“All My Life I've Been Good, But Now...” (“Grill, Interrupted” Recap)

One endgame down, one endgame to go?

If so, then in the end I guess Alex going to Cal Tech was the logical answer all along. However I'm not 100% sure we're done here – if she gets accepted into MIT (which was her first preference back in September) we may still get some drama. I wonder if Jason (the kid from the tour) got in.

For how much of a loop did not getting accepted into Harvard throw Alex? It was only one rejection and I know we were all hoping she'd bounce back quickly but it seems like it totally shattered her confidence (unless she got nothing but rejections from other top schools until tonight) – otherwise why was she talking “safety school” (UCLA? USC?) when she's locked up a spot in one of her top choices? And since when does Alex think she's going to be the dumbest one anywhere? It seems crazy that she would suddenly feel that inadequate after all these years (yes, she's felt a lot of pressure before but her confidence in her scholarly abilities never seemed so shaken until last week, and that includes her previous nadir of going sleepless for three nights studying for a test a few months ago).

And, unfortunately, she tried to drown her sorrows again (not that it would have helped – thankfully she got stuck with Gloria's fake bottle), but at least she acknowledged that maybe that wasn't a good idea. Again, I hope this is not a trend, especially if she does struggle right away in college as she fears.

Even with that, her moment with Jay was so far the best moment she's had all year. And unless I want to count the fact Jay won't let her drive the T-Bird (I won't), finally Alex gets a happy ending.

And, surprisingly, given how little expectation I originally had for this episode, this turned out to be the best episode of the season to date, especially with the subtle April Fools touches (OK, going back to the original opening wasn't that subtle...). Last week I said “Spring Break” might nudge “Come Fly With Me” out of my top five, but instead it's this one.

Alex's Line Of The Night: (referring to Jay's new car)”You know, college might not be such a big, scary place if I drove up... (Jay: 'Not gonna happen.') OK.”

And now were down to the Final Five, but not right away (“Strangers In The Night” repeats next week, and I'd guess we'll have a repeat for 4/15 also). Hopefully there's more than one shining moment left for Alex.