"Waiting...To Fall Apart"

Some sneak previews of tomorrow night's episode have been released, and the fourth one shown at this link is the important one, the one where Phil and Claire catch Alex sneaking out of the liquor store with that case of tequila.



From a short-term standpoint it doesn't look good for Alex - while Claire starts out rationalizing what she's seeing as Alex just being a typical college student while Phil's ready to freak out about it, in the end she gets just as worried, as she sees Alex take that case and get into a stranger's van (hopefully it's not Weasel from the "Spring Break" music festival) with it.  The clip ends as they drive off after the van, and I think they'll be really ticked off when they catch up to it.

We can probably about 99% write off the possibility of Alex getting the tequila as a cry for help - it almost certainly now looks like it's for some sort of party.  In my mind that alone reduces her hopes for leniency.

So, in all likelihood, if Alex is going to survive this with her CalTech tenure intact, it's going to have to end up being one big misunderstanding, and while I haven't totally given up on that I really don't like the chances of that.

Finally, there's the potential long-term ramifications from Alex getting into another stranger's van (at least a stranger to us and her parents - I'm guessing she knows the driver better than she knew Weasel) and whether or not that is now a (disturbing) trend (including and especially with alcohol involved).  But unlike Claire I don't think she'll get into trouble from it, other than the likely punishment from her parents (that's probably going to get ugly enough as it is).

You can probably guess what my anticipation level and heartbreak potential levels will be, but I'll post them later anyway.