4 Edgy Family Situations Tackled in Last Night's Parenthood: 'Dude, That Is My Autistic Nephew's Behavioral Aide'

During last week's Parenthood, Julia Braverman-Graham set the bar for stereotypical career women everywhere by demanding that her house husband provide her a baby, with no concern for his own interest. Well, there were more problems for Joel Braverman, NBC's most emasculated husband, where that came from! Just last night, Joel realized that he had no interests of his own anymore.* Continue on to see how he solved the problem with a phallic symbol that he had to steal from his wife's family.

*The symbolism of house husband Joel in handcuffs is not lost on anyone in Movieline HQ, crafty Parenthood writers.

1. You Are Supposed to Entertain Your Daughter's Class At Show-and-Tell...But You Realize That You Have No Hobbies Because You Forfeited Your Entire Identity For Marriage

Poor, Joel. When he realized that he would be responsible for impressing his daughter's class with a "hobby," Joel ran to the nearest Hobby Store, picked up a magic kit and started practicing in order to impress his wife when she got home from her important law job. When she finally did, he demanded her attention, locked himself in handcuffs and then...realized that he couldn't get himself out. After Joel was sufficiently emasculated via the handcuff debacle, his wife suggested he just adopt a hobby of her family's: rockets. Joel nodded his head excitedly and took up rocket-building, satisfied with himself until next week, when Joel realizes that he has no career to speak of at his daughter's Career Day.

2. Your Disapproving Almost Mother-In-Law Calls Last-Minute And Asks You to Pick Up Your Son From School. The Only Problem Is...You're Totally Drunk

Do you know what's a downer? Watching Jon Hamm teach the Master Class on Acting Drunk on a Sunday night at AMC...and then tuning in to see Dax Shepard flop around NBC, exaggerate his slurs to the point of self-parody and then nearly start a sloppy fight with another character in front of his on-screen son's school. But enough with the acting, Shepard's character, Crosby, enlisted his autistic nephew's behavioral aide to chauffeur him to the nearest drive-thru and to the son's school. Only the drive-thru stop meant that Crosby's (almost) brother-in-law beat him to the pick-up. Tune in again next week for another chapter of Crosby Braverman: A Shamed Life.

3. After Weeks of Rescheduling, You Finally Go Out on Date Night With Your Husband...Only to Be Seated Next To Your Sister-In-Law and Her New Boyfriend (Whom Is Your Husband's Employee) at a Restaurant Unfortunately Named "The Swanky Crab"

Awkward! Even if viewers had seen some variation of this same scenario a million times before, the situation was new for Kristina (Monica Potter) and Adam (Peter Krause) Braverman, who stood and stared uncomfortably at their table-neighbors before the waiter offered to seat everyone together. While they stood silently, dressed to the nines in a chain restaurant, Sarah (Lauren Graham) waved them over. Sadly, the show cut away from this scene before viewers could see really tenseness set in or Peter ask his sister, "Isn't this the second person from my company that you've dated in the past two weeks?"

4. After Your Mom Convinced You That Your Lab Partner Is Crushing on You Hard, You Make a Move and She Rejects You

Sarah Braverman (Lauren Graham), viewers know that you mean well -- even when you are dating around your brother's office and kissing your daughter's babyfaced teachers, but still, could you cut yourself out of the Braverman shackles for one week? Go on one of those all-inclusive Club Med vacations. Leave the kids with your family. Stop butting into your son's love life -- even if his lab partner is played by your former Gilmore Girls co-star. Don't try to infuse your niece's campaign speech with jokes, especially after you know that said niece's mother (your sister-in-law) wanted to help her daughter with the speech very, very badly. Stop sleeping with mopey baristas! Stop kissing men in the stockroom. Stop flirting with with your brother's supervisor over chocolate pudding. Just...please...stop.