“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?


Anticipation Level: Low to Medium. There does appear to be a small story in the cards between Alex and Sanjay (the promo commercial they aired at the end of last week's repeat showed a scene with a smiling Alex leading Sanjay somewhere inside her house, but they only showed about a second of it). I think this will be a small story - maybe only one scene, and possibly at the end of the show, since the show starts about where the last episode of last season left off (the same day of Alex's graduation party) and when she's with Sanjay she's in a different outfit than the sundress she wore at the party. Since there's been talk about Alex meeting a boy (or two or three) at CalTech I expect some closure will occur here, as other than (hopefully) as friends I don't see the two of them staying together.

One thing to note about this section going forward – an episode with a high level of anticipation may not necessarily be a good thing. That episode that I'm dreading coming up in a few weeks (the one I'm trying not to spoil) will still have a high level of anticipation, but not of a good kind.

Chance Of An Alex-less Episode: Zero. Normally I won't have this section in a post where clearly Alex is going to appear (like this week), but I wanted to introduce it now (IOW, I won't do one next week). The more likely we have an adult-themed episode (e.g. “Las Vegas”) or an episode where Alex isn't mentioned but most/all of the other kids are (e.g. “Closet? You'll Love It!”) the higher the pessimistic outlook will be.

”The Fault In Our Stars” Memorial Heartbreak Potential Level: Medium to High. In spite of Alex's smile in the promo, with the potential of closure to Alex and Sanjay's story, there could be plenty of tears shed right off the bat (both on-screen and in my room), especially if a breakup turns hostile. OTOH, if that scene is very short there's much less chance of heartbreak.

This is another section that won't appear every week (i.e. you'll probably see either the Alex-less potential or the heartbreak potential section in any given week, but not both). And the reference to TFIOS probably won't be repeated (but it may come back in a different form).

That's all I can think of for sections this week – as this post form evolves I'll probably think of others.

Look for the recaps (or bemoaning of Alex-less episodes) at about the usual time again this year (i.e. shortly after the end of the West Coast airing around 12:31 A.M. my local time), although depending on my work schedule or mood some might not appear until later on Thursday (like this week, actually - I have to be in work tomorrow a little earlier than normal, so I may not stay up that late tonight).