Alex's good friend, Greg dies in a car accident at age 21. Alex is griefstricken and sent to a therapist where he pours his heart out and reveals his insecurities and past.
Tropes:
- Big Ego, Hidden Depths: If there was ever a story line that was the epitome of this trope, it would have to be this episode. Just about everything about Alex's character is explored and dissected to reveal that under Alex's egocentric and overachieving self lies a horribly insecure and downright broken young man.
- Broken Tears: At the height of his nervous breakdown, Alex breaks down sobbing into his parents' arms. He also breaks into tears in front of the therapist.
- Change the Uncomfortable Subject: The therapist at point asks Alex if he believes in God, to which he initially doesn't want to talk about it. However later on he reveals that he does in fact believe in God.
- Children Are Innocent: Andy, being a four year old, is shown not being able to understand the concept of death when Jennifer tries to explain it to him.
- Five Stages of Grief: It's clear Alex is dealing with four of these – Anger, Denial, Bargaining and Depression – at the same time as he's talking with the off-screen grief counselor. Greg's death hit Alex that hard and that suddenly. Eventually, the grief counselor helps Alex realize the accident wasn't his fault nor could he have foreseen it, and Alex soon vows to become "more like" his friend as he begins the Acceptance phase.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: This episode, a 45min character piece dissecting everything that made Alex who he was.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: It's revealed that Alex experienced this kind of treatment in his childhood years due to his teacher putting pressure on him and egging on his classmates about how smart he was.
- It's All My Fault: Alex believes that he's to blame for Greg's death despite it being merely a freak thing.
- Man Hug: Alex gives one of these to a hallucination of Greg.
- Manly Tears: Alex's best friend was just killed in a car crash. Alex was supposed to be with his friend but wasn't. Alex later admits that he wasn't with him out of his own selfishness. Alex begins sobbing uncontrollably and repeatedly yelling, "Why am I alive?!" It's one of the few moments in the series that we see Alex vulnerable and completely fall apart. He cries again in front of the therapist later in this episode.
- Playing Sick: Alex tells the therapist that when he was a child, he would often come home on cold days and pretend to be sick in order to get extra attention.
- Pun: This little gem (regarding the outfit that Greg was buried in).Mallory: I mean a brown tie with a black suit? I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that.
- Remember the New Guy?: Despite being close friends with Alex, Greg never appeared before this episode.
- Stepford Smiler: Alex is very obviously this at the beginning of the episode, trying to downplay how sad he is about the fact that his good friend had just died. Ultimately though, he ends up breaking down a scene or two later.
- Survivor Guilt: Alex feels guilty because he was supposed to go with Greg but was "too lazy."
- Very Special Episode: One of the more famous ones of these from this series.
- You Are Not Alone: After denying the death of a close friend, Alex begins to feel guilt for not going with his friend the night he died (his friend asked him to drive across town with him and was killed in a car crash). Feeling it is his fault, Alex begins sobbing uncontrollably and yelling "Why am I alive?!" His mother runs and hugs him while his father assures him they'll get help.
