The TV Chick

What is a CW drama without a requisite stuck in the storm with people you don’t like but eventually bond with and come to terms with episode? Last night’s Life Unexpected “Storm Weathered” was just that. It set up some amazing storylines for the next few episodes (only 2 left in the season), and each character was stuck with someone or some people you wouldn’t necessarily expect.

The episode begins with Ryan and Cate in bed (whew) listening to themselves on the radio (pre-recorded Best of Cate and Ryan special) while the storm brewed outside. Cate brings Ryan “breakfast in bed” which is really her engagement ring and she asks him to marry her. He accepts, of course and she puts back on the ring. A few minutes later, Cate is in wedding mode (kind of quick but I get it) and looking at a wedding checklist. They are going over details, and on the checklist it says to choose the maid of honor. Cate asks Ryan if he thinks Lux would say yes. Cate asks Lux and she is thrilled and honored. Of course, she says yes. Abby calls for Cate, furious that she didn’t tell her the news and assumes that she is the maid of honor.

Back in Baze world, Math discovers that Baze is wearing a kaballah bracelet. Baze seems into Abby, but it appears more for show than anything else. Baze goes to the yoga class Abby teaches, and of course Cate is there, too. This leads to a rather hilarious exclamation on Cate’s part…after she sees that Abby is wearing Baze’s tee shirt, she yells quite loudly and the entire class turns around to look at her.

Meanwhile, Lux is at Jones’ party. The group is playing suck and blow (which I fondly remember from Clueless). This time, instead of Elton (ha!) it’s Jones. He kisses Lux, and she gets mad. He tells her she is hard to walk away from, even though she’s made it perfectly clear she doesn’t want him.
Ryan and Cate are in wedding planning hell with their relatives, so Cate’s comes up with the idea to get Lux and get married that night. Cate and Ryan begin packing to elope, and discuss how each other’s family will be upset. Ryan makes a Moon over My Hammy/Denny’s joke, which made me laugh a lot.

Back at the party, Lux walks in on Jones kissing another girl and flips out. She calls Cate to pick her up, but Jones tries to stop her. He says he told her he liked her, but he won’t wait around forever. Lux asks if he’s trying to make her jealous. He retorts it’s not like we’re going to winter formal later and I just slept with someone else. She quips back that this is payback, and he says it’s not, but she can’t have it both ways. He asks why she is so upset and she screams at him and leaves.

Back at Baze’s, the bar ceiling is leaking because of the storm. Jamie and Math are mad that Abby is staying over and infiltrating their lives. Cate shows up at Baze’s to get Lux, who isn’t there. The roads are totally closed because of flooding and power outages. Baze wants to know what’s so important that she has to get Lux and leave with Ryan right away, and Cate says she is eloping. Math and Abby are upset for entirely different reasons. Math, you are awesome…I want to see you get a fantastic girl and get over Cate. Not that Cate isn’t fantastic, but she has enough trouble deciding who she wants that you don’t want to get into that mess! The power goes out (of course!), and they are all stuck at Baze’s…together. Abby said she would never exclude Cate from her wedding and neither would Baze…which leads to some interesting looks. Does Abby really think she might marry Baze? We learn her motivations behind dating Baze a little later and they make a ton of sense.

Ryan picks up Lux from the party and they get trapped at the station, presumably because of road closures. They get to talking and there is an adorable flashback with little Lux and little Tasha.  Lux tells Ryan about a family who wanted her when she was older then changed their mind because they said they could tell she didn’t want them. She tells him that no matter what group home they were in, it was just a holding cell to wait for someone that wanted them. Lux tells Ryan about Jones and how she was ridiculously jealous of the other girl. He tells her she got that from Cate. After Lux gets to talking about foster homes and abandonment, he tells her it makes total sense why she reacted the way she did and if she just explains this to Jones, he would understand. Rejection is hard to shake off, even if it’s somebody you don’t really want.

Back in Baze/Cate/Abby/Math/Jamie stuck world, Math and Jamie interrogate Baze about Abby. He tells them he wanted to prove something to Lux. He wanted to show her that he can be a part of something real like Cate and Ryan. Math says that’s admirable but Abby isn’t the right person to do this with, making reference to a “faux-nut” a fake donut that Abby was eating previously. I love how this show interjects some amazing little anecdotes, and quips that make me laugh while remaining true to itself and serious at the same time. Abby wants Cate to admit that she’s jealous of her, but she won’t. She tells Abby that she messes everything up in her life. Abby wants to know why Cate would consider sneaking off to get married without her maid of honor. Cate yells back that she didn’t even ask her. She wanted Lux to be her maid of honor.

Baze goes to break up with Abby, and tells her it’s not working and their relationship is causing problems with him and Cate. Things were just moving too fast. She tries to hold on to the relationship, and analyzes him (Therapy 1o1 — she says) he’s afraid to have what he wants. Baze then admits that he has feelings for Cate, and Cate of course walks in on this. Cate freaks out and thinks it will be weird for everyone now that she knows this. Abby yells at her to shut up and tells her she bitches no matter what the situation is. Baze leaves this uncomfortable sisterly argument and Abby accuses Cate that she has feelings for Baze. This shuts Cate up pretty well and she gets to thinking. And I got to thinking. Cate and Baze very obviously still have some sort of feelings for each other. It’s just a matter of actually admitting it to themselves and each other before they move forward and decide what to do. I think this relationship needs to be explored. I love Ryan and I think he’s a great guy. But Baze is there for a reason, and it’s not just to become a good dad to Lux and stay out of Cate’s life. I’ve read that the last episode has a wedding, but something won’t go right. There is no way that this show, which continues to be so brilliant and wonderful, would let Cate get her happily ever after so easily. Something will happen with Baze…it has to in order to stay true to their characters.

In any case, Cate goes to talk to Baze about his feelings and says she is flattered. Baze admits that he made that whole thing up because he thought that it was the only way that Abby would accept their relationship was over. He wanted to prove to Lux, himself and everyone else that he could be in a real relationship. He tells Cate that he cares what she thinks of him. Cate doesn’t take this lying thing so well though and doesn’t think too much of him at the moment.

Baze goes to talk to Abby, and tells her that being with her reminds him how nice it is to be seen by someone the way he wants to be seen. (That was a mouthful) He admits to lying about his feelings for Cate, but Abby doesn’t buy it. She thinks that what he said about Cate came from somewhere, and that there is probably some truth in it. The power goes back on — miraculously — and Lux comes to rescue Cate and they talk about Abby. She tells Lux she was jealous of him and Abby and she’s a little worried about what that means. Abby and Cate talk. Abby confesses that Lux changed everything with their relationship. She wants to be in her life again and maybe that’s why she was dating Baze. This was really sweet and I’d love to see more of the Cate/Abby sisterly relationship without all the Abby crazy.

Lux goes to talk to Jones, who understands why she acted the way she did. Cate tells Ryan about her jealously over Baze and Abby’s relationship. He understands and offers some wise Ryan words of wisdom. He still wants to elope but Cate doesn’t want that quite yet. They end up at Baze’s place with alcohol and a change of plans. They are going to get married in a couple weeks with everyone. Lux proposes a toast to Cate and Ryan but Baze is clearly still pondering his feelings for Cate. Cate asks both Lux and Abby to be co-maids of honor.

I loved Ryan’s scenes in this episode. I thought it was great having Ryan and Lux get stuck together because we were able to hear more about Lux’s past. Ryan offered some great advice to her and I like that he is sort of in a more fatherly role without attempting to take Baze’s place. This episode wasn’t as intense as last week’s tear jerker, but I still really enjoyed it. I have loved every episode of this season, but this one served more of a purpose to set up further storylines as opposed to directly moving the plot along. I don’t want to take anything away from it, because I really liked everyone getting stuck in the rain together. I think my favorite part of this episode was the fact that Baze and Cate are now both thinking about each other, and their feelings. There is a lot of resentment built up for Cate I am sure but both Baze and Cate love each other in a real way. They are now ultimately connected because of Lux, and that connection isn’t going to go away. If they are going to just co-exist as platonic parents (how’s that for alliteration), they need to explore those feelings. I suppose I have kind of said this all along. I don’t want Ryan to go away but something has to happen where Cate and Baze actually talk about or admit their feelings for each other. I am sad that there are only 2 episodes left in the season. However, I am even more sad that the CW hasn’t picked it up yet.

Life Unexpected airs Monday nights at 8 pm on the CW. You should be watching!