Parenthood Episode 3.13 Just Smile

At The Luncheonette, Adam squirms impatiently as a makeup artist hovers, trying to eliminate his shiny T-zone. Adam's crotchety because the makeup artist belongs to The San Francisco Weekly, which has come to do a story on the city's newest independent recording studio, complete with photographs. Crosby's cool and collected, but Adam's clearly not hip enough and not ready for prime time. Meanwhile, it's Amber's first day working for Kristina on Bob Little's campaign. Unable to get anyone to tell her where the copy room is, Amber's getting more and more frustrated. Finally Kristina points her towards the copy machine (there's no room), and Amber applies herself, determined to get at least one task completed. When someone asks to squeeze in one copy, Amber emphatically says no, until she looks up to see Bob Little himself, who's kinda cute. But wow, how embarrassing for the first hour of her first day on the job...

Back at The Luncheonette, Crosby is in his element, charming the pants off the interviewer as he gives a tour of the studio, posing for photos with his guitar collection. Music saved his life. Adam lags behind, playing a dusky second fiddle. When Crosby runs off to get his punk rock-era guitar, the interviewer asks Adam how he could have undertaken such a huge endeavor at such a risky time. Adam answers honestly; he lost his job suddenly, and it was terrifying, especially with two kids and a third on the way. That's when his knobhead brother showed up with a big, crazy idea, a vision. But it was a time when Adam desperately needed a dream... so maybe he is a little like Crosby, and music saved his life, too.

Sarah's in the stirrups at the gynecologist's office, the perfect time to ply an awkward question. What if she wanted to have another baby at 40? Sarah rides right over the gynecologist's supportive response, launching a nervous monologue. Mark, her much younger boyfriend, brought it up a while ago, and they haven't talked about it since. The gynecologist reassures her that it's possible, leaving Sarah with the knowledge that she needs to broach the subject with Mark. Later that night, the Bravermans gather at Zeek and Camille's for family dinner. Sarah stumbles upon Adam, Crosby and Joel discussing a very serious subject: they need a new guy to join their very serious monthly poker game. When Sarah suggests Mark, no one knows who she's talking about; then they're hesitant. What if Sarah and Mark break up and they're left with an empty seat again? Realizing they hit a nerve, the guys promise to think about it.

The next morning, Joel complains when the home phone rings. No one has a home phone anymore, and the only people who call are telemarketers and Julia's parents - and they can never find the darn thing. The call goes to the answering machine, and Joel and Julia are surprised to hear Zoe's boyfriend Troy's voice. Joel wants to call him back, but Julia won't let him; and furthermore, they can't screen Zoe's calls. Concerned that Troy treats Zoe like crap, Joel wants to delete the message and pretend he never called. Julia puts the kibosh on that plan too, just as Zoe walks in and asks what's happening.

Crosby's at work in the booth, recording the music of beautiful young cellist Lily. He's acting a little bored and annoyed per usual, especially when Lily nervously charges into the booth so she can hear what he's recording. Crosby interrupts their conversation to take a call - The Luncheonette made the cover of The San Francisco Weekly! - further putting off Lily. Then he excuses himself to tell Adam the good news, reassuring Lily her recording will be fine. A monkey could engineer it. It's lunchtime at the campaign office, so Amber introduces herself to the other interns and takes a seat on the stairs. Since Amber is Kristina's assistant, the other interns figure she's their boss. Amber is dismayed to learn that the other three interns are Ivy League college grads who struggled to get their internships. They're stunned to learn that Amber's education ended with high school.

Crosby's on the computer hitting refresh over and over again, waiting for the email containing the photo for the cover of The San Francisco Weekly. Rachel brings in champagne just as the email arrives. Surprise! Adam's the guy who's on the cover and featured in the article - not Crosby. Crosby does his best to stay civil and denies he's mad several times, but clearly he is. He heads back into the studio to pick up where he left off with Lily. Just then, Mark returns Adam's call, surprised to learn Adam's inviting him to join the poker game. For his part, Adam's surprised Sarah didn't mention it to Mark, and furthermore, that Mark hasn't played poker in years. Adam takes a tough stance: they're serious about the game, and since Mark is getting more serious with Sarah, it's probably time they got to know him. Mark can think it over and get back to him. By the end of the call, Adam's pissed at Sarah, and Mark is scared of Sarah's older brother.

Lily's back in the booth, listening to playback of her recording, while Crosby spaces out, feeling wounded. She calls him on it, and he admits he's fried - can they pick this up in the morning? But when he drops a parting shot about neurotic artists, Lily lays into him. What, is he bored because she's not famous, and she's paying his hourly rate out of her own pocket, so she can try to get a record contract that would pay for future sessions!? This is important; it means a lot to her. A little respect shouldn't be too much to ask. Suddenly, Lily's silenced by a throbbing, painful hand cramp - the result of practicing 10 hours a day. Crosby immediately softens and rubs out the cramp, while Lily explains she would practice more, but her neighbors make her stop at 10:00 p.m. Somehow, everything between Crosby and Lily has changed during the hand massage - and it's mutual.

Back at the campaign office, Bob summons anyone under 25 to attend a focus group in five minutes. Mortified, Amber runs into Kristina's office, trying to beg off. She has no scope, she has to go home to study so she can be more like the Ivy Leaguers. Kristina ignores everything Amber has to say and walks her into the meeting. Bob has everyone watch his latest commercial, then asks them to react without thinking. The Ivy League interns slobber all over themselves licking Bob's butt, claiming he looks presidential. Amber looks like she's going to throw up, but decides to go with the truth. She didn't really connect with the commercial; it seemed a bit stiff. Bob seems really personable, and that's not what came across.

On the way out of the studio, Lily picks up Adam's cover photo. Crosby pretends like everything's okay, but she knows it still sucks for him and offers to stab Adam in the face. It doesn't matter; Crosby's the one who gets to do all the cool stuff, making music every day, and Adam's always going to be a boring business guy. Touched, Crosby tells Lily that he's got an empty studio upstairs, which she could use to practice any time she wants. She promises to think about it. That night, Julia confesses she did something Joel won't like: she told Zoe that Troy called. What's worse, she has no idea how Zoe feels because she just shut down, saying only that Troy would never call the house again. Meanwhile, Kristina hangs the cover photo of Adam on the fridge, the family hall of fame. Adam tries to play it down, but when Max tells him it's awesome, Adam couldn't be happier. Finally, Max thinks he's awesome.

The next day, Mark and Sarah walk down the street with coffee, talking about the poker game. Mark is clearly intimidated by Adam, but Sarah's got something else on her mind. She pauses in front of a baby store and coos over the cuteness, but Mark is nonplussed, still focused on the game. In the end, Mark decides to give poker a shot, and if it doesn't work out, fine. That night, Adam, Crosby and their buddies assemble for the poker game at The Luncheonette, which is packed with advance copies of the cover article, much to Crosby's surprise. Mark walks in with a pink box - what's a poker game without biscotti? Ha! He's joking. The box is filled with cheese steaks. Now that Mark's broken the ice, the game can start in earnest, which is a good thing, because he barely remembers how to play. To add insult to injury, he keeps winning. The guys start riding Adam hard, quoting the article, and Crosby's blood slowly starts to simmer.

Sarah and Kristina meet up at Julia's house for wine and gossip. They're shocked to hear Mark started the baby conversation. Julia's having a rough time trying to respect Zoe's privacy. Sarah moves onto vodka, getting down to brass tacks - what's she supposed to do about Mark? Talk to him. Back at the poker game, Crosby runs out of money, so he asks Adam for $20, as he's done way too many times. When Adam balks, the truth comes out. Adam may think Crosby steals his money - but "music saved my life"? That's stealing. Crosby bails on the game, so Adam follows him into the office for a full-blown fight. Adam should have said he was sorry for screwing Crosby over - and he should admit he likes the cover. Adam confesses: he does like that fact that Max , who never pays attention to him, thinks he's cool. But tomorrow, he's going to go back to being the boring business guy, and Crosby will continue with his hip, cool life.

Late that night, Mark is thrilled to find a drunken Sarah knocking on his door - seems like a booty call. Sarah does have boots on her mind, but they're teeny and made for babies. She admits she's talked with Julia, Kristina and her gynecologist. So how could Mark bring up babies and not bring them up again? To his credit, Mark delicately convinces Sarah to postpone the conversation until the morning. Crosby's surprised when Lily calls him late at night. She's had a terrible day - does he know how sometimes you have to play music or you'll totally lose it? Crosby invites Lily to come by the studio to play. Joel returns home to report on the poker game debacle. Julia admits she's been waiting up for Zoe, trying not to worry. Like magic, Zoe walks through the door with an envelope - a present for Joel and Julia. Zoe had her official breakup with Troy tonight. She jokes around, but quickly takes herself to bed, barely holding back the tears. Julia opens the envelope to discover that Troy finally signed the adoption papers.

Crosby's cleaning up the poker game mess, when he hears amazing cello music coming from upstairs. He can't help but move towards it, peeking around the door to watch Lily play, thoroughly entranced. Now he finally knows what she wanted her music to sound like during the recording session! Is he falling for her? The next morning, Bob stops by The Piping Cup. He's surprised to find Amber studying a public policy book, and she's surprised to learn he calls himself Bobby and loves extra caramel in his coffee. While Kristina may think only a Bob is electable, Amber would vote for the caramel-loving guy named Bobby. Maybe that's why she seems to be crushing on him so hard.

Mark wakes up a hung over Sarah with coffee in bed. Feeling horrible, she apologizes for last night. Mark must not have followed up on the original baby conversation because he didn't want to. Mark admits it freaked him out that he introduced the subject in the first place. But he's been thinking about it, and the truth is, he's freaked out in a good, excited way. So Sarah's right; it is something they should talk about - but would she like some breakfast first? Adam goes to work with a peace offering of coffee, only to find Crosby making a peaceful gesture of his own, framing Adam's cover article and hanging it on the wall. Adam claims that he's got the only copy he needs to see hanging on the fridge at home, but Crosby advises him to take his one shot at looking cool. Adam admits he was only screwing around when he said music saved his life; the truth is - Crosby did.