“I Always Needed Time On My Own” (“The Day Alex Left For College” Recap)

Before I start the recap there is this little bit of possible good news from this recent article:

”Although Alex will be leaving for college, the show's co-creator, Christopher Lloyd, has assured viewers that she will still be very much be on the show for the upcoming new season. He mentions that her family will be visiting her a lot in college and that she would also be frequently coming home on the weekends to see her parents and family.“

I've not found an article with a direct quote from Mr. Lloyd confirming this, but maybe I have less reason to worry that this will be a season of mostly only seeing Alex on Skype (if at all). But given my “not only is the glass half-empty, but it has a leak” frame of mind...

Anyway, so about tonight:

“So Remember Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever”

Well, tonight's the night, “The Day Alex Left For College”. OK, that last sentence just went through a spin cycle in the time-space continuum – at least it didn't meet up with Eddy.

Anyway, here's my not-so-deep thoughts about the episode:

"Call Me, If You Need Someone To Talk To"

Promo photos for "The Closet Case" have been released, and there's good news and bad news.

[UPDATE (10/3):  Actually the bad news isn't so bad as I explain in this later post.  I'll leave in my original thoughts without striking through but a lot of this post is now outdated.]

"Quietly, Take It Or Leave - There Is Nothing To See(?)" (First Impressions - "The Closet Case" - Season 7, Episode 3)

Just like last year with "The Cold",  the press release for the third episode took a while, but it's finally out. 

“But I Would Walk Five Hundred Miles” (“Summer Lovin'” Recap)

OK, give or take about 138 miles (the distance from Stanford to CalTech)...

“Where Do We Go From Here, Now That All Other Children Are Growin' Up?”

And so, it finally begins again. The first episode of Season 7, “Summer Lovin'”, airs tonight. And with a new season, comes a new type of post.

I've decided not to do “Upside/Down(side)” posts this season (but I probably will do some best/worst case scenarios as we go along), but instead will do a slightly different form of “pre-game” post. This is a work in progress, so what you see right now won't necessarily be how I do these posts from week to week

So, what can we expect from this week's episode?

“So We Don't Worry About The Price We Pay(?)”

I'll start with the good news first, then get to the bad (namely my thoughts on the spoiler stuff I mentioned a couple of days ago).

Promo pics are up for “The Day Alex Left For College”, and it looks like we're going to see Alex's new roommate in this one after all. But apparently there's been a change in plans, as (based off the earlier press release) her roommate is now someone named Maisie and not Alaina (the actress' name is Chloe Csengery). It looks like they will somewhat hit it off at the start (though in one photo Haley looks more excited for some reason) – how long it stays that way is another story.

Also, it looks we will get the obligatory hugs from Phil and Claire, and at the dorm it looks like Alex and Claire will have some sort of issue.

So at least we have this to look forward to. But how badly will this episode's events be overshadowed by the dark turn that appears to be coming in a few weeks? (Again, if you don't want to be spoiled, don't click “Read more”.)

"I Said No, No, No" (Potential major spoiler alert)

And it's not a good one, either...

"Baby I Swear It's Deja Vu" (First Impressions - "The Day Alex Left For College" - Season 7, Episode 2

Sometimes, the light at the end of the tunnel is a good thing.  But, sometimes, it can just be a runaway train about to flatten you.  Such is apparently the case here, based off the press release.

"When The Gales Of November Came Early" (Upcoming Title Update)

Well in one sense things are happening fast and furiously: the titles for Episodes 5 and 6 have been released.  With the presumption that last year's Halloween episode will likely air on October 28th, this means they've already revealed the title of the first episode of the first sweeps period (probably airing November 11th, since I'm pretty sure there's a music awards show of some sort scheduled for the 4th).

I need a coat just thinking about that, even though the temperatures around here may be back near 90 next weekend.

"Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End" (First Impressions - "Summer Lovin'" - Season 7, Episode 1)

Finally, the press release for the season opener has arrived.  And while there's no mention of what role Alex might have in it, there's one little interesting tidbit in the guest list: Sanjay is making a surprise early re-appearance (for some reason whomever writes the press releases keeps misspelling his name as Sunjay).

“'You Could Do So Much Better”

I'm still waiting on the press release for the season opener – usually it comes out about 2 weeks before the episode airs, often on Monday but I figure the holiday is holding up things this week. I'm still not expecting anything special from it, but at least it gets us closer to the start of things.

I meant to do this last week, but here's my idea of a better Alex-centric marathon than what USA Network gave us last Tuesday (they made mostly good choices, but left out a few obvious ones. And, seriously, USA, “Regrets Only”? Yes, Alex gets to get under Haley's skin in that one, but the story's not even close to being about her).