Irv brings us into the episode by opining on the uniquely special relationship every father has with his daughter. There are adorable shots of little girls and their dads. The Irv narration will always lay the theme on thick to anyone watching lest someone miss it. (Irv Harper is the most overt fictional author in TV history.) The episode tells three stories about fathers and daughters. Delia's bothered by Andy's new friend; Harold's bothered by Amy's desire to use anti-depressants; Brittany, Delia's best friend, is bothered by a new woman in her husband's life too. Brittany's dad tells Andy how he longs for the day when a problem could be solved by just buying new nail polish, but, alas, the problems are deeper than simple nail polish or a bad day or a profane reaction to tofu.
Andy and Linda's newfound working relationship began in a book store where Delia researched various women to write about for her 'personal hero' project in school. Andy and Linda flirtatiously discuss eastern medicine philosophies. Delia finds them in conversation and reacts badly to it. The girl sulks for the rest of the episode. Madison tries to figure out the problem. Ephram figures Delia will let him know. Madison needs to clue Ephram in on something, especially when Delia solemnly exits the kitchen once she hears about Linda coming over for dinner: Delia is bothered by Linda's presence, how she's the same age as Julia and single, therefore she is a threat. Delia lashed out last season when she thought Nina tried to replace Julia. The same feelings remain in Delia, who feels her mother is irreplaceable, which she is, because anyone's parent is irreplaceable. Delia doesn't communicate her feelings to anyone because she's a little girl. Plus, her father and brother barely realize she's a person with her own feelings. She's sort of conditioned into silence, unconsciously so. As she eats Linda's home-made tofu, she remarks that the food 'tastes like shit' which cracks Ephram the bleep up and is one of the best Delia moments in the show. Any parent knows when a child behaves in such a surprising way, some deeper problem exists.
Andy and Linda fight about their respective medical philosophies when Andy tries to prove western medicine is better than eastern medicine. Linda reacts to the outcome of the C story medical mystery about the nail polish by insisting Andy find the emotional core of the problem. Once he discovers the emotional center of the problem, the case will truly be solved, and the patient can truly be cured, but with a different kind of healing. Andy's stubborn and headstrong. The man would miss a kite flying high above him and argue that it wasn't flying unless he saw it firsthand. (Now, that's a terrible example, but oh well.) Andy needs a heart-to-heart with his son before realizing Delia didn't flip out because her dinner sucked--this aspect of Andy Brown is charming yet infuriating because so much drama comes from him acting like a total jackass--and so he finds Delia to talk to her. Delia believes what her father says about his friendship with Linda, and he even points out how he'll need to actually date before he considers remarrying. Delia makes him promise never to date Linda. She emphasizes, "It can't be her."
The Delia story concludes bittersweetly on her presentation of her hero. Delia's a simple character. No woman will replace Julia in her eyes. Andy looks on proudly as his daughter tells her class all about Julia, but the scene is tinged with sadness. Delia will never have her mother in her life again. Not even Andy can fill the void she left. Delia's road of sorrow was paved way too early. Andy would've protected her if he could, but fathers can't protect their daughters from pain.
Amy Abbott literally dreams about the symptoms of depression i.e. they manifest in her dreams as a swimming event in which she drowns because she can't emerge from the depths. The school therapist wants Amy prescribed on anti-depressants because her mourning of Colin gets worse by the day, not better. Harold doesn't want to numb his daughter's grief and believes he raised her to be stronger than whatever drug she wants to take. Andy and Ephram described the layers of Delia's emotions as exhausting. The Amy situation is exhausting for everyone. She's so desperate for relief from how she feels post-Colin that she tears into her father for not prescribing the medication. Harold later tells Rose about how their daughter looked at him with hateful eyes and admitted that they're losing her to the grief. Harold's exasperated by his inability to remove the pain from his daughter or to destroy her road of sorrow. No magical cure exists for her daughter that Harold likes; it's not like when she was a little girl and sad over her Easy-Bake oven breaking and her parents could drive to the store and buy a new Easy-Bake oven.
The Abbotts are powerless against the chemicals in their daughter's brain. They run the risk of driving her away by their reluctance to treat her. Rose wants to; Harold doesn't. Harold runs the risk of hurting his marriage by making these calls without Rose's opinion. Indeed, relations between daughter and parent will worsen. Indeed, they will lose her for a time. But I'm getting ahead of "Daddy's Little Girl."
Other Thoughts:
-Madison complimented Ephram's old soul and then she told him to stop whining like a 16 year old. She described his old soul as 'attractive' which I missed on previous viewings of the episode. This is bad.
-I really liked the C story and how it bookended the other stories.
-Greg Smith is great in "Daddy's Little Girl." He doesn't play angst or bratty; he just needs to react to everything. His reactions are terrific.
-Rina Mimoun & Joan Binder Weiss wrote the episode. Peter Lauer directed it.
UP NEXT: "Blind Faith"--There's a wedding. Also, Amy hurts Ephram's feelings. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030F6GE6
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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