“Ring The Bell - School's Back In”

As much as I'd love to really go deep with this preview of tonight's “The Long Goodbye”, physically I'm just not up to it – I'm still dealing with this illness that's bugged me for the past two weeks (thankfully it's only bronchitis and not pneumonia again), and I'm only now just catching up on all the sleep I've lost. Sad, because this one has quite a bit going for it, with a story about Phil and Claire visiting Alex at her dorm (again):

Anticipation Level: High to Very High. Again, the only tempering factor is how much is tonight's story about Alex and how much is it about Phil and Claire. I think there's enough for Alex even in the worst case scenario to make it interesting, though.

Not to mention the fact that even though it's only the second episode of the season, it already feels like there aren't going to be many more opportunities for a big Alex story this season, which adds a lot to the anticipation.

Emotional Moment Potential: Medium. While most of the the emotion tonight will probably be used by Manny's “leaving for college” story, I think there will be some left over for Alex.

Game Changing Potential: Very High. In one big way I think tonight's going to set one tone for this season – how much of the season will Alex spend at home, and how much on campus (or possibly elsewhere).

Are There Any Other Questions? How many medications have I used/am I using trying to shake this cough? Five. Next.

Hopefully I'll feel better for the recap, and hopefully we'll have an episode worthy of a deep one.