By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell
We open with Cadence (Emily Alyn Lind) in bed after passing out with Gat (Shubham Maheshwari) and Penny are worriedly watching over her. While Cadence is asleep, she dreams about drowning and tries to think of a fairytale, before coming to the conclusion that she’s sick of fairytales.
Flashing back to summer 16, Cadence meets up with Gat, who is throwing rocks into the water. They’re both feeling troubled for different reasons. Gat feels weird remaining on the island after Ed (Rahul Kohli) left for a hotel, as he’s never been at Beechwood without him. Cadence, for her part, is all dressed up because her mother wanted to help her get back into Harris’s (David Morse) good graces. For her troubles, Harris gave her one of Tipper’s expensive barrets, but made it clear it was for Cadence and not Penny (Caitlin FitzGerald). Cadence and Gat hold hands and commiserate over their respective family troubles, and are interrupted by Bess (Candice King). At first, Bess is just hoping to find out where Mirren (Esther McGregor) is, but then, Bess is unpleasantly surprised that Cadence is wearing the jade hairpin that Bess told Harris she wanted the day before.
Away from the tension, Mirren is trying to close up the lighthouse before the rain comes. Ebon (Dempsey Bryk) sees her struggling with the door and helps her get it closed. She wonders what he’s doing on Beachwood, and the answer is work. Ebon was tasked with dropping Thatcher, Harris’s lawyer, off for lunch. The plan wasn’t for Ebon to stick around long, but a shelter-in-place was ordered, so Ebon had to stay at the docks. He asks Mirren if she wants to shelter with him, and we cut away.
Elsewhere, Carrie (Mamie Gummer) is sadly looking at her almost engagement ring when she’s interrupted by Will (Brady Droulis) asking when Ed’s coming back. Before the aborted proposal, Ed promised Will he’d take him to get the new Zelda game. Carrie says when the weather calms down, she’ll take him, but Will wants to go with Ed. This exchange is interrupted by Johnny (Joseph Zada) telling Will to drop it because they broke up. Gentle reminder, in summer eight, when Gat and Ed first came to the island, Will was a baby. So, he’s probably spent more time with Ed than his biological father, which is why he doesn’t quite understand and wants to know when Ed’s coming back. Johnny isn’t in a patient mood and angrily tells Will that Ed won’t be back and just to learn to entertain himself for five seconds. Carrie reprimands Johnny for his attitude, and Johnny is upset that Ed is gone and Carrie isn’t explaining why. He wonders if Ed left because of him, and Carrie says she’s his mother and she’s doing what’s best. As the parent, Carrie says, she signed up for it, but Ed didn’t. Johnny offers to go to Ed and tell him the truth about what happened at school, but Carrie says no. If Johnny wants to help, Carrie says, he needs to show Harris that he’s an asset to the family. Right now, Harris is keeping a roof over their heads, and if what Johnny did got out, he’d never forgive either of them.
When it’s time for lunch, things continue to be awkward for the family. Thatcher (Andrew Moodie) suggests selling Beechwood, but Bess says their mother loved the place and its properties. When Thatcher inquired about where the littles are, Carrie explains they’re playing a board game and adds that it’s hard keeping them entertained inside during a storm. Thatcher notes that it must be especially hard considering all the valuables, which leads to a tense discussion about ivory elephant statues. All the moms want the elephants, but Harris chastises them and says he’s not dead yet, so the statues are staying where they are.
Either way, Thatcher says the statues should be accounted for in the estate inventory. This is how Bess, Carrie and Penny find out that Harris plans to make changes to his will in the aftermath of Tipper’s death. Things get even more awkward when Johnny asks how Harris got the statues if Ivory is illegal. Harris says no, you just need to know how to get it. Harris’s process of getting the statues includes a questionable story about a “China girl” and a spiel about “orientals” caring more about money than the law. Cadence points out that those phrases are offensive and suggests selling them and donating the money to a wildlife preserve since elephants are endangered. Harris gets angry and says their generation is too eager to be offended, and Johnny agrees.
After lunch, Cadence lays into Johnny and says he could’ve had her back. Johnny points out that he’s not the one who said what Harris said and adds that he doesn’t think their grandfather is racist; he just thinks Harris is too old to change. Johnny thinks that they all just need to stay on Harris’s good side, even if he says questionable things. But, Cadence says, it’s deeper than one lunch and tells Johnny he’s been being a jerk all summer. Johnny responds that Cadence and Gat are the ones being shady and wonders if they’re a couple now. Before things can escalate further, Harris tells Johnny and Gat to secure the boat before the storm.
In the living room, Bess and Harris are prepping for the storm, only to be interrupted by Bonnie (Emerson MacNeil) and Liberty (Manaia Wall), who are looking for Will. After the kids leave, Bess tries broaching the subject of Brody and the money he owes his clients with the threat of federal prison hanging over his head. When Harris is cold in response, Bess points out that she didn’t know that Brody had been stealing from her and them. This doesn’t temper Harris’s anger because he says the idea of raising a fool isn’t better than the idea of raising a criminal. Bess reminds Harris that he loved Brody too once. Harris says he trusted Bess’s judgment; he expected Carrie and Penny to have awful taste in men, but he expected more from Bess.
The dressing down is interrupted by Pennie, who is taking the dogs upstairs and planning to sedate them so they don’t get upset during the storm. But Harris scolds her for the way that Cadence corrected him in front of their company at dinner. Penny apologizes and says she doesn’t know what Cadence has been reading, and Bess says she was just trying to impress Gat. Bess says that maybe Penny has been too distracted to notice them getting cozy this summer.
Inside the lighthouse, Mirren reluctantly shows Ebon her artwork. She used to paint in Tipper’s study, but it feels weird now that she’s gone. At first, she assumes that he wants to hook up, but he’s genuinely interested in talking about her art. Mirren explains that she wants to submit some of her work to a nearby gallery that her grandmother used to take her to. When Mirren asks Ebon what he thinks, Ebon says he can see she’s very technically skilled, but her work plays it a little safe. This bothers Mirren who wonders if Ebon thinks she’s just a bored rich girl with a silly hobby.
Ebon wonders if that’s what she thinks, and Mirren wonders about it all the time. Ebon says her work isn’t bad; he just thinks art is supposed to be messy. Mirren says her life is plenty messy, as an example, she points to her father’s law-breaking and her mother’s adultery. Plus, she knows her family probably didn’t notice that she wasn’t there for lunch. She feels like she’s just the spare to the heirs, aka Johnny and Cadence and it hurts that Cadence tells her everything but doesn’t really ask her much lately. Which, Mirren says, is probably why she doesn’t know that Mirren lost her virginity to a random guy, aka Ebon. She gets upset and pushes a painting, and then suggests that Ebon wait out the storm in the boathouse. But Ebon doesn’t leave and points out that when Mirren pushed a painting, she smeared the paint on one that was still drying and made it better.
In one of the offices, Carrie is in a virtual Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous meeting. We learn that she’s been sober for a decade and she hasn’t been to a meeting in ages, but she really needs this today. She explains she lost her mother, ended things with her partner involuntarily, and her boys are having a tough time with everything. Before she could get any feedback, there’s a blackout due to the storm, so her connection to the meeting is cut off. As she sits in the office alone, Carrie looks at a bottle of Gin longingly.
While they secure the boats, Gat and Johnny argue. Gat doesn’t get why he’s suddenly after the Harris Sinclair seal of approval. Johnny says he’s just trying to be more responsible, but Gat suggests that maybe trying to be like Harris isn’t the best way to do that. Johnny snaps and says he gets it; Gat doesn’t like him or his family anymore. Gat went to India, Johnny says, and he got enlightened and now he’s too good for them. Gat tries to explain that, that isn’t true, but Johnny says they just got thrown together on an island when they were eight. Thus, Johnny says, growing apart was inevitable. He adds they don’t have much in common anymore and that if they went to the same school, they wouldn’t even be friends. Johnny is eager to change the subject and leave, so he asks where the red canoe is. Gat says it’s not there and tries to apologize, but Johnny’s immediately distracted. Will wanted to go into town earlier, and Johnny blew him off. With one of the canoes unaccounted for and no one having seen Will since this morning, Johnny is afraid he took it out. Gat and Johnny race towards the docks to find Will.
Inside Clairmont, Cadence is looking for Gat and asks her mother, but her mother is more focused on scolding her about lunch. She’s upset that Cadence provoked Harris when she specifically asked her to help her get back on his good side. Cadence tries pointing out that it’s wrong to call Asian women China dolls, but Penny says if one must correct Harris Sinclair, one does it in absolute privacy, and even then, it’s pushing it. Harris, Penny says, is one of Forbes’ most powerful men, and Cadence is 16 years old. Cadence tells Penny she’s just trying to be a better person and but Penny just chalks it up to Gat’s influence. When she was growing up, Penny says, there were no boys allowed overnight at Clairmont. Gat never counted before, but with Ed gone, Penny questions if he should be allowed to stay since things have changed between him and Cadence. Cadence doesn’t want her mother to send Gat away, but Penny says that Sinclair ladies have discretion, and since Bess caught Gat and Cadence holding hands, that’s been lacking. This angers Cadence, who says that Bess has no business talking about anyone’s ability to be discreet. She starts to leave, but Penny wants her to elaborate.
Mirren is still in the lighthouse and she’s having fun making her paintings messy with Ebon’s encouragement. She loves the way smudging the paint makes the island and, particularly, a painting of the liars look. It should be noted that the storm is in full swing, and no one has come looking for Mirren yet. Mirren calls the new version of her liars portrait her favorite and kisses Ebon.
In Cuddledown, Bess is putting pots and pans all over the house to stop the leaks from ruining the floor. When she sees Penny, she laments how she doubts that Windemere leaks and how unfair it is that she didn’t get to renovate this summer. Penny says that since her side piece is a handyman, she should just barter her way to her dream house. When Bess looks shocked, Penny tells her flat out that Mirren saw her boathouse rendezvous with Salty Dan and criticizes her lack of discretion. She warns Bess to never throw her daughter under the bus to win over Harris again and warns her that if there’s ever a repeat of this afternoon, she won’t have any discretion about Bess’s secrets.
In the middle of the ocean, Gat and Johnny are on a speedboat desperately looking for Will. They’re worried he tried to get to where Ed’s staying, but the thought scares Johnny because Will is too small to paddle all the way to the hotel alone. Gat suggests that maybe he got tired and went to the cove to wait out the storm, so they head there.
In Harris’s office, Cadence is apologizing for embarrassing him during lunch. She’s saying that she knows Harris would never intentionally be bigoted, so she’s sorry for being rude. The apology is interrupted by Harris realizing that his Gin is gone, and is further interrupted by Liberty and Bonnie. They haven’t been able to find Will, and they’re saying they’ve looked everywhere makes Harris realize that they need to head to the water. Once he’s outside, Harris realizes that Gat and Johnny are gone too and tells Penny to tell Carrie, whom he calls Tipper at first, and to alert the coast guard.
Ebon and Mirren are leaving the lighthouse, and Mirren tells Ebon he can shower in her room. Ebon says he’s still not a sex object, and Mirren agrees, instead calling him her muse. But, jokes aside, Ebon says he likes her for real and has for some time. Mirren says he barely knows her, but Ebon points out he’s driven her for three summers, and he likes what he’s learned about her. Mirren, Ebon says, is funny, interesting, and weird. They kiss, and the nice moment is interrupted by an angry Bess who orders Ebon away.
Cadence finds Carrie, who is trying on the coveted Black pearls and possibly drunk on a stolen bottle of Gin. When Cadence tells her about Will and Johnny, she tells Cadence to call Ed.
The storm rages on, and Johnny and Gat head towards the cove. But, to their shared horror, they see the red canoe overturned in the water with Will nowhere in sight. The propeller gets caught on something, stopping the boat, so Johnny, in his panic, jumps into the water and swims towards the canoe. He swims and is relieved to find a very scared and wet Will in the water behind the canoe. He tries to reassure his brother and gives him his life jacket after promising him it’ll be okay. When Will says he’s really tired, Johnny says he has him and tries to swim back to the boat while carrying him.
In the boathouse, Bess yells at Mirren and accuses her of trying to ruin her life. She rants about how her entire life is making things perfect for other people. As examples, she brings up driving her to art class, making the twins’ lunches, and going to charity galas. Bess says the one thing she did for herself in a long time isn’t gossip fodder. Realizing this is about Salty Dan, Mirren tells her mother that if she wanted to put herself first, she should finish her degree, find a hobby, or even get a divorce because there’s honor in that. But cheating on her father in the open air isn’t self-care. Bess gets angry and starts wrecking Mirren’s paintings, which makes Mirren cry. This doesn’t stop Bess, who tells Mirren she’ll never be a real artist and that she’ll be nothing without the Sinclair family fortune because, thanks to Brody, they’re millions of dollars in debt. Bess adds that Mirren is a dilatant and a child, to which Mirren responds that she’s her child. In tears, Mirren says that she didn’t force Bess to be a mother, or waste her life on motherhood, or resent her children so much.
In the water, Johnny is trying to swim back to the boat with Will, but he’s getting tired. He tells Will to keep his life jacket on and swim to Gat, and then goes under the water. Luckily, Gat jumps into the water and pulls Johnny to the surface. Gat brought a flotation ring and pulls Will, Johnny and himself back to the boat.
On land, Cadence is trying to convince Ebon to let her take his boat to look for the boys, but it’s against the rules. She begs him to look the other way and promises she’ll say she stole the boat, but he says it’s too dangerous. Mirren interrupts and tells Cadence to leave Ebon alone. Cadence tries telling her about what’s happening, but Mirren is too upset. She tells Cadence she’s been there for her all summer and the one time she confided in her Cadence blabbed. Mirren calls Cadence a selfish bitch and the rant is interupted by Ebon getting a radio update and telling them that the boys are safe. Cadence says despite being a selfish bitch, she’d better go tell everyone their family hasn’t drowned.
In Summer 17, Cadence wakes up and finds Johnny waiting in her room. Johnny thinks Cadence is afraid of her after their fight, but Cadence says she can’t remember what she should be afraid of. She looks for her pills, and Johnny explains that Penny has them. Johnny apologizes for yelling at her and says he doesn’t know how she ended up in the water, but he didn’t hurt her. If that’s the case, then why lie, Cadence wonders. Johnny says he did some things he’s not proud of, and he doesn’t want to talk about it, but it doesn’t have anything to do with Cadence. He sees the note Cadence wrote about Johnny being a psychopath and seems hurt by it. Before he goes, Cadence asks what she missed. The air ambulance came when she fainted. Mirren’s art is being considered for a gallery, and Gat is moping around reading sad poetry. Cadence tells Johnny she knows he isn’t a psychopath, and Johnny says he doesn’t believe any of the things he said to her when they fought. The cousins share a hug, and the liars debate having an impromptu cliff-diving session. Gat is reluctant on account of Cadence’s brain injury, but Johnny points out that the moms used to do it. Gat and Johnny opt for a private conversation while Mirren and Cadence discuss why Ebon isn’t around anymore.
Mirren says she’s seeing someone new now, but she seems upset about Ebon. Also, she mentions her stomach hurts again, and Cadence remembers that Mirren always gets stomach aches when she has a secret and wonders if this is about last summer. Mirren thought Cadence was done asking about last summer, but Cadence says they’ve all been lying and jumps. The liars jump in after her and pull her to the surface.
In summer 16, since the storm hasn’t passed, the boys aren’t back yet, and everyone is stressed. Things are tense between Mirren and Cadence, and Carrie is panicking despite having been told that Johnny and Will are okay. When they do return, Will, Johnny and Gat are brought back by Ed. After a brief discussion, Gat decides to stay, and Ed leaves.
After showering, Johnny and Gat talk about what happened in the water. Johnny thanks Gat for saving Will, and Gat is worried about Johnny. He remembers that once Will was safe, Johnny seemed to just give up. Long story short, there was a rivalry between Blake and Johnny’s tennis teams. The opposing team peed in Johnny’s team’s locker, for revenge, Johnny rented a water truck and filled their indoor courts with water during a cold snap. But Seb Delgato, a part of the rival team, caught them and Johnny beat him up and left him in the cold. Johnny swears he didn’t think about the cold until the next day when he heard Seb was in the hospital. At that point, he called Carrie, and Carrie fixed it. Their matches were cancelled for the ice, but Johnny says Seb never said what Johnny did to him. Carrie paid off Seb, his family, his teammates, and even the paramedics, but Blake has a video that would go viral for all the wrong reasons if Johnny doesn’t pay. He hates the idea of being the heir who destroys the family name. More than that, he’s shaken by the way he saw red. When Johnny was little, his father would have these fits of rage, and his mother would tell him to wait it out in his room because he was seeing red. Gat says he isn’t his father, and Johnny worries that he ended up with the worst of what his father and grandfather had to offer genetically. Johnny calls himself privileged in all the wrong ways and admits he still doesn’t know why he hurt Seb, who Johnny thinks is a nice, scholarship kid Gat would probably like.
Downstairs, Penny apologizes for Cadence and tells Harris she read her the riot act. Harris, however, seems over it and says that Cadence was very helpful when the boys were missing, and adds that she’s a responsible young lady. Johnny comes down and presents Harris with a bottle of gin that he says the maid told him was in Tipper’s closet. Carrie, knowing that’s untrue, changes the subject and tells Johnny he scared them today and should’ve waited for an adult. Harris says time was of the essence, and Johnny did what he would’ve done. Johnny thanks him, and the nice moment goes sideways when Penny sees Carrie is wearing the black pearls. Carrie tries to explain, but Harris is getting upset, so Johnny takes the focus off his mother. He says Will running off was his fault and really Gat saved the day when he got in over his head in the water. Plus, Ed accompanied the coast guard and led them to the boys because he knew where they were most likely to be canoeing. Harris seems disappointed and gets up and leaves without a word.
In the boathouse, Bess picks up Mirren’s ruined paintings and is interrupted by Salty Dan (Tim Rozon). He says he was called to the island for an emergency fruit delivery. When he asks Bess what happened, she kisses him.
In the kitchen, Penny is stress-eating a lemon meringue pie and talking to Thatcher about Sam’s request for spousal support. She says Sam’s PI is digging up old skeletons, but she doesn’t need her past transgressions rehashed because she lived them. Penny says she just wants Thatcher to make her sins go away.
On the beach, around the fire, Will is asleep on Johnny’s shoulder, and Johnny promises Carrie he’ll be better. In her room, Gat visits Cadence, who is worried about him. He walked away with a few rope burns, but otherwise is fine. In summer 17, Gat is upset with Cadence for jumping off the cliff. He says he’s tired of being afraid for her, but Cadence says when you have amnesia, a memory can be triggered by your own body. She wanted to recreate being in the water in hopes of remembering how she ended up washed up on the beach. This doesn’t comfort Gat because he dislikes the idea of her nearly drowning again. He says it was terrifying sitting at her bedside while she had fever dreams and took pills, but Cadence says she never asked for that. Gat says he had no choice, which prompts Cadence to ask where he was when she was really sick last year. Gat is upset it has come back to that, but Cadence says it always will because she returned to Beechwood because she needed to know why Gat stopped caring about her. Gat says she knows how he feels about her, and Cadence reminds him she can’t remember. But, Gat says she has to feel it when they’re together because he does, and they kiss.
In summer 17, Cadence tells Gat she feels like she’s losing him. Gat points out he’s right there, but Cadence observes that he doesn’t love Beechwood anymore. He wants more, Cadence says, and he should, but Gat says he wants her. Cadence reminds him he said he hated himself for wanting her, but he promises he didn’t mean it. Gat hates himself for shoplifting, burdening his mother, and being an emotional cheater, but never for loving Cadence. In summer 17, Cadence and Gat kiss and undress each other, which seems to make her remember the night she slept with Gat and told him she loved him during Summer 16.