UnReal - Relapse - Review: “Villains”

“Reality” TV shows have given American pop culture a whole array of heroes and villains. It is the job of the team behind the scenes to give viewers those stereotypical characters. As TV consumers, no matter what genre we enjoy, we each search our favorite shows for the villains and heroes within the cast of characters. Sometimes we want to root for the villain and other times we are anxiously awaiting their downfall. UnReal, and the “reality” show within, Everlasting, are not immune to the need for those types of characters. This show is unique because in these first two episodes it’s impossible to definitively declare anyone a hero. Sure there are some genuinely nice women on this show, but none of them are in a position to be declared our evil slaying hero. Rachel is the closest we have and even she is so intensely flawed it’s hard to tell if she can pull herself out of the gutter enough to become our hero.

UnReal has given us a show full of flawed people who in any given moment could turn villainous, or be made villainous. All of the characters are duplicitous and manipulative in their own way. Sure, some of the women seem like they could have been genuinely good people before Everlasting got hold of them, but are they not here to use Adam as much as he is using them? No one goes on a “reality” TV show expecting to find true love. I’d be willing to bet that a very large number of “reality” TV show contestants are simply in it for the exposure. One of our ladies, Athena (Natasha Burnett), even says as much when Jay is seeking out his villain. Speaking of villains, that is this week’s Everlasting theme as Quinn orders her team to find a villain to replace Britney.

Before I get into our villain search let’s start by discussing Rachel and that big reveal at the start of the episode. We learned last week that our leading lady was basically forced to rejoin Everlasting for reasons unknown. This week we get at least an indication of what one of those reasons was for her returning to a show that has blackened her soul and destroyed her life. We start this episode with Rachel waking up in what looked to be one of the grip trucks. No one lives in the back of an onset truck unless they have hit rock bottom in their life. She goes through her morning routine which involves turning yesterday’s clothes, underwear included, inside out and hand sanitizer in replacement of a shower. We know she damaged a very expensive car during her drunken breakdown, so I can only imagine that isn’t cheap to be paying for. This scene leads us to believe she is homeless and it doesn’t take long to get confirmation of that.

Rachel gets an unexpected and unwelcome visit from her former roommate, Bethany (Eve Harlow), who tracked her down to drop off her stuff. It is revealed that Rachel owes Bethany a lot of money for back rent, so Bethany has rented out Rachel’s old room. Technically she wasn’t homeless when this episode started, but she certainly is now. To make matters worse Bethany is holding onto one thing, Rachel’s computer. It would appear that no one told Rachel it’s a bad idea, in this modern digital age, to keep incriminating things on your computer. She has “things that could hurt people” saved on that computer and telling Bethany that was probably not Rachel’s best idea ever. Rachel now only has twenty-four hours to figure out how to come up with three months back rent or Bethany will sell the computer. With the implications of what’s on that computer things could get real ugly real fast for Rachel.

To top off Rachel’s already horrible morning she is summoned to Adam’s room where he wants her to get him shaving cream and his favorite tea. Annoyed by this Rachel tells him that it is her job to arrange circumstances and not to get him things. She then informs him that he is needed on set, which is apparently Adam’s cue to strip and take a shower. It’s unknown how long Rachel has been living like we saw her at the start of the episode, but the shower is more than she can resist. She strips down and without invitation intrudes on Adam’s shower. With a threat to humiliate him on national television, if he looks, she proceeds to take a shower with him. I'm fairly certain she set a new world record for fastest TV shower ever before quickly exiting the room with an order for Adam to hurry things up because she needs him on set.

Down on the set they are preparing for a Cinderella Ball which, I gather, is a staple of Everlasting because all the women immediately seem excited. They are in for a day of dance lessons to prepare them and when Adam shows up they are all anxious for their opportunity to dance with him. The women flock around him as soon as he steps on the dance floor with them. I get the feeling that this is, once again, not something Adam enjoys. Adam is an interesting character because I think he was forged and influenced so heavily by his experiences with his dad that he's struggling to figure out how to be his own man. Freddie is doing a great job of showing that struggle within a character that has such a strong outward persona.

When Rachel finally manages to make it to the control room the hunt for the new villain is in full swing. Quinn, as usual, ignores Shia and turns to Rachel for advice on villain candidates. Rachel suggests Pepper (Stephanie Bennett) from Shia’s girls and Quinn tells Rachel that Anna is her girl. Between being a lawyer and having “ice queen cheek bones” she’s the girl Rachel is ordered to turn into the shows big season long villain. Luckily for Rachel it turns out that Quinn is willing to pay big dollars for this perfect villain. That leads Shia and Jay to compete with Rachel for the opportunity of a five grand cash bonus.

Now they must each take one of these nice women and turn them into someone “reality” show watchers will love to hate. We see Shia try to turn Pepper villainous, to varying degrees of success. Shia is decent at her job, but she is certainly no Rachel. Jay goes in search of his villain and pulls Athena and Shamiqua aside to see which of them has the ability to, potentially, be the first black woman to win Everlasting. Shamiqua has too much class for Jay as she refuses to win by simply being “loud and highly opinionated”, but Athena has no such qualms. She just wants to be known so that when she opens her hair salon people will flock to see her. Jay now has his girl and I think she’s a great pick because she has a very big personality and could be a great villain with Jay’s help.

Now, we get into the real core of tonight’s episode, as Anna lands in Rachel’s crosshairs. Rachel tries, and succeeds, to get into Anna’s head and plant insecurities about Adam and the other women. As Rachel points out Anna is very smart and guarded, much like Mary, but Anna is slightly harder for Rachel to manipulate. Shiri and Johanna do a brilliant job in this episode of building this very complicated dynamic between Rachel and Anna. I’ve enjoyed Rachel’s interactions with all the women, but this week made Anna a favorite of mine as she really gives Rachel a run for her money, literally.

Revelations are in mass quantity this episode as Quinn is the next one to have her world screwed with. When Chet’s wife, Cynthia (Sonya Salomaa), shows up on set Quinn is left to deal with her. Turns out she is just in town for Chet to sign some paperwork, but she is quick to reveal to Quinn that she’s pregnant. Constance does a brilliant job controlling Quinn’s reaction to this and yet she gives the audience just enough to see the turmoil brewing within Quinn in the wake of this revelation.

As the Producers are recapping their possible villains Madison (Genevieve Buechner) comes in to inform everyone that they were notified that Anna’s father had a heart attack. Quinn wants to keep it a secret from Anna and you can see that disagreement boiling within Rachel, but she needs to be the owner of the villain to get the bonus, so she agrees to keep the secret.

Rachel’s biggest concern, for the moment, seems to be Jeremy’s reaction to hearing that she is going to keep this secret from Anna. His biggest concern is hoping Rachel won’t freak out again and cost all of them their jobs. Now that he has Lizzie he's inclined to not want to be out of work because he now actually enjoys coming to work. The real winner of this interaction is Lizzie who could so easily have been a bitch to Rachel, but is instead very nice to her. Siobhan has infused such innocence into Lizzie that it’s going to be heartbreaking to watch her inevitably get her heart broken. No matter how hard Jeremy tries to pretend he doesn’t care about Rachel anymore their every interaction says otherwise. I already feel bad for Lizzie and if I were her I’d cut my loses and just ditch Jeremy now because he’s far from being over Rachel.

Speaking of cutting ones loses; Quinn confronts Chet about Cynthia’s news. I’m still trying to figure out what Quinn sees in Chet. He seems to be more interested in drugs then he is about the show, his wife, or his mistress. In my book Quinn and Cynthia would both be better off kicking his sorry ass to the curb. The only argument Chet has for Quinn is that he thought his wife was incapable of having children because of her age and the only shred of hope he can give to Quinn is that maybe the pregnancy won’t stick. Rightfully so this disturbs Quinn and she isn’t having any of it. With a heartfelt “screw you” she leaves Chet in her wake as she storms out of her own office. And with that I think I’m ready to declare Chet a true villain and count down the minutes to his downfall.

At the Cinderella Ball Rachel is still trying to coach Anna into being the villain she needs to her be. She tries to pit Anna against Grace and just as it looks like Anna is going to give Rachel the villainous act she needs Anna’s conscious gets the better of her. In the end she can’t “slut shame a woman on national television” and it’s now very clear that Anna really did come into Everlasting a decent woman. That obviously won’t last since she’s under Rachel’s care, but at least we get to see that she started off with morals. It’s that sign of humanity that actually breaks through to Rachel and she reveals the news to Anna that her father is in the hospital. She tries to convince Anna to stay on for at least an elimination ceremony and for a brief moment it looks like she will. Turns out that Rachel has highly underestimated Anna and all it takes is her turning her back on her for a minute for Anna to take off over the wall. The race is on as Rachel and Jeremy chase after Anna.

With all the Anna drama going down Quinn needs her villain now more than ever, so she pushes Shia and Jay to get her something she can use. Shia sets Pepper off to try and prove how adult she is which results in an awkward kiss and ass grab with Adam, but very little in the way of true villainous material. Jay on the other hand has a winner in Athena. As Faith and Adam are dancing Athena stages a run in with Faith. Unbeknownst to Faith she plays right into Athena’s hands as Athena twists Faith’s attempt at an apology into a racial jab. It results in a shoving match that lands Athena with Adam’s attention and Faith left to wonder what just happened. Shamiqua is still holding onto her morals and she isn’t inclined to let Jay get off easy as she makes her dislike of the whole situation known.

The show needed that moment of surreal and inconsequential drama before it returns us to the search for Anna. It is at this point that I think we see the most raw and real performances of the whole episode. Not to undermine any of the other performances of any of these actors, but the performances Shiri and Johanna deliver here are emotionally charged acting perfection. Anna has found her way to a bar and when Rachel finds her she’s just found out that her dad did not make it. That leads to a powerful scene in the bathroom where Anna has locked herself inside a stall. Rachel still has a job to do, but I truly believe that in this moment Rachel is at her most human. While Rachel is on the outside of the stall I think she is still in work mode, but the moment she slides under that door she is there for Anna and Anna alone. Johanna sells Anna’s heartbreak with such intensity that you can feel Anna’s pain radiating off the screen. Shiri does an amazing job of supporting Johanna’s performance and for the briefest moment the characters disappear and you just see one woman comforting another and the veil between characters and actors drops to leave us with a rare moment of pure human emotion. The hug at the end felt so honest and genuine that it gives me hope that Rachel’s soul hasn’t been completely destroyed by Everlasting and there is some humanity left inside her. It is truly one of the best moments this show has had yet. It even managed to trump the Britney and Rachel interaction from the end of last week.

Rachel and Jeremy load Anna up to take her back to set, but Rachel sneaks away to make a call to Quinn. I believe that Rachel really was calling to let Quinn know Anna was out, but Quinn has much less of a soul left than Rachel, so she takes it as an opportunity to get some great footage. Rachel is now, once again, stuck between her responsibility to Everlasting and caring for one of her girls. The need for money wins out and Rachel plays into Quinn’s hand as she brings Anna back to face all the other women. This is a particularly painful betrayal as Anna had begged Rachel to protect her from dealing with the others. Anna sees all the women lined up outside and the ambulance out front and all the emotions from the night build into a rage of fury. She goes off on Rachel, who she believes only cares about the show. When Rachel and Jeremy follow Anna into the house it’s Rachel who stops him from filming. Whatever Anna may think of Rachel you can see this constant struggle within Rachel as she tries to figure out how to balance humanity with her job duties.

Rachel has been fighting this balancing act all night, but when Anna says “I thought you were an actual person” you can see a whole flood of pain fall across Rachel’s face. The level of anxiety that pooled into Rachel’s eyes in that moment made me wonder for a moment if it was time for Rachel to have her next breakdown. That leads Rachel to not only make good on her promise to get Anna home, but she manages to keep Quinn from sending any cameras. To top it off she also secured Adam’s presence at the funeral. Granted she did have ulterior motives of hoping he could get Anna to come back with them, but at least she kept the cameras away, well sort of. At the funeral Rachel tries to film it with her phone camera, but Adam talks some sense into her and she stops. Rachel really is a fascinating character in the way she was constructed to have all these moral lines that she can’t help but continually cross.

Back at set Quinn has to face Chet, yet again, despite her best efforts to avoid him. He wants to gift her a house to make up for the baby situation, but Quinn doesn’t want a buy off. She doesn’t want a house that she would have to live in alone. It is in this moment that Constance broke through Quinn’s walls and gave the audience our first true indication that she has a heart. I’m not sure anyone else could have played Quinn and sold her as perfectly as Constance has. We the audience just see a stone cold bitch most of the time, but Constance has to hold her performance in check and only let the audience glimpse into Quinn’s soul when the exact right moment strikes. That is a feat that takes a skilled and seasoned actor to pull off and pull it off she does.

At the funeral Adam makes one final attempt to get Anna back. When he reports that she’s not coming back Rachel is ready to let Anna go. She’s ready and willing to deal with the consequences in the name of humanity. Then Adam steps in and comes up with a last ditch effort plan. Together they confront Anna’s brother, Terry (Mitchell Kummen), and try to manipulate him into helping them. Turns out he isn’t an easy mark and not easily played as he doesn’t believe either of them. Rachel makes a good pitch and for a moment it looks like he buys it. He convinces his sister to rejoin the show and as she walks off with Adam he turns to Rachel with a request for an Xbox for the part he played. Terry seems poised to have a great future as a future reality show Producer. He’s already sold his own sister out so he’s well on his way.

Things may be coming back together for Rachel, but she still has Bethany’s threats to deal with. The former roommate was serious about making Rachel pay and she’s willing to go to extreme lengths to make sure it happens. Bethany has accessed Rachel’s computer and found a rather compromising video that was part of an unsent email to Jeremy. Even worse for Rachel is that Bethany is also in possession of the entire crew list and she is prepared to send that email to the entire crew. Bethany seems to be one of the very few people Rachel is incapable of manipulating anymore and in this moment that is a very bad thing.

During the elimination ceremony all three of our potential villains make the cut. Anna is the last one chosen and she isn’t happy about that, which she lets Adam know. He promises that it was only because the show made him pick her last. I hate even grouping Anna in with the other potential villains because she proved this week that she does have feelings for Adam and more than that she proved that she has a soul that is strong and fighting to survive Everlasting intact. If UnReal wants to make Anna a villain then she is the villain I’m rooting for.

Rachel is rushing to get Quinn her tape that proves Anna could be made to be Everlastings villain when she runs across Jeremy. She almost warns him about Bethany, but loses her nerve at the last moment. In the control room Jay and Shia are pitching their villains and Shia is about to win with Pepper, even though I personally think Athena was the better choice, before Rachel makes her entrance. While one would think Rachel would do anything for the money she hesitates to give Quinn her submission. Turmoil is written all over Rachel’s face and I think she was genuinely prepared to face all the consequences to protect Anna. Quinn isn’t having any of it though and she takes the video from her. One look at how Rachel edited together Anna’s horrific night and Quinn has her villain. Rachel has won the money, but not in time. We cut out with everyone getting Rachel’s scandalous email. It should be fun to watch how that plays out next week.

This was a rock solid episode that gave us some stunning performances. I declare Johanna Braddy the MVP of this episode as she brought it in every scene she had and showed Anna’s pain with a stunning amount of heart.

I know Lifetime released the first four episodes over the weekend and I’m glad we all got to watch them early, but please do not let this stop you from watching these episodes live. Show your support by tuning in Mondays at 10pm on Lifetime. Only the fans can determine if UnReal has a shot at a Season 2, so tune in and let Lifetime know how much you enjoy this show.

Drop your comments and theories below and be sure to join me here again next Monday night for a review of the next scandalous episode.

About the Author - Aimee Hicks

Aimee works for a local newspaper and has a BA in Broadcasting and Cinema. She has been a TV lover since before she really understood what TV was. She has a long list of shows that she loves to watch and can be found on twitter (@ahicks83) live tweeting about each new episode whenever she can. A list of her favorite shows includes (but is not limited to) the following: 12 Monkeys, Orphan Black, Outlander, Chasing Life, Scorpion, The 100, The Night Shift, Bitten, Black Sails, 2 Broke Girls, Arrow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Continuum, Lost Girl, Faking It, Falling Skies, Finding Carter, Once Upon A Time, Orange Is The New Black, Switched At Birth, The Fosters, The Flash, The Originals, Teen Wolf, Under The Dome, & Z Nation. The upcoming shows she is most excited about are: Supergirl, Dark Matter, UnReal, Blindspot, Lucifer, Legends of Tomorrow, Stitchers, Recovery Road, Shadowhunters, Quantico, Code Black, Heartbreaker, and Chicago Med. She has a large and passionate dislike of ""reality"" TV, espeically ""reality"" dating shows, but has a weakness for Americas Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance. But those two don't really count as ""reality"" shows, at least that's how she justifies those guilty pleasures. She was the original creator and co-founder of LOST Video Island (lostvideo.net) which is still operting under the management of the very capable and skilled group she turned it over to.

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