I wouldn't have guessed that Sydney would be the "Sore Loser" on Parenthood this week, but Zeek was very concerned that she's heading down a path not meant for Bravermans. The old style way of thinking worked just fine for his kids, and they'll work for his grandkids. Lessons are learned the easy way or the hard way, but not the artificial way.

The sore loser
I'm with Joel and Zeek on this one. Sydney needs to learn to lose. Joel said they never let her lose at anything, not even tic tac toe. Can you imagine thinking at any age that everything you set out to play, you would win? If you did, and you go through life winning most competitions, I can guarantee it's not because your parents let you win when you were actually the loser. It just doesn't work that way.

Joel tried to play a game with Sydney and won. She reacted as you can imagine, but Joel's was one that she had never seen. Beating a kid at Candy Land is harrowing enough, but her angry commotion was over the top. Julia's giant glass of wine while sitting outside the door as Sydney screamed "I hate you" was the perfect reaction. She had Joel's back. My expectation that she would cave was unfounded.

Joel found her later on the floor in front of Syd's door, drunk and full of regrets. The Grahams win my Parents of the Week award for standing their ground and enjoying the hell out of it.

I love everything about this place
Well, I've said that about jobs before but I didn't wear tube tops and throw myself at my happily married boss to get the point across. Could Adam and Crosby be any more lost? It makes sense that Crosby would want Rachel, and it's understandable that Adam would be attracted to her, but to act any way other than as a married man was unacceptable.

A producer said "you guys made some excellent changes" when he saw Rachel. Color me stupid, but that men would actually still have a conversation about that in front of the good looking girl defies logic. Be honest, guys - would you really behave that way?

Everything about The Luncheonette scenes this week skeeved me out and I want far more for the Braverman boys than they are allowing themselves to have right now. When Adam said he loved his wife, who was he telling?

Mathletes
They still have mathletes? The ultimate dorks of school. Of course, I remember watching our school represented at meets on the local television station, so they were admirable dorks. Now I wonder how many of the uber-intelligent kids in school might have had Aspergers. They're probably winning the game while I'm a few gumdrops short of landing at Candy Land. Kudos to Max and all the kids who suffer humiliation at the hands of others to grow up and put us "others" to shame.

Kristina's chat with the mathlete who made fun of Max's mathematical style was brilliant. I can't imagine any mother wouldn't want to say the same thing. She said just enough to make the kid think, but not so much as to make him complain. After all, he knew fully well what he was doing to Max. Check mate.

Share your thoughts in the comments. Did the Bravermans make the grade this week?

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.