurting themselves, making a blood sacrifice of sorts. This is clearly where Farid got his scars even though he was very young.
Chuck tries to defend the religion but Farid is not willing to be told about Islam by a white man that has not lived through what he has lived through (the Iranian revolution). He says religion is a convenient tool for oppressors to manipulate weak minds and it destroys families, lives, countries. Chuck says that those are fanatics, but why would it generate so many fanatics? There has to be some correlation there. When they leave Layla is disappointed, she felt dishonored and she didn’t want him to disrespect a man she idolizes. Farid blames her for sharing his trauma with someone who's a stranger to him and she retorts saying Navid looks up to Chuck more than him because he doesn’t let anyone in.
Speaking of Navid, he and Kristen get paired together at school for a project that consists of making a video about Portland, about why it is so important to them, but she's too busy crushing on Robb, the typical popular douche bag, so she ignores him at first, but it seems the bitchier she gets the more he likes her. The thing with Robb ends quickly though when at a party he behaves like a typical teenage asshole, thankfully she won't have any of it and tells him to go fuck himself. The next day she goes to Navid's a house and is received by the real Navind who identifies as genderfluid. Of course, she's thrilled about this and wants to know everything about it, which leads to a very interesting talk we rarely get to see, and that is Muslims as people, with feelings and ideas, explaining themselves and their religion with someone who's curious and not hateful, and this is what makes all of Kristen's annoying little habits worthwhile.
Malcolm (who we learn is a bit of a shopaholic) and Ashley realize no one is coming to Hailey's fourth birthday party, though it feels a little too coincidental that NO ONE can make it. But they decide to do a picnic at Forest Park. “My mother will make them all come”. By the way, Audrey makes a snarky remark to Ashley when she visits her at work saying she envies her because she chose the easy route instead of trying to make the world a better place (typical passive-aggressive mom comment).
Henry and Ramon seemed to continue to evolve in their relationship, they seem to have a difference of opinion about technology and then Henry just slips out in the middle of the night, leaving his phone behind. Ramon's insecurities tell him he left because he shared too much, but truly it makes no sense to leave stuff behind like that, I feel there's something more there, so we might find out tonight. Then Greg comes to pick him up and helps clean up his depression a little bit.
On the way to the park, the family finds the Cock Sling but Greg lies at first about what it is, and then he confesses to Audrey it's a sex toy but he says it's for them, and though that's a lie, they seem to be on the way to getting better. The whole family has a lot of fun in the park playing with bubbles (which looks gorgeous) and then they play hide and seek. Ramon goes a bit farther to hide, he finds a place and gets in but then he closes his eyes and when he opens then he’s in some sort of cave, he sees his mother and is chased by a military guy, then his mom scatches her face just like Farid’s mom did in his dream. He comes out screaming and the whole family comes running to his aid, all clearly worried sick about what’s happening to him. And there is where they leave us, so I really can't wait to watch tonights episode.
"One can have a great life without pretending to be invincible to the world."
What did you think of the episode? Are you liking the show so far? I look forward to your comments.
