String Cheese
Alex is struggling to make ends meet and her only hope is to find a new job soon. She’s been told that she can’t work over the 30 hours limit, so she’ll have to find another way to make ends meet.
Alex shows up at 19 Glastonbury and offers to do the gig in person for cash – if she cancels the gig with Value Maids.
When it comes to Paula’s problems, her solutions are mounting up. Without her RV, no forms of identification and a reckless ignorance that Basil will come back, she’s not able to get her house back. The same house that Basil has been renting out. It’s now clear that Basil is a scam artist, something that was foreshadowed by his shaky Australian accent. Anyway, the marriage looks to be the final deal and an excuse to get the keys to her house, family name…and the RV.
Alex tries to help Paula, managing to gain the deed to the house and confronting the tenants. The only trouble is, they’ve obviously already signed the forms giving Basil the money, so he scoffs at their attempt to get around this.
Nate and Alex have been getting close, and Alex starts to look at him differently. She wonders if he’s really relationship material, but she obviously doesn’t want anything long-term right now. Alex has dreams of going to college instead and focusing on herself and Maddy.
That evening, Nate offers to take Alex out for dinner and a movie. Only, Sean shows up at his place and immediately gets jealous, lashing out at Nate. Sean’s real purpose here though is not to be a pain in the ass (believe it or not.)
He’s found a mortgage folder for Paula, but unfortunately her mortgage is in default and she’s about to lose her house. Given it hasn’t been paid in six months, Paula is still adamant that Basil is an angel.
Basil is trying to get away from the casino and he’s using his normal voice to do so. Sean and Alex try to track him down, but they eventually find him at a casino. Paula is still oblivious to the seriousness of the situation she’s in, but she eventually comes across Basil and he uses his normal voice.
Basil has been lying to Sean about his finances and he’s now admitting it. Sean confronts Basil and Paula about the situation and they both agree that Basil should have told them the truth from the beginning.
Paula is understandably upset, but manages to get her stuff from the RV before taking off. However, Paula lashes out at Alex, claiming that she’s smug and enjoying this.
Sean tries to talk Paula around, claiming that they can help her. However, Paula rushes back to her house and breaks the glass with her bare hands, which leads to her being kept overnight in the hospital for surgery. ..
Alex, in her desperate state, ends up at Sean’s place. As the pair get cleaned up, Alex leans forward and kisses Sean. That kissing soon turns into a whole lot more as this looks to end in some serious consequences. ..
The Episode Review
It’s hard not to feel sorry for Paula. Despite all of her issues, she’s been taken advantage of by Basil who happens to have a serious gambling addiction. So if taking her mortgage payments and losing her house wasn’t bad enough, there’s now no way for Paula to get her one remnant of the past back again.
The ending with Paula slicing her wrists and despairing like that reinforces just how difficult her life has been.
It’s not excusable for her to lash out at Alex and make her life difficult too, but I guess everyone goes through grief in different ways. It’s just a pity that she doesn’t see how much good Alex does and how hard she’s trying for Maddy’s sake.
The ending with Sean and Alex hooking up again is bound to cause a lot of problems going forward. It will be interesting to see how both of them react when they are less vulnerable. ..
Alex’s life is a series of extensions or exaggerations of his own.
The housemaid that helped clear out Barefoot Billy’s house is a more extreme version of the story of Alex eating food at Regina’s and snatching the cleaning gig from Value Maids. ..
The strength of Danielle and Sean’s relationship is what makes this show so compelling. It’s almost as if Maid is using their characters to complement Alex, who is still a mystery to the audience. With three more episodes left, it remains to be seen exactly what direction this one takes next.
