UnREAL – Clarity

By starrymag | March 19, 2018

By: Taylor Gates

 

 

Quinn (Constance Zimmer) and August (Adam Demos) have sex in her office again. He starts talking about how they could have a future together, but Quinn tells him that would be career suicide for her. She reveals she’s never banged a contestant before, which surprises him. Rachel (Shiri Appleby) greets August by the pool, confused when he acts somewhat distant.

 

Rachel sees a PA bring UTI medicine into Quinn’s office and asks who the lucky guy is. Quinn lies and says it’s just stress before dropping the bomb that she’s letting Madison (Genevieve Buechner) produce Serena (Caitlin FitzGerald) now—revenge for Rachel’s outburst last week.

 

Although the network is thrilled that the tabloids are portraying Serena as America’s Sweetheart, she is horrified by it, saying that’s not the real her. Quinn tells Serena they’re going to make it easy for her from now on, having her dress up as a princess and stand in a tower while the guys joust and compete for her affection in duels. Rachel and Dr. Simon agree it’s tacky and outdated, but Quinn says that tampon companies are clamoring to buy ads during the show.

 

Rachel spies Chet (Craig Bierko) shooting behind-the-scenes footage, hoping it will help win him an Emmy. Rachel reminds him viewers are actually going to see the cheesy mess they’ve created with the fairytale theme. She says instead they should be asking hard questions about men and women and examining why the fairytale stuff actually works. Quinn is operating from a place of fear and wouldn’t be on board to help, so Rachel and Chet decide to work together.

 

Chet interviews Owen (Alex Hernandez), who admits he doesn’t consider himself a feminist, as the label seems to be an excuse for selfish behavior. When pushed by Rachel, he admits that his wife cheated on him before abandoning their daughter. Jeremy interrupts Owen before he can dig himself a deeper hole, saying women are all selfish bitches.

 

New camera girl Charlie (Chelsea Hobbs) attempts to bond with Jeremy (Josh Kelly). At first, he acts cold towards her, but eventually she breaks down his walls and they set up a date. She wants to get to know him—not just bang him in the camera truck. Jeremy assures her he didn’t actually mean what he said about feminism, explaining that Rachel makes him a little crazy.

 

Jay (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) pitches the idea of a gay underground dance show to Quinn. He wants to explore different kinds of maleness within trap music. Quinn tells him his idea is way too niche; they need a hit for network television, not some tiny cable channel. He tells his idea to Alexi (Alex Sparrow), who loves the concept and is impressed by the footage Jay already has.

 

Serena gets fed up with being stuck in the tower and watching the guys hopelessly try to rescue her, taking out her fake boobs and throwing them down the fake castle. Quinn panics that she’s going rogue, scrambling to find Rachel to take over for Madison. Quinn is frustrated when she finds Rachel working with Chet on unauthorized footage, even more unhinged when August cordially says hello to her.

 

Serena and Jasper (Bart Edwards) get into a fight, which Rachel overhears. Rachel tells Serena she really thinks that she and August could have a good connection and sets her up on a one-on-one date with him. They talk about his experience living with a matriarchal tribe in Tibet and how much he admires her confidence. Quinn is particularly harsh on August in the control room, which confuses Rachel. However, when August looks directly into the camera and talks about wanting to get away with someone and break the rules, she realizes he’s talking to Quinn.

 

Rachel follows Quinn into her office, worried that she’s self-sabotaging. Quinn throws it back at her, saying that her life has been hell the last few years because of Rachel. She’s had to spend all her time cleaning up her messes and covering shit up. It always starts with B-roll interviews, but it ends with two people dead in a ditch. Rachel tears up, saying she’s just trying to help Quinn, but Quinn tells her to stop. Maybe begging her to come back was a mistake.

 

Upset, Rachel goes into her room and starts throwing things. Jay gets on the walkie and begs her to help produce the guys, as they’re spinning out of control. On her way there, Madison confides in Rachel that she’s worried about Quinn and her drinking. Serena finds Rachel and raves about how much she loves August. Rachel struggles with whether to tell her the truth about August and Quinn, but she decides against it, breaking essential honesty.

 

The control room overhears Jasper tells the other guys he’s on the show as a bet. Quinn tells Rachel the information can’t get out, as Jasper is a wifey. Quinn finds out the bet is $400,000 if Jasper is the first one to sleep with Serena, and Quinn chews Jay out about it, not impressed with his solution to make Jasper a villain wifey. Jay points out they already have both August and Jasper as potential regular wifeys, but Quinn is adamant August doesn’t fit that role.

 

Chet is excited about the footage he and Rachel shot, but Quinn refuses to even look at it let alone include it in the episodes. Chet says he wants her to have her empire, but she has to swing for the fences to get it. And right now, she’s playing it safe. Quinn doesn’t feel safe at all. That night, Chet edits Rachel out of the footage, going behind Quinn’s back and offering to show this forbidden video to The National Page.

 

Rachel talks to both Jasper and Owen, telling them both that they’re clearly the frontrunner and the only ones in which Serena has expressed real interest. She promises Owen they will tell him about Jasper’s bet and swears to Jasper they won’t.

 

Madison is furious when she finds out Rachel has fired John (Antonio Cayonne) the bartender and accused him of stealing Quinn’s booze. Without this job, John won’t get any insurance or benefits, and his child has cancer. She says Rachel really is as bad as everyone says.

 

Rachel breaks down to Dr. Simon (Brandon Jay McLaren), admitting that she does use essential honesty as a shield. She confesses to what happened between Jeremy, Yael, and Coleman. Although it was horrifying that two people died because of her, it was somewhat thrilling to have that type of power.

 

Graham (Brennan Elliott) announces that Serena will be handing out knives to the contestants she wants to stay. Nervous that he’s on the verge of being eliminated, Jasper speaks up, about to come clean and explain the bet. However, a still clueless Serena stops him and says she wants to find the connection they shared a few days ago, asking him to stay. He happily agrees, and Owen gives him a dirty look. Silver fox Preston (Cameron Bancroft) gets sent home.

 

Jay chastises Alexi for drinking, as he just got out of rehab. Instead, Alexi urges Jay to take shots with him, and Jay agrees. Afterwards, Alexi stuns him with a kiss. Quinn tells Jay to pitch her again, and he tells her about the idea he has to examine underground dance scenes all over the world in a show called “Passport to Dance.” He lies and says Alexi has already agreed to host it. Quinn thinks the show now sounds promising, approving it to go to the network.

 

August goes into Quinn’s office, saying he’s been thinking about her all night. Quinn tells him he was too obvious about their fling and that their little romance is over. It never should have happened and never can again. Quinn tells him to get his head back in the game with Serena if she wants to stick around. That night, Serena smiles at the picture of August she has hanging on her mirror and someone cuts off August’s man bun.

 

Dr. Simon tells Rachel that coming to him was an important first step and he still wants to help her understand where the darkness in her life comes from. Rachel promises it’s not Quinn, as she’s the only real person in her life. Rachel goes back to her room to obsessively flip through photos of a mysterious man’s Facebook page. The photos deeply upset Rachel.