"I Can See The Feathers Fly" (First Impressions - "The More You Ignore Me" - Season 7, Episode 6)

Buckle up, boys and girls, this is going to be the episode where the road's probably going to get really bumpy for Alex.



I'm not sure if it's going to be better or worse for Alex that it's her parents that find her buying that case of tequila* instead of the police or CalTech (either of those could still happen though).  In theory it could save her future, since Phil and Claire could be able to keep the whole thing private (unlike what's going to happen to Luke in this same episode).

But...

She's still officially not an adult yet (she doesn't turn 18 until sometime in January), and is dependent on Phil and Claire to at least some extent to finance her college studies.  So it is definitely in the realm of possibility that they could make her live at home again and force her to drop out of CalTech (she can't just commute - CalTech requires freshmen to live on campus), and make her work for her room and board back home (and find her own way back into another college later).  In fact, I'd say it's more likely than not, if the plan of the show is to not keep her isolated from the rest of the family any longer.

And then there's going to be the question that has always been out there of why she's doing this.  Although it probably won't affect her fate, it will be interesting to see if this is a cry for help or something else.

Not that I expected otherwise, but this looks like it's going to be a very painful episode to watch (we may find out how painful as early as tonight, if they air a commercial for it after tonight's repeat episode [UPDATE: They did not.]).  Alex's life as she envisioned it might not end on November 11th, but it may be taking quite the nasty detour.

*All of this assumes this isn't one big misunderstanding (e.g. it turns out she has a job at the liquor store - unlikely unless she lied about her age to her boss, and/or she's helping someone else bring it to their car) - I wouldn't put it past the show to do this but I think it's highly unlikely.  As contrived as this would be if it saves Alex I'll root for it to happen.