“No Time For A Gentle Rain” (“Five Minutes” Recap)

Didn't they say in the beginning that a lot could happen in 5 minutes? Because, honestly, Alex's story didn't feel that way. At least, not as much as it could've and probably should've been (it was better than OK though, thanks to Alex).

Maybe they should have just split this episode into two and given us 10 minutes of Alex/Ben/Claire/Phil and 10 minutes of Haley/Rainer¹. It certainly would've have helped Alex's story development more.

So now Phil and Claire are worried about Alex being depressed and distant? Where have they been the past few years?

It did seem weird to see Alex's dorm room be a mess, and her turning to alcohol again was troubling, whether it was for sleeping (so she said) or being with Ben (the more likely and more benign reason, barely). The more I think about it the more her line about the cat and Claire rings a little too sadly true.  (There was a lot more about tonight that also seemed atypical of Alex, but I'd rather not get too deeply into that...)

It's not totally a bad thing that we didn't get that blowup from Claire I thought was going to happen – no she wasn't happy but at least she didn't fire Ben (yet?) or give Alex too hard of a time. But I was hoping we'd get a little more emotion out of it.²

And it is nice to see Alex may actually have a life (and a cat?) after all. And being happy outside of academic achievements. And she did get off one cute line among several good ones:

Alex's Line Of The Night ”Maybe I like a little off, and that's not all he is. He's an amazing person who somehow gets me. He's thoughtful and, and smart, and I feel like I can be myself around him. And his nose does this little wiggly thing when he sleeps.”

OK, that was worth an “Awww” or two or three. I sort of still wish she was talking about Sanjay, but Ben does make Alex happy so I'm willing to settle for that.

I was hoping I was going to have a lot more to say about tonight. Oh, well.
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¹ Yes, even if that did mean a fourth Alex-less episode to cover the other two stories.

² As expected, Haley's story took most of the emotional focus, with good reason. I want to be glad she ultimately changed her mind about accepting Rainer's proposal but I'm still sad for her for how and why it happened.