After all of the secrets that have been revealed and the alliances that have formed over the past few weeks, I was very curious about where this week would pick up. This week’s episode doesn’t even pick up in real time, it picks up in a scripted flashback for Locked where August and Noah have a life and children together.
Elsewhere, Jake is hard at work in the apartment when Paige calls him up. He tells her that Cassie is A-Okay and spending time at her grandma’s place in San Diego. Rainer notices something is up and Paige tells him that she and Cassie aren’t on the best of terms at the moment. He then tries to cheer her up by offering Italian food and prep for her emotional scenes. As Paige says, “I do love carbs,” and the two walk away, Rainer tries to put his arm around Paige but she swats his arm away.
Paige is in hair and make-up, trying to get a hold of Cassie, when Alan Mills walks in the trailer. He’s on a mission to find Rainer, but that doesn’t stop him from wishing Paige good luck at her Newcastle meeting. Paige’s agents are starting to think beyond Locked and Newcastle Studios may be the way to go. Alan, who is the head of Gold Brothers Studios, then says something that sounds so Hollywood: “Dance with whoever you want. Just don’t forget who brought you to the party.”
Alan finds Rainer and starts tossing a football around with him. It feels very much like a father-son bonding moment, especially because Alan talks about being the quarterback in high school and the two bond over surfing. I actually found this scene to be a bit of an emotional one, because we know that Alan knows he may be Rainer’s father but Rainer doesn’t have a clue. So all of these questions Alan has and the effort he’s putting in to spend time with Rainer seems like he’s trying to catch up on lost time.
As for Jordan, he is nominated for a Golden Globe, which is a totally a casual thing for your agent to call you about. And what does one do after getting great news like that? Go find the guy that’s been threatening one’s mom. His name is Don Oxley and all he worries about is getting money that’s owed to him and being chauffeured around. Jordan assumes his mother’s debts so Don Oxley and his people won’t bother Brandy anymore. Jordan has to meet the shady Don at the same place, same time Friday to settle this whole thing.
Nina is finally back this week, and while she’s been away there have been plenty of shake ups on and off of the Locked set. Nina turns into her office to be greeted by Ida Turner saying, “You backstabbing bitch.” Obviously Ida is not a happy camper regarding the firing of her daughter, rightfully so. What I love about Ida and Nina is that they are both mama bears to the greatest extent. I truly believe they will do anything and everything they can to protect their children, or at least I do at this point in the show. They are fierce and powerful women who know their strength and aren’t afraid to do whatever it takes to protect their kids. Does anyone else feel this way? Anyway, back to the situation at hand. Nina tries to explain the situation away and it doesn’t work. Ida wants Tangey to get even more money for doing the music for Locked and she threatens to sue Nina.
Alexis is over at Newcastle Studios with Orly; I assume she is Mike Tanen’s assistant. Looks like the studio is already in love with the idea of the Kevin O’Hare rewrite and won’t even consider Jake’s rewrite. To make matters worse, Alexis has to be the one to tell Jake that he’s off the project.
Paige impresses Newcastle Studios by telling them how much she loved their Margaret Sanger biopic. She says, “I love her. She’s progressive and fearless. I also really like how she fought for women’s reproductive rights during a time when it was just so taboo.” The man who is behind the desk at this meeting compliments Paige, saying she’d make a great Margaret except they’ve already started looking at other actresses. So then he starts telling Paige about some of their other projects and says he’ll send some scripts her way. One in particular stands out – “No Place like You” written by none other than Jake Salt. Paige plays it as cool as possible until she learns that Kevin O’Hare will be doing the rewrite.
Jordan stops by Nina’s office to ask her whether she has talked to Barrett Hopper about him or not; she says hasn’t. He also takes the chance to ask Nina what happened with Tangey. Nina clears the air and lets Jordan know that Tangey wasn’t let go because of Nina’s relationship with Jordan. She makes Jordan very happy by saying, “But don’t worry. I’m working on a solution to get her back.” What he doesn’t know is that solution is only a thing so that Nina can avoid a lawsuit. Jordan confesses to Nina about all of Brandy’s debts becoming his own and how difficult it will be to pay up when he hasn’t even gotten paid for Locked yet. If you remember right, last week Rainer said he would take care of it, but Jordan doesn’t feel right about letting Rainer do that. Nina thinks she can help by getting Jordan’s money to him faster. Then the two share a friendly kiss.
Alexis and Jake are out grabbing some food when Jake whips out his laptop to reveal his finished draft. Before Alexis can let Jake down easy, he spits out an invitation to a super expensive restaurant that his first check will pay for. Looks like the Italian place Rainer suggested at the beginning of the episode just so happens to be the same one Alexis and Jake are at, because Rainer and Paige walk in right as Alexis and Jake share a kiss. Jake tells Rainer how well everything is going with the studio. As Paige takes in what Jake’s saying and the scene of her best friend on a “date” with Alexis, she says, “Yeah, you know, it’s amazing how quickly things can change.” Rainer catches Paige peeping over at Jake and Alexis and asks whether she wants to go somewhere else, and that’s when Paige tells Rainer about Jake not knowing he’s getting fired off of his movie. Rainer doesn’t think Paige should tell Jake; it’s not her job, it’s the producers’ job. After a huge speech about keeping business and personal separate and an analogy of business and a rollercoaster, Rainer makes a move for Paige’s hand and she rejects it, reiterating the first part of his speech.
That night at the beach house, Nina and Jordan pretend they didn’t have that conversation earlier in her office and Nina congratulates Jordan on his nomination once again. Nina spots a new surfboard outside and learns that Alan is surfing with Rainer the following morning. Nina switches the subject to Tangey. Rainer suggests shooting two versions of the film, one with Tangey and one with Xu YiFei. Nina loves the idea and embraces her son. It’s nice to see those two getting along.
Paige comes home to Alexis in her kitchen because she and Jake are working. That’s when Paige confronts Alexis about Jake being fired and calls Alexis out for not telling Jake the truth. Alexis tries to take up for herself by saying, “Why does everyone assume that if it’s evil and if it’s happening in Hollywood it’s all me?” Jake walks in and that’s how he learns he’s been fired. Harsh. Jake obviously doesn’t take the news well and it doesn’t help that the story is personal to him. It’s his unrequited love story with Paige. He shows Alexis the door and that’s that. Paige finds Jake on the balcony, where they have shared many personal moments, and tries to pick up the pieces left in the wake of Alexis and the bad news. Paige suggests getting his script back before he’s paid, doing a kick-starter and making the movie himself with Paige and Cassie at his side. So that’s the plan for the meeting the studio has the next day. Jake walks in on the Kevin O’Hare meeting and demands his script back. But Jake signed a contract, and things will get very messy before he can get his script back.
Ida marches into Nina’s office to discover the news about two version of Locked. Tangey is the American Time Sorceress (Lyla) once again. But that’s not all Nina wanted to talk to Ida about. She confronts Ida about tipping off Barrett about Jordan because now Barrett is harassing Jordan. Nina threatens to pull the financing for the two versions of Locked if Ida doesn’t call off Barrett.
Later that night Alan stops by Nina’s to say, “Oh, I’m here because I think Rainer is my son.” He put together the motion sickness, the age difference, and the birth certificate. He brings up the DNA test results that should be in his hands in a few weeks, because he swiped one of Rainer’s hair brushes from the hair and make-up trailer earlier in the episode. We learn that Alan kept promising to leave his wife but never did, and after Nina was fired she learned she was pregnant. Alan tries to make it seem like Nina chose to do this all on her own. “I didn’t choose to be a single mother. Nobody chooses that. But Rainer is the best thing that ever happened to me.” Alan is hurt and upset because he has missed 23 years of his son’s life. He’s “not waiting another minute” to get to know Rainer, even though Nina doesn’t want her son to know Alan is his father just yet. Nina promises to tell Rainer the truth when she gets back from New York; Alan hasn’t decided if he’s going to wait for that.
Jake comes into the apartment all sweaty the next morning and tells Paige he doesn’t want to be in film school anymore and that he got an interview to be a PA on a Richard Linklater film. He wants to learn things in the real world, not in school. The real world to Jake is Austin, Texas.
Nina takes out all of her stress on her assistant Eva by firing her and rehiring her. Rainer is off bringing donuts to Paige to help her prep for her emotional scene. Rainer’s trick for getting in that emotional state is too think about a sad memory, which for him is the memory tied to why he’s sober. He drank a lot when he was on Backsplash and was “too young to handle it.” He got in a car accident; the family in the other car survived. And after that Rainer stopped drinking because he had never hated himself more than he did in that moment. Paige thanks Rainer for sharing that with her and gives him a hug.
Paige finds Wyatt (the director) and asks for another chance at her close ups. Paige then delivers a heartbreaking performance. She absolutely nailed it! There’s a quick high-five shared between Paige and Rainer after Wyatt gives her a compliment.
Did you forget about Jordan having to meet Don Oxley? I did but Jordan didn’t. He joins Don in his car with a backpack full of cash. Don doesn’t count the money but assures Jordan that he knows where to find Jordan if there is a problem.
When Paige returns home, Jake is already in Austin. Paige says that she’ll attach herself to his script and tell Mike Tanen that the only way she’ll do it is if Jake stays on as the writer. Jake sees that as Paige pitying him because she hasn’t even read the script.
During the final minutes of the episode it’s revealed that Nina’s assistant Eva is actually working with Barrett Hopper. So Barrett now has every email and text Nina has ever sent. Eva also got a “compromising” picture of that friendly kiss Jordan and Nina shared earlier in the episode. Apparently Eva has dirt on the entire cast. Barrett Hopper is determined to take Nina down.