Aquarius Hits The Mother Load

Spending ten hours with the characters of Aquarius means we have been exposed to all of their character traits. Hodiak's a drunk and a secret softie; Emma's an aimless whiner; Charlie's a...cult leader. But just when you thought you'd formed opinions about these characters based on their behaviour and attributes, along comes "Your Mother Should Know" to try to throw your assumptions out of whack by giving the opening credits cast members emotionally fraught scenes with their parents -- or, in one case, no scene with her parents, which is revealing in a different way.

Based on the episode, who's got the healthiest relationship with his or her parent or parents? Let's rank them from first to worst.

1. Rick & His Dad
   Poor old Rick obviously isn't proud to have to call his dad to bail him out of jail after Sadie dimes out Cherry Pop and Rick gets caught up in the girls' personal shit. But his dad doesn't let his anger and shame keep him from showing up for his son -- and, for his troubles, Mr. Zondervan gets an exciting piece of news: Rick's an LAPD Deputy! That must be comfort of a sort given that Rick is also probably failing History.

2. Walt & His Parents
   It's not easy being AWOL for conscientious reasons -- and so many years before it was cool, too -- but at least Walt knows that both Sam and Opal support him. And that even if the latter has complicated emotional responses that might make her violent, she's not going to take it out on him.


3. Emma & Her Parents
   In some ways, I appreciate the show's portrayal of Emma's ambivalence about her place in the Family and the ebb and flow of her resolve to punish her parents by staying with Charlie. But on the other hand, here we are again. Three episodes ago, she took off. Last time, she came back, and with Rick as a trophy. And now that Emma's latest caper -- because of Sadie's sabotage, but still -- has ended with her in a holding cell, she's ready to abandon her Family and sell out by rejoining the Karns. Make up your mind, lady! Anyway: Emma doesn't have contact with her parents at all this week -- instead, her yearning envy of Rick's dad springing him is followed by some tough Hodiak love (not like that) to push her into the realization that there are worse fates than living with a couple of cold, hypocritical Republicans, which I would say is a positive sign for their relationship, even if both her parents are offscreen. Or because of it, really.

4. Hodiak & Hodiak Sr.
   Peace officer vs. peace activist! Out-and-proud Jew (that enormous Star of David pendant more than answers Eve's question about Hodiak's dad's faith, I would say) vs. assimilationist American! Could these two be any different? I guess they respect each other as much as two people can when one feels he has to get the other arrested just to have a conversation. (Sidebar: how good does Richard Libertini look? It's like he hasn't aged since All Of Me.)

5. Baby Manson & Mary
   The baby's doing what it can to stay alive considering that its mother is probably putting things in her system other than folic acid and kale. But it's going to have a pretty solid grudge against Mary if she continues going along with Charlie's rather unorthodox birthing "plan" -- labouring in the hot desert sun, assisted by no one with any qualifications AT ALL -- and resisting Emma's attempts to lay in baby supplies. Which is especially dumb of Mary when you consider there's a 0.0% chance Charlie's ever going to change a diaper, assuming any are ever acquired.

6. Charlie & Kathleen
   No one's mother is perfect, and the proof of Charlie's mom's many errors as a parent is Charlie, period. And maybe this whole real estate deal with Charlie's late grandfather's land is (a) shady and (b) insufficient compensation for the many ways Kathleen's wronged Charlie throughout his life. Nevertheless, I still feel there are probably more constructive ways for Charlie to communicate his resentment to Kathleen than almost murdering her, and then leaving her to be sexually assaulted by every guy at his compound? Also: YIKES.