b plot: steven wants andy to go to preschool, but elyse does not. steven goes so far as to contact a school behind elyse's back because that is what parents do -- they just do what they want instead of discussing what they both want. i guess elyse doesn't want a stranger to raise her child and steven does. i might be team steven on this one because i'm not so sure that alex, mallory and jennifer have turned out so great.
a plot: alex is the new ta for an econ class at leland college. i don't know how this happens -- i went to a small school, and i never had a ta. i had a lab assistant for my required science class requirement, but the professor was still there. leland must be pretty low in the rankings.
ellen, his girlfriend is in his class, which is in violation of the honor code, but i guess it's okay because tv. alex is a terrible instructor, provides little to no instruction and is being just all around terrible to ellen as well as the other students. i mean, in the first class, all he asks is "what causes inflation?", harangues ellen for not giving the right answer, does not bother to answer the question himself, and then assigns a paper on the first chapter of the text book without providing any kind of matrix for grading. i swear, i would have been at the office of the dean of faculty in a hot second. i mean, ALL of this is going on the course evaluation.
okay, so alex grades the paper, and ellen asks him what she got. alex gave her a c minus. she is MAD. alex tries to make her feel better by telling her that the class average was a c.
1) ellen, you're not covered in glory here. don't use your personal relationship with the instructor to find our your grade, and then get mad when it's not what you expected.
2) alex, the average class grade is also a reflection on you.
so ellen is all mad, and she says "i will see you in class tomorrow!" and flounces out. oooOOOoooooooOOOoo.
the next day, she arrives to class late, and she is wearing black calf boots, a black motorcycle jacket, a red shirt, jeans and carrying a gray messenger bag. because this is the midwest and the 80s, the messenger bag is probably full of drugs and mineral water.
btw, the guy sitting next to ellen got a note about plagiarizing, but it's just a note. like, he doesn't have to appear in front of the academic disciplinary board or anything. those of you who watch "mad men" may recognize the actor as herman phillips.
ellen is disruptive throughout class, telling jokes, and finally alex calls her out for a small private conversation. she tells him to admit he graded her too harshly, and he tells her that her paper was not good. they go back to their seat, and alex continues his lecture on banking history. oh, here's another thing that makes alex a bad teacher -- banking history and how banks work is not the same as economics. the principles of economics may explain banking history, but merely providing a history lesson on banking does not adequately explain the forces of economics at play during those times. he ends the class by saying, "oh, and tomorrow, we will be discussing what happens when automatic teller machines run out of money." again, that is not economics, unless he is using that as an example of supply and demand.
alex mopes home and wants to talk to steven and elyse about what to do with ellen. they advise him to compromise, which is what they did about andy attending preschool. (the compromise is that andy doesn't go, and steven gets to keep the preschool brochures. ha. ha. ha. btw, please note that andy ultimately did end up going to preschool; please see an earlier recap for more information on tho subject.)
alex hands ellen's paper over to another professor for grading. while they are waiting for that, they talk about their feelings and apologize for being douches to each other. the professor comes in and agrees with both: the grading was too harsh, but the paper was sloppy.
and then i guess it's okay for the two of them to continue dating in direct violation of the honor code. go leland!