S01.E05: Truth

[formerlyfreedom]

The crew heads to Mississippi for Faith’s hometown date with Adam. Rachel makes a startling discovery about Faith, and enlists the help of Adam to protect her. Jeremy and Rachel take the first step towards mending their friendship. Meanwhile, Quinn sues Chet and Shia takes drastic measures to boost a girl’s popularity.

Episode 5 will open after it airs on Lifetime; this episode has NOT been offered early on Lifetime.com or OnDemand.

[Primetimer]

And more not-quite-burning questions about the latest episode.

Read the story

[ketose]

The timing of that episode was certainly fortuitous. Chet was pretty typical with his excited lezzie, lezzie lesbian stuff. I assume no woman has ever come out on The Bachelor. I have to assume that Faith will make her exit pretty soon.

Sometimes this show veers off a little. Rachel's spank material was oddly amusing.

[xqueenfrostine]

So glad for the new episode tonight!  I made the mistake of binging on the first four episodes early on and hated having to wait 3 weeks to get to the next one.  Tonight's episode definitely wasn't my favorite one so far (the idea of Jeremy and Rachel just bores me to tears.  Jeremy's a dud as a character), but I loved the Faith storyline.  It gave me all sorts of feels, and I loved that both Rachel and Adam moved Heaven and Earth to protect her from being forced 'out' before she was ready.  It was good to see Rachel do the right thing for once.

 

I'm worried for Mary.  What did Shia refill her pills with? Was it just sugar?  

Edited June 30, 2015 by xqueenfrostine

[TiffanyNichelle]

The producer who set up the drugs in Mary's room is just awful. She is also really really bad at convincing the girls to do things. She has no finesse at all.

 

Rachel's ex can go bye-bye. He came on to Rachel, kissed her and was cheating on his fiance all on his own but still managed to make Rachel feel like shit. Screw you, dude.

 

Adam and Rachel teaming up to protect Faith was sweet even if I could see it as Adam using it as another way to score points off Rachel.

 

Chet is gross.

[ketose]

Maybe we should just refer to Chet as Shit from now on.

[Mikita]

I love this show. I suspected that Faith was a lesbian. I was unsure about Rachel's motive at the beginning but when she teared up when Faith was finally being truthful to herself, I was happy. That was a nice save by Rachel and Adam.

j

I agree about Jeremy. That barn seen between he and Rachel should have been hot. It wasn't. I just cannot care about this guy at all. The scene at the end with Rachel and Adam was hot and they didn't kiss or remove clothing!

Quinn and Chet. Meh. Could not bring myself to care.

Most upsetting to me was Jay not backing up Rachel and betraying her. Jay. Good luck with Chet. I had to laugh at Quinn's line to Jay earlier in the episode about Jay's head being up Chet's ass. Good stuff.

[lucindabelle]

I'm pretty sure tampering with her meds is illegal. She should save one pill and sue later on.

What was dancing in underwear supposed to signify? That she's nuts?

What was that thing Quinn had, a cast? I thought it was a nice moment.

[xqueenfrostine]

I'm pretty sure tampering with her meds is illegal. She should save one pill and sue later on.

What was dancing in underwear supposed to signify? That she's nuts?

What was that thing Quinn had, a cast? I thought it was a nice moment.

 

Maybe that she's on the verge of a manic episode?  It shouldn't happen so soon after going off her meds, but that's how I took it.  Or else alcohol has always made her act this way and that's why she quit drinking.

 

Pretty sure that thing from Quinn was half of a wrist cast, just judging by the side and shape of it.  

[HunterHunted]

If Lifetime can use the word, then so can I. Jeremy is such a clit tease. He came on to Rachel, was the one pulling off all of the clothes, and some how makes it Rachel's fault. What a dickbag.

I loved Rachel and Adam, two very jaded damaged people, trying to be decent again to protect Faith.

Shia is the worst. Even when she's doing her job well, she's still terrible. What's the sense of tampering with Mary's meds? A good push got Mary drinking. Further producing by Quinn got Mary to admit the abuse on camera. An unmedicated Mary who is drinking and under pressure just means that they'll have future footage that they can't air because Mary's behavior will be incapable of being spun. What if Mary attempts suicide? Or tries to hurt someone? Everlasting got lucky "last year" with Rachel's freakout. Who's to say they'll be so lucky again. If Shia had any smarts, she'd find someone to fake a bathroom leak so it "destroys" Mary's meds and they can replace them with the real thing.

[emmapants]

So whose still in the game even? Grace, Maya, Pepper, Faith, Mary. Anna? Shamiqua? Also, having hometown dates this early on strikes me as odd for the setup, but whatever.

Never going to care about Jeremy. Also what a shithead. He basically attacks her with his mouth, when he has a fianc, and then pulls away with some crap about how she makes things go badly??

I'm so weirdly hoping that Rachel & Adam are endgame. I really think they're actually good for each other. She helps him be a real person, and he lightens things a bit for her.

[portfino]

Why oh why couldn't we have been getting that scene with Quinn and Mary this entire season rather than wasting time on this nonsense with Chet and the lawsuit? A complete waste of Constance Zimmer. Shia's stuff with Mary and the drugs was too over the top for me. It was something out of a daytime soap.

 

Faith stuff was good and well acted by the actress (but again why did they lessen the impact by intercutting with lawsuit garbage). And I kinda liked Rachel/Adam showing a bit of a conscience, although it's too early for that.

 

Jeremy needs to go. Rachel could have chosen Adam's sex tape and she didn't? Maybe her mother's right about her mental health.

 

 

So whose still in the game even? Grace, Maya, Pepper, Faith, Mary. Anna? Shamiqua? Also, having hometown dates this early on strikes me as odd for the setup, but whatever.

From what I gather from the website, it's those 7 and it looks like Joy. (who's never been heard from so she's likely unimportant).

Edited June 30, 2015 by portfino

[Irlandesa]

I love this show. I suspected that Faith was a lesbian. I was unsure about Rachel's motive at the beginning but when she teared up when Faith was finally being truthful to herself, I was happy. That was a nice save by Rachel and Adam.

I still think Rachel has dual motives.  Part of her was trying to help Faith realize who she was.  But she also made darn sure she got Faith on camera admitting her attraction to her friend.  I think 75% of her wanted to help Faith but there was 25% of her who wanted to make sure she got the footage....just in case.

I have to assume that Faith will make her exit pretty soon.

That would be true if Adam were trying to find his true love but he's not.  So I think this actually makes it likely that Faith will stick around until the end.  Quinn mentioned she was America's Sweetheart so she'd be invested in keeping her around.  Adam seems to like her too and he can keep her around guilt free knowing that she won't be falling in love with him.

[xqueenfrostine]

Jeremy needs to go. Rachel could have chosen Adam's sex tape and she didn't? Maybe her mother's right about her mental health.

 

Did I miss something?  I didn't think we knew about the sex tape until now.  Not that it's existence is at all surprising, given that he's tweeted pictures of himself with hookers and his ex sold his sexts to the tabloid.

 

 

I'm so weirdly hoping that Rachel & Adam are endgame. I really think they're actually good for each other. She helps him be a real person, and he lightens things a bit for her.

 

I would love this.  They're horrible people, but they're wonderful together.  I like their chemistry and their games are fun to watch.

[ketose]

That would be true if Adam were trying to find his true love but he's not.  So I think this actually makes it likely that Faith will stick around until the end.  Quinn mentioned she was America's Sweetheart so she'd be invested in keeping her around.  Adam seems to like her too and he can keep her around guilt free knowing that she won't be falling in love with him.

In the world of Everlasting, maybe. In the world of Unreal, I think the actress got her week and they'll be moving on.

[Irlandesa]

In the world of Everlasting, maybe. In the world of Unreal, I think the actress got her week and they'll be moving on.

Except in the world of UnREAL, she hasn't been a no-name background player before this week.  There have been a few contestants who have gotten more air time/development over others.  I think Mary, Faith and Anna have gotten the most with Maya coming a bit behind them.  There are still "cannon fodder" contestants to go before they hit these four.  I do think the focus will shift to Mary next week and perhaps Anna the following week but I don't think that means they're moving on from Faith.

[gpgurl50]

I still think Rachel has dual motives.  Part of her was trying to help Faith realize who she was.  But she also made darn sure she got Faith on camera admitting her attraction to her friend.  I think 75% of her wanted to help Faith but there was 25% of her who wanted to make sure she got the footage....just in case.

 

I agree.  I think Rachel didn't even know what she was going to do until the last possible second.  Interesting how Rachel's conscience kicked in when not in contact with the Everlasting team.  I'm not saying she's a good person but she has some human decency.

 

Count me in on preferring Adam/Rachel to Rachel/Jeremy.  Adam is an operator who also rolls with what she says, which I think is what would be ideal for her.  I think Jeremy is portrayed as the good guy (well, the best that would be involved in this show) who cares about her and made her happy.  However, since most of that stuff happened offscreen, he's the guy who asked how she was doing for just long enough to get on top of her.  Then he got upset about it even though he was into it a second before.

 

I'm surprised Qunn's thing was resolved so quickly.

[RachelKM]

I agree.  I think Rachel didn't even know what she was going to do until the last possible second.  Interesting how Rachel's conscience kicked in when not in contact with the Everlasting team.  I'm not saying she's a good person but she has some human decency.

That's what I saw.  I felt like we weren't exactly sure what she was doing because she wasn't 100% sure what she was doing.  She was using her producing persona (the best friend voice and smile with the cajoling tone), but had a mostly honest intentions which I think caused at least as much cognitive dissonance for Rachel as as for us.

 

 

Count me in on preferring Adam/Rachel to Rachel/Jeremy.  Adam is an operator who also rolls with what she says, which I think is what would be ideal for her.  I think Jeremy is portrayed as the good guy (well, the best that would be involved in this show) who cares about her and made her happy.  However, since most of that stuff happened offscreen, he's the guy who asked how she was doing for just long enough to get on top of her.  Then he got upset about it even though he was into it a second before.

I don't mind Jeremy as much as most here (I think it's largely residual appreciation for the actor whom I know from other things and find charismatic) and I think he and Rachel have chemistry, but I do agree with the bolded part.  

 

As much as I like Jeremy and think they were happy together, I feel like she can't work with him.  And to that extent, I wasn't as mad at him for the walk away because I don't think he was wrong.  I think he is in love with Rachel, but is coming to terms with the fact that she wasn't wrong when she said she doesn't do happy.  He got caught up in the moment and then remembered the crash after.  I think the fault was more with the pacing of Rachel and Jeremy and the limited development.  I got it, but I don't think they've let that build enough for it to feel like a payoff.

 

However, I enjoy the weird, damaged, yet slightly better together dynamic with Adam.  I think probably any relationship for Rachel is presently doomed, but that one will be better for where she is right now. 

 

On a different topic, two of my favorite moments tonight were actually facial expressions/reaction shots.  The first was a moment where Rachel was watching filming, I think the initial half of the Faith and Adam one-on-one and she literally made one of Constance Zimmer's focusing expressions.  It reminded me of the "Quinn's mini-me" discussions.  The second was when Faith bounded up to Rachel, Adam, and Jeremy all excited with her new found self-acceptance and they were all happy for her and then she said she was leaving the show.  All three of them shot upright simultaneously and had their respective "Oh Shit" faces.

[topanga]

 

So whose still in the game even? Grace, Maya, Pepper, Faith, Mary. Anna? Shamiqua? Also, having hometown dates this early on strikes me as odd for the setup, but whatever.

From what I gather from the website, it's those 7 and it looks like Joy. (who's never been heard from so she's likely unimportant).

I'm confused again. In the scene where Adam tells the ladies (I hate calling grown women 'girls') that he wants to meet one of their parents, he's standing in front of seven women, and Anna is not one of them. But when Shia is going over the production board, there are eight names, and Anna is one of the names listed. So why doesn’t she appear in this episode? And in next week’s previews, she’s back. Again, I think it must be a budget issue, but it’s still weird.

 

And I love every scene with Rachel, but I could have done without the two vibrator scenes. However, Shiri Appleby did a great job of portraying not one, but two completely different orgasms: the first one required her to watch porn, and she looked bored almost immediately afterward. For the second one, she was a bit more...enthusiastic, and this time she was aided by her video with Jeremy. *sigh* I do not want Rachel to like Jeremy again. But I do enjoy that fact that he's still hot for her despite his constant digs at her on set.

[mywinston]

Jeremy is such a wooden block of a character. He basically smashes his face into Rachel's in the barn, gets her all worked up, then dramatically jumps off her to, surprise, once again belittle her. How quickly he forgets about his fiancee. Douchebag. And so bland. Don't like him or them together at all.

 

On the flip side of that, Faith planting one on Amy unannounced was adorable and I loved that entire storyline.

[topanga]

 

On the flip side of that, Faith planting one on Amy unannounced was adorable and I loved that entire storyline.

I did, too, but Faith is bordering on being a caricature—she’s the “golly gee” naïve southerner who’s so religious and sheltered from the outside world that it almost seems like her church is a cult. I do know people who belong to very conservative churches, but they are still aware of societal issues like marriage equality, and sex is talked about in church, not just “between two married people and God.”

And along those lines, Faith’s neighbors are okay with her “fornicating” with Adam as long as it doesn’t mean she’s gay?

[sacrebleu]

 

I think it's largely residual appreciation for the actor whom I know from other things and find charismatic

Heh. RachelKM, not to out you as a soap fan, but I agree with you. Josh Kelly was really good on OLTL- and I think I'm giving him more credit than people who have never seen him before.

 

I've been a little bummed we haven't seen more of him. I would have liked to see a little more background between him and Rachel because these scenes didn't seem earned.

 

For those who don't know- his OLTL character had one of those names that could only appear in daytime television: Cutter Wentworth. (come on!)

[Pepper Mostly]

Well, my position vis a vis Adam and Rachel has evolved! Last week I was all "don't do it Rachel!" But now....in a weird way I think they could help each other. Each one knows where the other is coming from and they don't have to front at all. I even caught myself thinking "wow, you know, Rachel would be great in the hotel business! She knows what people want and is a genius at de-fusing a situation...." holy moly, show! She was kind to Faith and I really appreciated that. Chet was kind to Quinn, too! Huh. But now Jay is outed as another horrible person, and Shia--oh my god. Her ambition has gotten in the way of her judgment and good sense.

 

Oh, and yes, Jeremy is a douchebag. Dude, leave her alone.

[DeLurker]

I've been a little bummed we haven't seen more of him. I would have liked to see a little more background between him and Rachel because these scenes didn't seem earned.

 

I haven't seen the Jeremy actor before, but they've done nothing to establish any real connection between Jeremy and Rachel.  They jumped right into the angsty ex plot, showed a snippet of the happy days in the video and now into the push-pull atrraction that is supposed to exist.  Jeremy hasn't gotten any real time in telling the viewers who he is other than camera guy, got promoted, Rachel's ex, engaged now to his own ex who now works in hair and makerup or something.

 

Even though Faith and her churchy, small town upbringing, might be over the top, I think whoever plays Faith did a nice job.  I found Faith to be endearing.

[Amy Beth]

Can someone help me understand what Shia is trying to accomplish by switching out Mary's meds?

Mary is on mood stabilizers, which make her boring from the show's standpoint. But if she goes off them, isn't her natural mood anxious and/or depressive. Why would they want that? I also assume that she doesn't drink because she can't mix the meds and booze. But once she's off the meds, the alcohol should only make her a "regular" drunk, not crazy.

[Irlandesa]

And to that extent, I wasn't as mad at him for the walk away because I don't think he was wrong.  I think he is in love with Rachel, but is coming to terms with the fact that she wasn't wrong when she said she doesn't do happy.  He got caught up in the moment and then remembered the crash after.  I think the fault was more with the pacing of Rachel and Jeremy and the limited development.  I got it, but I don't think they've let that build enough for it to feel like a payoff.

I agree with you. I had no problem with him stopping.  If women can change their minds, even after they initiate, so can men.  But there really hasn't been much development between them.  Going there at this point in time was just poor development.

 

 I do know people who belong to very conservative churches, but they are still aware of societal issues like marriage equality, and sex is talked about in church, not just “between two married people and God.”

And along those lines, Faith’s neighbors are okay with her “fornicating” with Adam as long as it doesn’t mean she’s gay?

I think there are two things affecting Faith here.  First, it's that she's part of a conservative church.  Second is that she's from a very small conservative town. Could that town be super homophobic?  You bet.  They could be aware of marriage equality and be so very much against it that the pastor rails against it in his sermons.  The actress said she researched what being gay was like for people from small towns like this.  Even though public opinion is changing, there is still a decent sized group of people who are against marriage equality.

 

So would they be okay with her having sex with Adam (even though they haven't even hinted to the audience that anything like that happened) and not okay with her being gay?  Oh yes.  "Gay sex" is likely more sinful in their eyes than sex out of wedlock.

 

Besides, Faith doesn't advertise her virginity.  It's not like she's solely a virgin for religious reasons.  She's a virgin because she has likely never been attracted enough to a man to have sex with him and she and Amy haven't felt comfortable enough with who they are to act on their attraction.

 

While Faith does have an 'aww shucks' attitude, I don't think she's as simple as that.  I think this episode showed depth with her reconciling who she is and how relieved she was to admit it to an outsider who told her that she wasn't disgusting. 

Edited June 30, 2015 by Irlandesa

[RachelKM]

Heh. RachelKM, not to out you as a soap fan, but I agree with you. Josh Kelly was really good on OLTL- and I think I'm giving him more credit than people who have never seen him before.

Ha! No worries, I have no problem with this.  Yes, it was primarily OLTL (and yes, Cutter Wentworth is a fantastically soapy name). Though I've also seen him do couple of spots and always thought he was charming.  In fact, Jeremy might be the least effective I've seen him be. I think there's just some weirdness to the pacing of certain aspects of this show. It leaves the audience to either fill in or hold on to facts for them to come together in snippets over multiple episodes.

Edited June 30, 2015 by RachelKM

[dubbel zout]

I'm surprised Qunn's thing was resolved so quickly.

I'm glad it was, though going by the preview for next week, Chet now seems much more involved in the day-to-day producing. Also, was the wrist cast supposed to mean he hurt Quinn? I don't see the importance otherwise; it might have been the first (only?) time he said he loved her, but that's useless in the lawsuit, I think.

 

I think there's just some weirdness to the pacing of certain aspects of this show. It leaves the audience to either fill in or hold on to facts for them to come together in snippets over multiple episodes.

 

There's a lot going on here, and I don't think the show has found quite the right balance yet.

[Sims Addict]

I agree about Jeremy. That barn seen between he and Rachel should have been hot. It wasn't. I just cannot care about this guy at all. The scene at the end with Rachel and Adam was hot and they didn't kiss or remove clothing!

 

Preach. I finally figured out who Jeremy reminds me of. Grayson from Drop Dead Diva. The writers tried to convince me that Grayson was this gorgeous swoon-worthy hunk and all I saw was a block of wood who couldn't act. Pretty--yes? Riveting and exciting--no.

 

So the gay black producer sells out his race one week and then his same-sex comrades in the equality fight the next? What a peach.

 

I wonder if Constance and Craig chuckle about their time together on Boston Legal? Constance looks the same for the most part, but Craig has really arm-wrestled against Father Time.

[lucindabelle]

I did, too, but Faith is bordering on being a caricature—she’s the “golly gee” naïve southerner who’s so religious and sheltered from the outside world that it almost seems like her church is a cult. I do know people who belong to very conservative churches, but they are still aware of societal issues like marriage equality, and sex is talked about in church, not just “between two married people and God.”

And along those lines, Faith’s neighbors are okay with her “fornicating” with Adam as long as it doesn’t mean she’s gay?

 

I lived for four years in Alabama and visited Missisippi and small very conservative very religious towns are not myths. And no, sex is NOT discussed in the pulpit. Being aware of something is not the same as condoning it. This does not make her church a cult, it makes it very conservative.

 

Many many public high schools don't give homework on Wednesdays because it's church night, and pray before games. And yes, they've heard of the separation of church and state. But they do it anyway.

 

Of course, not all southern towns, even relatively small ones, are like this. We saw a subset of her town. For all we know there's a gay bar downtown and a synagogue. Those people were not at the dance. Faith has a community that she's part of. Nobody says it's the only community there, but it matters terrifically to her.

 

I would guess nobody presumes she's "fornicating" with Adam, but that people are more liberal on the issue of premarital sex than they are about homosexuality.

 

By the way, I'm a Jersey girl. I find myself speaking up for the south quite a lot because people often have preconceptions about it. If Faith were from Montgomery or Selma or Auburn I'd be right there with you. But it's pretty clear she's from a teeny tiny town in Mississippi.

[portfino]

I would concede that there are very few conservative churches that would outright condone Faith sleeping with Adam, particularly while he's "dating" 7 other women. But they won't see the deflowering scene until she's gone and it wouldn't have any blowback for Amy and only a tad at most for Grandma. However, coming out publically is a whole different ballgame.

[dubbel zout]

So the gay black producer sells out his race one week and then his same-sex comrades in the equality fight the next? What a peach.

 

Jay's lovely, isn't he? His reasons were really lame. Hasn't he seen enough of Chet to know any help will come with strings? And if Everlasting is so successful, would it be that hard for him to find another job? 

[MakeMeLaugh]

I really thought Faith's big secret was going to be that she's a man.

I think the show is being way too PC about how nice they are to want to withhold her coming out interview. If they were really nice they would not have started asking her about it on camera. It really did not ring true for me that they would be sweetly protective of her when they kept another contestant from knowing her father was on his deathbed.

Can we make Quinn's cast a continuing character? Why did I think it was some interesting sex toy that Chet needed to use at first?

[MelineB13]

Maybe I missed something but how could Chet even use that footage of Faith coming out?  The rest of what they shot was about Adam asking her stay and then the fake sex scene.  How would they explain her staying in the "game" if she came out? He didn't cut her and she didn't quit so the story line doesn't make sense. 

[HeatherinThailand]

Topanga, I'm not even from the south, but having grown up in a tiny, super conservative, right wing town, I can say that for this type of community, yes, fornicating is considered not nearly as big a sin as being gay. I was in a church that the week after our state passed an anti-discrimination law, and the pastor spent 2 hours preaching about how this was going to destroy the very fabric of our town and the nation. Spoiler alert: it didn't (and he's no longer the pastor there. Coincidence?).

I thought Faith's story was so well done. I liked that they had it be a Christian because there are still so many Christian kids terrified to come out because of everything Faith said, including God striking them dead. There have just been so many suicides (including in my town) of kids who had their communities disown them, that the fact they had it be the conservative Christian girl who came out carries so much more meaning. And I loved Rachel's teary reaction to it and her fight to protect Faith and Amy's desire to come out on their own terms. I was like "see--you ARE a good human being! Quit this show and go work on real tv!" Never thought I would have such intense emotions about a "trashy" tv show!

[DeLurker]

So the gay black producer sells out his race one week and then his same-sex comrades in the equality fight the next? What a peach.

 

 

But it is he any more horrible than Shia?  He started out as more likable...ok...to answer my own question: Jay is less horrible than Shia even with this shit.  Shia took it upon herself to sabotage someone's prescription medication to knowing Mary's history and medical diagnosis.

 

Someone asked upthread what Shia replaced Mary's meds with. She had a bottle of probiotic powder. 

[b2H]

 

Also, was the wrist cast supposed to mean he hurt Quinn? I don't see the importance otherwise; it might have been the first (only?) time he said he loved her, but that's useless in the lawsuit, I think.

 

Unless the backstory to the cast was related to a beating or some kind of physical violence that Chet couldn't afford to have known to the world.  That would be my take on it.

[lucindabelle]

No no no! He wrote "I love you" on the cast and his words are why she saved it. There's no indicating that she only had the cast because he hurt her. She was not blackmailing him, she was showing him that she saved a piece of trash becausehe once wrote he loved her on it, and that touched his heart.

 

She as motivated by how Shia reminded her she could manipulate people's feelings. Suddenly, instead of seeing her as an adversary, Chet felt terrible, and guilty, and like he owed her. He owed her for hurting her feelings, not for hurting her wrist, but because she loved him aand the only time he said it was a scribble on a cast.

 

Which she saved.

 

And anyone but an absolute heel in that moment would remember the woman who loved him not just his legal opponent. And that's exactly what happened. He realized he couldn't pretend she was stalking him, which was going to be his tactic. His lawyer was wrong: he wasn't thinking with his dick. In that moment, she got him to think with his heart.

Edited June 30, 2015 by lucindabelle

[tennisgurl]

I never would have guessed in the first episode that Adam/Rachel would be my perfect endgame, but damn am I rooting for them now, especially over that talking piece of driftwood known as Jeremy. 

 

Dream ending? Adam picks Faith, who goes off to be with the woman of her dreams, and then Adam gets with Rachel. 

Edited June 30, 2015 by tennisgurl

[Pepper Mostly]

Love this, tennisgurl! Especially if we get to see Faith and Amy moving to a gay friendly city and moving into a duplex with Gran.

[basically]

Is this episode anywhere online? I missed it last night!

[Tara Ariano]

Is this episode anywhere online? I missed it last night!

 

Yes.

[In2You]

I didn't care for Josh Kelly on OLTL and yes dull and wooden here. Rachel and Jeremy have no chemistry.

This episode was hiring. I didn't care about Faith and the let's protect her from coming out plot. Especially after what they did exploiting Anna after her father died.

Shia messing with the meds was too over the top and would never happen on one of these shows.

[MostlyC]

I fear that Mary will try to kill herself after she and her daughter don't get their Ever After and it will happen at the house/set-  Tampering with someone's medicine is beyond awful and illegal.  Wow.  I hope Shia loses her job and does some jail time.  I wonder if we will get a Rachel/Adam sex scene.  Hope so, because I think it will be pretty hot.

 

The Jeremy/Rachel almost-sex scene was pretty hot.  But I still want her with Adam.

 

Is anyone else as cynical as I, since I think that Chet might find a way to screw Quinn once again, by rebranding the show or something?  I wouldn't put it past him.

[xqueenfrostine]

I agree with you. I had no problem with him stopping. If women can change their minds, even after they initiate, so can men.

If he had stopped because he suddenly remembered he had a fiancée and felt guilty, I don't think it would have bothered me that he aborted their encounter. It was the stopping and cutting Rachel down afterward that bugged me.

No no no! He wrote "I love you" on the cast and his words are why she saved it. There's no indicating that she only had the cast because he hurt her. She was not blackmailing him, she was showing him that she saved a piece of trash becausehe once wrote he loved her on it, and that touched his heart.

I took that scene the same way. Shia had just told Quinn that she needed "produce" Chet the way she produced contestants on the show, and I think that's how we're supposed to read what she did. If she had been blackmailing Chet with the cast because he hurt her, he likely would have been freaked out or angry by its reappearance. But instead he seemed quite moved that she had saved it.

Can someone help me understand what Shia is trying to accomplish by switching out Mary's meds?

Mary is on mood stabilizers, which make her boring from the show's standpoint. But if she goes off them, isn't her natural mood anxious and/or depressive. Why would they want that? I also assume that she doesn't drink because she can't mix the meds and booze. But once she's off the meds, the alcohol should only make her a "regular" drunk, not crazy.

Depending on whether she's bipolar I or bipolar II, she might be prone to manic episodes as well as anxiety and depression, and a manic episode could make for some really dramatic TV. Mania often presents itself with impulsive, risky behavior (and also an increase in libido!) and competitiveness and that's probably what Shia is hoping for. Mania also screws with a person's brain to mouth word filter, meaning Mary might say stuff in interviews she otherwise wouldn't. And if she experiences any withdrawal symptoms from being off her antidepressants (something's that's pretty common when you go off drugs like Paxil or Effexor cold turkey), it might make her more irritable too and cause her to get into fights with other contestants.

As for her drinking, I don't think we know that she was abstaining simply due to her medication. Not everyone responds to alcohol to same way. Some people are mean drunks, some people are sad drunks, some people are horny drunks, etc. Maybe Mary knows she's one of those and doesn't drink because she doesn't like who she is under the influence.

[portfino]

One thing I have a question about is the reverse psychology early in the episode to get Adam to choose Faith by asking him to dump her. Adam's play fighting with Faith seemed genuine, and IIRC from last week, Rachel's disappointed/annoyed with him not the other way around. So why would Rachel need to use reverse psychology? Why wouldn't she just say tell Adam that Faith's a fan favorite? He would look good if he picked her.

[rubyred]

Well, Show almost lost me with Shia changing Mary's pills. I totally believe the reality show biz is cutthroat but that is crossing a line that makes me hope that somehow Shia is exposed before Mary shows her ass in whatever way those pills help her not show her ass.

 

Really the best scenes are Rachel grappling with being a brilliant producer and then suddenly realizing what a shitty person that makes her. She's so very good at talking to the contestants, drawing them out. She would never have to resort to changing drugs or urging binge drinking (Shia) or perpetuating stereotypes (Jay). That scene where she's drunkenly bragging about how proud she is of the reach of the show, only to to have Faith bound up like a Labrador newly freed from the closet and realize what kind of shit that's going to put Faith in -- good work, Shiri. Also when she glances over and sees Faith kissing Amy and she hits Jeremy in shock so he'll see it too, that was a great moment.

 

It was also cool to see Quinn in action with Mary, you could see where Rachel learned some of her skills. And I guess Chet folding on the lawsuit is the one indication that he isn't a complete bag of dicks, he's a bag of dicks with a heart. Whatev.

 

I had the weirdest thought watching this last night, that actually the most unbelievable aspect of this show is that the bachelor is as nice as Adam can be. I haven't watched it in several years, but even when I did I never thought those guys were capable of thinking of anyone other than themselves, and were completely convinced of their irresistibility. I just could not picture any of them smoothly saving Faith like that. I keep picturing an early bachelor, Aaron B-something, who worked in his family's local bank in the midwest and really seemed to think the sun rose and set on his ass. At one point, two (gorgeous) contestants bailed just before a rose ceremony and he was blank-faced with shock and then was like, well, I wouldn't have chosen them anyway, so neener neener.

 

I am kind of in awe of the depth of privilege that allows Adam to genuinely not care about damaging sex scandals. He's like, yeah yeah tabloids, yeah I did this, but ultimately so what? And he's right, there will always be people who will work with him or want to work with him. He's done dumbass things but they're not criminal and anyway, he's Adam Cromwell so pffft.

[xqueenfrostine]

One thing I have a question about is the reverse psychology early in the episode to get Adam to choose Faith by asking him to dump her. Adam's play fighting with Faith seemed genuine, and IIRC from last week, Rachel's disappointed/annoyed with him not the other way around. So why would Rachel need to use reverse psychology? Why wouldn't she just say tell Adam that Faith's a fan favorite? He would look good if he picked her.

Maybe she thought he was annoyed with her because of their last interaction at the end of Wife? She called him a whore and they didn't part on the greatest of terms. They both seemed to have gotten over that confrontation fairly quickly, but it might have been awkward if that was the first time they had spoke since it happened. Also Adam insinuated that he didn't necessarily trust Rachel to do what was best for Adam over what was best for the show, so he might not trust her that picking Faith was really a win win for him and not just spin from Rachel. Rachel might have thought he'd be in the mood to spite her.

Plus, I've always been one to reject the "she/you can change him" fairy tale plot, which is how an Adam-Rachel relationship might evolve unless the show went really, really, dark with them. Which isn't to say Rachel-Jeremy is a good end-game... since, hmm, maybe Jeremy's point in the barn is that he didn't want to be thrust back in the "he can change her" scenario... just that I'd prefer to get more of them and less of Rachel-Adam before both relationships (most likely) im/explode.

I think the crux of it is he'd have to REALLY change Rachel for it to work. Given what she said to Jeremy, it sounds like her freak out last season was largely fueled by how freaked out she was by how happy and how normal things were with him. In the video of the two of them she was watching at the end, he talked about wanting to marry her one day. And given that he immediately got engaged to his ex after she disappeared on him, I think it's clear that Jeremy is not only the type who wants to settle down with a wife and (probably) kids, he's eager to start that part of his life. That's not where Rachel is, and maybe not where she'll ever be.

But I think Adam and Rachel could work as is. Their relationship is unlikely to be conventional and yes maybe dark, but they don't have unrealistic expectations of one another and that's kind of important. It'd be fun to watch. I watch this show for the dark, not for the Happily Ever After.

[ketose]

No no no! He wrote "I love you" on the cast and his words are why she saved it. There's no indicating that she only had the cast because he hurt her. She was not blackmailing him, she was showing him that she saved a piece of trash becausehe once wrote he loved her on it, and that touched his heart.

 

She as motivated by how Shia reminded her she could manipulate people's feelings. Suddenly, instead of seeing her as an adversary, Chet felt terrible, and guilty, and like he owed her. He owed her for hurting her feelings, not for hurting her wrist, but because she loved him aand the only time he said it was a scribble on a cast.

 

Which she saved.

 

And anyone but an absolute heel in that moment would remember the woman who loved him not just his legal opponent. And that's exactly what happened. He realized he couldn't pretend she was stalking him, which was going to be his tactic. His lawyer was wrong: he wasn't thinking with his dick. In that moment, she got him to think with his heart.

Chet was previously willing to buy a house for Quinn. I assume that he wanted to give her something and the 40% is a way to do it as part of a legal settlement so his wife doesn't see it as a gift to Quinn.

 

I guess Jeremy was lucky he and Rachel didn't take their pants off first. Otherwise, he might have gotten to far to stop.

[Zuleikha]

It was also cool to see Quinn in action with Mary, you could see where Rachel learned some of her skills. And I guess Chet folding on the lawsuit is the one indication that he isn't a complete bag of dicks, he's a bag of dicks with a heart. Whatev.

 

What Rachel and Quinn do so well that Shia and Jay can't figure out how to do is that they use their emotional truth to lie. That's why Shia and Jay can do some of the manipulation--when they just need information about which button to push--but the really hard manipulations are always Rachel and Quinn. It cost Quinn to use the cast to manipulate Chet because she had to lay herself so bare to do it, but she did. (Still... I couldn't help but think... great for Quinn but what about poor Bill?)

 

I didn't mind Jay selling out Faith to Chet. Yes, it would have been great if he hadn't, but he's right, he has to look out for himself. Rachel often has good intentions, but Rachel can't help Jay. Quinn's mentoring investment is (rightly) locked onto Rachel... Quinn wouldn't know how to mentor Jay even if she wanted to because Jay has to figure out a completely different set of tools to produce. Jay's in a hard place because Chet is Jay's best hope, and that's just not a very good hope!

 

Shia, OTOH, I just want to be found out and fired. What Quinn and Rachel did to Anna with the marker food was already over the line, but at least Anna knew she didn't have access to her marker food. What Shia did should be criminal. It is dangerous for someone to go off mood stabilizers cold turkey. (I don't know how dangerous, but I've had friends go off them and they had to be carefully monitored as they tapered) I think we also saw that it was unnecessary. Rachel was able to reach Mary. Shia's just not very good at her job. She's too blunt and too desperate. It's a shame really (or maybe a good thing!) that Shia doesn't have Rachel's skills since Shia actually WANTS to do the producer job.

 

I've been fighting the Rachel/Adam chemistry, but this episode may be where I give up. They can be honest with each other, and they don't judge each other. I still don't have thoughts about whether they'd become an amazing power couple or drag each other down in a spiral of destruction, but it would at least be something real. Rachel's ex is just wrong for her. He also appears to be a jerk (although I do feel the barn scene was poorly blocked... I think he was supposed to be moved by realizing how depressed she was after her breakdown and that was supposed to be the trigger that led him to jump her but instead it seemed like he was determined to sleep with her again from the start of the conversation and then all of a sudden just wasn't).