“Secret, Secret, I've Got A Secret”

[Update: Sorry, but I had to make several strike-throughs.  I completely forgot that we've seen Ben before - he works at Jay's workplace as Claire's assistant ("I Don't Know How She Does It").  My bad for being so Alex-centric that I missed that salient point.  It still looks like tonight will be interesting, though.]

It's been almost a month since the last time we saw Alex in a new episode – finally, tonight, “Do You Believe In Magic” airs. And Alex might finally have something to do for the first time in ages, as for Valentine's Day she gets a secret admirer (including at least one passionate kiss).

But will everything be as it seems for Alex?

Anticipation Level: Very High. I Googled Joe Mande, the actor who plays Ben in this episode and the upcoming “Finding Fizbo”, to see if maybe he's the guy Alex kisses in that scene in the promo commercial. I'd say it's probably a direct hit:

Now this is not 100% good news – the actor is 33 years old in real life, so we still have a bit of an issue with him being too old for Alex (I'd figure at most he'd play a character about 5 years younger, which would still leave about a 9-10 year gap instead of the real life 14). Not as bad as a relationship with Rainer (Haley's boyfriend, for now?¹) would have been, but still at least borderline awkward.

But even that would be a lot more intriguing than what we've seen for Alex this season, hence the “very high” level. That and the fact it's been a month since the last new episode.

Of course this may still fizzle out – it could be that Alex thinks Ben is the admirer, but he really isn't, and Ben's role in two weeks will have nothing to do with Alex (e.g. going back to the wording of the synopsis about this secret admirer being someone“who may be a little too involved with family “, it's possible he could be an employee at Jay's closet company, which could put him in either Claire's story or possibly a hidden Jay story).  [EDIT: As I noted, he played Claire's assistant last season, so that makes it more possible this fizzles out.]


Two other factors which downgrades the level a bit: 1) this is another episode with a lot of storylines (at least five, maybe six), so there's quite a bit of a chance Alex's story gets lost in the shuffle, and 2) as I've noted before, the show's track record with Valentine's Day episodes isn't very good.

Emotional Moment Potential: Medium. I suppose Alex could still end up heartbroken at the end of the night, but I think that outcome is more likely to befall Haley. Of course if it is both, we could have a very emotional commiserating scene between the two of them.

But I think more likely than not Alex's emotion at the end of the night will be a happy one.

Game Changing Potential: Low To Medium. If that kissing scene is at CalTech (i.e. Ben's either an alumni or professor) then we know Alex went back to school. Or if it's in an office at her coffee shop job then we know Alex is still working and probably (not definitely – she might try to do both) has deferred going back to CalTech for a while longer. Either scenario is possible but I don't think either one is likely - the most likely is Jay's workplace.

[EDIT: Forget what I wrote - this happens at Jay's workplace so other than what may or may not happen with Alex and Ben we will probably not hear much about Alex's academic/career future tonight.] 

Are There Any Other Questions?

If Ben is not the secret admirer, then who is it? Cynical as this sounds, the admirer might not be real, but might be a family member trying either to bolster Alex's emotional state (Haley or her parents?) or, even more cynically, to undermine it (Luke?). Again, I'm looking at the “too involved with family” aspect, but from another direction.

Whatever happened to Sanjay? I'm assuming the relationship really is over, for now (we've not even heard his name mentioned once all season). As nice as it might be that someone else wants Alex, I hope Sanjay gets back into the picture someday.

By the way, still no further word about next week. Maybe there will be a commercial about it tonight?
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¹ I found another article with more details about this week's episode. There was nothing new about Alex's story (hence this being a footnote), but it did mention that Haley would catch Rainer out with another woman (not Alex). That almost completely eliminates the dreaded possibility that he's Alex's secret admirer.