"Doctor, Doctor, Give Me The News"

Could I be updating the sad "Poor Alex" list I just posted a couple of days ago?  If what the first press release synopsis of  Season 8 says about Alex plays out in a certain way, maybe.

Not much appears likely in the first episode, "The Tale Of Three Cities" - from the first part of the release it appears that episode (set after the families return from their end-of-season trips) might be focused on the fathers (since it will be set on Father's Day) and not the kids.

But then the release goes on to describe what will be going on with each of the characters this season, and when they finally get to Alex, well...

 "and Alex learns to keep her life balanced at Caltech, including dealing with a considerable bout of mononucleosis."

OK, that last part could be very interesting, if played seriously (dramatic scenes in a hospital, anyone?)   But it's also worrisome for Alex's future on a few levels.  How badly does this illness affect her studies - will the potential downtime cause her to fall behind at school, maybe even to the point she might have to drop out?  Will this interfere with her relationship with Sanjay (or could Sanjay already be infected and through contact it spreads to Alex)?

And while really serious complications from mononucleosis are rare, the possibility does exist for things to go really, really bad for her.   However, I highly doubt it would go so far as to be fatal. (But...)

And if it is played for drama, will it be a one episode deal, or will it play out over several weeks (the symptoms last for about that long)?

Of course, it's always possible that this will just be played mostly for laughs (i.e. all we get for our troubles is Alex being annoying to everyone else while she is sick, with maybe a heartwarming moment at the end) and just another excuse to keep Alex at home for an episode or two, and this ends up being just another case of me being "I'm not paranoid, the whole world really is out to get Alex".

What do I think will happen?  Right now I'm not ready to predict which type of story will happen - I'll take my shot in the dark when we get closer to the opener (if further spoilers don't make things obvious).