The first episode, Fly, starts off innocently enough with Jeremy and Lizzie having sexy time in the back of a truck. On a side note, UnReal likes trucks as much as Everlasting likes pools and bikinis. Lizzie isn’t happy with Jeremy for the way he manhandles her. He got his women mixed up and seems to have mistaken Lizzie for Rachel, who does like it rough. Could this be the beginning of the end for this couple?
While they work out the strategy for the day Mary is busy greeting her daughter, Lilly Belle (Bailey Skodje), and her sister, Louise (Chelah Horsdal) as they arrive at the Everlasting compound. Mary is overjoyed to see her family and is overjoyed to have her daughter in her arms. Ashley Scott is a mom to a young daughter in real life and her maternal instinct really shines throughout the episode as she interacts with the little girl playing her daughter. While the reunion is beautiful and heartwarming Quinn isn’t happy because neither of those things makes for an interesting hour of “reality” television.
As Mary catches up with her family they are brought drinks to which Louise looks concerned. Mary promises her that her drink is a virgin, but Louise knows her sister and seems skeptical. For someone who is supposed on mood stabilizers she’s acting way out of character.
The family day seems to be going great for Mary, but Adam hates kids and this is not his idea of a good day. Rachel promises to get him on a date and back in his romantic element where he can romance Mary. She tries to coach him on how to handle kids, but it instead the moment almost turns into a romantic encounter between them. The more these episodes go along the more I’m rooting for Rachel to end up with Adam as I think he gets her better then even Jeremy does.
With this season of Everlasting winding down it’s time to pitch the next season. As part owner of the show Quinn wants to make the pitch. Chet is hesitant, but he lets her do it anyway.
Quinn and Rachel are worried about how not well things are going for Mary. They need her to win and Quinn comes up with an extreme plan to bring in Kirk (Ty Olsson), Mary’s ex-husband, to try and shake things up. Rachel is hesitant to agree until she realizes that this could be a great moment for Mary to take control of her life and move on from her past with Kirk so she can pursue Adam.
Anna is finishing up an interview when Adam confronts her over the rabbit situation. He knows what she was doing and she confesses to being jealous when it comes to him. She really likes Adam and just wants to ensure she has a place with him after all this is over with. He notices her and tells her he knows a place where they can go for some alone time. Well, if Grace finds out about Adam taking someone else off for special time it’s not going to be pretty.
Shia has learned about the plan to bring Kirk in and she confronts Rachel about it. Rachel has convinced herself this will be an empowering moment for Mary, but Shia knows how dangerous this could become since Mary is off her meds. She can’t convince Rachel to back off this plan because Rachel believes this confrontation can help all the other women out there being abused to confront their abusers. Under different circumstances this plan may not have been quite as horrible, don’t get me wrong in no scenario is this a good idea for any “reality” TV show to undertake, but under these circumstances for them to put this on a contestant with known mental health issues they should have been more cautious and considerate of her well being. Kirk should never have been brought into the equation given Mary’s mental history and his history of abusing her.
At the pitch meeting Quinn is freaking out and, for once, Chet is handing out some decent advice as he tells her how to handle the executives. His best advice is to “tickle balls”, which Quinn feels she’s fairly proficient at. That doesn’t help her anxiety going into her first pitch meeting. Okay, so he may not be the best at giving advice, but at least he tried.
The normally cool and collected Quinn succumbs to nerves at the pitch meeting and Chet steps in to help her. He is an expert at knowing how to speak jerk to another jerk and he gets Brad (Martin Cummings), a network executive, listening to the pitch again. Ever since Quinn confronted him last week he’s actually been trying to be a somewhat better man. Granted he’s failing at it, but at least he is attempting to try. I’m still not a Chet fan, but he does come through for Quinn in this moment.
Adam confronts Rachel and realizes that after everything he now has to keep Mary. She’s a little too much for him to handle and I think he was prepared to kick her had Quinn and Rachel not come up with this horrible plan. Every time these two are in a scene together the chemistry between them is intense. It really is only a matter of time before they get together.
During an interview Adam asks Mary to stay with him for another week. He puts on his best act and tells her that he can see a future with her. Since we’ve seen all the behind the scenes stuff we know how untrue that is, but to be honest I think they only one he sees a future with is Rachel, so things could get awkward. Shia is closing out the family day with an interview with Mary which quickly falls apart as Mary goes into a rant about Kirk. The looks on Shia’s face throughout the interview indicate she knows what is happening to Mary, but she makes no attempts to correct any of her sins. At this point she should have confessed to someone what she did so they could get Mary back on her meds, but alas she does not which leads into the tragic final moments of this episode.
Mary confronts Kirk, who is restrained, and tells him she never wants to see him again. Restrained or not he is still a danger to her as he says horrible things to her. He tells her that their daughter would be better off without her. In a different mental state she may have been able to brush this off, but since she is, unknowingly, off her meds she can’t compensate for what he says. Ashley does a fantastic job of showing the emotions flood through Mary as she makes up her mind on what she is going to do. This scene goes to show just how dangerous a weapon words can be in the wrong hands.
As Mary’s family leaves she hugs them all and gives them each a loving goodbye. It is at this moment that it is painfully obvious what Mary has decided to do. She even says goodbye to Adam, in a discreet way.
Back at set Chet and Quinn are ecstatic at how well things went with the network. They have the next season approved and just as they are preparing to celebrate Chet gets a call from his wife. She found out the sex of their baby and the world should prepare because it’s a boy which means there will be another little Chet running around to try and take over the world. Quinn is not happy at this news and quickly leaves Chet to finish the call.
Their relationship isn’t the only one on the rocks as Lizzie finally confronts Jeremy about his feelings for Rachel. He doesn’t seem to understand what he’s done wrong, but Lizzie is over the whole situation. The scene leaves off with what may very well be a breakup, but there are other more important things to cram into these final minutes.
On the roof Rachel is doing her best to talk down Mary, but Shia’s intervention with the pill switch has made it impossible for Mary to know if she is good or a monster. It is too much for Rachel to overcome and she almost goes over too when Mary steps off the roof. I can’t talk about this scene and not commend Ashley and Shiri for their heartbreaking performances. This is a hard subject to deal with and they both handled it with grace and courage as they gave the moment real life implications. Their performances were raw and real and they both deserve major respect for the courage that it took to pull off those performances so flawlessly.
In this moment the show has no heroes or villains. As Mary hits the ground all this show has is painful truth. The worlds of UnReal and Everlasting will be forever changed by this moment. Quinn, Rachel, Shia, and the whole group will be changed and forever haunted by these events. It was a poignant and heartbreaking way for Everlasting to lose Mary and even harder for UnReal fans to lose Ashley. The moment when Quinn realizes Mary is gone and she turns to look up at Rachel shows how truly affected both of these women will be. No one will escape this event unscathed.
When I watched this scene I was shell-shocked. UnReal is known for pushing the envelope, but they went to a place I didn’t think they would go. I thought for sure Rachel would find a way to save Mary, but alas it wasn’t meant to be. Now we get to watch the repercussions of what has happened.
Speaking of what has happened, it is time to move on to the aftermath of Mary’s horrific death in the next episode, Savior.
Quinn and Chet have the responsibility of letting Brad know what happened. He orders production shut down, but all Chet really cares about is how long this will put them off the air for. Brad cares more about the legal implications and won’t let anything else be shot until their legal team assesses the damage.
Feeling guilty, Shia seeks out Rachel to confess. Before she can say anything a cop shows up to get a statement from Rachel. While I do not agree with what Shia did and have lost all respect for the character I have gained immense respect for Aline Elasmar. She was handed a tough storyline, that she had to know would not sit well with fans, and she has embraced it and done a great job of showing the human within Shia. The character did a horrible thing, but she did it for reasons she was able to justify within herself. Shia crossed a line that not even Rachel or Quinn would have and now they all have to deal with the consequences.
Adam is angry about being locked away in his room. Rachel shows up and tells him that Mary took her own life. Adam is stunned and doesn’t know how to react. That’s all made worse when Rachel tells him he has to be the one to tell the girls. He doesn’t want to, but Rachel doesn’t leave him with much of a choice.
Back in the control room Shia is waiting, in the dark, for Rachel’s return. Finally she confesses what she did and Rachel is stunned. She realizes how truly screwed they are with this new information. Shia wants to leave, but Rachel makes her stay and face her mistakes.
The next morning the girls are gathered, but still don’t know about Mary. While they are waiting for Adam to show up Rachel urges Shia to talk to Quinn. When Quinn tries to brush her off Rachel expresses the importance of them talking so Shia and Quinn go off to talk. This is definitely not going to go well for Shia once Quinn finds out the truth.
The girls are sitting around in disbelief and trying to rationalize what happened. Anna is remorseful for the way she acted on Mary’s date while Faith is in shock over why Mary did it. Maya is devastated and when she sees Grace sitting by so calmly she goes off on her. Death is nothing new in Grace’s life and she’s learned to deal with things her way. Natasha Wilson (Maya) and Nathalie Kelley (Grace) do a phenomenal job portraying this confrontation as each women tries to process the situation. I do look forward to finding out more about the past Grace hinted at in this scene. It seems like she has quite a hard story in her past. Faith calls the group together to pray as Rachel is called away to join Quinn and Shia.
Rachel wants to go to the cops, but Quinn is more interested in protecting the show and all the people it employees. Both women have valid points, but I can’t help but side with Quinn in this argument. That even surprises me as I thought for sure I’d side more with Rachel’s opinion, but they will never know why Mary really did it and Quinn has a lot of other people to protect. Before they can finish their conversation they are called away to meet with the network lawyers. Quinn looks nervous that Rachel has been asked to attend the meeting.
The lawyers start to interrogate Rachel about why she brought Kirk onto the show. Rachel says she wanted to get them to talk again, but the lawyers realize that a fight would have been better for the ratings. Just then Brad gets news that they have made the tabloids. Kirk has posted bail and he’s going after Everlasting for Mary’s death. The lawyers are ready to cave and just pay him off, but Rachel doesn’t want to see that scumbag get a penny. Rachel is going off on the lawyers, so Chet kicks her out of the room and Quinn tries to defend her. Brad realizes Rachel was the girl from last season that had the meltdown. Quinn tells him that Rachel is worth every penny and then the lawyers go after her since Rachel reports to her. When Quinn is questioned if anyone knew Mary was unstable she holds firm and protects both Rachel and Shia. Say what you want about Quinn, but the woman is beyond loyal to her people. If the truth comes out she has painted a massive target on herself.
At a hotel Jay sits guard over Shia. She believes she is being held prisoner, which to be honest she kind of is, and just wants to go home. Jay has his orders and Shia isn’t going anywhere.
After the interviews Rachel tries to talk to Adam, but he has no interest in talking to her. He calls her a monster and storms off, leaving Rachel in his wake to think about what happened. If only she could tell him everything he’d realize he was calling the wrong person a monster. Granted Rachel is no saint, but she would never have taken things this far with Mary had she known the whole truth.
Chet is trying to decompress with a joint, but his lighter won’t work. He gets a light from Madison and more then that he gets some good advice from her. She thinks that something good may still come from all of this. He seems to take that to heart and who knows, maybe she is right, and something good can still come from this whole mess.
The next morning Brad busts in with Mary’s toxicology reports. Not only was Mary drunk, but she was off her meds. To top it all off he finds out that they are shooting new footage to use against Kirk. This leads to a massive confrontation between him and Quinn when Brad tries to tell her she has no say in what happens. Quinn is part owner and she makes that known to which Brad points out she just slept with the right guy. Chet comes in and gets between the two. He takes Brad off for a little man to man conversation.
In Quinn’s office Rachel interrupts Quinn’s plans to get drunk and enjoy the last days of being employed. Rachel still wants to send the footage, but Quinn tells her she can’t. The authorities are onto the meds issue and Quinn is ready to throw in the towel and head for the border. Thanks to Quinn Rachel doesn’t really have a backup plan, so she has to motive Quinn to keep fighting. This is an odd change since it’s usually Quinn trying to motivate Rachel. I liked the switch up as it shows that the women are willing to support each other in a crisis.
To try and connect with the situation, and formulate a new plan, Rachel spends some time in Mary’s room. A picture of Mary’s daughter and a stuffed animal give Rachel the motivation she needs. A plan is formulated and the show may not be doomed just yet.
Jay brings Shia back to set, but she’s not inclined to trust anyone right now, not even Jay. He is still in the dark because he won’t let her tell him what got her into trouble with Quinn. Jay believes that the truth would have affected their friendship and as long as he doesn’t know they are still good.
After the video Louise made Brad is ecstatic and happy with the product Chet produced. Brad even makes good with Quinn, but as soon as she walks away he warns Chet to not let Quinn go up against him again.
In Quinn’s office she and Rachel are drinking to drown away the memory of the events since Mary’s death. Shia comes in and Quinn sends her home with the reassuring news that it’s better than going to jail. Quinn and Rachel embrace when Quinn offers herself up to talk if Rachel ever needs to. Both women agree to never talk about any of this ever again.
As the day, and the episode, draws to an end Rachel sends Maya on her way home. As she turns to head back to her own makeshift home she sees Jeremy. She is about to go to him when she sees Lizzie show up and pull him away. I’m guessing these two didn’t break up after all. Jeremy does seem like he’d rather be with Rachel, but he goes off with Lizzie much to Rachel’s dismay.
Chet brings Quinn a dandelion as a gift and confesses to her that Mary’s death made him appreciate the important things in life. He tells her that he left his wife and the look on Quinn’s face is that of both shock and relief. I don’t really want them back together, but Chet did protect her many times this week. He may not be a total bastard, but he’s still a long ways away from being a good guy.
After everything that has happened Rachel can’t settle to sleep in the truck. She tosses around a bit before making up her mind and going to Adam’s room where she crawls into bed with him. He doesn’t seem to mind and even apologizes for calling her a monster. He may not think that anymore, but she still does. She’s good at her job, but it is rapidly destroying her soul.
These two episodes were an emotional rollercoaster ride and the cast brilliantly tackled the tough story thrown at them. UnReal stayed true to reality and the harshness of death and the value of life. These episodes were tough to watch because of how real they were and how attached we have all become to the characters. It is never easy to watch a show kill off a character you love, but Mary’s death was especially hard given how it happened. I believe the show handled this storyline with grace and dignity and the realism required to make the story hit home for viewers. I look forward to seeing what happens next for all the characters. This was a catalyst event for the series and nothing can ever be the same again.
Where do UnReal and Everlasting go from here? How has this changed all the characters? Can Shia be redeemed in the eyes of UnReal fans? Should Quinn trust Chet to be loyal to her if they make their relationship official? Who is best for Rachel? Adam or Jeremy?
Tune into Lifetime at 10/9C on Monday to see where the characters go from here.
