“(It's) Funny How Time Flies” (First Quarter Review)

It seems like just yesterday that Season 8 started, with Alex and her family still on their impromptu vacation in New York. And yet here we are, six episodes done already.

It's too bad this first quarter has been anything but a pleasure trip for Alex.

The big story, of course, for Alex, was she contracted a nasty bout of mononucleosis, which at first left her tired and in so much pain she couldn't start her sophomore year at CalTech. She did try to go back, but in the end she decided she would not be able to catch up by the time she felt better, and decided to wait things out until the next semester.

Thankfully for Alex she has one of the most supporting families in the history of mankind, ready and willing to stand behind her and care for her in her time of need.

Oops, I made a tiny mistake there – I forgot the sarcasm tags. Actually the rest of the Dunphy clan decided that then would be a good time to take advantage of her.

Phil, having been stuck in a locked closet for most of a day, tried to use Alex as a therapy dog. Claire decided to let Alex play the “bad cop” role so she wouldn't have to chew out the rest of the family, and Haley disingenuously tried to encourage Alex to go back to school, not because she cared, but because she worried Alex would figure out she got fired from her designing job, a fact which she was trying to hide from her parents (Alex did eventually spill the beans).

But all of that pales in comparison to Luke, who, looking for a shortcut from doing his own homework, kept borrowing Alex's laptop (while she was asleep, which was most of the time at that point) to steal some of her previous assignments.

To say that I was unhappy with all of them for piling on poor Alex is a massive understatement – so much so that I couldn't even root for Luke and Claire a couple of weeks later when Alex was going through one of her “full of herself” spells (yes, that does happen once in a blue moon) and they tried to take her down a notch by conspiring to cheat at Scrabble to let Luke have a rare win. They actually almost succeeded, until Alex, who was legitimately starting to worry if her sickness was causing her to lose her smartness, managed to guilt them into a confession.

Thankfully physically Alex does seems to be feeling better now (though she did lose her voice for a couple of days).

But she still seems to be a bit out of sorts mentally, unsure of where she wants to take her life (she even dealt with Reuben once again at a Halloween party). She was going to enroll in a couple of business classes (and eventually adding a second major to her biochemistry major) after being inspired by a business book written by a go-getting lady CEO, but she had uncharacteristic doubts about her ability to handle an increased course load. She later dropped the idea after an unsatisfying meeting with the author in a coffee shop.

Instead, Alex has decided (with a little prodding from Claire) to get out in the world and actually learn by doing instead of in a book. She applied for an got hired for a barista job at that coffee shop.

And that's where we stand right now.

Looking forward, what happens on the barista job will probably be the big story for Alex in this coming quarter. Will she find a better life balance from working for a living, and how might whatever happens there affect her going back to CalTech? There is definite potential for a game changing episode in the next few weeks – but whether it's good or bad remains to be seen.

There is also a story in this week's Thanksgiving episode involving her and Dwight, the high school football player staying at Cam and Mitch's house. I still don't think that story will be a game changer.

More on that story later in the week.