It's time for Griffin and Julia's "wedding", that really happened 7 months ago, but will be celebrated with family now. But there are big problems: Griffin tries to pay back Howie 15.000 of the 25.000 loaned, but the man doesn't accept saying that for a loan he'll have to pay interest. The day of the "wedding", he goes to his bike shop to tell Howie again that he can't be part of his dirty business because he's with Julia and doesn't want to hurt her, but the man won't accept it. He beats him up and tells him that he has no choice. The rest of the day is also bad because Bailey took Annie and her daughter Natalie to the ceremony, only because Sarah did the same with Elliott. By the way, Julia is surprised but she keeps her opinion to herself, Claudia is curious about the age difference and Annie's supposed divorce, and Charlie, with a simple look of denial, express his disapproval to Bailey (and that's how the Father must behave). Then, Natalie eats part of the cake, throws up in the backyard and accidentally gets locked in the bathroom. Ross tries to comfort her singing, Bailey can't open the door, and the firefighters are called (that was a funny disaster). When she is rescued, Annie apologizes to Charlie, who angered simply says "Forget about it". Sarah blames Bailey for bringing Natalie and being the center of attention, but he doesn't listen and just tries to help. About this, I didn't like Sarah's words, she started it and provoked Bailey since the begining. Later, Griffin returns home with bruises in his face, and in private, Julia forces him to tell her the truth. All the reasons of why they shouldn't have married emerges, they don't trust each other and love is not enough. She tells that now they'll have to say the vows of cherish, love, trust, but now she knows that the first time didn't mean anything, and neither will today. They perform the ceremony, Charlie gives her away and tells Griffin "she's yours", but there's no one vow said. The minister says his part, and both simply say yes. For the record, Claudia videotapes the best parts of the day, including all Natalie's stuff. There's no family on Griffin's side, which I guess makes everything more sad for him. At the end, Griffin says that she'll have to get a paid job, and that they'll have to leave the nice apartment. He realizes that they'll be a statistic, one of many couples who get married too fast or too young and then fail and get separated. Julia still has faith that they'll make it through and convinces to stay together, that their love is enough. It was somehow predictable what happened, Julia is hopeful, but I know that's Griffin is right, sometimes love is not enough, in this case is not enough. Bailey tries to compare his relationship with Annie with Julia-Griffin, he has faith that is a good thing, but I know it's not, he and Sarah already have something more significative and deep. To finish this part, Neve's performance today was very good, but it's sad that the writers again "ruined" a wedding to produce great acting and dramatic situations. Maybe that's why the episode can disappoint a little, it's the second wedding for main characters and it was horrible again. Still, it didn't affect me much because I know that Julia and Griffin made a mistake. 2 seasons ago happened a disaster for a couple that were really ready to get married, who always belonged together and always will, and that's why still hurts.
As for Charlie, he goes to check to the library with Nina some things about love speeches for the wedding, while she plans a trip. But in secret, he starts looking medicine books of cancer therapy, also watching that she doesn't realize what he is doing. That single scene, was just perfect, beautiful, with a sweet piano theme, that made it just excellent. I did exactly the same in my situation, going to the library, looking at information in every possible site, alone, just to know more about the illness, the tumor, diagnosis, prognosis, chances of recovery and chances of recurrence, all of it. That's why I felt so identified with the scene. Personally, I consider it one of the top moments of the entire series. Then, going to the house, Charlie finally reveals the truth to Nina. He tells "I'm sorry, for putting you through all this", after dating just 1 month. She tries to stay possitive, and tells he'll be fine. She says he'll fight it and will survive, and even offers him a bird feeder as a present. But the day of Julia's "non wedding", he realizes that she can't handle it: he postponed the treatments for Julia's ceremony, and after a call from the doctor, he wanted to talk to her, but she didn't asked him any question about it (he hoped she'd ask). She just says they'll think about it later, now she wants him to focus on the "wedding" like he said, so he accepts not to talk. Then, he tries to reach a phone book in a higher place (to call for another cake), but pain in his underarm puts him down, making him feel the symptoms. Nina tries to avoid it, just bringing him coffee. Finally, in his room, he confronts her about her denial, about being possitive and ignoring the chance that he might die. If she says that he'll be ok one time, it's fine, but when it's all she says, sounds like denial. She thinks he should tell his siblings but he refuses, saying that this is Julia's day, "just Julia". He asks her if she's staying for the long haul, for radiation, sickness, taking care of him. He looks at her and sees that this is too much for her, so now he wants to make sure of it. She cries, not being able to predict the future, she wants to see if she can handle it, but he says that she has to know, because he can't handle her walking away in the middle of treatments. She says "I wish... (I could)", but she's sorry and cries. Those 2 scenes were perfect, Matthew and Jessica did an excellent job, such a decisive moment, and they did great. At the end, in the porch close to the stairs, Nina still offers the bird feeder and he accepts it. Before she leaves, he asks her how she nurses back birds so well, she loves that, but she can't do the same for someone. She says "they're just birds". And that's truth, animals always will be animals, pets are just pets. Charlie did the right thing with Nina: what he needs is a wife, a woman able to handle all the situation for and with him. He knew this was too much for her, as she is not his wife, they dated a month, so she can't be able to stay with him, facing his symptoms, and his possible death. Also, in some ways, today he made a decision totally selfless, he protected her from suffering, is like he told her that it's ok if she leaves, he won't hurt her. He didn't want to see her crying for him or doing things she wasn't ready to. She wasn't able to be the first person next to him and that's ok (that person should be Kirsten if things would have been different, if Claudia didn't make certain call). And for Nina it's sad because she's a good woman (much better than Emily, Kathleen and Grace), but she can't handle the situation. Would be too much for anyone. Here is proved that the things said at the end of 4x06 were a lie, they don't love each other because bad timing. It was too soon to mean love. Besides, to be a member of the Salingers, one of the requirements is being able to handle dramatic situations. Nina was great with kids, a loving woman for Charlie, but she was very possitive for the family (this was also showed in 4x05). At the end, she asked if she could call him, to know how he goes, but as the next episodes will show, she won't appear again. And yes Charlie, birds are just birds.
To finish, it's curious how things work out in this series. Two seasons ago there was a couple with full trust and love, honour and cherish, that proved to overcome a lot of obstacles in their way. They were perfect for each other (still are) and lived together a year and a half. They stayed together in sickness and in health and in sorrow, but they didn't get married. Now, there's another couple, 9 years younger, with cherish and love, but with distrust and dishonour, that overcome less obstacles in their way. They didn't face any sickness, and in sorrowful moments, they struggled and had many doubts, especially him. But they got married.
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