“It's Like Rain On Your Wedding Day”

It looks like irony (or is it coincidence? Ever since that song came out I have no idea.) is going to rear its ugly head again, just like last season when I got sick hours before “The Cold” aired.

This time though the irony here is that it looks like up here in the Northeast U.S.A. we'll be dealing with a nasty storm today and tonight, and, lo and behold, tonight's episode is titled “The Storm” (of course we all knew that already). While it looks like only rain here that could still cause a problem – the heaviest may be hitting right in the 9:00 hour, which could mean I could lose my satellite signal during the episode due to rain fade. Or, to hammer home the irony point, maybe the power in my house could go out.

I do have backups (on demand capability plus an iTunes season pass) so I won't miss the episode entirely, but if I need to use them any recap will be delayed. I'll let you know if that happens.

So, getting back to discussing the episode itself,  after two episodes which for various reasons weren't quite what I hoped for, will there be a rebound tonight?

Anticipation Level: Medium. As recently as a little over two weeks ago, my expectations for this episode were off the chart, thank to the fact that Alex's dorm mate Maisie was making her return in it. However, starting with the press release, then through the promo pictures, commercial and sneak preview I've seen, there has not been one mention about what (if any) story there might still be between Alex and Maisie. 

And while the potential is still there for something interesting (that's why I've kept the anticipation level at "medium", along with keeping my fingers crossed), I have a feeling we're going to be disappointed again – we could very well be looking at a one and done (either they're both in the dorm and we get one Skype conversation with Alex and her family, with Maisie a bystander, or Alex is at home Skype-ing to an on-campus Maisie).  Or, it could be one of those "Baby On Board"/"Rash Decisions" nights where an Alex story ends early.

(There is also one even worse case [albeit highly unlikely] scenario, but I'll get to that in a minute.)

Another reason why my expectations are lowered: There's already four stories mentioned for this episode - how much time would even be left for an Alex/Maisie story?

Emotional Moment Potential Level: Low to Medium. If we somehow manage to get a story with Alex and Maisie that has some depth there is a good chance for some emotion.

(And now, for that worst-case scenario:)

Chance of an Alex-less Episode: Extremely Low. But not zero, simply because, again, Alex has neither been seen or mentioned, and that means there's still a chance we don't see her. But I think it will take something highly implausible for this to come about – the most plausible scenario I could think of would be if Alex were to be trying to coming home during the storm, and Maisie would be calling to see if she made it. But even that's not really that plausible – if Alex were to go missing even for just a while I doubt that story would be left out of the press release.

(On the other hand, we are talking about Alex, and given the show's [and network's] history about dealing with her and her stories...)

Do You Have Any Questions? Just a simple one, for now:

How well (or not so) are Alex and Maisie getting along after a few months together?