Amber Might Not Be the Braverman That's Pregnant

Although plenty of things about Parenthood season 6 are up in the air, most fans and critics seem to be in solidarity about one particular plotline: Amber, through some weird, confusing hospital bed sex, is pregnant. After all, season 5 ended with her searching for a pregnancy test, and the promo for this coming year saw her sitting in a doctor's office, just moments after a shot of a sonogram flashed on-screen. A test, a sonogram, a hospital gown: what more confirmation do we need that Amber's having a baby?

Actually, a lot. While Parenthood's cliffhanger and promo may certainly hint at Amber being pregnant, I don't believe that it's really the case. It just doesn't make sense; first of all, when would Amber and Ryan have even had a chance to have sex? They hadn't seen each other for months until he came home, and in the hospital, he seemed far too injured to engage in any type of physical intimacy. But even if they had managed to get it on in an on-call room, Amber getting pregnant just doesn't seem right. In fact, it seems totally unfair.

Out of all the Bravermans, Amber is the character who's experienced the most growth over the course of the show's five seasons. Sure, some of that simply had to do with her ending adolescence, but much more of that maturity was the result of serious effort by Amber to become a better person. She got rid of her bad ex-boyfriends, stopped trying to rebel, and began seeing her mother as a mentor and friend, not punisher and enemy. She rebounded from her heartbreaking college rejection to find a job she loved, became a confidante to Drew, and helped guide her troubled fiancé to find help and get his life on track.

In other words, Amber is the total opposite of her mother at her age; 21-year-old Sarah was making terrible dating choices, forgoing college, and, just a few years later, getting pregnant with two kids. Although Sarah eventually got her life together, finding a job she loved and embracing her family, it came at the expense of some real regrets that had lasting impacts on her children's lives (Seth, anyone?)

So if Amber is pregnant, she'd be repeating her mother's life, down to the startlingly young age, the unreliable ex-boyfriend, and the future plans gone down the drain (at least for the time being). Even if she and Ryan reunite and raise their baby together, there's little question that she and Sarah both would feel major disappointment that their lives turned out to be so undesirably similar. Sarah, especially, would be heartbroken, knowing that her daughter was repeating her same mistakes after so much promise that she'd find a way to rise above.

But I don't think the Parenthood writers would do that. This is the show's final season, after all, and I highly doubt the staff is trying to end the series on a negative note. I'm not saying that no one is pregnant; the sonogram in the promo made it pretty clear that a character on this show is having a baby. i just don't think that it's going to be Amber.

So, who could it be? Probably not Kristina; she and Adam have gone through enough already in the past few years. It's not Camille, that's for sure. Jasmine's last pregnancy was the subject of season 5. It could be Julia, but considering what's going on with her and Joel, I don't think a pregnancy would be a great addition to their marriage. So that leaves Sarah — and if she's the one who's pregnant, it'd make perfect sense.

Sure, Sarah's a little older than your typical mom-to-be, but she's not out of the range of possibility. Last season saw her reunite with Hank, and the promo for season 6 featured the duo looking blissfully happy. Having a baby (even accidentally) could be a natural next step for the couple, the first real commitment they make to each other in this new stage of their lives.

More than that, though, if Zeek dies, as predicted, Sarah's pregnancy would work even better. Nothing says Parenthood more than juxtaposing the heartbreaking end of one life with the auspicious beginning of another. It would certainly be sad for Sarah to have a baby so soon after the death of her father, but it'd also be a sweet nod to the circle of life. As viewers, we'd cry, we'd laugh, we'd want to yell at Jason Katims and hug our TV screens at the same time — and really, what's more Parenthood than that?

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