This episode could be considered as a farewell or a tribute to memories of season 1, when Julia was with Justin and would compare her relationship with Bailey's, when Claudia still played the violin and when Charlie and Kirsten were happy together at her apartment. Even there is a short scene when Charlie puts Owen to sleep, to remind moments of 1x17. But everything has changed and the good old times are behind.
Claudia finally has her arm healed and the cast is removed 3 months after the accident (and one of the happiest moments of the family). But, trying to feel normal, hangin out with her friend Jody and wanting to leave that part of her life behind (all the happy moments from season 1-2 til 2x05), she decides to quit playing the violin, despite Ross, Julia and Charlie's protests. After she goes to walk Thurber, she comes home and they confront her, but Bailey defends her. She explained to Ross that now she doesn't care about the violin, she's not scared to play or afraid if her arm hurts. She tells to Bailey and Julia that they can't order her anything considering their lives, and responds Charlie's worries for spending time with Jody by saying she's her friend and that she likes her. In the last scene, she plays the violin one last time before leaving it in the basement. Goodbye to the happy violinist child from season 1. I know that Claudia leaving the violin is not the right decision, I agree with Julia (what her mother would say), but this is probably a consequence of what happened in the failed wedding. In early season 1, Julia walked away from what mattered to her before her parents death, the straight As, being a good student, even Justin (until she realized she liked him). Now, after such a traumatic event where Claudia basically lost her adoptive parents, she is walking away from the things which made her happier before. Also, growing up, Jody's friendship, the desire to have something normal on her life considering how things at home are not good, have influence on her decision.
Looking for privacy, Julia realizes she could convert the attic into a room, and wonders why nobody thought about it before (Charlie actually mentioned it in the beautiful episode Grownups, when he thought that Kirsten could use the place to work on her dissertation). But when Bailey finds out this, he fights with her over the attic because he tells he's older and after having Owen as a roommate he deserves it. Soon, they involve Sarah and Justin in their "war". This reminded me a little of their fights in Brother's Keeper and other moments between the two. Of course Sarah is not Jill, but still serves as a pawn in Bailey's comparisons to Julia and Justin. In the process, Sarah takes Julia's place at an audition for singing, where is showed JLH's talent with her voice. And Justin is accepted in a job for a radio station which Bailey applied. Also, an interesting fact, Bailey says that Owen crayons in many of his things, including a picture of him and Sarah, from the summer working in the restaurant. Anyway, all fight stops when Julia finds out that Bailey got into a college in East Coast, so she leaves him to use the attic as a dorm and they reconcile. Overall was a good storyline, but not as good as the ones from season 1. It's clear how things changed in the family, and isn't an improvement.
As for Charlie and Kirsten, she calls him to fix the situation with the nanny income taxes. Claudia gets the message on the machine and pass it to Charlie, but she was afraid he could he mad because was accidentally erased. While he takes Owen to sleep (miracle on season 2, Owen is present!) on the crib, Claudia tells him that Kirsten's message was that she needed to see him, but she didn't hear the rest as the message got lost. Then, he runs into Kirsten at school, but as he got only part of the message, he thought she wanted to get back together. He tells it's great to see her, she's surprised but still seems happy, and he says that he didn't call her because he thought it was her move. She tells him about the nanny income taxes, and thinks it'll be unpleasant for them to go together to the IRS. He says there's no problem, but it's clear he is disappointed because he can't have her back, even though she doesn't notice this. Later, at her new apartment, she works on filing the taxes, while Charlie checks on the place. He observes her books, offers to build some bookshelves and fix the table if she wants. He also realized how she settled in, so she says it's a good neighborhood and cheap. He jumps into bed, says it's feel big, and she agrees (she tells it's a queen), both aware of how they had been sleeping alone in the last 7 weeks. In that moment, seemed like he tried to tempt her, but she avoided looking at him on the bed. The next morning, they head out the IRS, and she complains how they chased her for 42 bucks. She wishes could have bien more, and then they realize this could be the final goodbye. They repeat "so", "anyway" at the same time (I wonder how many takes needed that scene), and he asks her how she got there. She took the bus, so he offers her a ride home. He also suggests that if she's hungry, they could go to dinner, in a place recently opened by Rocky the bartender, someone they both know. She doesn't seem very convinced, but accepts. There, they talk about the cheap wedding presents they got from couples, Wendy and Steve (who only spent 25 dollars on them), and from the Perlmans, a set of steak knives. They mention how they gave them candlesticks of iron (expensive), and Charlie jokes how they weren't supportive of them. Here, they also prove why they belong together: while eating salads, they know exactly each other food tastes and allergies (he knows she won't like a bread with dill, or fresh ground pepper, while she knows he is allergic to jicama). Later, he walks her to the apartment, saying it's the least he could do. Again facing a goodbye, they realize they can't separate, so he says that this is usually the part where he kiss her good night or backs away. She wonders if she should let him in or kiss right there. Forgetting all their past problems, they simply kiss and sleep together. Then, she can't sleep (third time this is shown) and is angered at herself after struggling with depression in December. When he tries to touch her, she gets up and tells some of the things she did, she bought a book Getting Over Him, she took him off her speed dial, and got a new place. She doesn't know what it means that they slept together, and he says he doesn't know either (it actually means that they must be together forever). Charlie feels in crossroads, because he still loves her but she isn't sure of what she wants, so he tells her to take it slow and see what happens. After a couple of days, they are seen lying on the floor, wondering if they should go to a club, movies or theater. They agree that there's too much people in those places, so they prefer to stay in her place, because they don't need anything else, just water, food, and each other. Suddenly, Claudia knocks the door, he's surprised, so Kirsten says she visits her regularly because Claudia misses her. She tells Charlie to hide so she doesn't see him (surely Claudia'd faint of joy if she saw them together), and then opens the door. Claudia says she's the only sensible person she knows (good guess), and asks her about leaving the violin, but when she realizes someone is there (she sees two glasses, and chinese food for two), and that the table is fixed, she is saddened, and leaves (it's strange how she didn't realize who's good at fixing tables, I hope Charlie'll tell her about this one day). Later, while lying in bed, Kirsten says they are not back together because they never made plans or talked about the future. She doesn't want to tell anyone about them, even though he wanted to. So Charlie lets her go, even though they both love each other, because he senses it's too soon for her to take him back. They stay looking at each other, and kiss. About this final scene, I'm not sure how they said goodbye if before they couldn't. Anyway, this reminded me a little of Games People Play, when they got back together for the first time. The story was great, initially and the development, but the end for me was disappointing, sad, because they talked as a final farewell, and that upsets me. Then, I want to highlight the fact that initially, Kirsten thought Charlie didn't want to see her, she thought he didn't want her. This tells how affected she was by the disaster, she felt so unloved by him, that she was with low self steem, thinking that all what she did for him didn't mean anything if he wasn't sure to marry her. But it was the opposite, he loves her deeply, he knows that she's everything for him, only he can't take back the damage made. He's forced to wait. By the way, if someone wonders how she was able to see him, smile, and kiss him on this episode, the answer will be given in early season 3. There are three perfect scenes here which were really happy for them: leaving the IRS, the dinner in a coffee bar where serve "real food" (that was wonderful, for the first time was shown an outside dinner, previously were always seen at Salinger's or at home), and finally, the walk to her apartment, when they kiss proving that they can't be apart, they are happy together and able to forget their past problems (a magical moment, perfect chemistry). They belong together, they never should have separated, the canceled wedding was an impossible event (poor writing), so it's really hard to see them "finishing" what should have never ended. It's not what the story wants, the story says: they are meant to be together and live happily ever after.
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