Parenthood Episode 3.07 Forced Family Fun

Max comes down for breakfast to find the kitchen table set and Kristina griddling up chocolate chip pancakes in celebration of a special day - Nora is five-and-a-half weeks old, which means she can go out in public! Of course, Kristina's the only who knows this. Max wants to watch TV; Adam's having a crisis at work, and Haddie's friend has arrived to pick her up for a student council meeting. Finally, Kristina gives up, letting Max watch TV. Now it's just her and Nora eating pancakes, and Kristina resolves to get fatter and fatter. At work, Zoe's coffee cart has been abandoned. She's hiding around a corner, stuffing her face with supermarket sushi. Julia's horrified - pregnant women should NOT eat raw fish. Nevertheless, she bites her lip.

Sarah visits Seth at rehab. It's tougher than he thought; he almost bailed during the first week. The reason he stayed? Sarah, and he hated her for it. He knows it's going to take a long time to earn her forgiveness, but he's going to try, because for the first time in his life, he wants it. Sarah's speechless, as is Crosby when he stops by Jasmine's to drop off Jabbar and finds Dr. Joe sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. Clearly, he didn't just arrive. Jasmine remarks that it's the first time Crosby's ever been early - luckily, Jabbar now has a chance to say hi to Dr. Joe. Awkward! When Dr. Joe excuses himself to get his bag out of the bedroom, Crosby slams out. Jabbar immediately engages Dr. Joe, talking about his Tonka trucks. Dr. Joe looks to Jasmine for the okay to play, and she can't help herself because the whole situation is too cute.

While making dinner, Julia tells Joel about Zoe's sushi binge. It brings up plenty of questions, and before you know it, Joel and Julia are googling lobster, which is full of mercury and parasites. Joel insists Julia needs to talk to Zoe, which she knows will be more than a little weird. Kristina invites Max to watch a movie, but he prefers to watch his tarantula Rodney shed his skin. Kristina asks if she and Nora can watch too, but Max insists Rodney doesn't like crowds. They bump into Haddie, but she can't watch a movie either. She's going to study out of the house because the baby makes too much noise. Adam said it was okay. Kristina finds Adam grinding his teeth and listening to a death metal band that Crosby's trying to record. Close to tears, Kristina demands they plan a family night. They're never home at the same time, and the family is getting disconnected. They need a family fun night, damn it! Adam agrees, then pops his ear buds back in.

Later that night, Zeek finds Sarah in the kitchen and starts grilling her about visiting Seth. Sarah's guarded but allows that she intends to continue with her visits. Zeek wants Sarah to set boundaries. She claims she is setting boundaries and leaves without another word. Meanwhile, Crosby and Jabbar hang out at the recording studio. Jabbar tells Crosby all about hanging out and playing with Dr. Joe this morning - it was fun! This doesn't sit well with Crosby, not at all. The next morning, Julia approaches the coffee cart with some trepidation to have the sushi talk with Zoe. She can't do that when she's pregnant; raw fish should probably be avoided entirely. Julia tries to apologize, but Zoe's insulted and ends the conversation.

Adam's busy interviewing receptionist candidates when Zeek stops in to talk about Sarah, concerned she's been visiting Seth. Zeek insists it's family business; what if something like this were to happen to Haddie? Seth's responsible for all the bad stuff in Sarah's life, and now he's showing up right when she's starting to get her life on track again. Sarah has shut Zeek out, so will Adam talk to her? Later, Adam tries to talk to Crosby about the receptionist interviews, but all Crosby is consumed by Dr. Joe and Jabbar - the whole situation is totally uncool. Adam ducks out to grab a call from Kristina as another receptionist walks in. Kristina's having trouble coming up with an idea for family fun night, something that's fun for everyone. No bowling, no ice skating... then what? When Adam suggests that it might be too soon, Kristina reminds him that Haddie's going off to college soon, and their window is small; so Adam better think of something because family fun night is happening whether he likes it or not.

Sarah knocks on Mark's door, four hours early for their date. She has to cancel, and it's because Seth asked her to come to a counseling session. He's so fragile she feels like she has to go, and she feels so bad about cancelling the date that she almost made up a story about her cat being sick - and she doesn't have a cat. Mark is great, tells her everything's okay... but Sarah can't keep cancelling on him at the last minute because that's not going to be okay. Julia calls Joel upset. She's been hiding in her office for seven hours, avoiding Zoe, and she really needs to pee. Zoe was so hurt and embarrassed, and Julia doesn't think there's anyone in Zoe's life to tell her about stuff like sushi. Joel talks Julia down, reminding her that Zoe needed to hear what Julia had to say.

Sarah meets with Seth and Dr. Patrick at the rehab center. Seth relates an experience from a recent group therapy session. They were all sitting around like usual trying to one-up each other with bad addiction behavior stories. Seth once sold Drew's baseball card collection for money, something Sarah didn't know. After the session, Seth went back to his room, where his roommate had displayed a get well card from his kid on the nightstand. Seth only had a couple of guitar picks and some change on his nightstand. He knows he doesn't deserve a get well card - it has to be earned - but it got him thinking about the night of Amber's seventh birthday, which was the first time Sarah asked him to go to rehab. He should have gone. He repeats a mantra: We shall not regret the past, nor shut the door on it. Seth disagrees. If he had listened to Sarah all those years ago, he'd have a different life today. Maybe they'd still be a family.

Afterwards, Sarah heads to Julia's to ask if it's cool to guzzle wine while talking about Seth while he's in rehab. She can't stop thinking about what he said about going to rehab years ago. But the truth is, he didn't get sober, and he did terrible things. And now it's making her a bad girlfriend, even if she's a great ex-wife. Does Julia have any vodka? Adam returns home with a solution to the family fun problem. Two words: mini golf. The next morning, Sarah has a sit-down with Amber and Drew to tell them Seth is doing well in rehab - just in case they were worried. When both kids tell her to say hi to their dad, Sarah beams. This will make Seth feel really good.

At work, Julia approaches Zoe with an explanation - she micromanages, that's what she does - and a bag of homemade lunch. Even if she wasn't adopting Zoe's baby, Julia would have told her about the sushi because maybe no one else told her, and it's important. Pregnancy is exhausting, and Zoe deserves to have someone make her a nice lunch... and a nice dinner, if she wants to come over tomorrow night. Oh - and Zoe shouldn't put the Tupperware in the microwave because the plastic will release chemicals... Crosby stops by Jasmine's to discuss Jabbar's playdate with Dr. Joe. Crosby and Jasmine had a deal to agree on when Jabbar would start hanging out with people they date, and Jasmine broke it. Jasmine accuses Crosby of being irrational and insane, but he admits he's more hurt. He doesn't want to be replaced. Jasmine admits Crosby's right, and she shouldn't have let Dr. Joe stay and play with Jabbar.

Carrying a toolbox, Adam finds Sarah writing on the steps of the guesthouse. Claiming he came to return Zeek's tools (an old Braverman trick), Adam opens the conversation about Seth. Sarah immediately knows that this is an ambush, and Zeek's behind it. Sarah tells Adam to tell Zeek to stay out of it - she's got it. Adam asks his sister to be careful; they've been down this road before. Sarah corrects him - she's the one that's been down the road. Adam doesn't think people change, but Sarah believes they do - why should she give up on him. Adam backs off. He didn't mean to offend her; he just doesn't want to see her get hurt.

Afterwards, Sarah brings the tools that Adam was ostensibly returning to Zeek, announcing that she's going to visit Seth. Meanwhile, Adam, Kristina, Max, Haddie and Nora pile in the car for their family fun outing to play mini golf. Max immediately starts an argument about who sits where - and he hates mini golf. Why can't they go bowling? Adam and Kristina try to convince the kids they're going to have fun, but pretty soon, everyone's yelling. Suddenly, Kristina snaps, screaming at Adam to stop the car. This is stupid. No one wants to go. Kristina yells at everyone to get out of the car. She's going mini golfing, just her and Nora. Kristina speeds off, leaving the rest of her family standing in the middle of the street.

During her visit with Seth, Sarah pulls out an old family photo, and they reminisce about old times. When Sarah says she should go, Seth asks if she wants to stay. They've lifted his visiting restrictions, and "Vertigo" is playing on TV tonight. They're both sad when Sarah says she can't stay, and they hug tightly. Sarah proceeds to Mark's house to hang out and cook dinner. They're having fun, but Mark decides it's time for him to make an announcement. He's glad Sarah's supporting Seth, but he needs to know whether it's something he should worry about. Sarah says no, but Mark doesn't seem convinced. Adam, Max and Haddie are on the couch when Kristina returns home. When Max asks about mini golf, Kristina walks upstairs without a word. Adam starts to get up, but Haddie tells him to sit down, she'll handle it.

Haddie finds her mom putting Nora to bed. She apologizes on behalf of herself, Max and Adam. Kristina's mortified that she left her family in the middle of the street - clearly not her finest moment. She really wanted their outing to be special, and she must have forced it too hard. Pretty soon, Haddie's going to be leaving the house, and the whole dynamic will change; and Haddie won't see Nora grow up like she did Max. Kristina cries. She's being a little selfish because she's going to miss Haddie a lot. Haddie reminds her that they still have a year together. She picks up Nora, just as Max stops by to apologize and report that Adam said Kristina was losing it. Haddie claims that it's all fine that Kristina's psycho; they're used to it by now.

Sydney wants to know why the table is set with four plates for dinner. Joel explains Julia invited a friend, who may or may not be coming. They're just about to dig in when the doorbell rings. Julia's delighted. Lunch was pretty good, so Zoe thought she'd check out dinner. Jasmine stops by the recording studio to chat with Crosby. She heard everything he said, and he's right; they should have a conversation before they bring Jabbar around anyone they're dating. Crosby's happy they're on the same page. What he's not expecting is that Jasmine is ready to have that conversation now. She wants Jabbar to get to know Joe. After her date with Mark, Sarah returns home and tears up remembering the past while watching "Vertigo" on TV. Does she know that Seth is watching it too?