Life Unexpected – Which Lux is the real Lux?

I’m not sure I get the character of Lux just yet. As she said, she “didn’t want to go to that school.” But despite the sentiment, she seemed hell-bent on being accepted half of the time, and we see a young woman that is incredibly self-sufficient and world-weary. Then, we see a girl that needs the approval of her new high school’s mean(ish) girl clique. Sure, some of it can be chalked up to insecurity, but I think there was a bit of overkill. She needs to settle down and become comfortable with who she is, so she can figure out — and I think we all know which way she’ll come down on this — if she wants to be a part of this new life.

It almost seems like she was seeking validation, and was using a life that would never stand up to scrutiny. She’s smart enough to know that, so the only logical conclusion that one could come to is that this was just one more tactic in trying to burn down her new life. Sure it’s not perfect, and there’s a lot of work to be done (by all three parties) to make the family work. But … worth outing your mother’s real life, and putting her job in jeopardy? Methinks not. Obviously by the end of the episode she’d made her peace and was back home, but for how long this time? She’s never had to face reality as a real daughter of someone, which means (gasp!) being wrong every once in a while.

I do have to say this: Shiri Appleby continues to impress as Cate. Maybe it’s the “realness” behind the character (and all of the characters, actually), like when she plays her emotions, and especially when she admits — weekly, it seems like — to Lux about her struggles of trying to figure out motherhood in a day.

I guess it’s time to start meeting and/or developing some of the secondary customers. Jamie (Reggie Austin) we’ve met before, but it is nice to see more of him. I’m a fan of Keegan Connor Tracy, so I wish there wasn’t a change (or not a change, depending on how you look at it). There’s probably a reason for her arrival, though. Heck, if she weren’t married (a point made at least twice), I would be asking myself (and you, gentle readers) how long before Alice was set-up as a love interest for Baze.

Notes & Quotes:

• “Oh, you’re just bitter that you’re buying too many dinners and not enough breakfasts.”
• I don’t know what was more inevitable … the Bong Lamp coming back to haunt Lux, or her new “friends” finding out her real back story
• I don’t know the reason why, but Lux rocks
• “I’m married … with step-kids.” “I’m out.”
• “They picked out kids like they were puppies … or cars.”
• Not a lot to say about either the Bong storyline or the Bar storyline
• Many thanks to @heroine_tv for filling me in on the theme music: the song is “Beautiful Tree” by Rain Perr

Clacked by Ivey West
on Feb 09, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT