Without Casey or Paige at school to ground him, Sam is regressing in his coping skills at school. Everything is too overwhelming and he's lost in the noise of High School. As he described it, his pack is leaving him and he's adrift in the wilderness of life. Plus without Julia as his therapist, Sam needs to find a new pack, he might have found one in a support group of highschool kids with autism.
As Sam loses his way at Dayton, Casey is finding an unexpected home in Clayton. After a bit of a pissing context with Izzie on the track field that ends up with a sprained wrist for Izzie, the coach forces the girls to spend time together and work through whatever their issue is. This gives us a great moment between the two girls: Casey learns that Izzie isn't one of the rich kids of Clayton, she's on scholarship and she helps take care of her younger siblings. To Izzie, being at Clayton is an opportunity she can't mess up. This moment is the beginning of seeing something she can connect to for Casey. They both let their guard down, and see each other for who they are, insecurities and fears and all. Plus a little alcohol to lose yourself up helps too. (these two getting buzzed is really cute).
Shout by AgnetėBlockedParent2021-03-29T13:06:57Z
It's nice how in episode 1, all the therapists Sam went to didn't work because they couldn't see that Sam expresses his emotions through facts about animals or Antarctica (illustrated by how, when he goes to Julia and tells her the fact about a huge hole in the continent, she draws the parallel that he's feeling empty) And in this episode, in the peer group, he says an animal fact and can apply it to how he's feeling (lacking 'pack' support). It's character development!