This episode, I consider it as a response to Judgment Day. In the first scene at the house, there is a memory of how things were during most of 1994-95 and 1996 (overall seasons 1-2 and early season 3): Charlie and Kirsten waking up happily in the parental bedroom, and suddenly, Claudia with Diana, Owen and Sarah arrive to interrupt them. This time, things are a little different, Claudia and Owen are older, Sarah has a much more active role in the Salinger family (in comparison to seasons 2-3) and also, Diana is present. In that moment, Owen shows to his "father" some kind of snails inside a tupper, while Claudia says that she changed Diana's diapers and Kirsten receives the baby. Claudia asks Charlie to pick her up from school, but Sarah says that she will and reminds him to pick up Owen from Hughley's place at 4 pm. Sarah also tells Owen to leave so Charlie and Kirsten have their privacy. For this, Claudia jokingly said the kids are going to end in Jerry Springer's show (so I guess that she has seen that show with Kirsten). When the others leave, Kirsten, happily holding baby Diana and giving her a kiss in the forehead, tells Charlie "quiet dinner at my place tonight", and he laughs because he never could say that to her. They hear noise in the attic so he goes to check up while she stays playing with Diana. Anyway, that nice picture, of Charlie and Kirsten as the main parents of the house, shows how things should have been in late season 3, season 4 and all this season (and that's why the scene was so natural for Owen, Sarah, Claudia, it was a happy family picture). But as everybody knows, this is an overly dramatic series, often complicated by the writers and the Salingers had to suffer all that time until now. So what happens next is that Bailey and Sarah start to take care of everything in the house, contractor work in the attic, changing the electrical system, Claudia's first visits to her gynecologist, Owen, etc. Charlie doesn't seem angry or sad because of this (surely having Kirsten back gave him a deep peace with all the Bailey's stuff that could upset him), instead, he has his vengeance from 5x19: if Bailey wanted so badly to control everything, be in charge of everything, Owen, Claudia, the house and the restaurant, fine, he'll have it all. Also, even though Owen seemed to want his two brothers with him in last episode, Charlie knew that the kid "abandoned him" for Bailey, so he actually doesn't need him now. So, Charlie and Kirsten take their chance and decide to live on their own, out of the house. At the same time, in all their 5 scenes in this episode, they both were shown truly happy. In her apartment, both being in the couch, she tells him how glad she is of having her own place after so long, an answering machine with her name, the food in the fridge she likes (I guess she refers to early season 1, because her place and time of mid season 2 was sad), and having the man she loves there. And he agrees, saying who couldn't get used to that. She jokingly says she's making him jealous so he says he'll just go anytime he wants while she pays the rent. So she lovingly tries to take the wallet from his pocket, saying that his shares of the pizza doubled, and they happily start to fool around. Then, after buying groceries, ice cream, they go to the house through the back door, but the phone rings, so Kirsten asks for the key to enter. But instead, he decides to stay in the backyard, thinking that the call is for Bailey, and wanting to forget all the house stuff (bills, dishes on the sink, etc), to just sit with her and Diana, happy to finally be next to her after so long. In the swing chair, leaning on each other, he tells how he just wants to hear the Michaelson Sprinkler system, which needs a valve replacement, but that's not his job anymore, she agrees, and they kiss. Later, Bailey goes to Charlie's bedroom and surprised, sees that he packed all his stuff. I guess that in the swing chair, Charlie told Kirsten that he should move out to be with her, and she supported him, aware too that Bailey wanted to run the house, so they went to their old room to pack his stuff. Later, at the school where he works, Charlie happily tells him that is ok, he was glad to run the house, the family all the last five years, but now it's his time to start his own life with the love of his life (besides, Charlie couldn't stay, imagine a future with Charlie, Kirsten, Bailey, Sarah, Claudia, Owen, Diana in the house, that's also why he decided to leave). Then, he offers Claudia to move with them, he knows how much she would like, but Claudia feels that she belongs to the house, she is old enough, and now doesn't need Charlie and Kirsten like in the first four seasons. This was an excellent scene, touching, because Claudia also thanked him, saying that she wouldn't be grown up if it wasn't for him, and now she is very happy and proud of him, just as their mother would be. She feels this because she knows that Charlie always deserved to be Kirsten, she loves them and is really happy to see that her "adoptive parents" can now start their own life, their own family. Despite his mistakes, or the times he was written to neglect her, overall Charlie has been her "father" all this time, and despite the times she was forced to be absent, Kirsten has been a kind of mother to Claudia. So this was special, it marks the farewell of Charlie and Kirsten from the house, and considering all the things they did for the family, it's really emotional. Besides, in that scene, was used a piece of the score that will be used again in the series finale, and was simply perfect, added to the rain. Finally, he tells Kirsten that he may look for an apartment for him while he stays with her a few days, and while cooking (was a pie?), she tells him that he and Diana can stay, implying that they can live together. In their last scene, they are seen sleeping, curiously she on the right side and he on the left side (probably because they'll live in a different place), still with that serenity, joy and peace they lost 2 years ago.
And now, Bailey realizes what means to be in charge. He has been out of the house for almost 3 seasons, and though he helped the family more than many common young man, it's a lie that he always took care of everything: in season 4, he divided his time with Annie, as apartment manager, Sarah and the restaurant; in season 3 he was pretty absent for alcoholism; and in seasons 1-2, Charlie and Kirsten runned the house overall. So Bailey feels overwhelmed and looks for Lauren's help, but after their kiss and tension, she decides to quit definitely and take a job at other restaurant. Sarah is overwhelmed too, about the move to the house, Claudia, etc, so Bailey sends her to a geology trip from college. When she returns, Bailey is glad and tells her the news about Charlie leaving, that he now acknowledges all the things he did for the family in 5 years. She seems stressed too, so he tells her that despite all the things he has to take care of, nothing in his life means more than her. She is his first priority. I think that since this episode, Bailey's love for Sarah is stronger than her love for him. These two sides of the episode were the greatest, means too much the decisions they made here, and that's why I gave my full thoughts about it. Season 5 finally is in the good road. As for Julia's story, she tries to move on from all the bad things that happened to her this season, writing. In the first scene, Maggie tells her that she could get past Ned, so she will too. In class, Julia meets an english female writer, Perry Marks, who then starts to criticize her stories and teach her how to make them better. At the end, she learns that Perry is lesbian, and they become friends. This wasn't so interesting as the rest of the episode, just seems to tie Julia's future to writing books and stories. I'd have liked to see Julia involved somehow with the moves in the house and with Claudia (she could have taken her to the gynecologist), but well, never mind. On the other hand, Claudia tells Charlie about a concert that may end at 11 pm, but could be longer, so he agrees to let her arrive at midnight if it ends late. She is surprised, so he tells that he's not worried because he trusts her. Then, she is convinced by a friend from the band, Melanie, to give Cody a second chance. Melanie also tells her that she has to forget Griffin because it'll never happen, and that Cody is real, so she sets them up in a concert. At the end, Claudia and Cody meet at R. E. M. Recital, and reconcile. This part wasn't so great, but Claudia is still herself (wait to see next episodes). It also says something about season 4. In 4x12, Claudia had a sleepover at Reed's and expected some yelling from Charlie. But now he tells why he's not strict on her: he knows she is responsible, that she knows the rules (no alcohol for example), after all, she has always been like the moral compass of the family, so he trusts her. He also said that each time she looks more like their mother, and that also implies why Claudia has been such a good girl overall. In her first 11 years, Diana did a perfect job as a mother, so Claudia turned out to know since she was little what's right and what's wrong.
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