“The Lady In Red”

On “Live With Kelly and Ryan” yesterday, during Ariel's segment¹, they aired a short clip from the scene where Alex was trying out that red dress (in front of Claire and Gloria) we saw in the promo pictures.

The biggest takeaways from that scene for me were: 1) she is shopping for outfits (including for later at night) for something going on with Bill, and 2) Claire seems to be on board (and even leading the way) with Alex trying to dress herself more attractively for Bill.

So where does that leave us going into tonight's “Kids These Days”?  In a way, tonight is like seeing the part of the story of Alex and Gloria actually shopping for the dress we didn't see during “Come Fly With Me”, except everyone's nine years older and Claire is along for the ride.  And it's a lot different occasion and look than for going to some friend of Claire's wedding that Alex has never even heard of.  But I wouldn't mind if Alex said something about finally wanting to wear a dress for that cute boy (Bill).

But that's far from all:

Anticipation Level: Very High. So many questions, so little time:

1) What is the status of Alex and Bill's relationship – are they trying to take things to the next level, or have things cooled off and this is Alex's attempt to get things back on track?

2) Is this the start of a new paradigm for Alex, at least in terms of how she presents herself, or is this only a one-off?  (I'll get back to this one in a moment.)

3) How much of this Claire's doing, and how much of it is Alex's?  And where does Gloria fit into this equation this time?

4) How much does Haley's situation affect what's going on – i.e. do either Claire or Alex already know before they go shopping that she's pregnant?  (She is supposed to go to Claire at some point tonight looking for some motherly advice.^{2, 3})  If they do know, is that why Alex suddenly wants to change her look to impress Bill, hoping for more of a commitment?  And if they don't already know, and Claire finds out tonight after she's gone shopping with Alex, does she pull a 180 and try to put the brakes on everything?   (I know Alex is an adult and should get the final decision, but...)

Add it all up, and, yes, there's a lot to anticipate tonight.

Emotional Moment Potential: Medium.  Most of this is for the last question – if Claire does do a flip flop I sense Alex will not be happy about it.  Oddly enough given everything else that could happen tonight, other than that, I actually don't see a lot of emotion in Alex's story.

Game Changing Potential: Very High.  As far as potentially seeing a whole new Alex is concerned, a lot of what I said last season going into “Sex, Lies and Kickball” can be said about tonight:

Alex has been an adult for almost two (make that three) years now (and she's always been a lot more mature than her years), but tonight just feels like it could be her statement episode that's she all grown up. Exciting? Yes. But am I dreading it a little? Yes. There is a fair-sized part of me that wants Alex to always be that adorable little brainiac she's been since the beginning, even though it is well past her time to come out of the cocoon.

And I really don't want to see Alex turn into Haley v.2.0. I'm hoping any change will be far subtler than that.


Well if, unlike that night, tonight does turn into a big sea change, we can probably throw out the hope for subtlety (although I'm not sure if that dress really is a Haley outfit, to be honest).  Not that it's likely in play for tonight (academics is not likely to be discussed too seriously if it all), but I hope if Alex is changing she doesn't lose her focus on what's been important in her life so far.

Are There Any Other Questions?  Any further word on the Christmas episode?  There was a more detailed press release issued the other day, but no mention of Alex, and Bill is not listed as appearing.  On the other hand, Elaine Ko wrote the episode, so there is hope for something good if Alex has even a small story (usually the Christmas episodes do have a little something for everybody).

Have I said more this morning than I'll end up saying tonight? There's only one way to find out.
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¹ If you missed it, Ariel didn't say a lot about the show, other than they still don't know whether or not they would do one more season, but that everyone was hopeful they would.

² Oh, by the way, according to the commercial for tonight, Dylan's going to pop the question to Haley.  And she speaks to her weird boss, so she might get fired too (I hope not).

³It's also possible (maybe even likely) that Haley doesn't tell either of them until the Christmas episode, based off her story that night (giving the family a “Christmas gift they will never forget”).