UnREAL – Confront

By starrymag | March 25, 2018

By: Taylor Gates

 

 

Quinn (Constance Zimmer) is getting fitted for a custom suit in her office. Jay (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) comes in, suggesting she wait to buy something so expensive until they actually sell his show. He spies a Passport to Dance poster she made featuring Alexi (Alex Sparrow), which makes him uneasy—he promised his boyfriend Xavier (Jaime M. Callica) he would be a large part of the show. Quinn tells him he needs to suck it up and get footage of Alexi being sexy with Serena (Caitlin FitzGerald) so they can use it for their pitch. Madison (Genevieve Buechner) barges in and announces that someone has cut off August’s (Adam Demos) man bun off.

 

Dr. Simon (Brandon Jay McLaren) wants Rachel (Shiri Appleby) to slow down and continue working with him since she opened up so much the previous night. Rachel, however, wants to forget all about that and focus on producing. Dr. Simon tells Quinn that he’s concerned about Rachel, but Quinn shrugs him off. She reminds him that’s he’s just there to be a walking Xanax dispenser, not deep dive into Rachel’s psyche. Dr. Simon warns Quinn that, sooner or later, Rachel is going to lose it.

 

August yells at all the guys, upset about his mangled man bun. Rachel fetches Serena, who is getting her hair done, and insults Madison for not having the instinct to go get her. Madison once again brings up the fact that she sold a pilot, but Rachel tells her to wake up—she’s clearly just Gary’s (Christopher Cousins) sidepiece. Serena is furious at the men for making fun of August, telling Quinn she doesn’t want to hear their pitches for their dream dates anymore. She only wants August. Quinn orders Rachel to convince her to pick Alexi for the one-on-one.

 

Rachel tells Serena she thinks she’s making it too easy for August. In order to make him a little jealous, she should pick someone sophisticated and soulful like Alexi. Rachel promises her some alone time with August if she says yes, and Serena agrees to the compromise.

 

Chet (Craig Bierko) introduces Quinn to Robin (Stacey Farber), a reporter there to do a story about Everlasting’s themes for his Emmy campaign. Quinn pulls Chet aside, panicking. Robin is a real reporter: a reporter who could dig up all their dirty secrets.

 

Xavier calls Jay, who lies and tells him that Quinn wants him to be a big part of the new show. Jay gives Alexi the lines he should say to pitch his date with Serena. Alexi doesn’t like being produced like a puppet and tells Jay that he needs to get over the fact that they kissed. Despite Alexi’s irritation, Serena still picks him for the one-on-one, having the intended effect of making August jealous. With Dr. Simon’s words in the back of her mind, Quinn assigns Rachel to go produce Alexi on the date, which irritates Jay.

 

Alexi hits on Rachel before his date with Serena, but Rachel manages to resist him. She informs him that his ex-girlfriend, who broke his heart and lead to him being dismissed from the Royal Ballet, has been watching he show. She encourages him to shine and make her envious.

 

Madison calls Gary, saying she wants him to take her out somewhere. He reluctantly agrees before saying he has good news about her pilot. Quinn offers to let Madison produce a special man bun interrogation segment in order to distract Robin, but Madison tells her she has to leave early to have dinner with Gary and talk about her pilot. Quinn can see right through that, knowing she’s still hooking up with him. If she wants to earn respect, Quinn tells her, she needs to be her own woman—not someone else’s bitch.

 

Quinn and Madison tell Zach (Melvin Gregg) that he has lost thousands of followers since the start of the season. In order to make some noise, he should confess to cutting off August’s man bun. Serena has already talked about cutting him that night, and this could be a last-ditch effort to make some waves. It works like a charm, and Zach confesses during the interrogation. Billy (Tyler Hynes) also takes credit for the act, and they all fight. Quinn finally gives up the security footage, and everyone sees that Zach is indeed the real culprit, making Billy look like a fool. Madison brags that she’s the one who brought Zach over from her pilot, which impresses Robin. Quinn quickly shuts her down, implying it was only because she slept her way there.

 

Jay admits to Rachel that he lied to Quinn about Alexi agreeing to host Passport to Dance. Rachel tells him to get Alexi on board, threatening to tell Quinn if he doesn’t. Xavier shows up to set surprise Jay. Things start to go downhill when Alexi, having done drugs with his friend Sergei (Raresh DiMofte), gets cuddly with Jay right in front of him. During the ballerina’s performance, Alexi charismatically jumps on stage to dance with her, which makes Serena smitten. She thanks Rachel for convincing her to see a different side of Alexi but still wants her alone time with August after the elimination ceremony.

 

Rachel asks to talk to Quinn alone. She feels like she needs to tell Serena that August slept with Quinn, as she doesn’t want to keep lying to her. Quinn tells Rachel she can’t be both essentially honest and do this job, refusing to let her be honest with Serena.

 

With Quinn out of the room, Robin starts prying. She asks Madison what it’s like working for Quinn, and Madison says that she thinks Quinn is threatened by younger, ambitious women. She also confides that Quinn is a mess and Gary told her she’s on her way out. Flattered that someone is listening to her, Madison agrees to help Robin talk to Serena.

 

Robin interviews Serena, asking how she could let herself be turned into a damsel in distress. Serena assures Robin that she’s in control and actually has real options between the guys, but Robin insists that she’s being manipulated. She tells her she overheard Rachel producing Alexi to like her and that she should trust no one.

 

Serena confronts Rachel about what Robin said, and Rachel admits that sometimes they do have to push the guys. When Serena pressures her, Rachel tells her that August slept with Quinn. Serena then goes to talk to Quinn, saying she’s going to cut August immediately. Quinn tells her they all make mistakes; she, for instance, slept with the jockey. Quinn reminds her August barely even knew her when they had their fling and that she should give him another chance. Serena demands to only work with Rachel from now on—she doesn’t trust Quinn.

 

Quinn kicks Robin off the set. Robin tells Quinn she’s surprised she’s so rough on Madison considering she’s a younger version of her, doing everything similarly including sleeping her way to the top. Quinn tells Robin she worked hard for years before making it in the industry, but Robin doesn’t buy it. Robin’s theory is that Quinn hates herself and tries to tear down other women down.

 

Quinn tells Rachel the good news: their plan worked like a charm, and Serena is going to come running to Rachel from now on. Rachel is surprised she doesn’t feel better after telling Serena the truth. Quinn is worried about the way Rachel is talking, telling her she can’t have a breakdown with so many eyes on her. All she has to do is produce the show and not kill anyone. Rachel asks Quinn if she wants her to get better, and Quinn says of she does…after the season is over.

 

Before the elimination ceremony, Jay spies Alexi doing drugs in the bathroom. Alexi says coke is the only thing that makes him feel alive. During the elimination ceremony, Serena finally cuts Billy, which leads to an epic meltdown. Quinn tells Jay the footage of Alexi on the date was fantastic and he should keep doing whatever he’s doing with him. Jay bribes Alexi, promising him more drugs if he agrees to host his dance show.

 

Quinn overhears Madison on the phone with Gary. Madison is disappointed since Gary has to work late and can no longer take her out to dinner. Madison is worried Quinn is going to fire her, but she ends up doing the exact opposite. She tells her that Rachel didn’t get so good at her job by Quinn being nice to her, which is why she’s so hard on Madison, too. She should be looking for a career that lasts and means something—not trying to cut the line with Gary. Quinn yells into the walkie-talkie, asking if anyone has eyes on Rachel.

 

Jeremy (Josh Kelly) and Charlie (Chelsea Hobbs) grab dinner and stargaze. Jeremy asks Charlie if she’s always so happy, and she says that working in TV has been a dream come true. Jeremy says he used to think going to work was fun but now prefers nights like this, and the two kiss.

 

Jasper (Bart Edwards) joins Serena as she looks out at the water. She asks him what would have happened if they would’ve met in the real world, and Jasper says he would have asked for her number and called her before they even left the club. They kiss as well.

 

Madison lounges on the couch with Gary, who tells her that while he hasn’t actually watched her pilot yet, his assistant did and loved it. Madison lies and says she has a headache so Gary will go get her some aspirin. While he’s out of the room, she sneaks onto his computer.

 

Rachel shows up to her rapist Tom Miller’s (David Chisum) house, saying she needs closure after what he did to her. His recollection of the events doesn’t line up with hers. He says she was 17 and curious after she saw him and her mom doing some weird form of couple’s therapy. Rachel tells Tom she was 12, adamant that he forced her. Tom tells her that her father came and beat him up that night, which is shocking news to Rachel. She didn’t think her father even knew. Tom apologizes, but Rachel doesn’t forgive him.

 

Quinn leaves yet another concerned voicemail for Rachel asking where she is. Shaken up, Rachel goes into Quinn’s office and wordlessly lies down in her lap.