The TV Chick

After a major DVR fail last night, I woke up early to watch LUX. It really is the highlight of my Monday nights. Last night’s episode, appropriately titled “Family Therapized,” centered around trying to become a family. Lux, Cate and Baze are gearing up for an evaluation with the social worker. The radio show topic is about sleeping together — actually sleeping together — and we see montages of Baze and Abby and Lux and Bug in bed together. Cate and Ryan talk about her cold feet and it’s clear that Ryan still dreams about her and has feelings for her. Lux had snuck out to be with Bug and thought no one would notice because Baze was with Abby. Bug is still trying to change for Lux and tells her he needs to get a legitimate job to be able to afford rent. He has a gig that night handing out fliers outside a night club and Lux offers to help.

That night, Baze and Lux discuss her dating life. He doesn’t like Bug and doesn’t think he’s good for her. She asks him not to date Abby. He agrees if she won’t see Bug anymore. Her acceptance of this is more of a “whatever,” but Baze takes that as a yes. Of course, she proceeds to sneak out to help Bug distribute fliers. In the middle of the night, Cate gets a call from the social worker. Apparently, Lux broke her curfew. Baze and Cate explain they had no idea what was going on, but the social worker decides to move up their meeting by a week. The clan returns home to try and figure out what to do. Cate and Baze tell Lux she has to change but she aptly retorts, why is she the only one who has to change, they should change too.

Lux admits to Bug that she is really nervous about the evaluation and she does want to stay with Cate and Baze. Cate shows up at Bug’s (where Lux is) and basically offers him a job at the radio station…he just has to interview first. The interview with Alice doesn’t go so well, seeing as he doesn’t have a high school diploma or any work experience. After the interview, Cate tries to plead with Alice but Bug can’t get hired without a diploma. Lux is understandably pissed off at Cate, but Bug tries to be noble about it. They leave Cate feeling worse. She tried to save the day, but couldn’t.

Meanwhile, Baze tries to talk to Abby about not seeing her anymore, but they end up talking about Lux and the appointment with the social worker. Abby tells Baze that Cate tried to hire Bug at the radio station but it blew up in her face. Light bulb moment! Baze goes to talk to Lux and Bug, and says he wants to hire Bug to work at the bar. He does this for entirely wrong reasons because he just wants to win Lux back. He makes a speech about Bug being important to him because he’s important to Lux. But the catch is, she has to play by the rules. They are “cool” once again and Baze saves the day.

Bug is actually doing a really great job at the bar, and trying to prove himself to Baze. Baze left Abby there to get drunk, but essentially breaks up with her anyway because he’s not setting a good example for Lux. She quips something back about her ovaries and how Baze is such a good guy. Cate calls Abby at that very moment and asks for her advice as a therapist. Lux, Abby and Cate have an incredibly awkward “session” if you can call it that. Abby tries to explain to Lux that the social worker would not have let Cate have Tasha, but Lux says the point is that Cate didn’t even try. Lux leaves, and Abby tells Cate that in this case, it’s really not her. Lux has problems and this is deeper than the Tasha/Bug issue. Baze comes upstairs and they brainstorm how to fix this and he makes an offhanded comment about not caring about Bug. Of course, Bug and Lux overhear this and are none too pleased. Bug had come upstairs to see if Baze needed any help. Lux yells at Baze and asks what’s the matter with him. He just ruined whatever self worth Bug had left. Cate says despite their differences, they have to go into the evaluation and present a united front: they want Lux, Lux wants them. They decide their only choice is to lie.

You had your tissues all ready to go right? Because the next scene ties with the final scene of the episode in the most tear inducing category. Cate, Baze and Lux all lie to the social worker who calls them out on it. She explains that unless they are willing to address their problems, she will have no choice but to recommend another placement for Lux. It is with those scary (shocking) words, that Lux finally confronts her demons. She asks Cate why she wasn’t there for her. Cate, through tears of her own, tells Lux that she was 16, she thought that she was giving Lux a better life by putting her up for adoption. Lux, crying as well, says that Cate gave her up for her own selfish reasons, and why wouldn’t she come looking for Lux. What about when Cate was 19 or 21, when Lux was being abused by foster parents and jumping from home to home. Why didn’t Cate look for her then? Cate tells Lux that she matters now, but Lux can’t forgive her. Lux storms out after admitting this, and I continued to fall more in love with this show. The social worker believes Lux’s words are a sign of a breakthrough. She thinks that every teenager has a bumpy path and this is a good sign because it shows that Lux wants to make things work with Cate and Baze. She tells them that they should consider legally adopting Lux.

Cate goes to Bug’s apartment and knocks with no answer. She slips paperwork under the door for Lux. Cate then goes to Ryan for help, and asks him to get Lux to come back. He seems unwilling, but she says she has changed a lot and made a lot of mistakes. She admits that she never held Lux after she was born, and she never told that to anyone. She pleads with him that he doesn’t have to forgive her but will he just help her. Meanwhile, Baze goes to Bug’s apartment to apologize to Bug. He may have hired Bug for the wrong reasons but he wants him to keep the job for the right ones. He tosses the bar key on the table and leaves.

Apparently, Ryan did agree to help Cate (without saying it in so many words), and goes to talk to Lux. He tells her that she and Cate are similar in so many ways, and that Cate has changed a great deal. The paperwork that she and Baze signed to legally adopt Lux is proof that she isn’t going anywhere. Lux asks Ryan that if he believes Cate did change, then why can’t he forgive her.

Back in Baze world, Lux goes to talk to him and asks if they can be friends again. Before he tried to be her dad, they had a lot of fun and now they fight all the time, and she doesn’t want to fight. I kind of thought Baze would be accepting of this new plan, but instead he says that he can’t just flip a switch and go back to the way things were. He is going to keep trying to be Lux’s dad. I am continually impressed by Baze’s ability to mature. Baze shows up at Abby’s and it looked like they were going to just break up. However, Abby says if he shows he is really serious about this relationship, maybe Lux will take him more seriously, too. He then asks her out on a date. I’m not really sure how I feel about this relationship. I like Abby just fine but I wanted to see more Cate and Baze, or something along those lines. I don’t think this will necessarily develop into anything serious though, so I’m okay with it for now.

After all the drama, Ryan comes over to Cate’s house and Lux is right behind her. Get ready for some more tears, people! Lux and Cate have a heart to heart. Lux hasn’t forgiven Cate and can’t guarantee things will work out. Cate wants to make it right and Lux asks to come home. Lux goes to unpack and Ryan and Cate talk. He follows his own advice and tells Cate that he couldn’t imagine what it was like the day she found out about Lux. It’s not an excuse to do what she did, but he didn’t put himself in her shoes, and he should have. He offers to stay (and help her find her other sock so that her feet won’t be so cold that night)…for good. They kiss and reconcile and Lux walks in. He sees her and says that he’s home now, too. What an emotional scene!

At first, I thought that Cate and Ryan should have been broken up for longer. This was kind of a fast reconciliation, but it makes sense. It was perfect that Lux essentially was what brought them back together. I don’t know if I’ve officially chosen a team yet – I will stick with Team Lux for now – but I was glad to see them back together. It will be a long road to recovery but I want them to work out. Let’s face it, any more incredibly awkward radio shows where they were pretending to be together would have been painful. And Ryan’s a great guy. He was absolutely entitled to act the way he did towards Cate and Baze but in order to make the show as a whole work, something had to give. Either he had to leave or they had to get back together. And I love Kerr Smith a lot so I’m glad the latter happened. One of the best parts of this episode was that each character was forced to confront their inner demons. Lux admitted to Cate that she is more messed up inside than she lets on. That moment was so grounding for the show. Don’t get me wrong, it’s wonderful already but we needed to know Lux wasn’t this perfect kid who had everything figured out. I am sad there are only 3 episodes left. I know I say this every week, but come on, CW, renew it already!

Life Unexpected airs Monday nights at 8 pm on the CW.