This week, things pick up nearly right where they left off: Rainer is dropping Paige off at her apartment the morning after her big surprise party. Rainer has two days off, whereas Paige has scenes to film and a class to study for, but Rainer has his heart set on a trip to Vegas. He convinces Paige by rattling off a list of foods they can devour when the plane lands and by telling her to invite Cassie and Jake. A bubbly and one-year-older Paige is having a good morning until Cassie reveals there is a great chance Jake spent his night with Alexis since he just came home a little bit before Paige. Then that three-diamond bracelet comes back into play when Paige asks Cassie if it’s back from the jewelers because Paige wants to wear it to a meeting next week. It doesn’t look like Cassie is getting that bracelet back any time soon because she would need to pay $3,000. That’s when “Lacey” calls a client and asks for as many shifts as possible. On his way out the door and completely avoiding Paige’s request for an explanation for his absence at her party, Jake says he’ll take her out to dinner later in the week. The mood doesn’t stay tense and awkward for long because Cassie notices that Paige’s shirt is actually Rainer’s and that she gets to go to Vegas with Paige and Rainer.
Elsewhere, Nina and Alan are talking business regarding Tangey’s role in Locked and the Chinese distributors’ problems with it. Nina wants to go hash it out with the distributors face-to-face in Hong Kong. It almost seems like she’s running as far away as possible so she doesn’t have to tell Rainer that his previously dead father isn’t so dead after all. Apparently the Chinese love Rainer, so Nina wants her son to accompany her on her trip to Hong Kong. Rainer tries to press his mother into taking Jordan with her before caving upon the mention of playing Hearts with his mother on a 15-hour private flight. Right when Rainer and Nina are putting their bags in the car and getting ready to have a mother-son bonding trip, someone walks in to ruin the fun. “Honey, I’m home.” That’s what Alan Mills says before telling Nina that he will be joining them on the trip.
Jake joins his friends at a party on campus. This party has kegs and music and strippers. When Jake goes to grab a drink for his friend, he walks in on a topless Cassie in the kitchen. She runs out of the party. A flustered Jake returns home to see if he can reach Cassie there. Jake fills Paige in on what happened. The two drop their fight to join forces in finding Cassie. They start to break apart Cassie’s cover story by calling the Pizza Dome and learning she hasn’t worked there in weeks. Jake actually says, “I just don’t understand why she didn’t reach out to us.” Really, Jake? While you have been jealous of a relationship that doesn’t even exist, selling your script, and spending as much time as possible with Alexis, Paige has been balancing school and fame. What exactly was a good time for Cassie to mention her financial struggles? Paige starts to feel guilty when Jake brings up that Cassie was going by “Lacey” because Paige had previously heard someone call Cassie “Lacey” but she didn’t think anything of it. Jake takes some of the blame off of Paige’s shoulders by saying he didn’t have a clue about Cassie’s situation either.
The newly-reunited duo take on the CMU campus to check for Cassie in all of her favorite spots with no luck. Jake and Paige share a nostalgic moment when Paige realizes how much she misses being on campus. Jake tells his friend that he sold his script and Paige is ecstatic. They decide to take a break from searching for their friend for Jake to go to his meeting with his agent and Paige to go to her fitting.
Jordan stops by the County Jail to see his mother per her request to bail her out. He doesn’t believe that she’s sober, even though she swears the drugs that were found on her did not belong to her. He’s incapable of believing that Nina would frame his mother. Brandy stops her son from walking out the door by saying, “Oh, you don’t feel like talking? Fine. There are plenty of interesting people that do.” She then mentions Ida’s visit. Ida suggested that Brandy contact Barrett Hopper to bail her out in return for her spilling on the “Jordie” in Jordan Wilder’s past. Jordan brings his mom back to Rainer’s place, where she will be staying until he gets back. Looks like Jordan is desperate to keep his past under wraps.
Alan, Nina and Rainer are in a very, very crowded backseat of a car on the way to the airport. The environment gets even stuffier when Alan and Nina decide to bicker about absolutely everything. In an incredibly comedic moment when Rainer is trying to explain his situation to Paige over the phone, Nina says, “He better not be screwing his costar.” At the same time, Alan says, “Isn’t that one of the perks of the job?” The contradicting comments felt natural and common from Alan and Nina. You could feel the history between them, or at least I could. Paige isn’t too worried about the canceled Vegas plans because she is too preoccupied with her missing friend, but Rainer assures her that those plans are not canceled. He has a grand plan of flying from Hong Kong to Vegas to meet Paige and Cassie. The man helping Paige at her fitting is full of compliments about Rainer and the party he threw for Paige the following night. After asking her if they were a couple, he tells her “He really went all out last night. That party must’ve cost a fortune.” I almost forgot that party was less than 24 hours ago because of everything happening in the episode. A guy named Vincent, who I assume is Rainer’s assistant, brings Paige something and tells her that she needs to get an assistant.
Paige finds Adam and asks him if he knows anything about Cassie’s whereabouts, but he hasn’t seen her since that morning. LIES! Adam unlocks his door and walks into his place, asking, “Anybody home?” Yes, somebody is home. Cassie is staying with Adam, and I don’t really hate that. Adam kindly asks Cassie why she won’t talk to Paige. Cassie is afraid to tell him the truth because she thinks he won’t like her anymore. He responds with, “I’ve been around. Try me.” So then Cassie tells him that she took the job of a topless maid and why, and Adam doesn’t shame her or act disgusted. He actually says “Who cares?” and asks if she uses organic cleaning supplies. I may like him more than Rainer and Jordan at the moment. When she brings up the party and Jake walking in, Adam promises that her friends will understand.
Anyway, back in the very uncomfortable and hilarious car, Alan and Rainer are bonding over how awful motion sickness is and the things they can’t do because of it. Nina, sitting in between these two men, is quite literally in the middle of a tough situation. When they reach Hong Kong and sit down at the meeting, Rainer surprises me by speaking Mandarin but doesn’t surprise me by flirting with one of the women at the table. They pitch Tangey’s Time Sorceress character again, making it abundantly clear that she is not a ghost or a spirit but rather shows more resemblance to “The Terminator.” Linn, one of the distributors, presents the dilemma that since Locked is set in present day, the Time Sorceress jumping around time conflicts with the Chinese’s belief in reincarnation. “The only way we can distribute Locked in China is if you cast a Chinese actress in the role of Time Sorceress,” Linn advises. That’s where the woman Rainer was flirting with comes in. Her name is Xu YiFei and she is one of “China’s fastest growing stars.” Even though Alan and Rainer stick up on the behalf of Tangey, Nina seals the deal with the promise of reshoots with Xu YiFei.
Rainer finds Alan in a bar later that night. While Alan is drinking alcohol and eating a fish ball, Rainer orders a decaf latte. Alan congratulates Rainer on his 3 years of sobriety. Alan talks about how he got sober after his dad died. He got sober because his dad was a drunk and Alan didn’t want to become one. I could feel my shoulders tense when Alan started talking about when Nina was his assistant. Alan mentions how he has been married twice and thinking about doing it again. Nina takes Rainer’s spot at the bar after he heads out for the airport. Alan compliments Nina on sealing the deal earlier and raising Rainer to be a “good kid.”
In Los Angeles, Paige has resulted in going through Cassie’s things in desperation. Jake thinks that the movie is Cassie’s problem because Paige got the role over her. Paige doesn’t take that too kindly and twists the guilt on Jake for spending his time in the desert with Alexis. Jake and Paige take a second to realize how lucky they are to have the jobs they do. Then Jake stumbles upon the receipt for the bracelet from the pawn shop.
Jordan makes his mom a bowl of cereal to replace her go-to breakfast of coffee and cigarettes. She says she gave up smoking. “You and I have pulled enough cons, I know when you’re lying,” says Jordan. Then Jordan starts talking about how she wasn’t the best mom, and that’s when we learn that she went to jail for five years for something he did. Later on, Jordan tells his mom that he’s grateful for what she did for him and what he did was for her. It’s all very ominous. Brandy makes Jordan a burnt grilled cheese and he’s super happy about it. They take a minute to look back on all of the times they would steal wallets or trick places into giving them a discount. The best one, in my opinion, is that they put a for-sale sign in a family’s yard while they were away so they could live in a mansion for a bit. Jordan tells him not to worry about paying him back for bail because he’s going to help her get a good lawyer.
Cassie and Adam are enjoying all of the wonders of the craft service table that Adam keeps swiping and bringing back for them. He’s being there for her in all the ways he possibly can: letting her stay with him, bringing her food, advising her to talk to Paige, and quoting one of her favorite movies The Princess Bride. He asks her the big question of what she wants do with her life. In that moment, that’s when we learn that Cassie’s dream of being an actress may be her mom’s and that her mom died of cancer when Cassie was nine. Also, Cassie’s mom won an Emmy, but Cassie fell asleep before she could watch her mom accept the award. After all of that, Cassie almost responds to Paige’s texts.
Adam returns from set with a video on his laptop of Cassie’s mom’s acceptance speech. He has a friend that got it for him. Yeah, I shed a tear or a thousand. This is Kathryn Perkins’s speech: “Thank you. Thank you to the Academy. But most importantly, thank you to my daughter Cassandra. Honey, you are my inspiration. I do this for you. You inspire me to never give up on my dreams. I love you. Now go to bed.” Adam isn’t the only one to head out of the apartment after that, Cassie is headed home. When Cassie walks through her apartment door, the looks on Paige and Jake’s faces breaks my heart. They just wanted their friend back home and safe. They all apologize for everything. Cassie tells her friends that she may just have to drop out of school for now, but Paige jumps in with a job offer for Cassie to be her assistant. Rainer’s phone call interrupts the moment. Rainer doesn’t seem to understand why Paige and Cassie can’t hop on a plane to join him in Vegas.
Jordan picks Rainer up from the airport. When they get back to the beach house, it’s completely empty. “We’ve been robbed,” Rainer says in complete shock. Wow!