The four siblings are in different ways. Charlie and Julia are giving up household responsibilities while spending time with Grace and Sam, respectively. But Bailey and Claudia are suffering lonely. For this the episode has a great and sad story and the others two, way behind greatness.
Sarah left (is absent here), Bailey is alone and saddened so he focuses in wrestling. He enters a high level competition, All Stars, after pleading to coach Russ that is the only thing he has. He doesn't have Callie's support, who wants to kick him out considering he "used her". His teammates are not his friends and just one accepts reluctantly practising and going a pub with him (good scene that one at the pub). And the only person who supports him is Claudia. She even wanted him to return living in the house, saying that Julia and Charlie are spending too much time outside. She accompanies him to the competition, cheers for him and hugs him when he wins. But he can't share drinking with her so he leaves her alone and goes to the bar one more time. This is the great story of the day and the three scenes between the two are emotional, especially the last one. Claudia is more alone than never. Her parents are dead, Bailey is always drinking and busy with college and wrestling, Julia and Charlie prefer chasing "useless" love interests than being with her, Kirsten (her lost adoptive mother) is in Chicago without choice healing her manic depression with her parents and other persons, her only alive grandparent is dying alone of cancer who knows where, Jody, Artie and her friends are gone, Ross is raising his daughter Tess, Joe is enjoying life with a woman 20 years younger, so she is totally alone. I could say that she only has Owen around, but there are no much scenes of them. Claudia doesn't even has much screen time here like in the last episode, proving my point. So overall, there's no much to say, I praise Lacey's job, she still is wonderful and sweet, keeping alive the soul of the series, and Scott's performance, he did a good job with his alcoholic character. For them, it's sad the point reached by the series now. It's like the writers reached an excessive level of drama and sadness without killing any of the main characters.
As for the others stories, Julia's one is better. Charlie's one is very predictable and annoying for me (considering all I've seen in the seasons 1-2 and the first six episodes of season 3, plus 3x12). A story of jealousy to make him date Grace?? Totally pointless. I guess, for what he has said in interviews about disliking romantic comedies, that Matthew didn't enjoy filming an episode like this. And considering the main plot of the series, this episode was a waste in Charlie's character. Like I said on the last episodes, the true Charlie Salinger would have stayed being a responsible hard working father, taking care of Owen and Claudia, watching Bailey and Julia, keeping himself busy to hide the grieve and pain after losing his wife. A strong family man, sharped by the sad experiences he had, that's the Charlie I hoped to see. Sadly, here and in most of the episodes of season 3 without his wife, Charlie was again converted into a immature lost guy without a straighten life. On the other hand, Sam was previously engaged so Julia starts to feel uncomfortable. Then, they learn that the woman, Karen is engaged to someone else. So they share their experiences, Julia with Justin and Sam with Karen, and though they are not similar, it's enough to get them closer. It's good that Julia's life experience makes easier for her getting closer to a guy 7 years older. But it's bad for the fact that she's still on highschool, and she is the only young woman in the house. She still has household responsibilities, chores, to do. She shouldn't leave Claudia and Owen alone. This is when the family started to get lost.
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