“I'm Being Taken Over By The Fear”

The promo commercial for “The More You Ignore Me” is now available online. While it focuses on the part of the main Dunphy story where Luke is getting into trouble, the part which would reveal whatever trouble Alex ends up getting into is (ironically?) ignored.


Overall, it doesn't move the meter a lot (i.e. it doesn't show an “Alex, this was a tough decision for us, but...” type of scene in it), however it still leaves me worried for her fate – in fact I might even be a little more worried than before. The potential that Phil could really be looking to impart some “tough love” onto Luke does not bode well for Alex, since I still believe she'll get punished even worse (and she has a lot more to lose than Luke), simply because she's considered “smart enough to know better”, and because Phil may look to sacrifice her to make an example out of her to get through to Luke.

Now at first glance Claire does not look like she wants to punish Luke as much as Phil does. But that opens up yet another possibility – she'll be the “good cop” to Phil's “bad cop” with Luke, only to reverse the roles with Alex. And since I feel she's tougher on her kids than Phil (Phil's often been more of the friend to his kids, “Good Cop, Bad Dog” notwithstanding), again this leads to the possibility of a harsh punishment for Alex.

Now don't get me wrong – if, as appears likely, barring this whole thing being a complete misunderstanding, Alex is doing something wrong, even illegal, she should bear consequences. The question is how severe should those consequences be? I know for the most part she's been the good girl of the family and her parents want to keep her that way, but does the potential punishment of taking away most/all of what's she's worked for all her life fit the crime? I say no, but right now if I had to bet on the outcome...

(Of course there is one saving grace – usually when I bet, or want to bet, I lose.)

I'll have a day of show post sometime Wednesday morning, but unless something else comes up (e.g. a second commercial or a sneak preview clip with a significant development) I feel like there won't be a heck of a lot more to say (and I feel like I've repeated myself far too often already) until we finally see where the chips have fallen.