Five months passed since the happy season 2 finale. In that time, Charlie and Kirsten decided not to get married surely because it wasn't the right moment, considering what happened before. Anyway, they are fully committed and they are sure of spending their whole life together. Also, Kirsten told the news to her parents, who got mad, called and sent daily letters saying she made a mistake. Anyway, they raised Owen together, telling him bedtime stories, helping him with Daycare and they spent five happy months (not as happy as the spring-summer of 1995, but still). Claudia finished her school year, returned to play the violin, spent less time with Jody, but with her "adoptive mother" back, she felt the comfort and joy she had last year. Also, I bet Grandpa Jake visited sometime the house, met Kirsten and also made the Salingers lives even better. With Charlie managing the saved restaurant and his "not official" wife back, he's again the Man of the house and regained the respect of his siblings. Julia likely spent five lonely months dealing with the pain (and avoiding Justin during spring), being an intern for a Publishing Company and supported by the family, also spending house time with Claudia and Owen. Surely Kirsten learned about Julia's miscarriage and maybe she could give her thoughts to her. Meanwhile, Bailey spent most of the time with Sarah, Will and Gina.
In the first scene after the credits, Thurber is seen in the kitchen while Kirsten is finishing a cake she made for Claudia. She tells Charlie that it's camp themed (she drew a bonfire, a pine tree and a canoe), and then asks him about letters. He shows her one from her mother and one from her father, who, according to him, were always persistent. She knows what the letters say, so she lets him to "file them with the others" in garbage. Then, Bailey brings Claudia back from the Summer camp, and she says she has a boyfriend but no one believes her (yes, it's hard to believe). For what was said, seems that Kirsten suggested it would be fun for her, Julia agreed and took her there. Happy to see her back, each one gives her a hug, including Julia. They go to see the cake, but Bailey and Julia doesn't notice well the decoration. Later, Claudia shows a picture of her boyfriend, Byron, to Charlie and Kirsten in the restaurant, but as she is not there with him, they don't believe her, besides, Bailey didn't meet him, and Claudia never mentioned anything in letters. About this scene, there's a detail to highlight: seems that Kirsten helped Charlie in the summer at Salinger's, given she was talking to a waitress and organizing the menus, after all she surely is known for the employees as the manager's "wife". Also, seemed that them, with Claudia were having some food there, while Julia was with Owen at home. The next day, while doing laundry, Kirsten tells Claudia a story from her first sleepaway camp (she surely had it, living in Chicago), saying that she was shy, boyfriendless so she invented "Keith" to fit with her friends. She tries to make her feel better supposing she has no boyfriend but Claudia doesn't get it. So obviously she gets mad in the afternoon when Julia, Charlie and Kirsten are surprised to see Byron visiting Claudia to go out. She returns late, and the next morning, she confronts them while having breakfast, surprised of why she didn't realize earlier their disbelief. That was a nice scene, showed the family, including Owen sitting next to Charlie on the table (except Bailey), apologizing to Claudia for not believing her. On the other hand, Ellie Bennett visits the house, so Kirsten tells her that she won't tolerate criticism because she and Charlie don't want to hear it, they're together and that won't change. Ellie just says she's there because "her marriage is over". Charlie initially wants her out because she still hates him, but Kirsten is merciful because her mother is a mess, besides she thinks that her dad did something and Ellie doesn't let her call him (she told Claudia this while doing laundry). In the backyard, Ellie finally tells her that while fixing a drawer in her dresser, Gene discovered an affair she had with one of his friends (who played golf too) 8 years ago (when Kirsten left home for college, and Gene was away in selling seminars). She says that it lasted 5 weeks, that was a mistake, but she's sad because she was married with Gene 29 years. Kirsten, upset about this, feels the same way than her dad and leaves her alone. She goes to tell the news to Charlie, and while preparing the couch for other night, this time she wants her mother out. But now Charlie changed his mind and discuss with her saying that she should forgive her. She seems surprised because he's on Ellie's side, so he (off screen) convinces Kirsten to forgive her mother as she forgave him for the failed wedding. The next day, he tries to be polite with Ellie, and bond over their mistakes that hurt the family, but she thinks it's different and is cold towards him. In the night, Ellie tells Kirsten that she will go to Meg's place in Chicago (in a room over the garage), and wonders how she could forgive Charlie and not her. She answers that she loves him, beyond the mistakes, and says she'll forgive her if she forgives him. She wants her mother to go first, probably because she feels that a 5 weeks affair after 20 years married is worst than Charlie's fears on the wedding day (really great scene). Before leaving, Ellie visits Charlie at Salinger's, promises to not send more insulting letters but he asks more, some credit for turning things around. So she says that she hopes Gene loves her, as much as Kirsten loves him, and he agrees too. This storyline was great overall, proved to be a perfect point to forgive or understand Charlie's mistake. Ellie Bennett didn't get cold feet on her wedding day with Gene, but look what she did 20 years later. The same applies to Justin's father. Thousands of couples are ok on their wedding day and thousands get divorced after horrible mistakes. So considering that, seems reasonable that Kirsten and Ellie forgive Charlie, he didn't cheat on after a long time together. And for Gene will be much harder to forgive Charlie but if Ellie makes him see it from her side, he has to, for Kirsten's sake. As for Gene and Ellie's marriage, this discovering answers some questions of 2x06. In that episode, Kirsten knew her mother didn't treat Gene with full love and respect. Ellie loves her husband, but the affair meant she didn't feel entirely fine with him. And that's why Kirsten was mad at her mother then, she knew something was wrong. Anyway, Ellie loves Gene enough to stay with him, that hasn't changed and probably never will. Changing subject, I'd like to highlight a detail, Kirsten said to Ellie that she did some planting in the backyard, Ellie answered Hydrangeas don't do well in direct sun. This is just a detail, but here is proved that Kirsten loved having a backyard again, she'll recall her taste in gardening in some brief moments of season 6. By the way, in 3x06 the Hydrangeas are shown, and they looked very nice, so Kirsten did a good job with the planting.
In the first scene, filmed actually in SF near the Ghirardelli Square, Bailey, Sarah, Will and Julia find Griffin, who returned from long trips with the Marine (Bangkok?). Anyway, Julia and Griffin have misunderstandings before getting back together. He read all her letters but thought she didn't want to get back together. Julia wanted this, but she wasn't in the mood of saying "I love you, I miss you, etc" because of her sadness. Griffin should understand this considering the events in Altered States. He express doubts about their relationship because now it's too simple, it's up to him and he knows all the differences they have. Still, he says he will stay. In the meantime, Bailey, Sarah, Will and Gina take a road trip to Mexico to celebrate last days of summer before Will leaves, and although there are funny moments, Sarah and Gina return to SF in bus because they miss facilities, while Bailey and Will continue. Anyway, after watching a chicken fight in a bad neighborhood (this goes off screen, and traumatizes Will), they get lost, and the Jeep is stolen. Then, they have a small fight because Will is going to college, and return to SF in bus. The next day, Bailey shares some moments with Julia, and Sarah in the beach, drinking and talking about friendship. Sarah says she wants to be his best friend, and thinks they could go to Yosemite and do some hiking. She even suggests drinking beers with him, and he accepts. Finally, all the young people/teenagers are in the bonfire at the beach (including Claudia and Byron), like in season 2 premiere, while Charlie, Kirsten and Owen are at home. It would have been nice to see a short scene with the three in the house at night, because the episode ends in the beach with the rest. It's like one scene is missing. Anyway, Owen appeared enough, held by Julia in one scene, and then in the dinning room having breakfast with his "parents", and his sisters. Besides that, I have to praise the filming locations here, there were many scenes set in San Francisco, in the beach, and this gave the beginning of the season something special (and That Summer Feeling too). Also, I have to highlight the fact that Bailey's already drinking considerably (in a minibar at the motel, and twice at the beach). The episode is very good and shows a little how Summer joy was for the family, giving them a break of all the bad stuff that happened in the second part of season 2. So far, and overall, everything is going great, the family is complete, stable and steady. The problem is that Paula Devicq wasn't shown in the main cast of the season, so this means bad news will come.
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