Picture this (mishpacha serial)

amother

OP ↓

Fri, Nov 15 2024, 8:35 am

am I the only one super frustrated with this story?

first off, there seem to be some story lines that were just dropped (or will they come back?). the incident where esty purchased a camera is one I am thinking of. yonah got upset with her, and then esty's mom scolded yonah. we never heard about that again.

In general, esty is a huge brat. this is what happens when we infantalize our married couples!!!

she's upset that Yonah went bowling with his friend and didn't answer his phone. I'm sorry, maybe he didn't hear it ring at the bowling alley?? she's all whiny because she doesn't want to go up to the kitchen with her MIL and sister in law. she's thinking, "OMG, that's so awkward." Like, hello, is she in middle school? they are your family, get over it.

also, there is a discrepancy....at one point, yonah's oldest sister is called bluma. Now she's gita? It's like it wasn't edited correctly. also, at another point early in the story, golda is driving on williston road in Boston, by the school, like she's doing pickup. But Yonah is the youngest. (the boys school in Boston is really on williston road). It's like the story hasn't been edited properly. It's like the author wants to flex that she knows Boston, what was the point of saying that?

But esty's mom is really a piece of work. It's almost like she's so exaggerated, you can't take her seriously.
Honestly, I'm disappointed. I think the quality of this story is much lower than what I expect of Mishpacha.

mha3484

Fri, Nov 15 2024, 8:58 am

I also feel like its very unrealistic. My limited life experience has shown me that like marries like. IE two very immature young 20 year old's who get married will likely have much more similar backgrounds and expectations. The odds of an OOTner whose sister is the same age as his mother in law marrying someone like estee seems really unlikely which makes me roll my eyes as the story goes on each week.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Fri, Nov 15 2024, 9:07 am

mha3484 wrote:

100%.
It's like, were these types of things not discussed before marriage?
did no one pick up on the fact that Esty has a maturity level of a 7th grader? Like when golda looked into her, it didn't come up? C'mon. Not real. golda is a smart lady with plenty of life experience....she's not going to hear that esty is somewhat immature and not quite ready for marriage? I don't buy it.
In real life, would a guy like Yonah, with parents that are so invested in klal work, really marry a self-centered girl from Lakewood* who's idea of "mesiras nefesh" is shopping at NPGS vs. Seasons?
There is just no way in real life a son of Golda's-- who is full of chessed, and introspective, etc..... is marrying such a bratty, shallow kid.

so the foundation of the story makes it silly and hard to take seriously.

*note: I am not putting down anyone from Lakewood. It's just the author has seemed to take all negative stereotypes about shallow "in-towners" and rolled them all into Esty. Esty hasn't really shown any positive qualities during the serial. she has shown herself to be spoiled, inflexible, somewhat irresponsible, and worst of all, totally unwilling to work with her husband as a team.

amother

Geranium

Fri, Nov 15 2024, 10:32 am

welcome to the current world ! Estis parents probably promised a nice amount of support. she's pretty and went to all the right schools and seminaries and Yonah is a good learner and did all the 'right' things as well. as an in towner this story is so realistic. I had oot boys turn me down all the time for not enough support and ended up marrying an in towner with a very realistic mom

Wolfsbane ↓

Fri, Nov 15 2024, 10:41 am

amother OP wrote:

I think the point is she's spacing out and instinctively drives to the school (by accident) as if she's doing pickup, even though it has been years since she had a kid in school

Personally, I think this story is a valuable PSA about the dangers of reading books. I mean, it starts with Civil War history, but before you know it you're reading Harry Potter and The Hobbit too. I mean, what's next, The Silmarillion?

amother

Cherry

Sat, Nov 16 2024, 12:13 pm

I was actually kind of disappointed that she didn't lose the baby. I thought it would be a great way for her and Yonah to bond.
In other news, wondering what the story is with the other couple-Pinny and Ayala/Atara? Thinking out loud that she finds out next week that she's pregnant... and puts in the work, grows up, and goes back to her husband. That would be awesome.

amother

Moccasin ↓

Sat, Nov 16 2024, 3:55 pm

mha3484 wrote:

I knew someone like this. She was from out of town but beautiful, super wealthy family and the oldest one in her family. She married number like 10 out of 12 and her mil was her grandmother's age and parents in chinuch! It does happen. She used to complain about her mil a lot. Lol

amother

Natural

Sat, Nov 16 2024, 4:04 pm

oohlala wrote:

Unfortunately none of the characters seem all that likeable. I like Yonah's mom the best. No one else has any redeeming features and I can't seem to care what happens to them.

Yonah's nice. He's a bit out of his depth with Estee, she's snobby and he doesn't know how to deal with it. He wants to be nice to her but she won't let him in.

PinkFridge ↓

Sat, Nov 16 2024, 4:51 pm

Wolfsbane wrote:

I just google The Silmarillion. Should have know it was Tolkein. BTW, anyone know what R. R. stands for? I just found out.

↑ PinkFridge

Sat, Nov 16 2024, 4:52 pm

amother Cherry wrote:

Losing the baby would have made it too dark, too early. And then opened it up to all sorts of issues, like following up with fertility specialists, etc.

Pippin

Sat, Nov 16 2024, 5:49 pm

Ok, I have a super unpopular opinion here. It's not that I think that Esty's such great shakes, but I don't think that she's worse than Yona. Here her and her family are supporting Yona financially and he can't keep seder. He barely wakes up on time and takes frequent coffee breaks during first seder and hardly ever makes it to second seder. Also, he springs on her that he wants her to have a family bbq when his parents are coming to town. He doesn't offer to make anything and gets upset at HER for asking her mother for help with the potato salad. And finally, while they are still Shana rishona and she's feeling awful and so nauseous and not so comfortable with his mother yet, she very clearly articulates that she needs him to stay back from bowling. And what does Yona do? goes bowling anyway and doesn't check his phone to see how his nauseous wife is feeling. Yona does not sound like a good guy to me.

amother

Honey

Sat, Nov 16 2024, 6:08 pm

Pippin wrote:

Agree. Typical communication challenges. Both aren't used to having to answer to someone else. Husband clearly misses his bachur days, of freedom and social life amd is tryi g to figure out how it fits in with marriage, she thinks Isha kesheira means to agree to whatever her husband wants, and pushes herself too far doing things that probably wouldn't care so much for if he knew how she felt, then she complains to her mother that she is tired/stressed, and her mother concotes this image of yonah as a selfish person who doesn't consider his wife, and swoops in to save Esty, who is really confused about what's going on..

Then there is the aversion to hard convos that they keep starting and dropping cuz they are both avoiding conflict.

How realistic the characters are - I have no clue as I don't know the type its supposed to be about, but I'm enjoying the story. I think it illustrates common Shana rishona struggles very well.

I didn't find dropped story lines, each of those anecdotes brought out and illustrated the dynamic and you can see a build up of tension as the story evolves.

amother

Goldenrod

Sat, Nov 16 2024, 6:10 pm

Pippin wrote:

I don't think he's a bad guy, really normal and so is she. They both need to grow up a little, but don't a lot of couples have these type of challenges in the beginning?