Life comes full circle as another Doonesbury Gen Nexer heads for college. With Zipper way-too-deeply embedded at Walden, Alex boldly opts for MIT, 'the nerdfarm', where 30-hour study binges arede rigeur. Daily 911 calls home and a sense of doom gives way as Gal Doonesbury finds fellowship among the similarly exhausted: 'No nerd left behind', explains roomie Drew.

The indomitable Granny D struggles with a life-change as well - a move from Oklahoma to live with Mike and Kim in Seattle. Then there's the on-air unravelling of Mark and Chase's marriage, with Joanie handling the technicalities of dissolving a legally nonexistent union. Equally traumatic is Uncle Duke's change of status, emerging from a months-long stupor to find himself pulling down six figures as a K Street lobbyist - and re-registered as a Democrat.