Alex's Honesty Continues Terrifying Tina In The Togetherness Season 2 Premiere

When I wrote about the finale of Togetherness's first season, I noted how satisfied I would have been had that episode been the series finale, even with so many plotlines left unresolved; I liked the idea of deciding for myself what might have happened next for our four leads, as all of them confronted the various turning points their lives had come to. Now that the show has actually returned for its second season, I realize why I felt that way at the time: though of course I'm happy to get to spend more time with these characters, if their stories had ended last spring, I could have imagined happy endings for all of them, whereas now that I'm seeing them again, I know how unlikely it is that any of them can look forward to an end for their heartbreak. Michelle is haunted by memories of her stolen night with David, and tortured by guilt over keeping this secret from her husband. Brett is so self-congratulatory about his decision to recommit to his marriage that he's oblivious to Michelle's pretty obvious distress and shame. And Tina not only can't figure things out with Alex: she may be further away from doing so than ever before. DAMMIT, TINA.

When we left off with Alex in the finale, he had just achieved a professional goal by getting cast in a movie Larry's producing, but seen the payoff of a pretty big risk, having declined to audition for a lesser part and tried for a big villain role instead. He was so thrilled to see his instincts serve him here -- and when he'd been on the verge of giving up acting and leaving Los Angeles -- that he'd tracked down Tina and more or less declared himself to her, only for her to respond, in tears, by telling him their friendship is better than any romance they might attempt. In Season 2, she has to face the consequences of her fearful reaction: along with Larry, Brett, and Michelle, she's come to New Orleans, where Alex is shooting, to surprise him for his birthday. He has a surprise for her, too.

Alex has a girlfriend. We already saw how Tina handles it when another woman pays attention to Alex, back when he returned to Texas with her in Season 1 to pack up her apartment and flirted with one of her friends: even if Tina (thinks she) doesn't want him, she can't let herself admit what's actually behind her jealousy, instead acting out childishly by trying to stake her own public claim on him. In this case, when she sees the other gifts Alex has received -- Brett and Michelle's thoughtful poster of It's A Wonderful Life autographed by Jimmy Stewart; Alex's girlfriend Christy's pricey gift of a smart watch -- Tina abandons the cheap Mardi Gras tchotchke she'd bought Alex for his birthday and bulls her way back into the now-closed antique store to buy the first thing she'd had her eye on but rejected for being too expensive: a ship's compass, for $4200. She makes a production of handing it to him, telling him, "This is so that you never lose your way." Alex is as appreciative and gracious receiving it as he can be not really knowing what it is, and when Tina tries to underline how meaningful he should find it by saying it's "from an old Greek ship," he has to tell her it's actually Italian. He then shows insufficient care for her investment -- one she really can't afford -- by dumping it in the back of a pedicab with instructions to take it back, unattended, to his hotel, whereupon Tina takes on the responsibility of lugging it around all night so that it doesn't get lost or stolen.

Tina wants credit for martyring herself to the care of this symbol of how much Alex means to her. Alex just wants to have fun -- and he can, because he's given up the burden of Tina's feelings.

Later, while Brett and Michelle peel off on their own (for Brett to propose to Michelle that they renew their vows, ohhhhhhh nooooooooooooo), the rest of the group ends up at a karaoke piano bar. Tina browbeats Larry into doing a duet with her, but when their turn comes up, he's in the bathroom, and given his past experience doing so, Alex refuses to follow Larry in there. Tina gamely goes up to do the number -- "Leather And Lace" -- all on her own. Christy urges Alex to be a friend to Tina and rescue her, but just as he refused to take on the compass caddy job for the night, he continues to protect himself from further hurt and maintain his boundaries with her...

...for a while. He can't just stand there and watch Tina sing a love song to herself! He's only human! But when Larry comes out of the bathroom to catch the end of the performance, he can tell from Christy's face she regrets loaning Alex out to Tina...

...and that's before the pianist tells the crowd what a good couple Tina and Alex seem to be. (Tina: "Neither of us has any chance of making it!") Even if Larry suspects that there could be more between Alex and Tina than friendship, as a well-established, high-status man who also happens to occupy a position of authority over Alex, he can afford not to be threatened by it; Christy has to wonder if she just bought a smart watch to sync her runs with a guy who's going to run out on her.

Things between Alex and Tina come to a head when she sneaks up on him at the ice machine in their hotel. She wants to have a flirty fight, demanding to know what his deal is and accusing him of not liking the compass. But he doesn't want to have this kind of relationship anymore, and refuses to engage with her on such a superficial level. When she tries to manipulate him into apologizing for the nothing he did wrong, she blurts out the price of the gift, forcing him to tell her -- accurately -- that buying something so extravagant is "crazy." Under duress, and refusing to meet his eye, she tells him that since things had been weird between them, she'd wanted to do something nice: "I missed you, and it was a long time, and I realized that you're my best friend." Alex:

Tina thinks she's taken a big risk by saying this to Alex, probably because she can't let herself remember how much MORE vulnerable he'd made himself when he found her at the Viceroy in the season finale. But she pushes him to tell her what he means, and with tears starting to stand in his eyes, he admits, "It's not that easy to be around you....Are you going to make me say this?" She points out, "You have a girl. I mean, can't we just-- Can't we just get back to normal?" Alex stares at her in shock for a second before choking out, "You broke my heart." Tina has barely absorbed this honesty blow before Alex continues, chuckling: "But I should be thanking you, because it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. You know, it was just a critical part of the journey -- I mean, this job, and Christy, how comfortable I feel in my own skin right now, it's just-- I mean, I have you to thank for all of this. So: sincerely, really, thank you."

It's shattering to watch, not just because Tina has obviously never spent time with any man who respects her enough to be this frank with her, and not just because this is the first time Alex has spelled out for her how her rejection made him feel, but because she doesn't want to have been a footnote in his love story with Christy...

...and because, when we see Alex trudging away from Tina, his face makes it seem like she isn't. For someone who started this series a failure in almost every conceivable way, Alex has come the furthest and been the most committed to build the life he wants to live. Being with Christy might be, for now, the one compromise he's allowed himself, but sliding back to what he had with Tina before he got this job would be a compromise he can no longer make. The question is whether, and how, Tina's going to admit to herself that Larry is the compromise she's continuing to settle for.