April learns more about her cancer and prospective treatment while a new assignment to profile gubernatorial candidate Bruce Hendrie leads to an unexpected run-in with his son. Sara makes progress with her online dating but struggles when she learns Brenna lied about her "extra-curricular" activities.
So, I've gone on at lengths talking about how great a character April Carver is and yet in "Help Wanted" she's actually kinda annoying. I just don't get why she is so reluctant to tell her family about her cancer diagnosis. Her rationalization is that they couldn't handle this news right now. And yet, it's their support that she's gonna need if she's going to fight it. Everything is all about the timing. And yes, I'm willing to go along with it in her work world because that universe fascinates me. I just love watching her as a young professional trying to stand out. This diagnosis couldn't come at a worse time. But she has to come to terms with it. There is uncertainty in her life but clarity will make it all make more sense than it does now. She's gonna need a support system. No matter how much fun Beth is, her family is going to be crucial for her.The biggest hurdle Chasing Life is gonna have to overcome is figuring out how to balance April with cancer, April at work and April at home. Those are three very different dynamics all fighting for the attention. Chasing Life happens to be doing all of them individually very well. Trouble arises when it's trying to serve all of them at the same time. Her work life seems to take more of the focus this week. We don't really learn that much more about her cancer other than that she has it and that George will officially be her doctor. Instead we learn much about April's first official assignment at work. She's looking for that first byline. And she's learning how to play this game - even though the cancer cloud is looming over everything that she does. She gets an interesting angle in regards to the candidate's son - played by Greek vet Scott Michael Foster, sporting a shorter do. However, that's off limits. But she's still impressing her boss with the risks she's taking. Sooner or later she's gonna get a win. And frankly, she could sure use it.
I'm also a bit surprised by how much distance there seems to be between April and her family life in this episode. Her mom and sister are the ones caring that entire subplot - and both just genuinely fall into the same archetypal patterns done elsewhere on TV, right on down to the finale scene where they finally listen to one another. I still have no desire to watch anything going on with the sister. And I'm frankly surprised that the mom can see that she hasn't been listening to Brenna but still is just taking April for granted. April is her mother's support which ultimately leads to April not feeling confident enough to tell her about her cancer. And mom can't see that.
Lastly, we get some more insight to the other girl at April's dad's grave. I love that "Help Wanted" picks up a second after the pilot ended. But April really did seem psycho and stalker-like interacting with the other girl. Again, it's a plot development that I don't think is even remotely necessary. And I already see how it's going to be explained anyway. So now, I'm just waiting for it to reach it's emotional climax and then be done with it.
Some more thoughts:
- "Help Wanted" was written by Susanna Fogel & Joni Lefkowitz and directed by Steve Miner.
- Between Kiernan and Ford, the show is loving naming its superfluous characters.
- Honestly though, Beth is really funny - I quite like her. Grandma is pretty great too.
- Mom is also quite taken with her new male suitor. But what's his name?
- Also on the romantic front, there is the fake out of Dominic not wanting a girl with drama and then April fearing that she told him about her cancer. It's a fun scene of misdirection even though I always knew it was going to be a fake out.
