I agree that casting Joanie with a child who looks NOTHING like Cole or even Alison is suspicious. There are plenty of child actors out there, so unless some stage mom was owed a favor by the show or something, it doesn't make sense to choose a kid whose appearance stands out like that. You could be on to something.

I wanna point out again a major plot hole that continues to be relevant in every episode: WHY DID ALISON SIGN AWAY HER CUSTODY?

Re: Noah's "hopped up" behavior in the first half of the episode: Painkillers are known for slowing people down, not creating excitability like that.

Does Noah's story about his mother's death reveal/create some plot holes? I don't remember the past storylines well enough.

Cole is sympathetic only because he is LIKABLE. Maybe that's the way the character is written, maybe it's the quality Josh Jackson brings, or a combo of the two. But really, Cole is not some pillar of integrity. He's made some terrible decisions, he's selfish and misguided and destructive.

Agree. It's a realistic human reaction to resent people who call you out on your bullsh*t and hold up a mirror to your own flaws and mistakes.

Yeah, I agree, that plot point is confusing and potentially very contradictory. You can't simultaneously have that arrangement worked out legally with signatures and such while ALSO having Cole and Luisa be totally blindsided and flabbergasted by Allison's unexplained disappearance.

When it comes to sympathizing with Allison and her breakdown, I don't see how anyone can ignore the ZERO COMMUNICATION aspect of it. That's the unforgivable, horrendously selfish angle of it that, to me, completely discredits her and justifies Luisa's distrust.

I agree — I can't bring myself to sympathize with Allison. She bitches about how terrible her life is, watching Cole and her daughter from the sidelines. She is 100 percent responsible for creating this situation. She discarded Cole for Noah, and then she abandoned her daughter… now she's a tragic mess fluttering…

Anyone else starting to see the "Six Feet Under" influences on this show? To me the Mary Steenburgen bit — the weird little taste of surreal — somehow made that association clear.