“Walking In A(n Ariel) Winter(less) Wonderland”

In case you were still wondering, yes, tonight counts as an Alex-less episode (hence the slightly altered holiday themed lyrical title).

Even though Claire talked to Alex on the phone early on we neither saw nor heard her, so she wasn't there. On the bright side, at least this time she was mentioned – a lot of times when she's not around the show acts as if she doesn't exist.

”Come Fly With Me” sets the precedent – even though Haley was in the house and sent Dylan a text, since we didn't see or hear her, and since Sarah wasn't listed in the credits of that episode (in the first three or four seasons when one of the kids wasn't used in an episode they were not listed in the on-screen credits)¹ that episode officially counted as Haley-less.

So we are now at 21 Alex-less episodes overall (and counting), and 2 for the season (and definitely counting). It's also the earliest we've had to suffer through 2 since the third season - “Go Bullfrogs!” and “Treehouse” were the sixth and seventh episodes of that season (the first season was even worse, with “The Bicycle Thief” and “The Incident” both airing sans Alex in the first four weeks).

Although, in all honesty, “suffer” may not really apply to tonight – aside from Alex being missing this was a very good episode, right up there with “Closet? You'll Love It!” among the best of the Alex-less episodes.

I am still worried about what Phil being dumped from his real estate partnership will mean for Alex though (perhaps even more so since it wasn't his choice to leave). We'll see where that may go next week.
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¹ Since Nolan wasn't listed in the credits of that episode either, even though we “saw” Luke bouncing on the trampoline with a box on his head and no pants, I'm assuming they used a body double.