"You broke his heart. You know that, right? He trusted you, let you into his home, and you just get to move on? No. No, F*ck that. And f*ck you. You don't just get to forget."
After how things ended last season, with the whole family broken in a way, we find Alex trying to get away from his usual self-destructive path and onto a more constructive and healthy one, even if neither his family or himself are used to it. This new way includes yoga, exercise, some disgusting smoothies and even staying away from meaningless sex. He explains that there are phases of a break-up and he considers he's had his fill of the first two: women, alcohol and drugs, and wallowing in self-pity. So he has decided he'll focus on the third one: Self-improvement.
Alex: I'm trying to distance myself from that word, hate, verbally and emotionally.
Valerie: How's that working out for you?
Alex: Eh, so far, happiness is kind of boring.
Valerie goes to work and finds the place a very loud mess thanks to Jennifer, a woman who has just moved to one of the offices and is remodeling. That's makes her mad but she can't stop thinking about this "new Alex", and what that means for her, since he's unpredictable. So she vents to her very awkward and funny assistant: Leia, played amazingly by Julie Berman.
Valerie: He's looking for the root of his problems, and eventually, he's gonna look to me.
Leia: Because of Emmy.
Valerie: No, actually, strangely, we have moved on from that.
Leia: Really?
Valerie: Yeah, it's just bottled nice and deep where it will either be absorbed into his body or it will lead to septic shock.
Finally she decides to ask for Leon's help and convince's him to try to get Alex laid or drunk since, in her opinion, phase one is where Alex thrives.
Leon: You want your mentally unstable, possibly suicidal brother to revel in his drinking and philandering?
She nods emphatically.
Laura, on the other hand, has decided she's not going back to her school, she considers public school but eventually Alex offers to tech her at home. In this first two episodes they give it a go, and Alex even drops his self-improvement phase to throw himself fully into the project, but it becomes difficult for him to distance his problems from te whole thing, and goes a little overboard with the amount of classes and extracurricular activities.
Alex: Come on, you're straight, white and rich. The world has lavished you with undeserved favor. It would be thankless to rest on your laurels.
The good thing is that this episodes gives us a chance to enjoy more of the chemistry between this two characters, since they have so many scenes together.
Alex: No phones during the test.
Laura: It's an essay.
Alex: It's cheating.
Laura: Cheating implies an unfair advantage, which this isn't. Everyone has a phone. They've practically gained limb status.
Alex: What if you're somewhere where you can't use your phone or the Internet?
Laura: What, like China?
Alex: I'm starting to question your enthusiasm.
Laura: I was more enthusiastic when I thought this was gonna take two days a week.
Alex: You know, this classes are important.
Laura: Are they? We'll have an automated work force by the time I'm what, 30? 35? You think this clases are gonna help me land a job in quality control at the sex robot factory?
Alex: You have an awfully specific view of the future.
In the end Laura even calls him out, she tells him he's co-opting her education as a procrastinating tool and she chooses co-ops, schools for small groups where there are kids of similar ages, and they put in their money to hire professional teachers. Alex understands but he's disappointed since he'll now have to deal with his own issues, like the fact that they're trying to get rid of him on Snooger. That's when Leon, under Valerie's advice, tries to get him to drink with the excuse that he's seen his ex-fiance getting engaged on Instagram. But the plan backfires, and Alex takes him to see her, so he can get some closure. When they get to her house, Leon doesn't want to say anything so Alex starts taking to her for him, but he can't help putting his own feelings in the middle.
"You broke his heart. You know that, right? He trusted you, let you into his home, and you just get to move on? No. No, F*ck that. And f*ck you. You don't just get to forget.
Okay, go on, Leon. Tell her how you feel. Tell her how it feels to be betrayed by the person you love most in the world"
Before Laura changed her mind about homeschooling, Valerie had urged her to spend some time with people her own age, since adolescence was the time to make life-long friendships. But Laura pointed out that she herself didn't have any life-long friends. So, trying to prove her daughter wrong, Valerie tries to reconnect with her high-school friends in a dinner party, only to find out they're still getting along with her ex-husband and have replaced her with a woman who feels superior, because she sponsors a child in Cambodia instead of having her own kids. Valerie disagrees, which makes for a very awkward dinner after which she and Drew have a few drinks.
Valerie: Am I not likable?
Drew: They like you. You can be a little blunt sometimes, and sometimes you won't let things go.
Valerie: Sponsoring a child is not parenting.
Drew: No, but you don't have to be the one to tell her that.
Best Quotes:
Laura: I could just get my GED.
Alex: That's for inmates and child actors.
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Alex: Before you get upset, John Adams was home-schooled, James Garfield, Andrew Jackson before he went on his killing spree.
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Alex: Okay, see, this is what we're up against... the machine, the singularity. But we're gonna prove that the human mind cannot be beat, that the human spirit reigns supreme.
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Note: English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes.
So what did you think about the first two episodes of Casual season two? I would love to read your thoughts.
