Casual 4.06

Polytropos

Alex and Val embark on a trip to see their mother. Laura comes with them even though she is still hung over. They travel in John's car, which he loaned to Val. Along the way things get a little weird. Laura throws up in the car. Alex puts unleaded gasoline in the car, which only takes diesel. They get stranded in a small town at least a hundred miles from home.

Alex keeps seeing a beautiful woman. He wants to commit himself to Rae but the vision of this woman drives him a little nuts. He is distracted by her when he is filling up the car. He spotted her before that in a diner where they stopped for a bite to eat. She is also staying at the motel where they are staying while they wait for John's car to get repaired. Alex runs into her at a bar and freaks out. He blames her. She sprays him with pepper spray.

Laura goes to the bar. She finds a magical room where people are dancing under blue lights. This part seems like something right out of Twin Peaks. In a way the whole episode does but this part really does. There is no explanation. Laura enjoys dancing with them until she finds herself without a partner. She helps Alex get away from the woman who spayed him with pepper spray.

Val deals with the mechanic who is fixing John's car. He claims it will take at least another day to get it fixed and will require a lot more work. She runs in to him later that evening in the restaurant where she is eating. She just got off the phone with John before she sits down with the mechanic. John told her that the car shouldn't need any where near as much work as the mechanic claimed. She swipes his keys and gets her car from the shop. She leaves some money to pay for the work he did do.

According to my internet research the word polytropos means much traveled or having many forms. It is a word that is used near the beginning of Homer's Odyssey. It seems like an appropriate word to describe not just this episode but the series as a whole. The fact that the trio are on a quest, sort of like Odysseus was in the Odyssey, makes it very appropriate to use it as the title for this episode. A smarter, more erudite person than me could probably write a longer piece about the title and the episode.

The episode ends with the trio heading home without visiting Mom. I like this episode. I really like the structure of it. It didn't hit he in a way that made me fall in love with it but I really like it.