Casual 2.13

The Great Unknown

- Alex and Val's father is suffering from serious internal organ failure and has decided to end his life; his wife, their mother, can't deal with it so she is nowhere to be found
- Val ponders what to do next while Leon helps her get her car back; should she try to get back together with Drew, it doesn't seem like a realistic option if for no other reason then because he's remarried; she ultimately decided that she needs to move out and stop living with her brother
- Laura ponders why she feels the way she does about Spencer and his miraculous recovery while trying to pick up the prescription that her grandfather plans to take to end his life; ultimately she seems to find something to latch on to that allows her to feel better about herself despite the fact that she wasn't ready for Spencer to recover
- Alex isn't prepared to experience his father's death in his house; at first he doesn't even want to talk to him; after a little nudge from Lisa, Alex starts talking to him although it isn't clear exactly what he gets from the experience
- after the drugs are obtained; Val, Jack, and Laura jointly prepare the cocktail that will end their grand/father's life

- it was a very emotion filled episode, in large part because of the central theme
- it will be interesting to see where the show goes in the third season
- I have yet to lose interest in watching Casual, even though or possibly because it it a difficult show to classify

Casual 2.12

40

- Val turns 40 and has a fling with Drew (her ex-husband who is now married to someone else); the fling goes great until it doesn't, that would be when Drew tells her that he wants her back
- Laura and Spencer get tattoos; later he finds out that whatever it is that he's got is in remission; he seems to be getting better; they celebrate at his place in bed; his family is nowhere to be found, which struck me as weird; convenient but weird; Laura doesn't say much in reaction to the news so it is hard to gauge her feelings but from the look on her face it doesn't seem like she is overjoyed that Spencer is getting better
- Alex tries to apologize to Val by throwing her a surprise birthday party; he invites over some of her friends, including Jack and Lisa; he spends some time shooting the breeze with Jack, they seem to bond; Jack even arranges a business opportunity for Alex; then Val comes home; she doesn't want the party but she puts up with it until she can't anymore; just as she is about to leave an EMT shows up at the door; he has their father with him

- pretty good stuff; it feels like the season is winding down; I guess I'm ready for the season to end; it seems pretty clear that there will be a third season; not everything is going to get resolved in the final episode of this season
- Alex just doesn't seem to learn, or at least he hasn't, yet; will he ever; it would be nice if he did and in a natural feeling sort of way; I don't expect him to get it all; I would just like to see him overcome his selfcenteredness or change in some way, following this season

Casual 2.11

Death and Taxes

- Alex continues in a downward spiral; he doesn't seem to want to listen to anyone or seriously examine his life; he maybe incapable of doing either of those things; it's hard to say whether he makes any progress in this episode; he certainly flails about a lot and tries approaching a number of different people
- Laura hangs with Spencer; they visit a mortician and then a factory where caskets are made; everything seems okay until Spencer suggests that she can be his social media guru after he passes; that seems to have an affect on her; maybe it finally sinks in that he won't be around forever and she realizes that she is going to miss him; hard to say for sure but it was a good character moment
- Val spends a day with Drew, first getting their taxes done and then stalking one of her former patients; they share a moment in a restaurant and then again outside the restaurant; they discuss how relationships get stale; good stuff

- not sure how to rate this one; it wasn't great but it wasn't awful either; I think maybe if Alex wasn't making such a mess of things I would probably feel better; I wish someone or something would point him in the right direction; by contrast Laura and Val's lives don't seem perfect put they seem to be a little more solidly in control that their brother/uncle

Casual 2.10

Reunion

- Val stays away from home, with Jack; they pretend to be newlyweds and crash a high school reunion; its great until it isn't, towards the end of the episode
- Alex watches as his life continues to fall apart; Alex tries to tell Sarah that he doesn't want her anymore but it isn't until her mother and sister come to visit that in in a moment of desperation he agrees with them which opens Sarah's eyes to he really feels about her
- Alex tries repeatedly to get Val's attention and help but she doesn't respond to his voice mail or texts until he sends one from Laura's phone, not realizing that it is her brother and not her daughter who needs her until she gets home; it is after that when things come apart for Val and Jack, and Alex and Sarah
- Laura hangs with Spencer, who seems a little put out by her appetites; he admits to wanting more than sex but she can't seem to reciprocate

- not sure I liked this one as much as the last one but it was solidly good

Casual 2.09

The Lake

- Alex is an idiot
- while Sarah is hanging at his place, Alex gets slapped with a lawsuit from Jordan; he tries to get his business partner to help him but instead he loses his stake in Snooger for pennies on the dollar; first Jordan buys out his partner for $2.5M and then buys Alex out for $65K
- Laura pisses off Aubrey; Aubrey puts two and two together and figures out that Laura and Spencer have been sleeping together behind her back; when Aubrey confronts her Laura kind of just shrugs her shoulders and says she lost interest
- Val goes on a road trip with Jack to a lake; it was his idea to go somewhere but she picked the place to go; for most of the trip she is on her phone trying to help Alex fix things; it takes most of the episode for her to loosen up and drop her phone and acknowledge Jack's presence

- Alex seems to be coasting downhill at this point; I don't think Sarah will stick around for the long term
- Val's relationship with Jack probably won't last; I just don't think that she and Jack mesh well in the long run; at least he seems to be a positive influence in that he encourages her to relax and have a little fun
- Laura will probably end up alone; whether that will be because Spencer dies or just dumps her I'm not sure

Casual 2.08

The Magpie

- reality sets in or at least the honeymoon is over
- Alex has sex with Sarah, again, but it comes at a cost: Jordan finds out and promises to dismantle Snooger after building it up; the episode ends with Alex in bed with Sarah once again
- Laura and Aubrey want different things; Laura wants sex; Aubrey wants more than sex; Laura plans another threesome with Aubrey and Spencer but after thinking about it cuts Aubrey out of the triangle
- Val flails about until Jack returns; Jennifer is no help; Val needs more stability in a relationship than Jack seems to offer but she goes back to him anyway

- this episode felt a little more in line with what I want to see
- all three leads look like they are headed for heartbreak or maybe I'm misreading the map I see before me but it won't be much of a season if they all get what they want

Casual 2.07

Threesomes

- Laura talks Aubrey into having a threesome with her and Spencer; Laura wants to do it because Spencer has cancer and only has 6 months to live; in the previous episode Laura and Aubrey took some pictures of themselves in their underwear for him, but that didn't seem to do it for him; Aubrey doesn't seem to enthused about the idea of a threesome but goes along with it; the final scene with all three of them which looks like it is post-threesome seems awkward
- Alex continues to date Fallon and flaunt the relationship in front of Jordan and Sarah; he learns that Fallon is with him for essentially the same reason he is with her; she is trying to get at Jordan whom she says she is emotionally involved with; after Jordan and Fallon get into an argument at Jordan and Sarah's engagement party, Sarah shows up at Alex's house in tears, and they start kissing
- Val starts ignoring Harry and sleeping with Jack; Harry represents security, Jack is excitement

- I'm interested to see the damage that the threesome has done to Laura's relationship with Aubrey; everything does not seem good at the end of the episode; it also isn't clear exactly what happened, who did what to whom; and so on and so forth
- Does Alex really want Sarah back? I'm really not sure; I wonder if Alex knows what he really wants; I don't think he thinks that far ahead
- Val seems to be trying to live a lot more recklessly than she has in the past; she seems to be trying to follow Jennifer's advice from a couple episodes ago and live for the moment; ultimately I doubt that it is going to get her what she wants, which isn't to say that Harry is the right guy for her but that she is experimenting and at the moment doesn't seem to be in control of her own life; she seems to be acting in a reactive manner rather than a proactive one; what happens when Jack is no longer exciting?

Casual 2.06

100 Cows

- Alex tries to get Sarah's attention by buying her an extravagant wedding gift; first he buys 100 cows but that doesn't seem to have the impact he wants so he buys 8 chairs from her store; Fallon, one of the receptionist at Snooger (or whatever it is called now) takes care of the buying for him; she hits on Alex; they have sex in his office; he later learns the chairs cost a total of $10K; Fallon asks him to sign a non-disclosure agreement; he finally gets Sarah's attention
- Val goes on a date with Harry (one of Jennifer's friends) after being hit on by one of Jennifer's other friends; she seems to hit it off with Harry and they wind up having sex back at his place
- Laura is nervous about the status of her relationship with Aubrey since they kissed; she seems afraid that Aubrey is going to want more of the same; she gets some reassurance that she doesn't when Aubrey invites her to a party at USC but the episode ends with them making out
- Drew, suspects that Laura is the one who stole his bicycles but Laura denies it was her and changes the subject when he confronts her

- Alex has problems; this whole thing with Sarah is not going to end well; I'm really not sure what he hopes to get out of it; she did seem genuinely touched by his gifts as well as a little weirded out
- Alex is using Fallon; maybe she is returning the favor
- poor Leon; Alex just won't leave him alone, even when he is sick and repeatedly tells Alex that he is sick
- funniest part is when Alex brings Leon over to read the NDA; Leon tells him that he's not a lawyer; Alex is so clueless and focused on his own problems that he's the sort of guy who would buy a hammer to saw a piece of wood in half

Casual 2.05

Bicycle Thieves

- once again three separate tracks
- Alex continues to go a bit bonkers over the fact that Sarah (his ex) is now engaged to Jordan (Vincent Karthesiser) one of the VC partners that has invested in Snooger; Alex really seems to be losing it; taking a clue from something Jordan says he goes to visit his father and learns that the reason why Sarah imploded their relationship is that his father told her Alex was cheating on her
- Valerie looks into getting her eggs frozen and the prospect of having another baby; Jennifer seems to talk her down from this idea by the end of the episode
- Laura and Aubrey get high, which is Laura's idea after Drew (her father) tells her that he and his girlfriend are thinking about having a baby; Laura and Aubrey break into Drew's house, take bicycles, and ride around the neighborhood before throwing them off a cliff; after their destructive act Laura and Aubrey share a kiss

- after looking at imdb I noticed that Vincent Kartheiser is not listed amoung the cast for this episode and on wikipedia he is not mentioned at all; maybe it's just an oversight but it makes me wonder

- not loving this season; maybe it is just a little too casual for me; not enough comedy or drama to suit me; it seems to be coasting in neutral; I'm hoping that this will lead somewhere instersting
- I will probably watch the rest of the season

Casual 2.04

Big Green Egg

- Laura hangs out with Aubrey
- Valerie goes to a game night hosted by Jennifer, has fun and is a big hit
- Alex hosts a barbecue for his business partner and the three partners at the VC firm; things go south quickly when one of the VC partners shows up with a date, who is one of Alex's ex-girlfriends; it didn't end well between Alex and this ex which makes Alex uneasy for the rest of the night

- I didn't care for the way Alex responded to the security guard; the guard was just doing his job but Alex wasn't in the mood to play by the rules even though in the end he did; I think Alex has issues that haven't been revealed yet or maybe that have but are currently lurking below the surface; it is just a matter of time (hopefully) before things come to a head for him
- I guess the title refers to the grill that Alex purchases; its a silly kind of title since the grill doesn't play a significant role, which makes me wonder if it was paid-for product placement
- lots of character work without a lot of plot development; I approve
- not a great episode but it is a solidly good one in my book and it is the sort that makes me curious to see how things unfold from here

Casual 2.03

Such Good Friends

- Val wants to make friends with Jennifer, the therapist occupying the office across from her; Jennifer takes her to lunch but then has to leave while they are waiting for their food; with some help from Alex, Val eventually hooks up with Jennifer and her friends at a wine bar
- is it for real? Val and Jennifer? Val is desperate for friends, especially after discovering (2.2) that her ex still hangs out with the friends they had when they were married
- Val and Laura go to visit a home schooling collective; later Val, Laura, and Alex go for dinner with the collective (kids plus parents)
- the collective seems strange to them, lots of awkward moments, but ultimately Laura decides she wants to give it a try
- one of the female students at the collective is played by the actress who played Xanthippe on season 1 of Kimmy Schmidt
- Alex meets with his business partner and a VC firm about Snooger and how things need to change; one of the VC people is played by Vincent Kartheiser (Pete Campbell on Mad Men); the VC firm encourages them to start mismatching their clients because it will be better for repeat business
- Alex winds up in bed with one of the single moms from the collective