We’re seven episodes into Netflix’s limited series, Inventing Anna, and things are truly spiraling out of control. Anna Delvey isn’t going to get the loan she so desperately sought. The building she wanted has been leased to another company. She’s out of friends. Out of money. Out of hotels and couches to crash on. And running out of options. Unfortunately, her “friend” Rachel is caught in the undertow.
Vanity Fair
Let’s be honest. Of all the people that Anna has conned, Rachel seems…well…like the biggest pushover. Not because of how she ends up forking over her credit cards. I suspect most people would have done the same, in her position. Hell, I know I would. There are many things I would love to see in Marrakesh (and in a good many other countries). The local prison system isn’t anywhere on the list. Rachel did what she had to do to get out of the country without needing to call in the local embassy for help, and I don’t blame her for it.
But even before that incident, you could kind of see why Anna thought she might be an easy mark. Not that Rachel has money. Not really. At least not in the amounts Anna is used to grifting. (Not without her company credit card, that is.) But she seemed so eager to please. So trusting. So happy to be on the “inside.” Part of the entourage. For Anna, it would be like taking advantage of a baby.
And even after everything that happened in Marrakesh, Rachel still wants to believe in her friend. She wants to believe that Anna is her friend. She wants to believe Anna will come through on her promise. To her credit (I guess?), she does repay $5,000…of the $63,000 debt. But Rachel is still on the hook for $58,000, putting her job, her apartment, and frankly her freedom at risk. There’s probably very little Anna can do about Rachel’s situation, of course. She doesn’t have $58,000 to give – not that I think she would even if she did, given her callousness in the face of her friend’s panic, betrayal, and despair.
Given Rachel’s less adversarial personality, it may be understandable that Anna thought Rachel would just take this treatment. The people Anna had defrauded before had just taken the loss. (With the exception of Neff, who pushed back and was paid back. But, as I said before, I think Anna truly considered Neff a friend. She didn’t seem to have that same level of closeness with Rachel.) The difference is, of course, that the people she’d defrauded before could afford to take the loss. Or, if they couldn’t, they could get their money back with a call to the right people. Rachel doesn’t run with that same crowd, so she didn’t have that luxury.
And so it seems it’s the person pegged as the biggest pushover that is the one who sets the ball rolling in bringing Anna down. It turns out Rachel has a stronger spine and more grit than even she thought she had. After one success after another in correctly reading the people around her, Anna finally pegged someone wrong.
A Labor of Love
While Anna’s plans crumble around her, Vivian is facing issues of her own. Her story is almost done. She just needs to speak to Rachel to get her side of the Marrakesh story. Except Rachel keeps ducking her calls – and for good reason. She’s sold her story to Vanity Fair. Honestly, I don’t blame her. She’s no doubt trying to find a way to pay back some of her debt to her employer. She doesn’t want to lose her job or go to jail, after all.
Where Rachel’s employment and freedom stand at the moment has to wait until a future episode. What’s important for now is that Vivian’s expose is put at risk when Rachel’s article is printed. Vivian’s only saving grace is that Rachel’s not a journalist, and she doesn’t know the whole story. She only knows what Anna did to her, but that’s just scratching the surface of Anna’s antics.
And Vivian has another problem. She has a ticking timer of her own, as her baby is coming. Fast. She needs to get this article finished before the baby decides to make her entrance in the world. Without Rachel, Vivian has to rely on Kacy to corroborate her article. And Kacy wants no part of it. At first.
Eventually – and down to the wire – Vivian gets Kacy to sign off on the article, as long as she’s not named. (And she is named only “the trainer” in Rachel’s Vanity Fair article.) Making me wonder…who is the real Kacy?
With Kacy’s agreement, Vivian’s article can go to print. And not a moment too soon. While she’s rushed to the hospital to deliver her baby, Anna’s making her next move. She’s run out of money and options, resorting to eating food left behind on the subway. No (high-end enough for her standards) hotel in New York will open its doors to her. With one final con – a check kiting scheme at a bank – she buys a ticket and flees to Los Angeles.
For now. But how long will it take for Vivian’s article to catch up with her? I can’t wait to find out.
Inventing Anna is streaming now on Netflix.
What did you think of the episode? Let us know in the comments below!