“Oh, Crystal Ball, Crystal Ball, Save Us All - Tell Me Life Is Beautiful”

Two more episode titles have been released.

The third episode is titled “The Closet Case”, which in and of itself doesn't hold promise for an Alex story (obviously some combo of Jay, Claire and possibly Mitch, if “case” refers to a legal issue).

The fourth one is harder to gauge: “She Crazy”. I would guess it probably refers to something involving Haley and psychotic Beth, or possibly Gloria and her (also psychotic) sister Sonya. But if the title relates to Alex somehow it could be very interesting.

OK, having gotten that out of the way, time for my Season 7 questions and predictions. A word of warning, much of this may not be pretty (and many of my guesses will belie the title of this post and be very pessimistic, especially the final and most important (to me) question):


Will Alex's worst fear about being the dumbest kid at CalTech be realized?

Probably not. I do think there will be a few bumps in the road early on, some of which could be quite a handful. But I think academically she'll do fine – maybe not top of the class anymore, but she'll be close.


Will Alex encounter a problem in her life which leads to her turning to alcohol again?

Sadly, I see this having a better than a 50/50 chance of happening (or at least it crosses her mind), but hopefully it happens only once. There's that possibility of a little bit of early self-doubt I mentioned, and there's also rumblings that at some point Alex might get a bit homesick. Not to mention there's her continuing quest to have a steady boyfriend which usually goes wrong. Any of these could drive Alex into a depressed state looking for a coping mechanism.

Also, who knows what kind of an x-factor Alaina (her new roommate) will be (there's no law that says being a brainiac precludes being a party animal)?

But even if any of this comes to pass, while Alex would likely face some sort of consequences, I highly doubt Alex is going to follow in Haley's footsteps and be disciplined by CalTech.


By season's end, will Alex and Alaina be good friends or bitter enemies?

I'll be optimistic and say they'll end up friends, but I think there will be a time or two during the season they will hate each other, too. And I don't know if we'll see a lot of them together (maybe only in a couple of episodes – we'll have to see if there's any announcements of whomever playing Alaina being cast as a recurring character).


Will we see Sanjay this season, and will Alex and he still be in a relationship?

I think the distance between the two will be too much to overcome as far as them continuing their relationship is concerned, but I do think we will see Sanjay again. My best guess is he comes back to compete against Alex in some sort of “College Bowl”-like television quiz show. There might even be an attempt to rekindle the relationship, but I wouldn't see it being successful.


What about Jason (the boy she befriended from the CalTech tour)? Will he be there, and will he become more than just a friend to Alex?

I'm guessing no – even if he thought CalTech better suited him academically, I think in the end he decided to stay home and attend MIT.

If there is to be a new boyfriend in Alex's life, it'll probably be someone we've yet to see.


Will she go to see Dr. Clark, her former therapist, again?

I doubt it, but, again, she may need to turn somewhere if something goes wrong. Actually, even though she's still a teenager, Alex might be too old (ironically given what she said about Dr. Clark early in her session) for Dr. Clark's assistance and may look to another therapist.


Which episode has the most chance to be the most emotional?

Probably the most logical one - the bi-annual Christmas episode, since that will in all likelihood involve her homecoming.


And now, for the question I most dread asking and answering:

On average, Alex has been missing from about 2 episodes per season. With her living away from home, will there be a significant increase in this number?

This is another painful answer which I hope ends up wrong, but yes, I think she's going to be in fewer episodes than usual this season. I'll go way out on a limb (please feel free to saw me off that tree) and say she misses six, but that number could easily double if this season does turn out to be that transitional year towards writing Alex off the show entirely that I feared a few weeks ago could happen  (for whatever reason – I'm not ready to even hazard a guess as to that possibility). Also, if there are going to be a high number of Alex-less episodes, look for the frequency to increase as the season goes forward.

And while I still think it's unlikely, they could go the Skype route again (like Haley), leaving Alex with some (or even many) "one (scene) and done" episodes, even if she's only completely missing from the usual 2 or 3.

And that's all I can think of for now – sorry for all the cold water of pessimism I've splashed on everybody.