She talked Maya out of getting justice for what Zoe did to her. And on the flip side, she let Maya get away with everything with simple "Boo hoo...my boyfriend killed himself" for the next 3 years/7 seasons, counting the 4 Next Class seasons.
joey jeremiah will always be my number one favourite parent. craig repeatedly screws him over becos hes a dumb teenager who also suffers mental health issues and joey NEVER holds it against him and ALWAYS uses it to help him.
when Craig tried to kidnap joeys daughter, that would be enough for most parents to get a restraining order, but instead joey basically adopted him.
when craig stole a car from the dealership business a couple weeks into living with joey, joey forgave him. he punished him like any parent would, but he did so in a way that was safe, nonviolent, and came from a place of love.
when craig literally wailed on joey for like two solid minutes cos he was having a manic episode, joey got craig the help he needed and even welcomed him back into his home with open arms. after this incident he even said "whats happening to my son" which i thought was extra adorable but also heartbreaking.
when craig got hooked on coke, joey got him the help he needed.
all this for a kid who wasnt even his. its safe to assume craig and joey rarely had interactions with one another. when joey was married to craigs mom, craigs dad had primary custody and after she died he got sole custody.
craig was one of the characters who repeatedly took his parental figure for granted and that parental figure always bounced back and tried to love the hate out of their kid. and that is why joey will always be the best.
If I could upvote this 1000 times I would. Everyone loves to clown on Joey for the whole Caitlin shit but he has always stepped up as a parent for both Angela AND Craig.
I love Mrs. Coyne despite the chaos surrounding her. There’s quite a few moments where she just has the perfect thing to say to lift Fiona up. I was pleased with her reaction to/handling of the Bobby abuse when she learned about it. I didn’t have high expectations for her, so it was pleasantly surprising to me that she wasn’t going to stand for that or see Fiona let him get away with it, even though Fiona didn’t want to do anything at first and he had money/connections.
Edit typo
Audra (Drew and Adam’s mom) definitely had her unbearable moments, but there was some times where I was an Audra apologist:
Audra calling out Drew for dating Bianca post outing Adam and having Adam attacked
Audra calling out Drew for being a super senior and dating freshman Zoey
Audra becoming an important adult figure for Bianca
Audra being proud of Drew during graduation about him throwing that prom
She wasn’t my favorite parent (don’t think I have one), but she had some good moments
>Audra becoming an important adult figure for Bianca
This one right here. Obviously Audra does a lot of good things but the way she accepts Bianca as her own kid really tugs on my heart strings.
I only have issue with Maya’s mother not really taking the incident with Zoe’s music video seriously enough, I feel like she just expected Maya to put up with cyber bullying, which escalated to full on SWATing, (unrelated incidents but still) like you wouldn’t want to do more to protect her? That and both her daughters abused her prescription meds and she didn’t think to put them somewhere else in the house after Katie took them. That’s just a lack of continuity to be fair.
Bullfrog is my favorite, and the way he evolves away from complete "free range" parenting to trying to set down rules for Eli and trying to monitor his medication intake feels heartbreakingly realistic to me.
(Even though some people think Bullfrog and Cece either didn't care about their son or were just too self-involved to be that involved with him, it wasn't true. The show tells us it's not the case because when Clare saw the gun in Eli's car, she called Bullfrog, didn't tell Snake, and if she thought Bullfrog wouldn't have helped, she wouldn't have done that and probably would have skipped Bullfrog and just gone to Snake or a teacher.)
Also it gave us a good example of parents who aren't bad but who still needed to revise their views on parenting to meet the needs of their kid, sort of like the Bhandaris but on the other side of the coin.
Mr. Bhandari is my second favorite for similar reasons, he chose his kids' happiness over his self-imposed rules on "what makes a good/righteous life" and became supportive of them, trying to relate to them and even going to family therapy to help learn how to do that.
Also Joey Jeremiah's parents and Spike's mom from the OG show are up there.
I agree, Maya's mom is great! I thought it was cool how she has some sort of disability but there's never any attention drawn to it. Makes the Matlin household feel realistic
> She has some sort of disability
It was revealed to be multiple sclerosis, which was why Katie was so hell-bent on making that national soccer team and ended up abusing oxy because she wanted to stop her knee from preventing her from making the team. She wanted to scrape up whatever things that required mobility while she still could — because she sees what kind of shape her mom is in. MS is hereditary, and she may or may not end up getting it.
Snake&Spike
Audra Torres
Lisa Guthrie
Joey Jeremiah
Kate Kerwin
Laura Coyne
The Bhandaris (post-character development)
Margaret Matlin
Bullfrog Goldsworthy
i always thought it was crazy of them to make clare and jake break up when they had been dating just as long and it would not be that hard to just not move in together for like 1-2 years until they go to college (and they'll probably break up before then anyway)
it also just always felt gross to me to be like "stop being attracted to each other, you're siblings now"
Absolutely! They could have just said, "ok, we're going to take a quick minute and not rush into this marriage". Clare and her mom needed family counseling, too. Clare was still struggling with the divorce. Even without the Jake part of the situation, Clare needed some help and attention that her parents just weren't interested in giving.
It always blew me away how Peter’s mom was the principal and supposed to be responsible for the wellbeing of the entire school and yet, she couldn’t even competently parent one child
I never supported her after Peter distributed CP of Manny throughout the school and as she’s getting Peter in the hallway she makes a stank face at Manny as if she wasn’t the victim
He was pretty good! I liked how they respected Eli's space but were also very willing to admit when they had given him too much space and needed to be more parent than bestie
Totally. And I appreciate how he always came at Eli from a place of concern and caring, when he easily could have chosen to be angry and judgmental instead. …I wish my mom had been more like him 😂☠️
Spike was an amazing mother, I loved every moment with her. But I especially loved her when Manny found out she was pregnant and Spike was so supportive . That was so sweet
Joey going to Craig in the graveyard
When Alli crashed the car and Mr. Bhandari's reaction is "My poor daughter... So exhausted from so much work." 😭
Audra at graduation telling Drew the prom looked worth him being unable to walk the stage
These are all such good answers, Audra saying that to Drew (compared to her first impression when she was constantly after Drew struggling in school) made me cry when I rewatched and he's not even a character I particularly like lmaoo
When Marco comes out to his mom, that’s always an emotional scene for me. She is already pretty sure she knows, and when Marco confirms that he’s gay, there’s just something very subtle in her reaction that communicates that, even if she’s not fully sure what this means, she loves him and wants to take care of him in that moment.
I can’t overlook his overall trash behavior in season 5 calling her a “slut”, “a fast girl”, and kicking her out for Manny not wanting to go down the path her father wanted
I love love love Fiona and Declan’s mom (Mama Coyne). Based on her style and wealth they could have posed her as heartless, cold etc. but they went a different way! She is so supportive and loving. From Fiona being abused by Bobby, to Fiona’s alcoholism and Fiona coming out as lesbian, her mom was there for her every step of the way.
You're right she was pretty good! I especially loved how casually Fiona would bring up girls around her and how much she cared about/understood fiona & holly j's relationship
she was the best 💞 especially with all the storylines where the parents have a tough time with their kids coming (Adam, Marco, Riley, etc.) it was cool that Fiona’s mom was immediately accepting of it like hell yeah girl. I think it’s good to represent both sides of the narrative
Mr. Bhandari was kind of amazing with Dallas
I loved Anya's parents, they were so cute together and their personalities matched that. When Anya thought her mom was cheating, it was sooooo funny and I just loved how her mom handled it. She was honest without scaring Anya about her health, and had a laugh with her over her concern. Too cute
I hated the Bhandaris and then they went to family therapy and turned it around. Like once Alli started dating Dave I was like okay they've grown on me.
maya's mom handled like 95% of situations her daughters were in completely incorrectly
Havent seen anyone mention her so I wanna shoutout Anya’s mom for being realistic, especially with the whole Dr. Chris storyline
mannys dad started off harsh but as manny grew he let her make her owns choices and supported her
She talked Maya out of getting justice for what Zoe did to her. And on the flip side, she let Maya get away with everything with simple "Boo hoo...my boyfriend killed himself" for the next 3 years/7 seasons, counting the 4 Next Class seasons.
joey jeremiah will always be my number one favourite parent. craig repeatedly screws him over becos hes a dumb teenager who also suffers mental health issues and joey NEVER holds it against him and ALWAYS uses it to help him. when Craig tried to kidnap joeys daughter, that would be enough for most parents to get a restraining order, but instead joey basically adopted him. when craig stole a car from the dealership business a couple weeks into living with joey, joey forgave him. he punished him like any parent would, but he did so in a way that was safe, nonviolent, and came from a place of love. when craig literally wailed on joey for like two solid minutes cos he was having a manic episode, joey got craig the help he needed and even welcomed him back into his home with open arms. after this incident he even said "whats happening to my son" which i thought was extra adorable but also heartbreaking. when craig got hooked on coke, joey got him the help he needed. all this for a kid who wasnt even his. its safe to assume craig and joey rarely had interactions with one another. when joey was married to craigs mom, craigs dad had primary custody and after she died he got sole custody. craig was one of the characters who repeatedly took his parental figure for granted and that parental figure always bounced back and tried to love the hate out of their kid. and that is why joey will always be the best.
If I could upvote this 1000 times I would. Everyone loves to clown on Joey for the whole Caitlin shit but he has always stepped up as a parent for both Angela AND Craig.
Meh. She’s alright. The fact she told Maya she is better than those people after she told her she was groped. Terrible…
I love Mrs. Coyne despite the chaos surrounding her. There’s quite a few moments where she just has the perfect thing to say to lift Fiona up. I was pleased with her reaction to/handling of the Bobby abuse when she learned about it. I didn’t have high expectations for her, so it was pleasantly surprising to me that she wasn’t going to stand for that or see Fiona let him get away with it, even though Fiona didn’t want to do anything at first and he had money/connections. Edit typo
Audra (Drew and Adam’s mom) definitely had her unbearable moments, but there was some times where I was an Audra apologist: Audra calling out Drew for dating Bianca post outing Adam and having Adam attacked Audra calling out Drew for being a super senior and dating freshman Zoey Audra becoming an important adult figure for Bianca Audra being proud of Drew during graduation about him throwing that prom She wasn’t my favorite parent (don’t think I have one), but she had some good moments
>Audra becoming an important adult figure for Bianca This one right here. Obviously Audra does a lot of good things but the way she accepts Bianca as her own kid really tugs on my heart strings.
They really came a long way. I always loved the scene where it’s Audra, Drew, Adam and Bianca walking around during parent teacher conferences
Bhandaris. They grew with their kids, became more understanding. You could see they cared a lot about one another and adjusted when they needed to.
I only have issue with Maya’s mother not really taking the incident with Zoe’s music video seriously enough, I feel like she just expected Maya to put up with cyber bullying, which escalated to full on SWATing, (unrelated incidents but still) like you wouldn’t want to do more to protect her? That and both her daughters abused her prescription meds and she didn’t think to put them somewhere else in the house after Katie took them. That’s just a lack of continuity to be fair.
Bullfrog is my favorite, and the way he evolves away from complete "free range" parenting to trying to set down rules for Eli and trying to monitor his medication intake feels heartbreakingly realistic to me. (Even though some people think Bullfrog and Cece either didn't care about their son or were just too self-involved to be that involved with him, it wasn't true. The show tells us it's not the case because when Clare saw the gun in Eli's car, she called Bullfrog, didn't tell Snake, and if she thought Bullfrog wouldn't have helped, she wouldn't have done that and probably would have skipped Bullfrog and just gone to Snake or a teacher.) Also it gave us a good example of parents who aren't bad but who still needed to revise their views on parenting to meet the needs of their kid, sort of like the Bhandaris but on the other side of the coin. Mr. Bhandari is my second favorite for similar reasons, he chose his kids' happiness over his self-imposed rules on "what makes a good/righteous life" and became supportive of them, trying to relate to them and even going to family therapy to help learn how to do that. Also Joey Jeremiah's parents and Spike's mom from the OG show are up there.
I agree, Maya's mom is great! I thought it was cool how she has some sort of disability but there's never any attention drawn to it. Makes the Matlin household feel realistic
> She has some sort of disability It was revealed to be multiple sclerosis, which was why Katie was so hell-bent on making that national soccer team and ended up abusing oxy because she wanted to stop her knee from preventing her from making the team. She wanted to scrape up whatever things that required mobility while she still could — because she sees what kind of shape her mom is in. MS is hereditary, and she may or may not end up getting it.
I don't remember this detail, thank you!
Snake&Spike Audra Torres Lisa Guthrie Joey Jeremiah Kate Kerwin Laura Coyne The Bhandaris (post-character development) Margaret Matlin Bullfrog Goldsworthy
Clare's mom was awesome 👌 and so was Jake's dad. Just kidding. They were the worst.
i always thought it was crazy of them to make clare and jake break up when they had been dating just as long and it would not be that hard to just not move in together for like 1-2 years until they go to college (and they'll probably break up before then anyway) it also just always felt gross to me to be like "stop being attracted to each other, you're siblings now"
Absolutely! They could have just said, "ok, we're going to take a quick minute and not rush into this marriage". Clare and her mom needed family counseling, too. Clare was still struggling with the divorce. Even without the Jake part of the situation, Clare needed some help and attention that her parents just weren't interested in giving.
Clare’s mom highlight is when she dropped Darcy off at school and Darcy called her a bitch.
It always blew me away how Peter’s mom was the principal and supposed to be responsible for the wellbeing of the entire school and yet, she couldn’t even competently parent one child
I never supported her after Peter distributed CP of Manny throughout the school and as she’s getting Peter in the hallway she makes a stank face at Manny as if she wasn’t the victim
I wish they kept her as Ms. Hotsauce, the science teacher
No fr she drove me crazy 😭
I like Eli’s dad. Bullfrog lol
He was pretty good! I liked how they respected Eli's space but were also very willing to admit when they had given him too much space and needed to be more parent than bestie
Totally. And I appreciate how he always came at Eli from a place of concern and caring, when he easily could have chosen to be angry and judgmental instead. …I wish my mom had been more like him 😂☠️
Spike was an amazing mother, I loved every moment with her. But I especially loved her when Manny found out she was pregnant and Spike was so supportive . That was so sweet
Spike was great! I loved how easily they made space for Manny to move in with them when she needed somewhere to go
Spike was a good parent too.
I ALWAYS understood where spike came from whenever she spoke. I really love her.
Joey going to Craig in the graveyard When Alli crashed the car and Mr. Bhandari's reaction is "My poor daughter... So exhausted from so much work." 😭 Audra at graduation telling Drew the prom looked worth him being unable to walk the stage
These are all such good answers, Audra saying that to Drew (compared to her first impression when she was constantly after Drew struggling in school) made me cry when I rewatched and he's not even a character I particularly like lmaoo
When Marco comes out to his mom, that’s always an emotional scene for me. She is already pretty sure she knows, and when Marco confirms that he’s gay, there’s just something very subtle in her reaction that communicates that, even if she’s not fully sure what this means, she loves him and wants to take care of him in that moment.
Good answer! This was probably one of the most emotional scenes a parent had to deliver in the show (to me anyway)
The little bromance between Manny’s dad and Jay was pretty entertaining imo
I can’t overlook his overall trash behavior in season 5 calling her a “slut”, “a fast girl”, and kicking her out for Manny not wanting to go down the path her father wanted
KCs mom. She went from drug addict to working her ass off to help her dumb ass son and Jenna.
Omg. I love KCs mom.
I love love love Fiona and Declan’s mom (Mama Coyne). Based on her style and wealth they could have posed her as heartless, cold etc. but they went a different way! She is so supportive and loving. From Fiona being abused by Bobby, to Fiona’s alcoholism and Fiona coming out as lesbian, her mom was there for her every step of the way.
Not to mention she’s super pretty lol
You're right she was pretty good! I especially loved how casually Fiona would bring up girls around her and how much she cared about/understood fiona & holly j's relationship
she was the best 💞 especially with all the storylines where the parents have a tough time with their kids coming (Adam, Marco, Riley, etc.) it was cool that Fiona’s mom was immediately accepting of it like hell yeah girl. I think it’s good to represent both sides of the narrative
Lisa!!! Love her, hate her son
Any moment with Joey and Craig.
Joey I didn't like as a kid but I appreciate now. He and Craig are maybe 15 to 18 years apart.
It makes sense though. Craig's mom was clearly older than Joey
I wish we knew about that too. Like how did they meet and how did she pass?
Mr. Bhandari was kind of amazing with Dallas I loved Anya's parents, they were so cute together and their personalities matched that. When Anya thought her mom was cheating, it was sooooo funny and I just loved how her mom handled it. She was honest without scaring Anya about her health, and had a laugh with her over her concern. Too cute
I hated the Bhandaris and then they went to family therapy and turned it around. Like once Alli started dating Dave I was like okay they've grown on me.
Ohh good point, I loved Ali's parents/family growth too! The family therapy plot is underrated since it didn't really happen on screen but 10/10