All For One Recap: Episodes 6-8

By starrymag | March 21, 2016

By: Michelle Rose Micor

 

Greetings Digital Beans and how are we doing this fine Monday afternoon? Hopefully, better than Dorothy (Gwenlyn Cumyn). When we last saw Castlemore she had just received the news that she would not be receiving a bid from her dream sorority and the result? Total devastation.

The title of episode six, Nothing is Good and Everything Hurts, pretty much says it all. We pick up where we left off last but this time it’s with someone new at the camera.

While soft chants of Dornie can be heard across the Internet, Connie (Linnea Currie-Roberts) reveals that she also didn’t receive a bid from MST and is actually handling it quite well. Dorothy, on the other hand, has taken up to burying herself amongst what looks like every blanket and pillow in their home. The adorable Connie, ever so determined to help your roomie snap out of her funk, enlists the help of the Sigmas.

Cue the adorable Portia (Claire Gagnon-King) greeting the “Unspeakables” before declaring it’s time for Project Save Dorothy! Ariana finds it a bit funny, but Portia reminds her sweetheart, Ria (Angie Lopez) A.K.A. Ariana, and everyone else that Dorothy just needs to be surrounded by people who love her. But Castlemore still protests and Portia steps up to the plate again to pull out the big guns, by calling Alex (Alejandra Simmons) A.K.A. Mom as Ria calls her.

Cut to Alex and Ria in action helping to tidy up the week long disaster that is Connie and Dorothy’s apartment and shocker, it doesn’t take long for Alex to take another stab Dorothy’s online friends.

The episode jumps around a bit and what I love most about this episode is the way you see each friend respond to Dorothy in need. We see Connie looking for backup, Portia taking the nurturing route, Alex the motherly route and Ariana taking the tough love approach. In the end, it’s Ariana’s tough love speech that really helps break Dorothy out of her funk (although, I’d say it was a team effort).

The scene that follows is one of my favorites. I don’t know if it’s because Alex reminds me of my own best friend, but seeing how much she truly cares for Dorothy is just heartwarming. Fresh out of her funk, Alex is making sure that Dorothy doesn’t fall behind on her studies and she reminds her that she’s still great and she’ll persevere no matter what. She might be all “work hard and play later,” but Alex truly cares about her and just wants to see her succeed – with or without a sorority.

After the adorable heart to heart moment with Alex, we cut to Dorothy looking a bit more like herself (beanie and all) and a cute Miller (Dan Mousseau) totally working a pink apron because he’s a sweetheart and cooked dinner!

Dorothy goes on to ramble a bit more about the happenings with Miller until he takes a seat next to her and does his own version of awkward rambling (which is only made ten more times better due to his pink apron). Miller goes on about how much he’s really enjoyed hanging out with Dorothy and when she went MIA for a week he realized that he “missed her a lot and stuff.” Basically, when it comes down to it, Miller agrees that they’re kind of a perfect weird together and if she was willing, he’d like to make sure they stayed perfectly weird together for awhile.

It takes awhile for Dorothy to realize where Miller’s going with the conversation, but when she does she pulls him in for a kiss and seals the deal – making them officially an item. CookieMonster on the other hand, still does not approve.

For a few seconds, we see remnants of the Dorothy we all fell in love with in the first few episodes. The excitement in her voice, sparkle in her eyes of declaring Miller as her boyfriend and the love for her friends, it’s perfect and yet…There’s still a piece missing and it isn’t too hard to tell at the end of the episode and the Inseparables don’t seem to think she’s just fine either.

Alas, what better way to figure out if our dear Dorothy is really doing okay than with a good old-fashioned girls night!

Besides the truly adorable Portia, the rest of the gang doesn’t seem too jazzed about girls night, but whether or not they want to admit it, they miss Dorothy, who’s been spending all her time lately with Miller doing, “stuff.”

Alex asks when they’ll finally get to meet the mystery man, but is interrupted by Portia explaining that they can discuss it later at its schedule time because nothing says fun like a girls night with a scheduled agenda. It comes out sooner rather than later; however, that Portia’s scheduled night was an attempt to show Dorothy that she didn’t need a sorority to have sisters because they were all friends no matter what.

Fast forward to a little later in the night to the gang playing what quickly becomes a heated game of truth or dare and Alex lays down a truth bomb about following the rules and keeping everyone out of trouble that makes even the Inseparables a little uncomfortable.

After some coaxing and moral support, Alex finally lets down the walls that she’s tried so hard to build up. We learn that there was a guy she dated in high school and the relationship ended badly, but their story was a little different. The guy was a runaway and someone Alex was supposed to take care of, at least that’s what she thought she was doing. She later realized that her actions only ended up hurting him, causing him to disappear and she hasn’t seen or heard from him since. The guilt displayed on Alex’s face is so apparent and it honestly broke my heart to watch, but I don’t believe anyone could’ve delivered this better than actor, Alejandra Simmons.

This scene is my favorite out of last week’s episodes. While Alex is still struggling with sharing her secret, she does her best to push her emotions aside and make room for positives ones to share with her friends. What’s amazing to me is how, in the few episodes we’ve already seen, there’s been huge character development. From the beginning, Alex already seemed a bit off. She was always a bit too by the book, but then we see her get vulnerable for a moment and suddenly the reasoning behind all her actions make sense.

Episode eight is one of the shortest episodes so far, but the build up of plot and emotions makes it seem like it’s longer than what it really is. We begin with seeing the roommates back on screen together to discuss what’s been going on in the political sorority world. Earlier this week we found out that Connie was not only rejected by MST, but she also joined another sorority, Psi Pi Alpha.

While Connie can drop the subject of her rejection from MST so easily, Dorothy can’t, claiming it’s absolutely ridiculous considering that Connie’s cousin is the President and everyone at MST loved her.

As if that weren’t already bad enough, we find out that Rick (which if you remember is Anne’s ex-boyfriend) made her reject Connie in an odd way to hurt her for their failed relationship. But here’s the kicker, why? Why is Anne just letting Rick walk all over her? Well, that’s what Dorothy is trying to figure out, but Connie isn’t having it. In an effort to protect her cousin, Connie isn’t willing to risk hurting her cousin, which I can’t blame her for. The roommates continue to bicker and it starts to get even more heated until Connie breaks and finally exclaims, “Dorothy you’re not my girlfriend!”

The tension continues and the look on Dorothy’s face…I can’t say that I didn’t tear up because I think everyone can relate to a moment like this happening to them at some point or another. Dorothy’s eyes are glassed over, tears threatening to spill at any minute, but they don’t. She holds her composure and soldiers on.

Connie looks like she’s about to leave, but before she does she tells Dorothy that Anne was told to block two PNMs on purpose. Connie was one of them and while she doesn’t want to allude that the other was Dorothy, she can’t help it considering that Rochefort (Damien Doepping) handles all of Rick’s dirty work. Additionally, since Douchecanoe has it out for Dorothy, she very well could have been the second PNM. Connie warns her roommate to be careful and walks away, most likely shattering her heart (and everyone else’s) in the process.

For a moment, we see Dorothy completely unhinged. She turns away slightly from the camera to wipe away her tears and when she comes back into view she’s fully composed and vows revenge on Rochefort if he is in the fact the reasoning behind her rejection from MST. Not going to lie but it sent a few chills down my spine. End scene.

Cut to a new video and it’s Alex telling Dorothy that she will not be making Rochefort pay, no matter how big of a jerk he is. Alex responds, “This is not a video game, violence is not the answer.” This gets a laugh from Ria and a pout from Dorothy who immediately jumps on the defense asking why she immediately thought she was going to resort to beating him up.

Alex takes the high road and tries to calm down a fuming Dorothy explaining that she needs to let this go. What’s done is done and whatever she has planned up her sleeve can only make matters worse. Why does that sound so familiar?

Still Dorothy is relentless and it’s exposed to the rest of the group that Rick’s been threatening Anne which seems to grab Alex’s attention. While Dorothy’s plan of action is still to punch Rochefort in the face, Alex seems to be trying to ponder a better course of action – a sensible one (insert Jane Austen joke here).

Alex suggests calling Rick out during the Student Union general meeting happening the next day. Ariana makes a good point stating that Rick’s a politician and the last thing he’ll want is public confrontation. This seems to get Dorothy onboard, Alex looks relieved, Ariana and Portia look more in love than ever and Dorothy ends the episode with a quick, “Rick the dick, you’re going down!”

Last week’s episodes, in my opinion, really set the stage for what’s to come next. We gained some great insight into Alex’s backstory and I can’t stress enough how much I love where that’s going, as little by little Alex makes strides. Then, there’s our leading lady – we started off with sad and depressed Dorothy and ended the week’s episode with feisty and defiant Dorothy! It’s amazing to me how much can happen in just a few minutes and I really think that goes back to the writing team and their creative process.

Besides this week’s plot, that wasn’t the only thing that stood out to me. The banter from The Inseparables this week was too freaking hilarious. Exhibit A, in which CookieMonster [Laura Hollis] continues to share her disdain for the new couple, but que sera, sera.

I hope you guys enjoyed this week’s recap and you can check out all new episodes of All For One every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:30PM EST! And if you haven’t already be sure to subscribe to KindaTV to catch awesome bonus videos like Natasha Negovanlis’ recent interview with the A4O cast!