Following the last episode, where Charlie was badly damaged deep inside, now the symptoms of his disease become evident once again. In the first scene, he's looking clothes to use in Julia and Griffin's ceremony. Claudia helps and he wants to use some sportscoat or one of his dad's blazers. Claudia suggests a formal suit, but he refuses saying that Kathleen gave it to him. The times he used it he felt like a "gigolo", implying how much he regrets meeting that woman. Claudia tells it's a good excuse, but she thinks he has no choice. Anyway when he tries the pants, doesn't fit because he loss weight (so I hope he uses his dad's blazer). He mentions that since Nina left for a trip (casually days after the big damage he suffered last episode), he lost apetite and hadn't eat since then. Claudia says he should call her, still being clueless about the true causes of his symptoms. The next day, he tells Julia that he hired a caterer, a wedding planner, Zoey, to help them. He says he's tired and that he has too many things to take care of the restaurant, Owen and Claudia, so he says he needs help to plan the "wedding". She's surprised when he says Zoey already covered flowers, lights and food, so he tells her she can choose music and the rest. At night, he meets Paul when Kirsten introduces him in a dinner. Considering Paul knows the whole story between Charlie and Kirsten because she told him during the recovering process of her manic depression, the dinner is really uncomfortable and they barely talk. Charlie only asks about the hospital and Paul answers how he met the people there. Kirsten thinks Paul can stay a little longer since he had a cancelation for a raquetball game, but noticing the quiet silence, she realizes dinner is over. So to avoid this, the two men agree to play raquetball the same night, probably eager to compete against each other. With fatigue, Charlie seems to be losing the game, so they talk a little about the women, and after getting up to keep playing, a tired Charlie collapses. He quickly recovers conciousness and is forced to tell Paul that this never happened to him. Noticing that Charlie's not ok, he takes him to the hospital despite his claims that he's fine. There, Charlie sends him home and then a doctor finds a tumor checking his underarm. In the morning, while the family (except Bailey, and Owen who was probably in daycare) is discussing with Zoey, Charlie still tries to pretend he's fine, but a worried Kirsten doesn't let him work, and Paul also tells him to rest. Griffin never shows up, worried about a new motorcycle shop that opened near his bike shop, so Julia sadly makes the plans without him. While pondering the place for the "wedding", Paul suggests the backyard (probably his masterplan to not attend the event with Kirsten), so Kirsten is stunned, and Charlie quietly laughs, probably to not cry. Claudia, also affected by the memory, says that would be "tempting fate" so Julia accepts Kirsten's idea to have it at night (what a terrible idea). That moment was weird, and obviously Charlie and Claudia were the most affected, remembering what they lost that horrible day (Kirsten didn't seem so affected then, but after thinking it well, she will be too). When Julia passes Charlie a call from the doctor, he attends and later avoids all the questions, lying to everyone saying he's ok. Secretly, he goes to the oncologist, Dr. Rabin, who tells him he has cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma. This was a really good scene (Charlie was shocked to hear it and struggled to process it), and also proves what I said in the last episode, Charlie's suffering manifests in cancer. Rabin says that first they have to locate the tumors and then they'll proceed to radiation treatments, and if that doesn't work, they'll take chemotherapy. He decides to postpone the treatment (radiotherapy) until Julia's ceremony is over, leaving Dr Rabin's stunned. In another great scene, he returns home, fires Zoey because she was upsetting Julia and Griffin, and goes alone to the bathroom to cry. He hides it from Julia and she thanks him for defending her. The next day, Kirsten arrives and sees him standing in the porch, looking at the landmark (in exactly the same place she was in the episode Shortcuts after finding out her plagiarism), and tells him that she won't attend Julia's "wedding" because she knows that she can't handle it, especially being in the house. This backs up part of my guessed story of my review in 4x06, she's still very cautious of dangerous situations that can chain a hypomanic crisis in her. So Charlie, feeling it's the right time, breaks into tears, and tells her about the Hodgkin's disease. She's shocked, aware of that is cancer, and he crying tells he wonders what means the statistics, scared that he might die. She hugs him, cries and is also surprised that he didn't tell anyone. He tells her that he'll tell them in a week, after Julia's ceremony, and cleans his tears. This was wonderful and touching because Kirsten is the first person he tells about the cancer. For him, there is no one else with whom he has such a bond, trust and love as to tell her such news without hesitation. Besides, if they were officially married, she would have been with him all the time, even when he got the news, being the first person to know. Deep inside, he still treats her like if she was his wife, is hard enough for him to break down in tears, but he has no doubt to cry in front of her. Despite all, they share a unique and special bond that ties them forever, so Charlie will need her now, more than never. For this reason, was perfect that the writers decided to bring Kirsten back, she is a key person for Charlie and his family.
As for the rest, the stories served to change the subject. Sarah, likely in response to Bailey-Annie's situation, takes a guy, Elliott to make out in the apartment and then to sleep together. Bailey is obviously jealous, uncomfortable and stunned, and feels that she's moving too fast, considering their own relationship. He goes out to read Moby Dick, and Annie, worried, finds him. She didn't see him at the AA meetings and explains that she was concerned he could slip up. He realizes how much she cares about him and says that walking away from her would be risky too, so they decide to start a relationship despite his sponsor's warnings. Finally, Sarah changes her mind about sleeping together with Elliott, Bailey's surprised but seemingly he's not affected anymore. This story clearly showed how they reacted to their pain of seeing each other with other persons. They still love each other and they suffer inside for not being able to be together, so they decide to hold on to these new persons. Still, Sarah's speech about changing her mind implies that she's not so into Elliott like Bailey is with Annie. On the other hand, Griffin is busy with his struggling bike shop and takes another loan (15.000) from Howie, who then asks him to hide dirty money on the bike shop's bank account. He can't compete with the new shop across the street, whose owners have more resources and they fix bikes for cheaper prices. Julia is upset with him for not paying attention to the "wedding plans", but he's certain about it. In their last scene, they check china patterns and Griffin secretly asks to a lady from the store if he can exchange unwanted gifts for money. This tells how bad is turning his debt, and like the new bike shop guy said, he'll be out of business in a few months. To finish, I didn't like the ending of the episode, I don't think that a person recently diagnosed with cancer can go and sleep with his girlfriend, in my personal experience, there's no mood for that, just shock, depression and sadness. Also, after learning that she can't have children, Kirsten wasn't in the mood in 1x12. The rest of the cancer's story was very well handled, I know well how practicing a sport can make someone collapse, being the alarm sign that will reveal a tumor. For the record, Hodgkin's lymphoma causes are mostly unknown. Some well studied causes are family history of Hodgkin's, AIDs, Epstein-Barr virus or inmunological system compromised by certain drugs. For what was said and for what will be mentioned, none of those factors were present in Charlie's body. So my theory concerning the cause of the tumor growing is possible.
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