UnREAL – Projection

By starrymag | April 15, 2018

By: Taylor Gates

 

 

Rachel (Shiri Appleby) calls her father, asking how he’s doing in rehab. He claims he’s fine and promises he’ll be off the drugs soon. Quinn (Constance Zimmer) asks her if she’s up for hometown dates and Rachel promises she can handle it.

 

Fiona (Tracie Thoms) appreciates all the Everlasting eye candy even though she doesn’t play for that team. Quinn invites her to stick around for the day and see how everything gets done. During hometown date pitches, Rachel wants Owen (Alex Hernandez), Jay (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) wants Jasper (Bart Edwards), and Madison (Genevieve Buechner) is rooting for Zach (Melvin Gregg). Quinn asks Fiona for her opinion, and she agrees with Rachel—Serena (Caitlin Fitzgerald) giving everything up to be a family with a small-town veteran and his daughter would heal a divided nation and help them grow two or three points in the demo.

 

Chet (Craig Bierko) asks Quinn to be his character witness so he can get visitation with his son, telling her she’s his only shot. She’s reluctantly at first but finally relents, agreeing to help him out.

 

Rachel tries to convince Serena to pick Owen, reminding her that Owen is similar to her father and her parents have been married for over forty years. Her speech works, and Serena chooses to go to Colorado. Instead of being excited when this is announced, Owen freezes and walks out of the room. When Serena confronts him, he says he’s uncomfortable with some of her choices, like choosing to keep Jasper around after finding out he was there on a bet.

 

Rachel promises Serena that Owen’s outburst wasn’t a setup and that she’ll get him onboard. Serena realized that Owen was right—she has been making excuses for Jasper she wouldn’t make for others. She goes to talk to Owen herself, apologizing for neglecting him and saying he’s the only truly good man there.

 

Jeremy (Josh Kelly) asks Dr. Simon (Brandon Jay McLaren) how Rachel is, and Dr. Simon suggests he get some distance from Rachel. Charlie (Chelsea Hobbs) asks Jeremy what clothes she should bring to Colorado, but he lies and says the show has promoted her, wanting her to stay behind and shoot footage at the mansion so he can be alone with Rachel. Jeremy asks Rachel how her dad is doing, and Rachel tells him he’s doing well. Rachel admits that her father always liked Jeremy, even telling her she should marry him at one point. She thanks Jeremy for his help.

 

Fiona is impressed with Quinn’s office, saying her dad must be asking for handouts all the time now that she’s rich. Quinn tells her that her father is dead and her mother didn’t attend his funeral. Quinn asks Fiona to partner with her so they can get back into scripted TV and burn down the network boys’ club. Fiona refuses, as she only wants to make high-end, premium content and that’s not Quinn’s brand. Quinn is insulted, saying she’s good enough to make entertaining and meaningful content without putting people to sleep.

 

Owen’s daughter Riley (Michelle Moreno) runs into Serena’s arms, squealing that she is her new mommy. This freaks Serena out, and she shares her insecurities with Rachel. Rachel tells Serena all Riley really wants is someone to love her and she would make a wonderful mom.

 

Serena isn’t sure, and Owen isn’t either. Serena asks Rachel for alone time with Owen later, but Rachel reminds her he and Riley are a package deal. If she doesn’t see it that way, maybe this relationship isn’t the right fit for her. Rachel calls Quinn, telling her of the issue, which makes Quinn nervous. She tells Jay to prep Alexi (Alex Sparrow) in case things go south and hops on a flight to Colorado. Jay preps Alexi by doing drugs, dancing, and making out with him.

 

In Colorado, Rachel tells Quinn she thinks they should go to England with Jasper instead. She doesn’t want Riley growing up thinking everything was her fault. Quinn tells Rachel that Riley isn’t her and Serena isn’t Olive. Rachel refuses to listen, saying they can’t make Serena feel something she doesn’t want to feel. Quinn tells Rachel their whole job is to make her feel it.

 

Rachel goes behind Quinn’s back and tries to convince Serena to cut Owen immediately so he doesn’t have to leave his kid again. Serena is torn, as she was starting to warm up to the idea of becoming pals with Riley. In the end, she figures cutting him is the right thing to do. Quinn is annoyed Rachel did the opposite of what she asked and vows to blow everything up.

 

Quinn invites a clown on set, which terrifies Riley to the point she pees her pants. It has its intended effect, as Serena goes to comfort her. Seeing that the clown hasn’t left, Riley runs into the street and almost gets hit by a car. Luckily, Serena saves her just in time.

 

Rachel furiously confronts Quinn, but Quinn doesn’t feel bad. She got all of Serena’s maternal juices flowing and made the perfect family. Rachel tells Serena they can push the goodbye back, but Serena feels like a changed person, thinking maybe she can be a mom after all.

 

Rachel tells Quinn she hopes Riley getting ridiculed for the rest of her life was worth it, asking if Fiona put her up to all this. Quinn says nobody puts her up to anything and that Rachel should be thanking her for getting her guy to be such a frontrunner. Rachel tattles to Chet, and Chet tells Quinn she crossed a line, saying she never would have done something that like if she had kids. This comments pushes Quinn over the edge, and she refuses to be his character witness.

 

Jasper spies August (Adam Demos) digging a hole. August corrects him, saying it is an infiltration pit. He doesn’t care about impressing Serena anymore; he just wants to raise awareness for the environment. Jasper makes fun of him for his small business compared to his massive ones, and August accuses him of being spoiled and not a real man. This pisses Jasper off, and he starts digging a hole as well. Madison and Charlie decide to film the competition.

 

Graham (Brennan Elliot) announces that August has won, and Madison promises a one-on-one date to make Jasper jealous. It also works on Zach, who steals August’s shovel and starts digging as well. Madison starts washing August off with a hose, but he takes the hose from her and squirts Jasper. This infuriates Jasper, and they mud wrestle while Charlie records. Madison also lets it slip that it was Jeremy’s choice not to bring her on the hometown date and that it surprised her because everyone hooks up during those.

 

Madison shows Quinn the footage she and Charlie got, and Quinn is impressed. She tells Quinn she promised an August a one-on-one date, and Quinn reluctantly green lights it. Dan (Donavon Stinson) brings Serena out to talk to August, and he moves her by saying he wants something good to come out of him being on the show. Zach amuses Serena, saying that—even though he doesn’t know what an infiltration pit it—he could tweet out a picture and make there be holes everywhere.

 

Rachel tells Owen she doesn’t think Serena is ready to be a mom. Owen agrees but thinks that Serena will grow into the role. The fact she dove in front of a truck to save Riley shows what kind of person she is. Serena is also ambitious and smart would make a great role model for his daughter.

 

Right before the elimination ceremony, Jasper tells Serena that she wouldn’t be happy in Colorado. Unlike Owen, he can travel all over the world with her while sharing a beautiful connection. Serena says lovely things about both Jasper and Owen, making both of them jealous. She ultimately decides to cut Zach because she sees him as more of a friend than a husband. Zach is irritated, calling the rest of the remaining contestants douches. Her kisses Serena and says that, if she asks, he might just take her back in the future.

 

Quinn compliments Charlie on the great footage she’s consistently been getting. Jeremy congratulates her, but Charlie freezes him out. She says she won’t be part of the drama he has with Rachel, bragging that it didn’t suck being stuck in a house full of hot guys with him away.

 

Dr. Simon gives Rachel some bad news—her dad called her mom and she checked him out of the facility. Rachel tries to talk to Quinn about it, but Quinn is still giving her the cold shoulder after their fight earlier. She drives away with Fiona, leaving Rachel alone.

 

Gary (Christopher Cousins) calls Chet, telling him the episode last week was a smash hit. He’s getting tons of calls from the media, and he’s definitely on their radars. He offers to give him the PR push to snag him an Emmy in exchange for proof of every shady thing Quinn has ever done.