Party of Five 6.23, All’s Well…: Everything Good Is on the East Coast, I Guess

June 6, 2015

Party of Five 6.23, All’s Well…: Everything Good Is on the East Coast, I Guess

One episode left! One episode left! This frog is pumped!

Summary: Bailey’s planning to spend some quality time with Owen, which must mean he’s feeling guilty about something. He confesses to Victor that he got into a summer college program that could lead to a spot in a business school. The only problem is that the college is in Pennsylvania. And we all know how Salingers feel about leaving San Francisco. Victor urges Bailey to ask Owen for his opinion, since he would have to go to Pennsylvania, too.

Julia’s weighing her own options for the summer: school, more conferences, or counseling abuse victims. She also has an interview with the National Organization for Women. Griffin gets bored and wishes Justin were having to listen to this instead. Over at Todd’s, he and Claudia have fallen into that part of the relationship where they keep having sex and losing track of time. She suggests that they live together next year, since they both plan to be in San Francisco. Todd thinks they should wait until they have a “practical reason” to move in together.

Daphne and Luke are in town so Luke can mansplain that Charlie’s selling off pieces of the factory so all the employees can have a stake. Daphne tells Charlie that they keep looking at apartments but she doesn’t like any of them. She misses Diana, and she knows Luke’s fed up with her being so grumpy about it. Julia interviews for an internship with NOW that sounds like a combination of her three other options – she’d be writing, counseling, and doing public speaking. The catch is that she’d have to move to D.C.

Bailey tells Owen about the possible move to Pennsylvania, though Owen questions whether he actually gets a vote. He announces that he wants to stay in San Francisco. Typical Salinger! Bailey still wants to go, though. Owen doesn’t like that idea either. Claudia tells Julia that she and Todd are having sex, assuring her sister that they’re being safe and everything is good. However, that increased intimacy in their relationship has made other parts of her life more complicated.

Charlie comes home to find Daphne upset. She loves Luke, but everyone else she loves is in San Francisco. Since she could never ask him to give up his job, and he could never ask her to give up Diana, she feels like she needs to break up with Luke. Bailey discusses Pennsylvania with Joe, who tells him about the dreams he gave up to help with the restaurant when he was younger. He doesn’t want Bailey to give up his own dreams. Joe reminds him that other people can take care of Owen.

Claudia has a lesson with Ross, but she’s too distracted to play well. She confides that she got into Juilliard but isn’t going to attend because of Todd and expenses. Ross tells her that money and a boy aren’t good reasons to give up something so huge. He thinks Todd would understand. Julia tells Justin about the internship offer and how perfect it would be for her. He notes that she would be closer to him, but he gets that it would be tough for her to be away from her family. Julia thinks that the rest of them will still have each other, so it’ll be okay. She’s going to D.C.

Bailey brings up Pennsylvania to Charlie, who’s annoyed that Bailey let him believe they might become business partners. Bailey can’t decide what to do since getting what he wants would mean Owen’s unhappy. Charlie reminds him that they had that big custody battle, so Bailey better not expect to be able to just pass Owen back to him. Parenting means sacrificing, and Owen deserves the best, so Bailey better give him that.

Justin’s not so sure about Julia living in D.C., because it can be dangerous, and humid, and also he won’t be there. Bailey looks into colleges he could attend closer to home. The guy who helped him get where he is now is like, “You want to go somewhere that’s not Wharton? Are you crazy?” Todd confronts Claudia for not telling him that she’s thinking about going to Juilliard. He found out from Ross when he asked their boss for a signature on an aid application. But Todd’s not mad that she wants to go – he’s mad that she’s hesitating. If it were him, he’d definitely go.

Julia’s annoyed that Justin seems to be trying to prepare her for the big, bad world. He actually wants her to ask him to leave Yale and come to D.C. with her. Apparently she’s on board with that, which I just don’t get. Charlie berates Bailey for having his head somewhere other than their business. Bailey whines that he’s finally close to getting what he wants, but he can’t have it because what Charlie wants is in the way. Basically, he wants Charlie to let him back out of the promise Bailey made to take Owen.

Charlie talks to Owen about the possibility of him coming to live with him and Kirsten. Owen likes the idea of being a kind of big brother to Diana, like Charlie was to the other Salingers. Claudia admits to Todd that she asked him to live with her partly because she wanted a reason to stay in San Francisco. She didn’t want to hurt him by leaving. Todd thinks he hurt her, though, because he let her feel guilty when she should have been excited. He points out that they don’t have to break up, and they still have the whole summer to spend together before she leaves for New York.

Julia laments to Justin that she and her siblings will grow apart if they don’t see each other every day. I CAN’T HANDLE THESE PEOPLE’S CO-DEPENDENCE ANYMORE. Charlie tells Bailey that he’s made the decision for him about Wharton: He’s going. Charlie has given Bailey’s job to Luke, which allows Daphne to move back to San Francisco. Charlie will take Owen, and possibly move back into the Salingers’ house. He tells Bailey that he’s earned the chance to do something for himself. Bailey’s touched by his brother’s generosity.

Thoughts: Dear Salingers: You are ADULTS. You do not have to live within five miles of each other forever. Go live your own lives!

Julia, don’t laugh at Justin for cautioning you about finding an apartment in a safe neighborhood in D.C. Some parts of the city are flipping scary.

Julia was at Stanford. Claudia got into Juilliard. Bailey could go to Wharton. Why so many overachievers in one family? How did that happen?

Part of me thinks Owen deserves a vote in where he lives. But part of me is like, “Bailey gets to make the decisions. Suck it up and go to PA.” And then there’s the rest of me, which stopped caring two seasons ago.

There’s just one! Episode! Left! I’ll probably post the recap during the week instead of waiting for next weekend. That way I can get started on my next show sooner (and be rid of this one already). I’m too excited to wait!

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