“I've Got The Scene In My Head. I'm Not Sure How It Ends”

If someone had told me with five episodes to go, we'd see 5 major Alex stories, and 4 minor ones, and that it was known there was still at least one major story left, you'd think I'd be very happy today, right?

So why am I more depressed than Death Valley?


It's partly because while the mathematics of Season 6 to date look good (i.e. she's had her fair share of stories this season), what's happened in those episodes, for the most part, haven't gone so well for Alex.  But you know how I feel about that already.

Even the nice little scene at the end of “Grill, Interrupted”, which I praised as finally giving Alex a happy ending, upon reflection really wasn't as happy an ending as I felt at the time – I overlooked that in a way Jay was actually putting a little more pressure on Alex by telling her she needed to be the leader of the family down the line, and that to some degree he was looking after his (and his closet company's) best interest more than Alex's (though not nearly as blatantly as Claire was in “The Long Honeymoon”). Of course, compared to some of the endings Alex has had to endure this season...

And that's only half of it – it is what's left to go this season that really has me in the dumps. See, in all honesty, I do not have a good feeling about how everything's going to end.

Yes, she's going to graduate in the top 2 or 3 in her class, and she has an acceptance to CalTech in her back pocket, but I was hoping for more, and I don't think we're going to get it.

It starts with the likelihood that not only is there little to look forward to in the next two episodes (“Knock 'em Down”, “Integrity”), there's actually something to not look forward to in each: We may not even see Alex in “Knock 'em Down”, and it's possible that Claire's attempts to curry favor with Principal Brown on Luke's behalf in “Integrity” could catch Alex in a backlash if it fails: e.g. Principal Brown gets so angered at Claire for trying to bribe him into giving Luke an award that he decides to give a more important award intended for Alex to someone else. OK, maybe that's a stretch, but not as much as you'd think (the Dunphy/Pritchett/Tucker extended family is probably already on his *bleep* list for their open house antics from last year).

So basically that means we're left with three episodes for Alex's stories to go anywhere, and it looks like most,  if not all of those eggs are going into the next basket, “We're Number One!”. Here's my guess what on the basic outline of the story might be:

Principal Brown informs Alex and Sanjay (and maybe one other person?) that they are so close (maybe even tied) in the race to become valedictorian that how they grade in their final gym class (of all things) of the school year will decide it. Or there might be some sort of athletic competition between the two. It may come down to this: Would Alex, who somehow has now developed romantic feelings for Sanjay, sacrifice her chance at being valedictorian for a relationship with her (former?) rival? Or, maybe, while they discover feelings for each other, another rival sneaks in and steals it from both of them?

I'll say more about this after some semblance of a story is confirmed (it probably won't play out nearly exactly as I've outlined it), but I have a feeling Alex won't get everything she wants.

My other hope for this episode is that it turns into a relationship for Alex that lasts into next season and beyond, instead of being forgotten at 9:31 PM on May 6, 2015.

And then comes what I think is now the wildcard episode of the last 5, “Crying Out Loud”. It probably won't be important, but if it does have an Alex story that relates to the title, it could be huge. Could she have one final thing that goes so horribly wrong she gives us that one final massive, emotional meltdown that seems to have been building all season? It would make for compelling television (especially if fueled by her new-found coping mechanism from the last two episodes), but I don't want to see Alex hurt herself in some way.

My natural assumption at the start of the season was that the final episode of the season would involve Alex's high school graduation. But its title, “American Skyper”, doesn't make it sound like it's going to happen, and now I don't think it will, especially if she's not valedictorian. Also there looks like there will be a Haley and Andy story, which would diminish, but not entirely eliminate the chance for that Alex graduation story.

And that would be a very disappointing ending to what has so far been a disappointing season, especially given that we're probably looking at a mundane at best Season 7 (but that's a topic to get us through the summer).

Stay tuned.