“The Ghost In You She Don't Fade”

What do you know - it's another "Insomnia Special".

It's almost trick or treat time, boys and girls. Will we be getting candy or rocks in our bags tonight while watching “Halloween 4: The Revenge of Rod Skyhook”?

Anticipation Level: Low. On one hand, this is the only episode in a three week span, and we know Alex will be in it. On the other hand, we're probably looking at another story with her and Reuben, and I'm not looking forward to seeing him making another (hopefully) failed attempt at courtship.

Not to mention it's Halloween, pretty much my least favorite holiday.

Even at that, I would have had this at Low to Medium (because of the breaks before and after), until I saw the press release for “Grab It”, which has much more potential (relatively, anyway) for an interesting Alex story. Which puts this almost, but not quite, into “let's get this over with so that we can see the better episode ASAP” territory.

Emotional Moment Potential: Minimal. Given the subject matter, not surprisingly drama is highly unlikely – Halloween is for hi-jinks not heartbreak. Unless Alex pulls out some sort of final breakup speech from nowhere, or Reuben somehow melts her heart (please, God, no).

Hopefully we'll at least get some laughs out of tonight's episode - the one they did two years ago was pretty good, even if Alex did get stuck with two costumes (first an insane asylum patient, then that “Working Girl” character whom Phil inexplicably thought was awesome) I'd rather forget she was forced to wear (though it was still better for her than getting locked inside a cage).

Are There Any Other Questions?

Will Alex wear a costume by show's end? I doubt it, if only because they just did a “Alex gets into the spirit of a holiday” episode last year for Christmas. I really don't think they'll go down that route again so soon and have her throw on a costume at the last minute after belittling the holiday or worrying about her future all night (and I doubt she'll sing either, unless she reprises “Banished”).

And since we've already seen her in a picture in a simple outfit that has a Halloween theme but isn't really a costume, it's not a case of her wearing one from the outset.

(If she does wear one, OTOH, I have no idea what she'll choose. Hopefully this time it will be her choice.)

I'm thinking of adding a new feature to these pre-show posts starting with the next episode (the premise really won't work tonight), but I will keep you in suspense – it is Halloween, after all.