"Joy(?) To The Fishes In The Deep Blue Sea" (First Impressions - "Catch Of The Day" - Season 9, Episode 3)

As you can probably guess by the question mark I placed in the lyric snippet, there really isn't much joy to be found in this upcoming episode's press release.

“Sundown, You Better Take Care” (“Lake Life” Recap)

OK, it was an eclipse and not sundown, but the show used the most obvious song in the ending so I had to come up with something else.

“Oh, The Shark, Babe, Has Such Teeth, Dear”

Getting sick sucks. Getting sick just as vacation starts? Let's just say there isn't a straw big enough in the world...

(I suppose one good thing about it happening now – I don't have to worry about working sick. Yay.)

Anyway, that's why you haven't heard as much from me in the past few days as I planned, even as Season 9 is about to begin – the head stuffiness and coughing fits have simply sapped me (IOW, kind of how Alex felt during her mono bout last season – no I'm pretty sure I don't have that). I'm just hoping I start feeling better in time to salvage the last half of this vacation.

Did I mention Season 9 starts tonight with “Lake Life”? Well, it does, so let's get the first pre-show post of the season up and running, somewhere between the sniffles, sneezes and wheezes:

"I Can Take Care Of Myself" (First Impressions - "The Long Goodbye" - Season 9, Episode 2)

Not surprisingly, it looks like from the press release for this episode, the title mostly fits the story of Manny heading off for college.

But while Alex doesn't look like she's going anywhere (well, anywhere new, anyway), there is still a story for her, and unusually it's the first story mentioned in the release:

“Searching For A Perfect Ending That We'll Never Find” (Season 9 Predictions)

There's one quick scheduling update before I get out on that frail limb and predict what happens for/to Alex this season. It looks like “Lake Life” (the season opener) is the episode that was originally going to be called “Catch Of The Day”, since SpoilerTV's episode database now lists the third episode title as “TBA”. So scratch any thought of a two-parter for that trip.

Now, back to the main raison d'être of this thread:

"Near, Far, Wherever You Are" (First Impressions - "Lake Life" - Season 9, Episode 1)

As I thought might happen,  Season 9 begins with the family's trip to Lake Tahoe, although it is not named as such in the press release - it looks like it's just going to be a generic lake in the episode as the family looks to do some out of the house bonding (at Jay's insistence).

As for Alex, she will be involved in a story about the kids having a "quest for a good time (that) may not be as fun as they expected", but it's unclear if there will be a game changing situation for her  - Ben is in the episode, but, again, as he's also Claire's assistant I'm not sure if Alex will be with him this time (I didn't see him in any of the photos that accompanied the release - it could be he's only in a quick scene before the family heads out on the boat).  Will this be a "titanic" moment for the kids?  Well, on Reddit there is a picture of them in what looks like a life raft, but I'm pretty sure an iceberg will not be involved...

And so we're off and running (cruising?), sort of.  I'll probably have that prediction thread out on Wednesday.

"And Summer Became The Fall"

Sorry for the lack of posts lately (usually once we hit September I pick up the pace back to normal levels) - there hasn't been much news yet about what we can expect for Alex  this season.

I'll probably put up my predictions either Sunday or early next week (if Irma doesn't take a right turn and barrel up here to New England - as it is I'm hoping against hope she weakens a bit before slamming Florida), and hopefully the season opener press release comes out next week.