The TV Chick

Last night’s Life Unexpected was full of discoveries: Cate’s sexual preferences, Lux isn’t a virgin, Math still loves Cate, and Ryan is not budging on the break up.”Formal Reformed” centered around Lux’s winter formal. She agrees to go with Jones, who asks her out on a real date (not prompted by Baze’s encouragement). Baze is thrilled by this news, and Math is still sulking about his obsession with Cate. Cate comes to the bar to speak to Lux, after Ryan tells her not to take no for an answer. This prompted a sad exchange between Cate and Ryan where Cate says she just has to accept no when it comes to their relationship. Baze informs Cate that she needs help with a dress and Lux reluctantly agrees even though they are still not technically on speaking terms.

Lux and Cate go shopping, and she tries to open up the lines of communication but Lux isn’t having it. Cate picks out a dress that Lux deems too expensive (I believe the witty words were – does this come with a limo?) but Cate says she wants to buy it for her. Cate bashes on Baze (which is sort of an every episode occurrence) and Lux storms out, telling Cate to pick whatever dress she wants.

In Baze world, he tries to get Math to forgive him and encourages him to go for it with Cate. This leads to a discussion about how Baze thinks parenting is easy because Lux is such a good kid. Math is surprised that Baze wants her to go to the winter formal because of what happened at their own dance. He says that what kids are doing these days is worse than what they did during high school. Math tells Baze to have “the sex talk” with Lux.

Lux gets back to Baze’s and discovers that Cate bought her the beautiful expensive pink dress. And then, Bug is back! I was a bit surprised at how soon this happened, but I knew he wouldn’t stay away for long. She confronts him and how he just left and is now acting like nothing happened. He kisses her and she pushes him away, telling him it’s not that easy. He explains that he didn’t want to be who he was being with her, he loves her and he wants to change. I loved this scene because it was so real. While Lux does fall into his arms fairly quickly, it isn’t without hesitation. She forces him to explain himself instead of just immediately taking him back. While Lux and Bug are — how do I put this mildly — getting it on, Math shows up at Cate’s and asks her to chaperone the dance with him. He does it in such a way as to make it seem like he is helping Cate go to the dance to see Lux in her dress and keep an eye on her. But at the end, he actually asks if it is a date, and Cate says yes.

Lux and Bug are sharing an intimate moment on the couch, when they hear people coming into the loft. Lux forces Bug to hide while Baze and Abby (Cate’s sister) sit down to talk to Lux. Baze brought Abby so she could have the sex talk with Lux. What an incredibly awkward moment! Lux, after hearing enough, asks if she promises not to have sex with Jones, will they just leave her alone. They agree/leave and Bug comes out of hiding. He’s angry after hearing about Jones, but no matter what Lux says — that she’s not having sex with Jones, that Bug left and she didn’t know if he was coming back, she’s just trying to have a normal life and go to the winter formal — he finds a way to make her feel bad and continues to walk off. She rightfully tells him that she did nothing wrong. She thought he wanted to change, but it doesn’t feel any different. Then it’s Lux’s turn to walk off. This was another part of this episode that I loved. Liz Tigelaar (who wrote this episode) has such an amazing way of getting into Lux’s head. There’s no sugar coated moments where they hug and make up. That is part of the show’s appeal for me — while I do use TV as a method of escaping into another world, this show is so incredibly refreshing in that it isn’t trying to be hyperbolic. The show feels genuine and raw and natural and I can still escape into Cate/Ryan/Lux/Baze world while feeling that I am watching something that could actually happen.

Anyway, Math goes to pick up Cate for their date and brings her a corsage. Jones arrives to pick up Lux and Baze gives him a lecture about treating Lux right. I absolutely loved when he said he wouldn’t ditch her (cut to: awkward look from Baze). Lux and Jones go to the formal and of course Cate and Math are there as well (much to Lux’s chagrin). Baze is hanging around the loft and finds a condom near the couch and of course, thinks it belongs to Jones.

At the formal, Cate promises to stay out of Lux’s way. Math continues on the unrequited love path, but Cate seems distracted by just about everything. Jones and Lux dance (this was so adorable), and of course Baze shows up. He has Lux’s phone (is it just me or does Lux seem to forget her phone a lot?) and wants to confront Jones about the condom. Cate gets incredibly pissed off that Baze is there, and they cause a scene, while Cate asks why she can’t just have one night with her, and that he already wins the parent award. This interrupts Lux and Jones’ slow dance, and Jones asks her if she wants to get out of there. They go to his car to listen to some music, when Baze and Cate storm to the car. Baze yells at them, saying that they all know where listening to a little music gets them. Lux retorts back that she isn’t Cate and Jones isn’t Baze. Baze shows them the condom and Jones tells him it’s not his. Lux explains that her virginity ship has sailed so to speak, so that talk with Abby was moot. Cate is obviously shocked to hear that Abby came over for the sex talk. One of my favorite lines from the whole show comes when Lux tells Baze that “I had a boyfriend named Bug…that I was going to live with.” Cate is still confused. Lux tells Baze it’s not Jones’ condom and that Bug is back. Jones leaves this incredibly uncomfortable conversation, and Lux explains to Cate how Baze pawned the sex talk off on Abby when she didn’t even need it. She quips that in terms of parent of the year, they are now both batting zero. Lux then storms off (my goodness, there is a lot of storming off in this episode!)

The next scene is probably my favorite of the entire episode. Shiri Appleby is a powerhouse and she really is phenomenal in this scene. Baze and Cate yell at each other and re-hash their own winter formal. Baze defends himself and tells her he is not the root of her problems. Cate counters that he ruined her life back then and somehow he keeps showing up now and ruining it all over again. Baze says it’s been 16 years and she should get over it. She says that she heard what Baze told his friends after they slept together: that the only way he would ever hook up with her was if she had a bag over her head so he wouldn’t have to look at her and tape over her mouth so he didn’t have to listen to her. Baze apologizes and says she knows that’s not true, and he didn’t mean it. Cate actually thought she had a boyfriend after the formal. She was so excited and then heard him say this and was absolutely devastated. And now she is back in high school (again) waiting for someone to tell her that she is worth something to them, that she means something. Baze tells Cate that she is worth something to him, but Cate was actually talking about Lux.

Back at the winter formal, Lux apologizes to Jones, and tries to get him to understand. Jones isn’t sure if they are still friends. Lux leaves the dance and finds Cate sitting on the floor in the hallway. They have a heart-to-heart where Cate tells Lux that she hasn’t been able to let go of her anger towards Baze, and she hopes that Lux can forgive her for not taking in Tasha. They both miss each other. Math finds them and tells Lux that someone is looking for her. It’s Bug…who comes with flowers and another apology. Cate declares a re-do of the night/winter formal and Cate and Math dance.

Abby comes to Baze’s bar and she clearly has a thing for him. Cate shows up at Baze’s loft to “let go of the past” and Lux finds Baze and Abby in bed together. Baze goes to talk to Cate (who thankfully wasn’t the one who caught them in bed together), and they drink Zimas, in a winter formal reboot. She doesn’t want to hate Baze anymore, she wants to let go of the past and move forward. And if she can, she hopes Lux can do that too. Baze apologizes for who he was back then, and Cate tells him she knows he isn’t that guy anymore. They drink Zimas and toast to new friends.

The promo for the next episode literally made me gasp out loud. Lux, Cate and Baze appeared to be in therapy, or a meeting with the social worker. Lux explains she is more messed up than she seems, and that she can’t forgive Cate. The social worker says she has no choice but to find Lux another placement. I’m reasonably certain this won’t happen, but it made me gasp nonetheless. I’m so glad next week’s episode will tackle the darker side of Lux, because clearly she may seem well balanced but there has to be issues that plague her.

In any case, I thought this week’s episode was fantastic. I don’t think I would call it my absolute favorite of the season but it really set the groundwork for future Lux/Bug interactions and Baze and Cate moving on with their lives and coming to a new understanding of their relationship. I really hope that the CW doesn’t wait until upfronts to announce the fate of this show. It has such a following, and last night’s episode had some of the best ratings in the history of this season. Come on, CW!

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