“On The Boulevard Of Broken Dreams”

What is it that people say about why one should never assume?

Well, I can't speak for you, but as for me, “Hee Haw!”

In my case, the assumption I made that came back to bite me was assuming the Dunphy story about Sunday dinner would actually portray them at some point having a Sunday dinner, meaning Alex would most likely be there.

Oops.

Like many times, lately, the warning sign came early. When the opening scene came and went and every Dunphy was there but Alex, I thought “Uh oh”.

That “cha-ching” sound that you may have heard at 9:31 was my “cover my guesses in a range” insurance premium going through the roof.

Just where was Alex anyway – at work, school, or what? This is where this show has stumbled badly since “Grab It” – they will simply not give us any clues as to in what direction will her life be going.

I think we can semi-officially count 13 as an unlucky number for Alex – this is the fourth time in eight seasons that she did not appear in the 13th episode (“Fifteen Percent”, “Three Dinners” and last season's “Thunk In The Trunk”).

I wish I could be hopeful and believe this means we're done with Alex-less episodes this year. But I wouldn't count on it.

I also wish this means a big episode for Alex next week – it's happened before (big episode right before/after an Alex-less one¹) but that's another event for which I'm not holding my breath.

P.S. Other than no Alex it was a decent enough episode. Of course that's like asking Mrs. Lincoln how she enjoyed the play.
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¹ I can't really count last week as a big story week for Alex, even if I graded this season on a curve.  I don't see her flirtation with Ben being a game changer.