Casual 3.13

The Hermit and the Moon

Alex discovers that he's just been dumped by Judy. He tries to get his waffle maker fixed but the guy at the repair shop recommends he gets a new one. Rae discovers she's pregnant by Alex. They ponder over what to do. It seems like they are going to let the pregnancy progress.

Val calls Drew when she can't find Laura. Drew isn't very helpful. When she eventually finds Laura she is staying with her grandmother. Val tries to talk Laura into coming home with her but Laura wants to stay, despite or in spite of all the negative things Val has to say about her mother.

Jack is gone. Leia and Leon are back. Leon seems a bit reluctant when he sees Alex and Rae talk about a possible shared future.

I think that it is time for me to move on and not return to this show. I don't hate it. It isn't awful. It just doesn't feel like my cup of tea anymore.

Casual 3.12

99

This one felt very gimmicky. The first 2/3 of the episode are a flashback to 1999, the year that Val became pregnant with Laura. It was very weird seeing Thomas Dewey and Michaela Watkins playing the Alex and Val 18 years ago. They, of course, looked way too old to be playing a 19-year-old and a 23-year-old and I couldn't get over that fact. They had a different actor playing Drew, who looked age appropriate for the part. He had the mannerisms down even though he didn't look just like Drew. It also felt like they were emphasizing cultural reference points of that era a little too strongly, which was also kind of distracting.

I think if this had all turned out to be a dream I could have accepted the incongruity of this part of the episode better but it wasn't a dream or even really explained. Was it there to contrast with what Laura is going through? Was it just something that the creators of the show wanted to do?

The last 1/3 of the episode takes place back in the present. Laura arrives in Sacramento. She goes to see Casey. She finds her mentoring a girl about her age. Casey is shocked to see Laura. Laura runs off.

Val finally comes clean with Jack. She tells him that she thought they could be screwed up together. Not exactly a compliment to someone who is trying to fix his life. She seems to have given up on trying to fix her life, at least for the present. From my perspective she seems very wedded to the idea of an ideal seeming relationship. She can't seem to get that so she seems to want to go in the opposite direction and be as self-destructive as possible. I might be reading it wrong but that's my read of it at the moment.

Alex seems happy in his relationship with Judy but he doesn't seem to recognize the personal responsibilities she has. She doesn't have the quantity of time to spend with him that he wants to spend with her. He seems very slow to understand that. He is a man-child.

At this point I'm not sure I want to continue watching the show beyond the end of this season, the next episode.

Casual 3.11

Firesale

Leia proposes to Leon. Leon says, yes. The rest of the episode revolves around their engagement party. I was a little surprised at how fast his happened. According to Leon they have only been dating for 7 weeks.

Alex is still with Judy. Presumably no one at work knows about their relationship. Alex gets bummed when Leon doesn't ask him to be his best man or one of his groomsmen. He invades Judy's space unexpectedly. She isn't ready for that and asks him to leave. Clark, her son, is on his way home. She isn't ready for him to see Alex with her. Alex apologizes and Judy agrees to go to the party with him. There is one more semi-awkward moment when Alex finds out the wedding is going to be in London. He suggests that Judy should bring Clark with her. She doesn't respond, as I recall it. I think that silence speaks volumes.

Val isn't entirely happy. She agrees to be one of Leia's bridesmaids, which turns out to be a bit awkward since all the other bridesmaids are Leia's sorority sisters. Jack comes back from a trip and pisses her off because he had a bite to eat with some colleagues just before he got home. She wanted to get a bite to eat with him. She looks positively miserable at the engagement party. She ends up abandoning Jack to have a drink with one of her classmates from the class from which she got booted.

Laura is desperate to get out of town. She's planning to follow Casey to Sacramento. Casey doesn't know this and isn't in this episode. Laura needs to raise some cash so she sells a bunch of her stuff (for less than it is worth). She knocks up her father for some money. She sells the new table her mother bought recently, the one on which Laura left a wine stain. The episode ends with her riding in a car with a woman she barely knows to Sacramento.

I don't see good things in Laura's immediate future. The same goes for Val. The only one who seems to be doing ok is Alex and I've got a feeling he's going to screw that up before the end of the season.

This was a happier episode than the last one but there were some dark moments. Laura's arc is by far the least hopeful. There's still 2 episodes left in this season but I don't have a lot of hope that it will end on a high note. Hopefully the next season will be a little more upbeat.

Casual 3.10

Cake Walk

The title describes the exact opposite of what this episode is for Val, Alex, and Laura. Nothing seems to go right for any of them. One is dating a co-worker. One wants to date her boss. One is dating someone who I guess could be her patient.

Things seem good for Alex and Judy, at first. Their first attempt at sex doesn't turn out well. Alex manscapes a little too much and then has performance issues. He isn't sure exactly what the problem is. He goes to see Jennifer, talks to her about it but she won't prescribe him Viagra which is what he is really hoping to get.

Valerie starts to wonder if Jack is planning to or will soon be cheating on her. She gets booted out of the storytelling class she was taking. She confronts Jack about what's bothering her but it doesn't seem like she is fully satisfied with the answer she gets.

Alex and Judy have dinner with Val and Jack, at Val's place. It doesn't go well. Alex questions whether sex addictions are real, not knowing that Jack has one. About the only good thing that seems to come out of the evening is that Alex and Judy finally have sex, in his car just outside of Val's house.

Laura's story bookends the other two stories. She is rejected by Casey and starts drinking. She shoplifts a bottle from a liquor store, drinks several bottles of her mother's wine, and pours herself a few drinks while she is babysitting Judy's son. The episode opens and closes with her singing Landslide by Fleetwood Mac while she babysits Clark.

This episode is structured differently than most others are on this show. It opens with Laura singing, then in jumps back two weeks and works it's way back to the opening scene. I'm not sure why the director felt the need to cut the episode in this way. The only thing that occurs to me is that she wanted to open and close with the same song and that seemed to be the best way to do so.

This was not an upbeat episode. It wasn't a bad episode, it just wasn't a happy one either. There was little in the way of humor and everyone's lives seemed to be headed in a downward trajectory. Leon and Leia are not in this episode.

Casual 3.09

Fresno

Val and Jack go to Fresno to visit Rich, the half-brother Val only just recently learned about. It doesn't go well. Rich can't stop talking about X-Men Days of Future past and Val is completely bored. It doesn't help that Jack still isn't ready for sex. Val doesn't say that but it seems like that's what she needs. She finally gets it at the end of the episode.

Alex makes a pass at Judy. She rejects him. He finally talks to Rae, for the first time since they had sex. She tells him he's too selfish. The next day he offers up his house for a photo shoot for a YouTube star, who never shows up for the shoot. It gives Alex the chance to spend some more time with Judy. They share a fairly chaste kiss before she heads home.

Casey comes over and cooks for Laura, while her mother is gone. Nothing physical happens between them but Laura certainly looks like she hoped something would. The next day at a city council meeting Laura makes an impassioned plea to the council on the issue before them. It impresses Casey but then before anything can happen between them Casey announces that she's taking off for Sacramento. There is another battle to be fought there,

Leon and Leia spend the weekend together, for the first time, I think. Things are moving fast. It looks like he is going to move in with her, at least temporarily, while his apartment is being worked on.

I don't know if I have much hope for either Alex and Judy or Val and Jack. Judy is separated from her husband. I think she is going to go back to him, maybe for the sake of her son, and break Alex' heart. Jack and Val are poison. I think Val needs to backup and reassess where she is where her life is going. She's been leaping from one thing to another throughout this season, with Jack being just the latest. Maybe it is healthy on one level to live her life this way but I don't think it is healthy in the long run.

Overall a good episode. I want to see where things go from here. I want to keep watching even if I feel like some of these relationships are doomed.

Casual 3.08

Venus

Alex has sex with Rae, his roommate. They were both drunk at the time and greatly regret it. He spends the rest of the episode avoiding her. He spends time at the office looking online for Val's other half-brother. Judy is there with her son. It's the weekend so no one else is there.

Val tries spending time with Jack, who is still detoxing which means no sex. They go to a museum but she keeps imaging they are making out. Eventually she can't take it anymore and tells him they should part ways, at least for now. The episode ends with her texting him. Trouble. I don't think this is going to end well.

Laura spends most of the episode at Casey's place. She obviously wants alone time with her but there's too many people hanging out at the house. She meets her competition: the boss' wife who is able to size Laura up pretty quickly.

A decent episode. It looks like something may be brewing between Alex and Judy. There's no sign of Leon or Leia but I'm sure that they will pop up again before the end of the season.

Casual 3.07

The Rat King

Alex and Rae, the new roommate, host a Magic the Gathering Party at their place on a Friday night. It starts as a small group but grows. They don't get around to playing the game because someone sees a rat or traces of a rat in one of the bathrooms.

Originally it looked like the party was just going to consist of Alex, Rae, Val, Laura, and Leon. Laura brings Casey, her boss, with her. Val calls Leia and asks her to bring over her cat, to help catch the rat. Later, Val calls Jack who brings over traps and sticks to catch or kill the rat with. In the end it is the cat who catches and kills the rat.

Laura seems to be sexually interested in her boss. She gets to see her naked but nothing happens between them. It is unclear if her boss is aware of Laura's feelings.

Leia turns out to be the woman who was in bed with Leon in the previous episode. They find a moment alone to share a kiss. They decide to announce their relationship to everyone else. Just as they are about to make the announcement the party breaks up just before the game is about to begin.

This episode was an interesting contrast to the last one  this time everyone was together. I liked it but there was something about the rat that felt like a gimmick and left me a bit unsatisfied.

Casual 3.06

Troubleshooting

Alex endures his first day on the job. He's replacing Eric, who everyone loved, big shoes to fill. He doesn't get off to a good start. After he blows off some steam and find an ally, the COO, it looks like maybe he will stick around. At home he is learning to deal with his new roommate who is more popular than he is, cosplays, and hosts Magic the Gathering games at his place.

Val is confronted by the girlfriend of Theo, a barrista with whom Val had sex. She didn't know he had a girlfriend until the girlfriend showed up enraged at her office. Val goes out for a drink with Jennifer whom she hasn't seen in quite some time. This leads to Val giving Jack a call after Jennifer lets it drop that Jack is a sex addict. They agree to meet for lunch. The lunch goes well until Val asks Jack about his addiction. Next thing Val knows Jennifer is acting like she doesn't want to talk to her again.

Val seems to be the one in the downward spiral this season. How irresponsible and stupid of her to ask Jack about something that she was told in confidence, about him, by someone else. Despite all that, the episode ends with Jack and Val texting about giving lunch another try.

Unlike Val, Alex seems to be making his life better. I suppose there plenty of time left in the season for him to mess things up. It is refreshing to see him on what (I hope) is an upward spiral, for once.

Laura goes to work for Casey, as an unpaid intern. It turns out that the work is very similar to the job she just gave up. There is a lot of door-to-door canvasing for signatures. Laura gets bored and winds up having sex with the guy who is showing her the ropes. The sex is very unsatisfying for her.

Overall a very good episode. For the first time that I can remember the three leads did not interact at all with one another in the episode.

Casual 3.05

Look at Me

Valerie suffers a bit of regret at hooking up with Byron, the guy from her writing class. She just wants sex. He seems to want to have a relationship. She tries hitting on a barista at her favorite coffee place but he can't even seem to remember her name.

Alex tries to be helpful by going on a double date of sorts with Val and Byron. He pairs up with her landlady whom he meets through a dating app. It goes well at first but only because he is lying to her. He doesn't have a job, although he dis apply for one earlier in the episode, one that seems below what he wants. He leads her to believe that he is a dot com millionaire who recently cashed out. She's down with that until she learns that he's been lying. It all comes apart when his latest AirBnB guest inadvertently spills the beans.

Val suffers through a night of sex with Byron. She doesn't know how to end it so she sleeps with him. The next day she text him to tell him that she doesn't want to get serious. That night in class he reads a story about getting his heart shredded. He doesn't name who did it but it is clear that he is referring to her.

Laura is kind of on her own in this one. She starts to take her job gathering signatures for green ballor initiatives more seriously. That falls apart when a woman questions how much she knows about the people at the top of the organization she works for.

On the whole I liked it. I was surprised that Alex and Val's landlady lasted as long as they did. Laura's transformation seemed a little fast but maybe it wasn't a transformation. She is still in a state of flux trying to find something to cling to or at least that's my read of Laura.

Casual 3.04

The Sprout

Alex finds out that Emmy is pregnant and wonders if he's the one who made it happen. In between dealing with AirBnB guests, whose food he keeps eating, he invites Emmy over. She has moved on but still comes over to visit him. The sprout is how she refers to the baby inside her.

Val ignores Leon's messages for the most part. She starts taking a creative writing class. She gets some new clothes. She has sex one of her classmates, who is much younger than her. It doesn't seem like she feels like she is making progress.

Laura doesn't have much luck getting signatures. She hangs with one of the guys from the store where she tries to get signature. Everything goes great until she gets caught trying to steal something from his house. I had a feeling she was going to get caught. I was really hoping she wouldn't do it but I also wasn't surprised when she did try to steal.

The funniest moments by far were Alex' interactions with the AirBnB guests.

Casual 3.03

The Table

Alex tries pitching to a firm, maybe a venture capital (VC) firm. They act interested but then tell him that they will be in touch. His accountant tells him that he is living beyond his means and suggests that maybe he should sell his house.

Laura goes looking for work, to pay for the tattoo removal fees. When a job getting signatures for a social justice type organization doesn't seem very exciting or (more importantly) remunerative, she tries something else. By the end of the episode, the something else, which pays better, weirds her out and she is back to collecting signatures.

Val asks Leon to hang at her place while she is at work. She has a delivery coming, the titular table. Val deals with her clients and their problems, all of which drive her nuts. Leon misses the delivery people and tries to make it up to Val by making her dinner. Val starts to consider taking a job teaching at UCLA.

All in all not the most uplifting episode but also no where near as dark as the last episode. There is light at the end of the tunnel. There were a number of moments that brought a smile to my face or made me laugh.

Casual 3.02

Things to Do in Burbank When You're Dead

Alex and Val wander around Burbank the night after their mother's memorial service for their father. They visit places from their childhood, including a doughnut shop, a high school, and the house where they grew up. Val can't stop thinking about the fact that the man she thought of as her father was not her biological father. Eventually they spread their father's ashes in the hills near Alex' house.

The next day Alex sneaks into their mother's home to retrieve his shoes. She catches him. He admits to what they did, take the ashes. She drops another bombshell, Val has another half-brother.

Overall a good episode but definitely not an upbeat one. I'm ready for some humor.

Casual 3.01

Ashes to Ashes

Val and Laura have moved out of Alex' home. They are renting a space in a less than perfect house. The owner isn't very responsive to Val's request that she get the kitchen sink fixed. Alex tries renting out the spare bedrooms in his place. He scares off the first guy who stays with him by sharing a little too much. Laura tries conning her mother into paying for half of her tattoo removal fees. Leon and Jennifer make brief appearances. Alex seems to have to have a tendency to drop in on them when they are unprepared to deal with him. Alex and Val's mother holds a memorial service for their father at which she drops a bombshell in the middle of eulogizing him.

So far so good. This continues to be a weird show that I find hard to classify. It is somewhere between comedy and drama.