Charlie announces Kirsten is moving in, but only Claudia is happy about it (and likely Owen, if he could express himself). He tells that they'll sleep in his room, the parental bedroom, and then with Kirsten try to move out the old dresser and move in the one she has. Julia says that the dresser belongs to their mother, being part of a wedding present from their grandparents, has a lot of history. Before Charlie can put it in the garage, and though Kirsten says she could keep it, Julia prefers to use it in her room. There, she finds her mother's journal, and while reading it, she fears about an affair she may have had with a cellist, Avery Baltus in New York, in 1982. The journal says that Diana traveled to play duets with Avery, Nick gave a strange look to Avery in the airport and then he took care of Charlie, Bailey and Julia in that time. Diana spent a good time with Avery in New York, also they had a carriage trip. Back to present, Claudia and Artie talk about religion (he is jewish): he says that to share more things in common, or if they get married in the distant future, they should believe in the same thing. He won't convert, so she starts thinking about it. Meanwhile, in the mall, Jill steals a pair of gloves for Bailey as they can't afford them. In their room, Charlie and Kirsten have to pick sides in the bed, so they start making out to see where they end up. She quickly stops, realizing the bed is too squeaky, loud, feeling inhibited with the siblings in the house, so she lovingly convinces him of sleeping together in the floor, with blankets and sheets. The next day, Julia looks for more clues in the parental bedroom, and Bailey tells her that there's nothing from their parents that they didn't find. Then, while they watch Owen, Claudia asks Kirsten about her religion. She answers that she is agnostic, Claudia doesn't know what it means, so she explains that she doesn't know if she can believe in God, she is unsure. Claudia asks if she and Charlie have kids (the siblings don't know her medical problem), if she'd like them to be agnostic too, and Kirsten says she'd want them to learn about all religions and then figure it out. She tells that religion is a personal theme and that children might not always believe the same than their parents (and well, that's truth). So then, Claudia starts learning jewish traditions, but when Julia finds out what she is doing, she blasts her for walking away from their parents religion (Episcopalians), she is too young. Claudia tells Kirsten didn't say that, and that they didn't take them to church so it didn't matter, but Julia reassures that it did and forbids her converting. Later, Julia arrives early to Salinger's, to ask Joe about Avery, and he answers that he truly doesn't know what happened between Diana and Avery, he just knows that they were friends, but not with Nick. In the family dinner, Charlie, Kirsten, Claudia and Owen arrive first to their table, and wait for the rest. Julia comes and asks space for Bailey, so Charlie has to pull up a chair with Kirsten. For the record, Claudia tells Kirsten that they usually order anything except the manicotti. When Bailey arrives with Jill without permission of any of his siblings, Claudia is the first to protest and Julia says there's no space. Bailey suggests moving to another table, so Charlie talks to him "in private". He questions Jill's presence, but Bailey simply says he wants her there. Charlie tells the rules, they don't bring other people to family dinners, Bailey questions Kirsten's presence, but Charlie defends her because she already is part of the family, as she lives in the house with him now, and it's serious (besides, Claudia happily accepts her, so that's enough). Still, Bailey won't send Jill home if Charlie doesn't send Kirsten home, so he can't stop him (and to be polite with Jill, was too late to send her away). By the way, the the girls heard the conversation, and none of them were comfortable. In the night, is showed the picture of the parents of the house: they were lovingly sleeping on the floor, and Claudia ill with stomachache reaches them for help. She is sweaty and wants to throw up, so Kirsten, without doubt, assists and comforts her in the bathroom, while a jealous Julia sees. Then, she changes her pijamas, gets her clean up, gives her gingerale and reads her a story (Harriet the spy?), so Claudia can sleep. Charlie waits up for her, tells he loves her and is deeply happy that she was there for Claudia, and that she asked for her help. The next day, Julia, posing as a student, visits Avery and asks for Diana's recordings, also questions him about the duets they made. Avery is shaken by the memories and tells he was in love with Diana, that her music was wonderful and that she quit playing to raise her kids. Then, Julia returns home and finds Kirsten preparing matzo ball soup for Claudia (she asked her), so this time Julia blasts her for the religion issue, for moving out Diana's dresser and for acting like Claudia's mother. She recognizes that she mishandled the religion theme but says that Claudia asked her help being sick. Also, she never pretended to give away any of Diana's belongings. Julia tells things changed a lot, that she confused Claudia and that her mother is disappearing. At the same time, Bailey steals a pair of sunglasses for Jill in the mall, as she did with the gloves, but they are caught. Charlie has to go and bail them out, obviously mad at Bailey and correctly guesses that it was Jill's idea. The mall manager says they won't press charges, and Charlie makes Bailey promise it won't happen again. Later, Kirsten tells him about Julia's issues, so he calls his sister to talk. First he demands an apology, but Kirsten intervenes and tells they should have talked before she moved in. She knows Julia is sensitive about her mother, so Charlie tells things didn't change much, that their mother won't be replaced, that he and Kirsten just want to be together and have their own roles in the family. Julia seems comforted and accepts this (the speech was very well written). Then, Avery visits and gives Julia Diana's recording, having realized that she is her daughter. He explains that in NY, he and Diana were close to having an affair, but when Nick sent flowers (lillies) and a letter to the hotel, Diana happily laughed, as she loved her husband, and nothing else could happen. This makes Julia happy. Later, after learning more about judaism with Artie, Claudia tells Julia that she won't convert because she wants to remain Episcopalians so she'll go to heaven with mom and dad. She has to believe in the same heaven, so one day they'll all be together. Julia is obviously touched by this, probably feeling the same. This scene was emotional, Claudia understands life in a special way. Maybe she can convince Kirsten to stay in the family's religion for the same reason (Gene and Ellie are also Episcopalians), so they'll be together. In their last scene, Charlie surprises Kirsten with a "gift", he fixed the bed so they can actually make love and sleep there. Turns out that still there's a medium squeak, so she initially refuses, but he tells her that it doesn't matter, she belongs there and they don't have to hide it. This way, she accepts and they end up happily. The last scene, happily sad and emotional, shows Julia hearing the recordings, she is surprised when she listens Diana's voice and laugh, and tears fall as she knows that this is the only way she has to hear her mother ever again.
Bailey ends up mad at Charlie and the family, confiding in Jill. She's surprised and tries to convince that having a family behind is good despite some anger, but he doesn't listen. Then, they leave in the Jeep to some place far away, to escape their problems. Bailey acted like a jerk to his family and became a rebel, but not because of Jill, only because of him, he wants to turn his back on the family. He is not taking care of anything today. As for Jill, what she said is perfect and depicts how she feels about her family: a little anger is better than being ignored. Charlie acted like a father figure, like a brother, like a boyfriend/husband, being fair and reasonable. Also, I agree that Charlie has the right to make the rules about the house, if he counts with Claudia's approval. Kirsten belongs with them, she was great, she happily entered the family, maybe she mishandled the convertion thing, but showed respect towards Julia's position. Seasons passed and no one fits more in the family than her, so moving in was the right decision. She proved to be what Claudia needed, Kirsten knows and cares about the family somehow since the Pilot, so she feels happy to help and take care of Claudia and Owen. The scenes between them were wonderful, happy and really enjoyable, everything working as a family, the two acting like the parents of the house. I bet those pictures will be the same when the two become parents "again" for their own children in the future. Claudia always wanted another member for the family, as she explained in 1x02. She likes Kirsten to be in the house because Julia is just her sister, she needs someone else, a maternal figure. This will be noticed many times during the show, especially in the next seasons. As for Julia, was perfect that she returned to family mood, because she chases guys in too many episodes. Still, she should be more grateful to Kirsten considering all the times she'll neglect Owen and Claudia because of Justin, Griffin, Sam, Cooper, Ned, etc. Anyway, the talks between Avery and her were great, I was glad to find more about Diana and the ending was perfect, listen to Diana's voice was really touching. She missed her mother more than any of her siblings during all the series. To finish, I noticed that here the siblings were not at school. This means the six spent the winter holidays in the house, including Christmas.
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