“Guess Who’s (Not) Coming to Sundance” wasn’t my favorite episode of the season. It had its moments, don’t get me wrong. I wish the show prioritized character driven stories, like Rainer’s addiction and Paige’s self-doubt, more. It feels like they have only been brought up to point out the flaws in Paige and Jake’s relationship or to prove Rainer doesn’t actually have everything together as he has led people to believe. It’d be nice to take a second and focus on those issues within those characters and figure out what’s really going on. Maybe the Famous in Love will do that as the season progresses. I can only hope. Anyway, this episode was directed by the wickedly talented Troian Bellisario. She did a fantastic job, and I hope she directs more episodes of Famous in Love in the future.
THE GOOD:
1. TANGEY AND HER ‘TANGERINES’
Tangey came back this week and I could not have been happier. She spent some time in the Bahamas to create an album with Pablo. She wanted to share some of said album with her fans, but when she did, it backfired. Tangey planned for a group of her fans to meet her and help her during a Facebook Live. During the live show, some of her fans posted the most hateful things about Alexis as a sign of devotion to Tangey. The things they said were beyond hateful. They were harmful. I have seen things like that on the internet time and time again. I block it, mute it, unfollow it. No one needs that kind of vitriol in their life. Tangey knew that and stood up for that sentiment. She said, ““I’m not trying to turn my fans into some kind of digital wolf pack. And to everyone else out there, let me make this crystal. You can’t show me love by hating on others.”
2. REDEMPTION RIDGE
Redemption Ridge brought a bunch of very interesting plot points and one very surprising twist with it this week. Nina, who has always been inspiring and unapologetic about her work, was still weaving her way to the rights to the film. Nina even went out of her way to fly Marva Dunwoody out to Los Angeles to get her to sign the papers. She withheld her plans from Steve because “It’s new. But it’s good. It’s really, really good.” Newly-engaged Alan stopped by to give Nina the advice of honesty when it comes to Steve. When Nina did tell the truth, Steve was livid, to say the very least. I’m not so sure they’ll be having any more dates any time soon. The twist I mentioned is that a company named Mirandina Pictures stole the rights from both Nina and Steve. The big question was who is behind said company. It was Harper Tate! That really shocked me. I did not see that coming. I wonder what she’s going to do with the rights.
3. TANGEY AND JORDAN’S FRIENDSHIP
Watching Tangey and Jordan’s relationship evolve into the seemingly, very strong friendship they have at this point in the series has been a joy. To see Tangey commend Jordan’s transparency about his past was nice. To see her come to his literal aid later in the episode was even better. After Jordan gets a phone call that things aren’t going the way he planned after revealing his truth, Jordan punched a memory, which split open his hand. Tangey cleaned it out and offered to take him to a nurse. She was by his side through it all this week. It was refreshing to see two people who were exes not be at each other’s throats for an entire hour. It was a major bummer that one of Tangey’s rather nosy Tangerines took what could be perceived as a compromising photo of Tangey comforting Jordan and posted it to Instagram.
4. THE TRUTH ABOUT JAKE’S DAD
Towards the end of the episode, Jake clued Billy into why he’s been down in the dumps about things not going the way he planned with his film and with Paige. After he left school to pursue internships and film-making, his father stopped talking to him. His father saw his son’s passions as a waste of time and a huge mistake. Billy, being a really great friend, suggested that Jake send the photo she had taken of Jake to his father. It was a photo of Jake standing next to a sign where his name was in lights. He did, he sent it to his father. This revelation kind of made me root for him more. Before, to be honest, I hadn’t really cared about his career. You all know how I feel about Stealing Georgia. I was and am invested in other story-lines. But as a fellow artist, I want Jake to succeed. I want him to prove his naysayers wrong.
5. SHANE ‘THE BARTENDER’
There isn’t much to write about Shane. He pops up from episode to episode, and when he does, he’s always a joy. This episode didn’t prove that to be any different. I really hope he doesn’t turn out to be Paige’s stalker. I’ll get into my theory about that next. Shane does seem to be one of the good ones. When Paige was clearly upset about everything going on with Jake, Shane told her, “If you went all the way to Utah and back in one day for him and he’s busy, he is a jerk. It’s all his fault, and he doesn’t deserve you.” That was very kind and I appreciated it.
THE BAD:
1. PAIGE’S STALKER
Paige’s stalker has been popping up in various ways throughout the season. Things reached a whole new level of creepy this week. When Paige came home from the film festival, she found a present on her table that had lingerie and a collage of photos of her inside. CREEPY. What really got me was when she came home, noticed something was up, and walked towards the creepiness. I would have ran the other way as fast as possible. Paige is one brave woman. It was weird and gross. All of the ideas I have floating around my head of how this whole stalker thing can end are not good. I’m just worried, okay? Part of me thinks that her stalker is sporty, high-school-ex Eddie.
2. RAINER’S RELAPSE
It was really hard to watch Rainer struggle with opening up this week. He ended up turning to the bottle, and it was heartbreaking to watch. It was clear Rainer was struggling with pushing Jordan away. It took everything in Rainer not to help his best friend when everything was crumbling around him. Rainer started the episode excited to leave Los Angeles in his rear-view mirror for a life in New York with Harper. He ended the episode alone, without Harper, without Jordan, but with a bottle. To make matters worse, right before he drank again, Rainer called Harper and wanted to talk but she didn’t pick up. In the voicemail Rainer left, he mentioned that he should have gone to a meeting. I can’t help but imagine how things would have been different if he had gone to that meeting. Would he have still turned to drinking? Or would he have opened up the group and let some things off his chest?
3. PAIGE’S SELF-DOUBT
This season has brought to my attention how much Paige is brushed off or looked past by higher-ups in the industry. She is constantly belittled, and that can’t help her confidence in her craft. There was another example of that this week when that Carmichael guy said Paige was only “famous for being famous.” I hope that Paige is able to come to a place in her career and belief in herself where she takes those comments with a grain of salt. She deserves her spot at the table.
4. NO REPERCUSSIONS
This one is pretty straightforward. I just don’t understand how Jordan could think that revealing, on NATIONAL TELEVISION, that he killed a man in self defense would have no repercussions. I don’t understand why he’s frustrated by being subpoenaed and questioned. He admitted to killing a man. Of course people are going to have questions.
5. CASSIE AND ALEXIS
That’s it. Cassie and Alexis were unmistakably absent from this episode. I wish they were in it. In my opinion, Alexis, Cassie, Paige, and Tangey should be in every single episode.
Watch Famous in Love Wednesdays at 8:00pm on Freeform!