6x08 The Presidential Suite

[7.5/10] It speaks to the quality of the Alexis/Ted storyline here that I would rate this episode as pretty darn good overall, despite the fact that the other two storylines in this installment are crap. Once again, we’re in the bizarro world equivalent of the show’s early seasons, where Alexis’s arc is the backbone of the series rather than the albatross around its neck.

I have to admit, when Ted showed up on Alexis’s doorstep and seemed pensive, I worried he had just flown across the country to break up with her. Instead, it’s just a job offer to stay in the Galapagos for three more years and an admission that he’s not sure what to do.

Alexis isn’t either. As I’ve said before, some of my favorite stories in the series are the ones where Alexis shows genuine growth and maturity and this may very well be the peak of that. Her deciding that she couldn't bear to have the man she loves give up his dream job for her, nor could she live in the Galapagos, and so they both have to move on, amicably as friends, is one of the hardest but strongest decisions we’ve ever seen her make.

Ted, of course, affirms it, knowing that he wouldn’t want her to give the career she’s built anymore than she’d want him to give up his. So what follows is sad but sweet. Alexis expresses that they built each other up to this point, giving one another the support and comfort to realize their dreams. I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t hoping for some “Five Years Later” tag in the finale where they reunite down the line. But in some ways it’s better if they don’t, because this moment, of toasting what you have when the mature thing to do is let go of it for now, may be the most grown-up, empathetic, and human Alexis has ever seemed. It’s been a hell of a journey for her, and this may be the high point of it.

That’s a good thing too, since the other two storylines bring almost nothing to the table. I called Patrick coming back from the spa with an orange glow tan from minute one. David as a bridezilla is getting really tiresome, and the gags here are predictable and weak. There’s something mildly cute about the two taking candids on Stevie’s cellphone afterward, but I really hope we’re building to something with David’s behavior with this stuff, otherwise it’s just unfunny shtick.

Likewise, Johnny waving off Roland, Jocelyn, and his wife from the “Presidential Suite” at the new motel is totally reasonable. Moira making a big production over how they should move there is more unpleasant behavior from her, and the Schitts sneaking into the suite after the Roses have already decided to break Johnny’s rule and stay there was, again, predictable. This whole portion of the show has been a graveyard of laughs in recent episodes, and that continues here.

Overall, the Alexis storyline works like gangbusters and is one of the character’s crowning moments. The other two stories are, at best, the fertilizer her narrative grows out of.