"Do you want me to throw up?"
Heartbreaker
This episode begins with a warning, and boy was that necessary. We finally get to see what happened that night and it ain't pretty, we all knew it wouldn't be, but it was still very hard to watch. And everyone who was still on the fence about how much of a disgusting excuse for a human being Nate was, well, all your answers are here, he's a pig, and so many other words I just won't write, but I'm guessing you guys can fill in the blanks. Here we saw, not only the intent of his action, but also his posterior attitude towards Jules makes me think he's a full on psychopath. But enough about my ranting, for now.
In this episode we get to see part of the aftermath of the events from last week and Jules' backstory, how everything went down up until she decided to become a vigilante, we learn this in a series of flashbacks spread through the episode as if she was remembering it all. As Jules in the present has been laying in bed all week looking at videos of her and Kennedy she remembers the time before the rape, when the three of them, and Miles, a friend of Nate's, used to hang out together. It's strange and heartbreaking seeing how carefree and happy Jules was before it all went down.
Ophelia is trying to take care of Jules and get her out of bed, she's so sweet. Jules is only interested in doing take downs, but Ophelia ays the have to lay low so Jules decides to stay in bed. But Ophelia says it's Opharris day, the three year anniversary of the day Ophelia and Harris met when he was the R. A. on her floor, and they apparently shared a common enemy, Ophelia's roommate Malinda. They celebrate drinking the whole day, Jules doesn't drink but doesn't want to be seen as a wet blanket and O convinces her.
Ophelia: It's cool if you don't identify me as your best friend, yet, but you sure as hell are mine, so let me do what best friends do, and make you feel better.
Jules tries to convince the guys she used to be fun, but the last time she got drunk was at the Omega part, so we flashback to that. Kennedy was sick so she told them to have fun without her, and they did, it looked like the party was great, but they rank a lot and Jules started feeling dizzy, so she asked Nate if she could go lie in his bed, he says yes and watches her go up, very creepy. Seeing the way he looks at her Miles asks what about Kennedy and Nate's answer is that he doesn't see Kennedy around, just in case you were wondering how much of a pig he is.
The next scene is hard to describe without feeling sick to my stomach but I'll do my best. He follows her up and finds her sleeping, he starts undressing himself and gets on top of her. Once she realizes what's happening she starts fighting him, but he puts his had on her mouth and proceeds. She's confused and crying as she just lies there in shock. He falls asleep instantly and she gets up and leaves, still in shock. Once she's in her room she sits on the floor crying, not knowing what to do, she thinks about texting Nate and even tries to google how you know when you've been raped, that level of confusion was one of the most heartbreaking things for me.
She thinks about having a shower but she decides to get her clothes in a bag and goes to the clinic to get a rape kit, I was so proud of her right then, but of course we knew things weren't going to end up well. The nurse is great with her but she urges her to report it to someone, Jules doesn't want to go to the police because of her father but, after lying in bed for weeks, she goes to a therapist who is the personification of one of the main problems girls in her situation have to suffer. The woman (yes, it's a woman, which make sit even worse) asks her if she's sure it was rape and not regret and she advises her that, because of Nate's high profile, she should reconsider her accusation. I swear, in that moment, my jaw was on the floor, and I wanted to slap my screen.
Back to the present, Ophelia seems to be ignoring Evan, she says she doesn't like him that much, but Jules takes a photo of her with a dumb smile while looking at his texts so she admits she might have feeling for him but she's not comfortable with that, she says it feels like worms in her belly, which sounds disgusting, but in a way, so do butterflies. Jules is excited about the prospect of someone being happy.
Jules: Maybe he's your first love!
Ophelia: Do you want me to throw up?
We learn they let Chase, Landon's sidekick, go, and that Harris is happy about his article being published that day, but it turns out they decide not to publish it, it probably has something to do with the dean. So, he decides to go to Vinylton and publish it himself on the website. We also see Tyler moving on with his life, moving on from Carter too, but it looks like his mom hasn't. He's even selling his paintings now, but he remembers he left a piece at Vinylton so he decides to go get it. And, of course, they all meet there so Jules and Tyler can have a wonderful awkward moment. He tells her about his paintings and asks if she's okay, she says she's working on it and he says maybe, once they're both better, they could try again, but she doesn't say anything and he leaves.
After that encounter Jules decides she doesn't want to be the victim anymore, she doesn't want what happened to affect everything in her life so she wants to join the Opharris party. Ophelia wants her to take things slowly but Jules insists on being part of the fun, and she definitely is. The three of them are hilarious together when they're drunk. They continue the tour at the bar where they see Evan on a date with another girl. In a hilarious scene O interrupts his date, sits next to the girl in the chair and says she doesn't want to care about him but she wants him to care, and not to go on dates with girls who "suck", she says she likes him but she doesn't know what to do about it, he says she should call him when she's sober, and I felt very bad for the poor girl that had to witness all that.
A hilariously drunk Jules tells her she nailed it, but all the fun goes away when Harris learns he got kicked off the law journal and they see Nate walk through the door with friends to play pool. The psycho even smiles at her as a toast before his first shot. Jules, rattled, goes to get her hoodie and wants to knife him in the bathroom but Ophelia stops her. There's a funny fight scene where drunk Jules tries to show Ophelia who the teacher is, but O's high tolerance for alcohol means she's at the top of her game and she brushes Jules off like a fly. Ophealia tells her she needs to get better before she can go back to being the vigilante, that she could talk to the people in her therapy group. Jules throws up an concedes maybe O has a point.
We see a flashback to Jules' first time at group, listening to the other girls' stories, particularly Beth, the girl assaulted by Will Powell, she's talking about feeling unsafe and wishing she could take away his sense of safety too. We see the idea form in Jules' mind and we cut to her first night as a vigilante, which is when we were introduced to this amazing show.
Once Ophelia is back at home, Evan drops by, he says he dropped his date off and asks her if she meant what she said at the bar, she says she did and he says that if she's in he's in, and then they kiss. I just love these two, I never get tired of their scenes, and I hope we get as many as possible in the episodes we have left (I confess I tend to re-watch their scenes).
Ophelia: I like this a lot.
Evan: I like you.
Ophelia: Well, just don't get needy with me.
Evan: Shut up.
The episode ends with Harris calling Barton to ask about the writings on the wall, which probably means we'll get more of the investigative dynamic duo, Tyler realizing the picture Carter sent him was photoshopped, and Jules showing up to group angry but ready to talk.
I'm glad we got to see the whole story, no matter how hard it was to watch, and I'm glad there are no doubts about Nate and his intentions, even if my screen could suffer for the feelings he provokes. I felt very bad for Kennedy because, at the same time we saw Jules slip away from herself, we saw her pull away from her friend, it was also heartbreaking to see how confused Jules was and how difficult it was for her to admit what happened to herself, and even less to Kennedy. I'm still so angry about that counselor, I get more angry every time I think about it, because, even if many factors go into creating a rape culture, one of the main problems are this adults that want to swipe it all under the rug, because it's inconvenient, or uncomfortable. I don't think I can explain just how mad this makes me, but I'm guessing I'm not alone in this.
I'd love to read your thoughts about tonight's episode. I think many of us might need to vent, and this is the perfect place.
I also want to leave you guys with a best scene poll, in this case it can be, of course, not about celebrating what happens in the scene, but about what the director, writers and actors accomplished with it. You can pick up to 6 scenes.
