Pretty Smart may have started off a little slow for me – a little all over the place, but I have now been able to look past that and see these characters for who they are and not what television makes us think that people like these characters would be like and appreciate them for who they are.
We left off the last episode with Chelsea at Grants door, ready to talk to him and ready to admit her feelings to him. He had invited her in, because he needed to talk to her to.
Chelsea insists that he goes first, thinking that he’s feeling the same way that she does. And hey, who doesn’t want someone to tell them that they like them?
But Grant doesn’t say what she wants him to. Grant tells her that he needs to know how Claire feels and is hoping she will help him find out. Chelsea doesn’t want to get involved, she’s always been the person that people go to in order to see what Claire feels. But thats never made her feel comfortable.
And yet she cares about them both enough to know that she’s going to do it.
The truth is that Chelsea loves her sister and she doesn’t know how to relate to her. The thing I’ve learned watching these two is that sisters are always doing something that they thing is best for the other one and not necessarily communicating with each other. They don’t always know how to communicate all the feelings and protection that they’ve tried to live with.
I think that we all have our limits, but for Chelsea, she’s looking at two people that she wants to see happy. Grant is a douche for putting her in this situation.
When Chelsea tells Claire that she wants to talk boys, Claire is ecstatic. She’s been waiting for a long time for her sister to want to talk to her. She’s been waiting for Chelsea to want to bond with her on another level.
Now as different as Claire and Chelsea are, I can understand Claire wanting to bond with her sister. When you’ve been estranged from your sister for so long, and you feel like there is a part of you that you can relate to each other on. you take it.
Part of my favorite moments of this show are the moments where we see walls come down and you see that the characters really want to relate to each other on another level. And for Claire and Chelsea, it’s been Claire’s dream to be able to relate to her sister.
So she takes this as an opportunity for a spa day. Chelsea is not into spas, but Claire sees no better way to bond. As they talk through Claires extensive dating history, and Chelsea doesn’t want to hear it. She just wants to know if Claire likes anyone.
This conversation leads them into a conversation about their lives and why they choose the men that they do in life. And hey they do realize that they have Daddy issues, and that they don’t like certain things because of their father.
It makes us all think about the reasons that we do or don’t date. The people that affect us and make us who we are and make us realize what we do or do not want.
Claire tells her sister that she does like someone, that there is someone that she is thinking of, and Claire is happy to see her sister happy.
Though she doesn’t know who it is and when Grant asks her if she found out if Claire has feelings for him, she says she doesn’t know who it is, but she does know that he should tell her how he feels. And I truly believe that is because she wants him to be happy.
Solona comes downstairs with her man of the night. She’s apparently not had her brains banged out enough and hasn’t had someone that has given her an orgasm in awhile. They’ve all been self induced.
She apparently gets turned on by fighting, which hey, to each their own.
When he leaves, Solona tells Chelsea that she knows that she has a crush on Grant. But she makes some good points and reminds Chelsea that Grant is the first man that she’s met post breakup and that she needs to experience Los Angeles. She needs to get out there and see what is going on. She needs to meet people.
And she’s got a big point. Can I also understand why Chelsea looks at Grant the way she does? Yes, I can. He’s beautiful and having someone smile at your that way, treat you like you are the most beautiful person in the room, and see in you what no one else does.
Chelsea does need to live her life and find more out there for herself.
Claire tells Grant that she’s happy that they are friends, effectively shutting down his hopes that she still wants to be with him. And honestly, I think that she’s lying because she’s not sure what he will say. Everyone is living in fear and the truth is that’s what keeps a lot of things from happening in life.
All of these characters are trying to grow, but all of them are afraid of it in my opinion. I wonder what road they are all on, but I am here for their journey.
Pretty Smart is streaming now on Netflix.