"My Sister, My Sister, Tell Me What The Trouble Is" (First Impressions - "Spring Break" - Season 6, Episode 18)

The press release can be found here.  Alex's role was actually hinted at in a synopsis posted at SpoilerTV a few hours earlier, but I wanted to see if the press release added any information before posting this.

Which it really didn't, at least to the plot:

 "Haley takes Alex to a music festival to take her mind off of colleges," (which is pretty much what the synopsis said, except it didn't mention that the thing Alex has on her mind is college).

It will be interesting to see exactly why Alex needs a distraction from college (presumably they mean some point in the selection process).  Could she be getting unexpected rejections from the ones she most wants to attend and is having trouble coping with that?  Or has she be getting the expected acceptances and is this going to be the episode where she makes her final decision?

And is this Alex's idea or is Claire (or Phil) just fed up with Alex staying inside during spring break doing nothing but obsess about college, and (s)he ends up telling Haley to take Alex out and get her some fresh air?  (Gee, which do you think I think is more likely?)

If it is decision time I think it's just slightly earlier than I want it to be, and it would likely mean no big emotional scene with Phil and Claire about it (unless there's another meltdown at the beginning of the episode).

And then there's the part about Haley taking her to a music festival. This worries me a bit on a couple of levels.  First of all, the only times Alex has ever been in any real trouble with either her parents or authority Haley has been part of the problem (except arguably "Undeck The Halls"), and usually they are (mostly) on the same side (e.g. "Good Cop, Bad Dog", "Someone To Watch Over Lily").  Of course, we don't yet know how willing Alex is to go on this trip (i.e. they may not be on the same page here).

And the words "Haley" and "musical festival" together raise a red flag - today's musical festivals may pale in comparison to the not-so good old days of Woodstock (thankfully I was only a small kid when that generation passed) but, given a small part of Haley's past I'm worried that if there's any kind of mischief Alex could get herself caught in the undertow (which might even have ramifications for that future episode about which I posted yesterday).

And just how altruistic are Haley's intentions (in addition to any Claire motive) - does she want to help Alex, or is she just taking advantage of her sister again in a time of vulnerability (like in "The Day We Almost Died")?

Hopefully that will just be me being paranoid (again) and we end up with a scene or two where Alex and Haley are nice to each other.

One caveat about the episode itself: it looks like there are five stories in this episode (including 3[!] Dunphy stories), so Alex's story may not be as deep or as long as I hope.

Finally, there is this one possible tidbit in the guest stars listing:

"Grace Rowe as Mrs. Bay"

In case you don't remember, she's Alex's AP Physics teacher from "Under Pressure" (the one who assigned all those practice tests that Claire had to list on her coffee cup).  But I only say possible tidbit since there is a plot involving a faculty talent show at Alex's high school - it's more likely than not she's part of that story and that she won't have anything to do with Alex's story.