Reliving ‘Parenthood’s 8 Most Tear-Jerking Moments, 10 Years After It Ended
If the Bob Dylan song “Forever Young” gets you misty-eyed, you likely watched Parenthood for the NBC comedy-drama’s six-season run before it ended 10 years ago, on January 29, 2015.
Based loosely on the Ron Howard film of the same name, Parenthood followed the various generations of a Berkeley family through life’s highs and lows. And Kleenex probably should have been a sponsor of the series, considering the volume of tears shed by viewers watching at home.
Now that the show has been off the air for 10 years, let’s get those waterworks flowing again with this collection of our picks for Parenthood’s most sob-worthy moments.
8. Kristina’s breast cancer announcement
Season 4’s “There’s Something I Need to Tell You…” ends with those words of dialogue from Kristina (Monica Potter) as she tells the extended family about her breast cancer diagnosis. We don’t hear her speech, but the reactions on the other Bravermans’ faces speak volumes.
7. Max’s bullying experiences
In Season 5’s “The Offer,” Max (Max Burkholder) breaks down in the back seat of his parents’ car as he tells them about a bullying experience at school. “I try to understand them, but I can’t,” he says. “Asperger’s is supposed to make me smart. But if I’m smart, then why… why don’t I get why they’re laughing at me?”
6. Julia’s realization that Zoe was keeping the baby
Thought Season 3, Julia (Erika Christensen) support Zoe (Rosa Salazar), whom she enlist as a surrogate. In “Remember Me, I’m the One Who Loves You,” though, she sees Zoe through the window of the nursery, beaming at the newborn baby. Zoe spots Julia and gives her an apologetic look, and Julia realizes Zoe would be the newborn’s mother, not her.
5. Alex says goodbye to the Bravermans
After Haddie (Sarah Ramos) gets together with Alex (Michael B. Jordan), he gets to be family with the Bravermans, which made it all the more heartbreaking when he and Alex break up in Season 3’s “Clear Skies From Here On Out.” Alex has to say goodbye to Kristina, who’s become a mother figure to him, with tears streaming down his face.
4. Zeek’s tough love for Amber
After Amber (Mae Whitman) and her friend drink and drive and get into a car crash, Zeek (Craig T. Nelson) forces her to look at the wreckage — physical and emotional — in the Season 2 finale. And he lectures her for messing with his grandfatherly dreams. “I dreamt you, Amber,” he says. “And Haddie and Drew. And Sydney, Jabbar, and Max. … You do not have my permission to mess with my dreams.”
3. Kristina’s goodbye video
As Kristina fights for her life amid a case of septic shock during her cancer battle in Season 4’s “What to My Wondering Eyes,” Adam (Peter Krause) sits at her hospital bedside and finds the video she recorded for the family in the event of her death. “I may not always be with you the way that I want to be, but I will never leave your side,” a crying Kristina says in the video as a tearful Adam watches.
2. Amber’s baby shower at the hospital
In Parenthood’s 100th episode, “How Did We Get Here?” the Braverman women throw a baby shower for Amber in a hospital cafeteria as Zeek undergoes heart surgery, and they share their advice for the mom-to-be. “Life is short,” Camille (Bonnie Bedelia, pictured here), faced with her husband’s mortality, tells her granddaughter. “You cannot know how impossibly fast it goes by. So, just enjoy this baby, cherish this time, cherish every minute of it.”
1. Zeek’s death
Zeek lives long enough to see his granddaughter Amber name her baby after him, and in the series finale, Season 6’s “May God Bless and Keep You Always,” Camille discovers he has died in his sleep. His family honors him with a baseball game and spreads his ashes on the diamond, just as he requested at the start of the season.
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