'The Secret Life of the American Teenager': Looking to blame someone
This week's "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" focused on, as I think we all expected, the aftermath of Marshall Bowman's death. Grace and Tom were very strong in their opinions about who was responsible, and neither of them thought Grace was innocent. Tom blamed Adrian for making sex looking like fun, and Grace blamed herself for having sex, but both essentially placed the blame on Grace's actions on the evening in question. I understand where they were coming from, but I for one don't believe that sort of thing to be possible.
As for the specifics of Grace's logic, she figured that her dad was there to tell her what to do and what not to do, and because she refused to listen to her dad about having sex, God opted to take her dad away. Thank goodness Kathleen did her best to nip that idea in the bud. I do have to wonder whether Kathleen believed what she was saying however. There was a moment there at the end of the scene where Kathleen looked as though she too might blame Grace. I'm hoping that I misread her look - there was certainly nothing definitive about it - but I'm not sure I did.
Adrian certainly took the news that Tom blamed her pretty hard. She didn't agree, but just because she didn't agree doesn't mean that it didn't hurt. I have to applaud Adrian's trying to protect Grace though, Grace said she didn't want to see anyone - including Adrian - and Adrian did her best to dissuade people from going to Grace's house. Adrian failed, Amy was going to go no matter what, but she tried and even called Grace her best friend.
Elsewheres tonight, wow was Amy annoyed at the idea of Ben babysitting. Now, if Ben has been over there every night since John was born, has he really not spent enough time with John for Amy to be comfortable with Ben watching John? Have they not tried some sort of "dry run" babysitting with Ben upstairs with John and Amy downstairs panicking that Ben was hurting the little one? Of course, maybe Amy wasn't wrong because Ben did leave John with Leo and Betty.
Ah, Leo and Betty. Is Leo really engaged to her now? Talk about a whirlwind romance. After hearing Betty's story about the "dog" that was a man who may still be her husband, I have to wonder if she's just with Leo because Leo has enough cash to make her dog of a possible husband disappear forever. And, wasn't it just last season that Leo still felt as though he never wanted to move forward from Ben's mom?
Anne definitely indicated tonight that George wasn't the father of her new pup, that it was David, but I wonder if that was solely because George denied that he could possibly be the father due to the vasectomy. I'd like to know if Anne has empirical evidence on the issue (did George admit to not having gotten the vasectomy in front of Ashley, that last "no" seemed inconclusive). David took the whole dad thing very well, but come on now, do you really think it ends there? With either David or George?
Odds and ends:
- Kathleen's hysterical laughter after Anne saying that she wasn't telling people yet about the pregnancy - awesome, pure awesome.
- Is George going to try to make a play on Kathleen? As fun as that might be to watch, I'm sticking with my stated desire from last week to see George and Anne get back together.
- I really liked how happy Adrian was at the idea of being a part of a family and living in a house with said family. Definitely a good moment for the show.
- Was that beer Jack was drinking after his fight with Grace? Is that going to be his big story for the season?
The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - we've changed our fair share of dirty diapers.
Well, as a Christian myself, I have to agree with Grace how she might possibly misunderstand and think that she caused her dad's death, even though she didn't. God knows everything that's going to happen BEFORE it happens. He knew it was all going to happen. He didn't just see Grace sin and then go, "ooh, better punish her!" It was all part of God's plan. GOD DOESN'T PUNISH.
Wait, so Anna, you're arguing against the idea of free will? This is quite deep for the comments on a review of an ABC Family tv program.
But then let's take it a step further. If God knows in advance everything that's going to happen and doesn't punish because everything (including sin) is all part of His plan, doesn't it follow that we have no moral agency? And doesn't it also follow that there can be no such thing as "sin" as it's conventionally understood?
In other words, under your view God created humans, set up certain arbitrary rules for them to follow, and then, for inscrutable reasons, makes those humans sometimes follow the rules and sometimes break them. It doesn't seem like a human can "sin" under those cir***stances any more than could a puppet.
This show was so original the first season ... but now it just keeps the same sort of stupid story lines, next week's episode seems the same as this weeks. I can't connect with David, and none of these people are half way good enough actors to really express the emotion of a loss like this. Ricki's abuse felt real. So did Amy's decision to try to tell her parents about the kid. But Grace just seems fake (albeit better looking now when getting out of bed, then all done up at school), and Marshall is just back doing another episode of "Dukes of Hazard." Adrian's Dad, Ben, and Amy's sister are the only actors really worth watching.
I'm actually really looking forward to seeing a darker side of Grace and Jack. And am I the only one who's really sick of Amy yelling at everyone all the time? It seems like her character is so underdeveloped.... either she's complaining about something or yelling at someone. Not so fun to watch.
i agree that amy is underdeveloped. all my friends love amy but to me, its the most boring part to watch. she seems to always be yelling at someone, annoyed about something or complaining. i don't actually even think her acting is that believeable.
I think Grace over reacted with Jack. The whole entire last season and so far in this season, she said she was in love with Jack and now she says she isn't. I questioned the fact if after the situation with Jack and Grace if he was drinking beer, but if it was he's under aged, where would he have gottin it from. Now the new pregnancy in this season, Oh my lord! I never expected Anne to be pregnet this season or in any season. She seems to be rushing into the relationship with David. She met him in a hotdog place for crying out loud. She should have been in a relationship for at least a few months and then had sex with him. Amy now, I think she was right about not leaving her first kid alone with someone that rarely ever even holds the baby. I would have reacted the same exact way. Ben had no right to just go to Amy's house and say he's going to watch John. Ricki does have some say actually in the wholoe situation about who watches John and who doesn't. I guess Ricki trust Ben or he doesn't, personaly after I saw the episode where Ben watches John I wouldn't trust someone like Ben with my first kid. He just totally left the kid alone with an ex prostitue and his father. I would never forgive him. OMG! I saw the preview of a new episode coming next or soon, OMG, I can't believe Ben broke up with Amy he said he loved her. I also can't believe he told Amy he wanted to have sex. She just had a kid why would she want to have sex again so soon. I'm glad she said no to Ben when he said that he wanted to have sex.
This show is very unrealistic in the way they showed how fast Amy got back into shape and was back at school so fast. I mean, the show is very unrealistic in a LOT of ways, but that way in particular bothers me. She should have been out of school for at LEAST 4-6 weeks. She also would be really sore for most of those 4-6 weeks. They should have showed her walking around and especially sitting gingerly. They made it seem like you can just pop out a baby and get back into pre-baby shape in no time- better, actually, because now she has boobs! Ben should be made aware that Amy would not physically be able to have sex nor would she desire to. I wish that during her little speech to Ben that she would've mentioned that. I wonder if any of the writers of the show has ever actually had any children of their own!
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God doesn't punish? Boy, somebody obviously never read the Old Testament. You stepped one toe over the line in Exodus or II Samuel and you were barbecue.
As for the comment about the show being very unrealistic about Amy's amazing body after having a baby: since when has SLAT ever been all that realistic? If that were really the point of the show, this would be on PBS, not ABC Family. SLAT is an ABC Afterschool special jacked up on steroids, nothing more.
Glad to see that the acting is marginally better this season, though. Now they only act like grown-up versions of the tykes from Barney the Dinosaur half of the time, instead of 75%.
I think Grace shouldn't blame herself of what happened to her father. God does sometimes punishes people for doing bad things I have experince it, but Grace hasn't done something so bad for god to take away her father it probly just happened unexpectly and Grace thinks ti her fault but in truth it's not Grace's faught.