I’m still playing catchup, but hey! That just means extra review fun. This episode, Kat juggles all of the possibilities that her time travel ability could have, while also reconnecting with Brady, who has unexpectedly turned up in town. Alice struggles to connect with her father in the present, knowing what she knows about his past. Elliott and Del both ask their respective love interests out on dates.
Before we jump into this review, I want to preface it by saying that I very much enjoyed this episode. I love these characters and this story, so any strong feelings expressed going forward are coming from a place of protective instinct over something that I care about. That said, there was some stuff I didn’t like, notably in regards to one Hurricane Brady. Unannounced, he rolls into town to stir things up, with the excuse that he had some time off of work and wants to see Alice. His timing is unfortunate since Alice just witnessed his behavior during his first date with Kat in 1999, and it did not put him in a good light. This makes it incredibly difficult for her to see him the same way she used to in the present. What I find most interesting about this is that Alice’s attitude about her father has taken a 180 degree turn from those early episodes when she wanted nothing more than to go back to Minnesota. She used to call and beg him to let her come live with him. Now, she’d rather he just go back home. Of course, instead of dealing with her feelings about her father, Alice chooses to avoid him. To be honest, after the last episode, I was right there with Alice in my opinion of Brady. I’ve said from the start that I wasn’t a fan of some of his behavior, even as an adult. However, given the fact that he is her father, Brady’s redemption arc with Alice was important. Regardless of who Brady is or isn’t as a person, Alice needed to have that resolution with him, and I think it is earned. While this is going on, something I did appreciate is that when Alice asks the other adults in her life what they thought of Brady as a teenager, they provide very diplomatic descriptions of him. Both Del and Elliott have been able to express the fact that they weren’t crazy about teenage Brady without outright putting him in a negative light in front of his daughter. They respect the father daughter relationship, and aren’t doing or saying anything to harm that for her. This makes Brady’s reaction later in the episode exceptionally infuriating, but I will get to that later. Even Kat has done her best to protect Brady’s image with Alice. She hid the fact that he had moved in with Rachel until it was no longer possible to keep the secret, and in those early episodes had to play bad cop with Alice while Brady was simply not around. The negative side of this diplomacy is that it makes seeing Brady in 1999 an exceptionally difficult pill for Alice to swallow.
Ultimately, Brady has 1999 Kat to thank for getting back in Alice’s good graces. Young Kat, desperate for Brady’s first family dinner to go well, forces Alice to attend as a buffer. Alice is less than thrilled with this prospect, and doesn’t go out of her way to play nice. This dinner ends up highlighting what I think is one of the biggest issues with Brady in both timelines. He is the ultimate bullshit artist - I honestly couldn’t think of a nicer word for it. The majority of what comes out of his mouth makes him sound like he’s putting on a performance for everyone in the room. As a lawyer, this is probably a skill that comes in handy. When it comes to his real life though, I don’t think he’s fooling anyone. It makes much of his conversation with the family incredibly awkward. Poor Colton is trying his hardest to relate to his daughter’s new boyfriend, but they just are not on the same level. While he is the master of the soulful, singer-songwriter ballad, Brady thinks Limp Bizkit is the greatest 90s band. Alice is quick to point out that their songs are full of misogynistic lyrics. Jacob also doesn’t appear to be a big fan of Brady. When Brady attempts to compliment Del’s potato salad, calling it the best he’s ever had, Jacob asks him how many he has tried. That was pretty funny. The honesty and lack of filter that kids have is so beautifully entertaining sometimes. Given that Brady was dismissive of Jacob’s claims to have seen the white witch, accusing him of sneaking into a scary movie, and treating him like a little kid, it’s not that surprising that Jacob would be annoyed. None of these interactions are changing Alice’s opinion of her father, until the moment that Kat tells him to tell everyone what he thought when he first arrived at the house. Even the best performers have to be real every once in a while. I do think Brady is being honest when he says that pulling up to the house felt like coming home. Suddenly, Alice starts to see her 2023 father in this teenage kid. She sees him again later, when she witnesses the moment that Brady gave Kat the bracelet. It paints her a picture of what young Kat was seeing in Brady. When he’s real, and authentic, and not putting up entitled pretenses, he’s actually a halfway decent guy.
Before we jump into this review, I want to preface it by saying that I very much enjoyed this episode. I love these characters and this story, so any strong feelings expressed going forward are coming from a place of protective instinct over something that I care about. That said, there was some stuff I didn’t like, notably in regards to one Hurricane Brady. Unannounced, he rolls into town to stir things up, with the excuse that he had some time off of work and wants to see Alice. His timing is unfortunate since Alice just witnessed his behavior during his first date with Kat in 1999, and it did not put him in a good light. This makes it incredibly difficult for her to see him the same way she used to in the present. What I find most interesting about this is that Alice’s attitude about her father has taken a 180 degree turn from those early episodes when she wanted nothing more than to go back to Minnesota. She used to call and beg him to let her come live with him. Now, she’d rather he just go back home. Of course, instead of dealing with her feelings about her father, Alice chooses to avoid him. To be honest, after the last episode, I was right there with Alice in my opinion of Brady. I’ve said from the start that I wasn’t a fan of some of his behavior, even as an adult. However, given the fact that he is her father, Brady’s redemption arc with Alice was important. Regardless of who Brady is or isn’t as a person, Alice needed to have that resolution with him, and I think it is earned. While this is going on, something I did appreciate is that when Alice asks the other adults in her life what they thought of Brady as a teenager, they provide very diplomatic descriptions of him. Both Del and Elliott have been able to express the fact that they weren’t crazy about teenage Brady without outright putting him in a negative light in front of his daughter. They respect the father daughter relationship, and aren’t doing or saying anything to harm that for her. This makes Brady’s reaction later in the episode exceptionally infuriating, but I will get to that later. Even Kat has done her best to protect Brady’s image with Alice. She hid the fact that he had moved in with Rachel until it was no longer possible to keep the secret, and in those early episodes had to play bad cop with Alice while Brady was simply not around. The negative side of this diplomacy is that it makes seeing Brady in 1999 an exceptionally difficult pill for Alice to swallow.
Ultimately, Brady has 1999 Kat to thank for getting back in Alice’s good graces. Young Kat, desperate for Brady’s first family dinner to go well, forces Alice to attend as a buffer. Alice is less than thrilled with this prospect, and doesn’t go out of her way to play nice. This dinner ends up highlighting what I think is one of the biggest issues with Brady in both timelines. He is the ultimate bullshit artist - I honestly couldn’t think of a nicer word for it. The majority of what comes out of his mouth makes him sound like he’s putting on a performance for everyone in the room. As a lawyer, this is probably a skill that comes in handy. When it comes to his real life though, I don’t think he’s fooling anyone. It makes much of his conversation with the family incredibly awkward. Poor Colton is trying his hardest to relate to his daughter’s new boyfriend, but they just are not on the same level. While he is the master of the soulful, singer-songwriter ballad, Brady thinks Limp Bizkit is the greatest 90s band. Alice is quick to point out that their songs are full of misogynistic lyrics. Jacob also doesn’t appear to be a big fan of Brady. When Brady attempts to compliment Del’s potato salad, calling it the best he’s ever had, Jacob asks him how many he has tried. That was pretty funny. The honesty and lack of filter that kids have is so beautifully entertaining sometimes. Given that Brady was dismissive of Jacob’s claims to have seen the white witch, accusing him of sneaking into a scary movie, and treating him like a little kid, it’s not that surprising that Jacob would be annoyed. None of these interactions are changing Alice’s opinion of her father, until the moment that Kat tells him to tell everyone what he thought when he first arrived at the house. Even the best performers have to be real every once in a while. I do think Brady is being honest when he says that pulling up to the house felt like coming home. Suddenly, Alice starts to see her 2023 father in this teenage kid. She sees him again later, when she witnesses the moment that Brady gave Kat the bracelet. It paints her a picture of what young Kat was seeing in Brady. When he’s real, and authentic, and not putting up entitled pretenses, he’s actually a halfway decent guy.