Comments on: I’m So Mad at Joel on Parenthood I Could Scream: When a Marriage Partner Quits

By: Treena

Treena

In reply to Sadie. I'm new to parenthood, and I can say Joel is my favourite character. He has done so much for his family and tolerating all Julia's family drama all the time. Julia comes off as a spoiled child. I hate this storyline, but I am team Joel 100%, Julia needs to grow up and take responsibility for being an awful person.

By: Ela

Ela

In reply to Jennifer. Joel seems to be really malicious, especially towards his own wife. He is horrible to Julie and very unpleasant at home. He acts like the last asshole, and the scene when he refused to spend a few minutes with her at work speaking to her as if she were a colleague at work and told her to leave made me unable to watch him anymore. Nasty character, horrible guy, overbearing and with a bloated ego.

By: Allison

Allison

In reply to Natalie. THANK YOU!! I literally turned to google, "Joel parenthood is a hypocrite", because I needed to know other people remembered that when that girl who was WAY more inappropriate than Ed, kissed Joel he didn't tell Julia until she dragged it out of him. I'm so irritated with his character because of this.

By: Martha

Martha

In reply to Sandra Dunkin.

I know this is 4 years old but my issue with it is when he got kissed, he also hid it from her, had her at their house almost every day, and guilt tripped the hell out of Julia when she told him she didn’t want her in their lives and he said “okay then Sydney won’t have a best friend anymore”… AND then he even said “it wasn’t a big deal!”

UUUUGH!!

By: Sadie

Sadie

Completely Disagree. Joel has accumulated an insane amount of clout over the seasons. He’s super-dad, super-husband, super son-in-law, super brother-in-law, super-person, and a super man. Joel has also put up with a lot over the years from his overbearing wife and her family. From disregarding his feelings and opinions during the whole Zeek and Camilla affair debacle in season 1 (when she told him outright his opinion on the subject matter was unwanted and wouldn’t even be considered) to season 3 when Julia announced they were trying to have a child without discussing it with her husband first (like he clearly asked) to quitting her job without so much as a word to her husband beforehand in season 4. Joel took it all in stride because he believed that at the end of the day love and mutual respect would sustain them and his wife would rise to the occasion if the roles were reversed. Well, the roles did reverse and Julia fell flat. She refused to supply him with the same amount of support, care, and understanding he provided for 8 years. She was clearly uncomfortable with his professional success, and sabotaged him at every turn. Incessantly calling him during the day because she couldn’t handle her own children, barging into his place of business/causing a scene, and spewing personal information in front of his superior. On top of all this, she kisses another man and discusses her children’s well-being with him (taking his opinion on the matter into far more consideration than her husband’s), doesn’t tell him for weeks, and only divulges her indiscretion after a fight ensues between her husband and this other man at an event. Forget a separation, I would have demanded a divorce.

By: Sandra

Sandra

In reply to Jennifer. You have a point there -- I did not think of it that way, you can certainly tell that he does not want to talk about it, just leave.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer

In reply to Sandra Dunkin. Absolutely -- but I also feel like Joel is using this as an excuse rather than dealing with the issues at hand.

By: Sandra Dunkin

Sandra Dunkin

In reply to Sally.

My issue is that in earlier seasons Joel got kissed by another Mom and was forgiven. But when Julia gets kissed by another Dad she is not forgiven — this is so sexist…..

By: tookie

tookie

In reply to Patranila. I have to point out that Julia told Joel the truth he didnt just find out about it. If you want to point out lies how about the Raquel storyline. He had her in the house baking cookies while his wife was at work,after she tried to kiss him. He got caught. He was drunk and out to dinner with peete and yet again got caught in a lie. For all we know more happened with Raquel then what he said because we never as an audience saw the interaction. For all he knows Julia was kisses by Ed and that was it.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer

In reply to Natalie. Oh my gosh! I had completely forgotten that. Thanks for the reminder!