Ryan's emotional journey is framed through a group activity during therapy. Lauren tasked her patients with creating a collage about their past and their future. The activity is designed to help people realize a future exists, even though they each suffered a loss. The show's tone continues to be problematic. The sitcom format dictates a wacky approach be taken to Ryan's journey through the episode. Lauren tries to connect with the part of Ryan he hides from others, the part who cries because he misses his wife and who cries because she's gone. Ryan names Lauren's technique "going for the cry." Lauren denies she goes for the cry. The group supports Ryan's new name for the technique.
Anne's Ryan's dance partner through their shared uncomfortable and difficult moving on process. Neither know the speed they must travel nor are they sure they're prepared for what lurks in the future. Ryan stresses how unsentimental the sewing machine is to him. A memory of Janie sewing his name to a jersey isn't dwelled on. Janie just did it. That's all. Anne anxiously talks about a wedding she's been invited to. The woman's anxious because the wedding is the first occasion she'll be alone without her Patti. Ryan agrees to attend the wedding with her. Weddings are holy union of soul and body. Anne thinks about the soul and the body. A pretty woman meets her look from across the room. Ryan obnoxiously nags Anne about what she'll do. Anne wants to do nothing. The looks freeze her in her place, and she can barely strain her neck to look behind at the woman who's interested in her, body and soul. A life and a love without her Patti is incomprehensible; however, Anne converses with the woman, Sasha, because she's curious, which causes her to feel more conflicted about the future.
Our protagonist learns nothing from the wedding experience. Ryan's not a character who places himself in another person's shoes; his personality and radio persona are the same. Go On could've had a side commentary on the duality of radio personalities and The Self. Oh well. Ryan, as we've seen, tries to solve problems the way he solves problems on his radio show. Sports talk radio deals in absolutes. Shades of grey aren't welcome. Ryan advises Anne to casually meet for smoothies with Sasha, evidently forgetful that Sasha is a woman who's unaware of the pain Anne feels, and so she'll interpret drinks as serious interest and possibly try to take things to a more intimate place, like a kiss. Anne scolds Ryan in the evening, hours after a surprise kiss from Sasha, because Ryan gave her bad advice.
Go On basically gets the essence of moving on. Moving on after the death of a loved one isn't like moving on after a relationship goes bad or a job is lost or a team loses an important playoff game. Ryan and Anne share their feelings about the impossibility of moving forward. The idea of moving forward seems synonymous with forgetting. Moving on isn't about forgetting the person you lost. The collage represents what it's like to move forward after a loss. The group's poster board is cut in half between past and future. Ryan and Anne will hold onto the past; they need to understand they aren't letting go of the past, never to remember it. Instead, they're holding onto their past but feel secure in being able to move forward.
Ryan misses his old self so badly. The life-size cutout of himself feels like a poor effort of Ryan's to return to his old self. The hockey game is representative of his feelings as well. Ryan wanted to compete in the game for years, but there were no spots for him. Jeremy Roenick lets him in when Steve plays the 'deceased wife' card. The guys go easy on Ryan, until he tells them to knock it off. No one needs to go easy on him anymore. He can take the pain, and he can recover. Losing Janie taught him that. The pain will be the worst he's felt in all his life, but it'll gradually subside, and he'll get up and compete again. That's what life is.
It takes a lot for Ryan to learn this truth about grief turning into mourning, but, you know, it takes a while.
Other Thoughts:
-Anne announces her preference for the new Ryan as she leaves the house. The crucial moment of their one-on-one scene was Anne kissing Ryan on the lips. The kiss symbolized the start of her future. The episode doesn't answer whether or not she went back to Sasha.
-Ryan cries during his radio show when he sees a picture of Sonia next to the sewing machine with a sweater she knit for her cat. I'm confused by her ownership of cats. #102 emphasized Sonia's detachment from cats. Perhaps she kept one, and I don't remember. Lauren also cried upon listening to Ryan explain his collage to the group. Lauren's not a developed character, but of course she's a therapist. Therapists are closed books.
-No George at all this week. I didn't notice until the third act when every actor in the group got coverage, except for George.
-Jeremy Roenick was great in his cameo. I'm a JR fan. I'm a Flyers fan. His OT goal against Toronto in the 2004 playoffs is engrained in my memory. JR suffered a broken jaw earlier that season.
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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