"And Now, The End Is Near" (First Impressions - "Finale, Part 1" & "Finale Part 2", Season 11, Episodes 17 & 18)

Here's the press release for the two part series finale.  There will also be a one hour retrospective on the show at 8:00 before the finale.

"Party All The Time" (First Impressions - "I'm Going To Miss This" - Season 11, Episode 16)

So, the Dunphy kids are going to have another party while their parents aren't around?  Haven't we seen this already?

At least Alex is old enough that she can't get grounded (hopefully she's found a new apartment now that she's left her old job and had to move out of the Prescott).  But that last photo where a fire starts (even if Alex isn't involved, I hope) worries me a little.

The info for the finale should come out in the next couple of days.

“If You Change Your Mind, I'm The First In Line” (“Baby Steps” Recap)

Well, I did add up some of the pieces correctly.  I'd say good enough for government work, but, given the way they're handling things right now, I might actually be overachieving.   Not at Alex's level, of course (that would take a miracle along the lines of hitting Powerball), but...

“Baby Baby, Always And Forever”

R.I.P. Stella (a/k/a Beatrice in real life).   Given how much Ariel loves dogs in real life, I'm surprised Alex never had much (if any) interaction with her on the show.   Needless to say this was not good news at a time in real life when we could use some.


With only four episodes left - tonight's “Baby Steps”, an episode titled “I'm Going To Miss This” on April 1st (there is press release out which I'll discuss later this week), and the two part finale on April 8th, tonight's episode title seems out of place – I'd hesitate to call anything happening a baby step at this point.  And that really might be true for Alex. 

"Comin' In and Out of Your Life" (First Impressions - "Baby Steps" - Season 11, Episode 15)

I'm surprised there actually will be a new episode  on March 18th, as I'd expected ABC to wait until the following week to start the final four episodes - I presumed single episodes on the 25th and April 1st, and a two-part finale on April 8th.  Now I'm not sure how the rest of the schedule will look.

Anyway, the potential big story is not in the synopsis nor in the promo photos - Alex is nowhere to be found in those.  But, Arvin (the professor from CalTech who taught at least one of Alex's classes and had a brief relationship with Haley, somewhat to Alex's chagrin), is returning.

And this might not be a one-shot deal - during filming of the final episodes a couple of weeks ago both Ariel and Sarah posted selfies on their Instagram stories with Chris Geere, the actor who plays Arvin.

Now this could just mean Arvin is trying to get back into Haley's life, even though she's married to Dylan and has the twins.  But, maybe, just maybe, one way or another, his road may (finally) take him to Alex?  Yes, I still think the probable age difference is a bit much, but, at least, since Alex is no longer at CalTech that possible conflict of interest is off the table.

Or, maybe there is one more possibility - maybe Arvin offers Alex some sort of job (e.g. assisting him at CalTech)?   Since we haven't heard anything about Alex's current job since she let Margaret go as her assistant, maybe she's having second thought about staying there?

Let's keep an eye on this - this last month may still have a happy (or sad) twist for Alex.