Question: When Ryan goes to Marissa and Alex's apartment (after Alex told him to stay away from Marissa), he says, "If you have to work this hard, it isn't working." What does he mean?
Question: When Julie comes to Alex and Marissa's apartment and they argue, Marissa says that she'll just steal if she can't get a job, and says that Julie knows she is good at that. What is she referring to?
Answer: She is referring the episode entitled: The Best Chrismukkah Ever, episode 13, season 1. She goes out christmas shopping with Ryan and gets stopped by a security when she is out by Ryan's car. He asks to look inside her bag and finds a stolen watch and some other stolen things.
Answer: He means that if Alex has to go so far as to forbid Ryan from seeing Marissa in order to maintain her relationship with her, their relationship obviously isn't working.