"Looks like we're gonna be busy."
This quote is too hopeful, but I just can't avoid getting excited about what a second season would give us, and this is exactly the kind of finale I like, one that gets you excited for the future and its possibilities without leaving a big, and sometimes pointless, cliffhanger. I have to say I was both excited and afraid to watch this, I wanted to see how it all ended but I was afraid the wrong choice would take away from the amazing journey this show has taken us on. And I'm so thankful that didn't happen. It was not only a satisfying conclusion, but it presented us with what a second season would bring, and boy would I love to get to see that!
It saddens me to say that due to many factors, not enough people got to discover this gem of a show, so I hope you bare with me through this long review, which could very well be the last one. I will, though, be posting an article about the show as a whole, so some of the team members can share their thoughts on the show, and hopefully we can convince some more people to enjoy this worthy show despite its ratings.
An Innocent Man
This episode was the like previous counselor meeting multiplied by a thousand. Listening, not only to the investigative committee's questions, but also Nate's testimony, was enraging to a degree I'm not sure I can put into words. I seriously do not know how my screen survived this episode. This is begun by Kennedy and Jules finally going to report Nate to the University, which means an investigation needs to take place. After that, Kennedy goes to see Nate to deliver in person a summons to testify, he threatens Jules and she realizes it's not as hard as she thought, now that she sees who he truly is. He does deliver on part his threat by slut-shaming Jules online.
We pick up Harris and Ophelia's conversation and he admits he saw everything, that he saw them beat Brady to a bloody pulp and the guy is in intensive care now. She tries to explain how unfair the system is but he says this goes against everything he believes in and he doesn't know what to do. Ophelia is really worried but even more sad about her friendship, Evan tries to cheer her up and tells her Harris adores her, and no matter how mad he is, he'll eventually come around.
Jules comes by to tell Ophelia how sorry she is, about the things she said during the Brady take-down, and O forgives her immediately, mostly because she says they have bigger fish to fry, now that Harris knows the truth. Jules tells her she reported Nate, she say if the school finds him guitly and expells him maybe she can finally move on.
Jules and Tyler meet up so she can tell him the truth before it is made public, but he tells her his news first, of course, and she freaks out that he filed a missing person's report so she fakes and emergency and leaves to tell O. When she gets to her apartment O is very stoned but she says she'll handle it, since Jules has to go testify. She pretends her phone was stolen, and begs a cop to go get it so she can copy the data on his computer and find out what they have on the case.
And here comes the perfect depiction of the patriarchal bureaucracy, we see the investigative committee asking questions to everyone who was at the party, and one of the mainly featured questions are "Would you characterize Jules as promiscuous?" and "Would you say Jules entered the party with the idea of having sex?", seriously? And now we know the name of that disgusting human being, the famous counselor. I woudl kill that woman, these next lines even anger me to transcribe.
Mrs. Tate: So, hos and CEOs, and which were you dressed as?
Jules: A CEO.
Mrs. Tate: I haven't met many CEOs dressed like that.
Not only she wasn't even close to having a revealing dress, but that's not even the point. We also see Nate's testimony, well crafted to give an alternative side to the story, if only there weren't so many other people who saw the state Jules was at. He says Jules had a crush on him, and since Kennedy wasn't able to go to the party, she saw an opening to go after him. We see a parallel of their recollections of that night, and it's tough, she says she could't process what was happening to her, and even less so, the fact that it was her friend doing it. They question weather she really tried to stop him.
After Jules testifies the girls go to cover their tracks at Carter's garage, they're about to get caught by the cops who're babysitting the crime scene until CSI shows up, O finds a way to get them out on a drunk and disorderly call, one of the cops wants to stay and catch a Squirtle, but the other one says he'll not miss a chance to do something because the other one wants to play a game that's not even relevant anymore (nice burn, by the way).
During his testimony Miles seems to realize Jules could barely walk when she went to lay down in Nate's bedroom, and his suspicions seem to grow even more, once Coach Howard drops by Nate's room and tells him everything will be handled. He doesn't seem to be ready to take a stand though, because later he's at a cafe talking about how this could ruin Nate's life and some dumb girl says she'd love to get raped by Nate, so Kennedy who was listening next to Jules, decides to call him on his bullsh*t and tells him to take a closer look at his best friend.
Gaby: Tyler's here, what should I tell him? I mean, he's part of the while male establishment, but he's also really cute.
Tyler finally learns the truth and says he's sorry about what happened to her and he's sorry about not seeing it. He says he wants to be there for her every step of the way and they hug. Later they go to hear the verdict but Nate is acting so smug at the door that Tyler punches him, I know it won't go well for him, but someone had to. Jules sends him away saying that's not how she wanted him to be there for her. But Ophelia and Kennedy go in with her and when Jules gets up to hear the verdict they both appreciate his efforts.
Ophelia: Did Tyler just punch Nate in the face?
Kennedy: Yeah.
Ophelia: That's awesome.
So Nate is found guilty, which I didn't see coming, and now the girls are thinking maybe the reason why they started their mission made no sense now. But then, of course, the verdict is overturned by President Mays, who doesn't have much to gain if rapists start getting prosecuted, and they offer Jules time off to get better instead.
Mackenzie feels bad for leaving Jules at the party and says from now on, she'll make sure no sister leaves a party without knowing where the others are. Jules appreciates it but she seems somehow at ease with what happened, she says she got to tell her truth and that's still liberating. It also probably has to do not only with that but with the fact that the rest of her world agreed with her and that doubt she struggled against is now gone.
Harris has an interview with Ellen Thruston from the DA's office and she pressures him to say everything he knows about the vigilante, and threatens he'll be seen as an accessory if he doesn't. Ophelia listens to the conversation, since she bugged his phone, and decides to turn herself in, so he doesn't have to live with her secret. But Harris listens to the voice mail she left him and gets Jules so they can stop her.
Harris: B*tch, what are you doing here?
They take her home and Harris says he loves her, but what they're dong is wrong and dangerous, and they need to stop. The girls agree, but then they decide it's time to take down Nate.
Miles seems troubled and he confronts Nate about the guilty verdict, he just wants to understand, he says he though Jules was into him, but if he was mistaken and she said "no" then it was wrong and he's confused how Nate can't see it. Nate says she didn't say "no" and Miles says that if that's because she was asleep, that's even worse, so Nate kicks him out.
Brady is up and tweeting that the "psychos" told him they were sweet but they were actually vicious, and this starts the #SweetVicious so people start hating and supporting them, even Kennedy tweets she has a target for them and tweets #JusticeForJules.
Ophelia talks to Evan about her feelings, she's trying to be honest with him. For a second I thought she was going to tell him the truth but she just wants to share some of her darkness. Maybe this means, if we were to get a miraculous second season, she would finally tell him sooner rather than later.
Ophelia: I'm a dark person and I can handle it, I mean I let myself get sad when I need to. But, lately, the darkness just feels really intense, like this little messed up voices that pollute my brain are just getting louder and I just feel really selfish for having any of these anxious or depressed thoughts knowing what Jules went through. It's funny, it's like I was predisposed to it but she was... forced into it. And together we make this twisted dark hole and I wanna continue having this conversation, I really do, because I think it's important, but it's equally important to note that I heard "dark hole" as soon as I said it.
Tyler apologizes to Jules for trying to fight her battles for her, he says she's one of the strongest people he's ever met, but he was frustrated about not being able to do anything. And she finally feels ready to be with him. But the cops found blood on Carter's garage floor and they go to Zeta to arrest Tyler while he was still in bed with Jules. The poor thing finds out his brother is dead in the exact moment they're arresting him for the murder.
Pure Heroine
Jules goes to visit Tyler at the police station and tells him to hand the cops his phone voluntarily. Ophelia wants to shame Nate GOT style, but Jules just wants to get Tyler out. She says they should pick someone from the sex offenders list to frame for the murder, and then send a text from Carter's phone to Tyler's using the guy's IP adres.
Ophelia: You're f*cked up Jules Thomas. And I love it!
So, they find a pedophile that had avoided jail thanks to his wealthy family so all they have to do is get his router number and place the murder weapon in his house. They play rock-paper-scissors to see who gets to go, and Jules loses. Later, she says she hopes she got everything right, because the pedophile's house smelled weird and she's not going back in.
Miles shows up at Vinylton to buy weed and Ophelia shoos him away, but he says hes sorry and he's not talking to Nate. Later Ophelia talks to Evan and he confesses he's been trying to help a girl who got assaulted on his watch, since he's the RA of the floor, he says the school convinced her not to press charges due to the vigilante, which is ironic since the vigilante wouldn't exist if they did what they were supposed to, he feels guilty and he's afraid she'll hurt herself. So, O offers to help and watch after her, I like how their relationship is evolving into a team.
Officer Mike Veach, the one who was friends with Tyler's family, has doubts about Tyler being the killer and this is only strengthened once they get the message from the pedophile's adres. So, they release Tyler and Jules receives him with a kiss, but she find out he's still suspicious, he says some random guy has no motive to kill his brother, but the vigilante does.
Ophelia says the Nate take-down need to be special, they need to take everything important to him the way he did to Jules. And since they see the tweet from Kennedy, they decide to enlist her sending her a vigilante letter that reads "Your help is needed". They want to get into Nate's head, they want him to be on edge. Kennedy is happy to help, since she wants justice for herself, not only Jules and she feels guilty about it, so she avoids her. So, Fiona and Gaby, helping Kennedy on her mission, tell him they're worried about him since he's got a target on his back. Which is only strengthened by the alert message Ophelia sends to the whole campus saying "We're coming for you, Nate."
The scare tactics are working, since Nate's having nightmares and, not only that, but he wakes up to see photos of him taken while he was sleeping and sweet dreams written on the wall. Creepy. It finally freaks him out and he starts walking around with a group of his buddies for security. They says they stand by Nate and they won't be intimidated. Ophelia has a way to get them away by getting Nate kicked out from Omega, but it turns put to be a trap.
He's waiting with his friends at the pizza place and the girls are outnumbered but they still kick their ass as Harris watches, he's super excited and seems on board now. They realize they need an inside man and O remembers Miles. They pay him a visit but he's super stones and seems useless, they have a side bar, which he joins, and tells them something about a high school girl named Shelby, who was apparently also assaulted by Nate. The next morning Miles too gets a "Your help is needed" letter.
So that night, he goes to Nate's room saying he was always on his side, and gets him talking about the girls he assaulted, including Shelby. And so, we get a beauty of a speech that is sure to get your blood boiling. He brags about how President Mays probably didn't even read the file before discarding it, since they need him to win games, and then he says things to get in line with every pervert and misogynistic pig in the world. "Nine times out of ten, these girls want it, even when they say they don't. And the one time they actually didn't, it's my word against theirs", "These girls walk around in their tight skirts, asking for it, and then you screw them and they get mad." He says he's determined to get whatever he wants. I have to contain myself every time I hear this, and the worst part is, it's no exaggeration.
Nate's MVP ceremony is being boycotted by some students, supported by others, but that's nothing compared with what is about to happen. As a video praising him is being played, the girls play a video of their own on the screen and every other screen on campus, it's Nate's speech, filmed by Miles. And at the end, the S/V logo appears, then everyone gets an e-mail to see their website where they can report injustice. As they take Nate away Miles offers him a salute.
Jules finally goes to talk to Kennedy, imagining it's hard for her to be associated with someone like that so publicly. Kennedy says she feels like she can't complain to Jules about her situation because she's had it much worse. But Jules, that by now is more advanced in her grieving, says Kennedy loved him, and she still has to mourn that loss, no matter how bad he was. Kennedy says she's always trying to be this beacon of perfection but now she just feels like a girl who dated a guy who raped her best friend. Jules gives her a taste of her own "Kennedy realness" and tells her this doesn't define her, it doesn't define either of them. I'm glad they gave Aisha Dee her time to shine because she's amazing, and of course, sharing scenes with Eliza can't hurt, but I've loved her since she was on Chasing Life.
Harris finally realizes the girls are right, since he found out the DA also has dismissed rape cases all over. So he says he wants to be their inside man in the DA's office, he says he want's to be their Charlie and O says that at best he'd be their Bosley. I'm really glad he's on the team. They also talk about why President Mays was so prone to look the other way, they say no one would want to send their kids to the college with the highest rate of sexual assaults, he wonders if that's true and she says that it feels like it is, which is I'm sure something most of you would have thought at some point looking at the show, no way every single guy on this college is a rapist, but otherwise we'd have no more plot. Which is one of the best things of MTV shows, they seem to be fully aware of what they're doing, even if sometimes it doesn't catch on, these little jokes are just one big plus for me.
We end the episode with a montage of Jules and Tyler saying their I love you's, Evan getting a "Your help is needed" letter, some more incriminating things in Carter's garage and Kennedy accepting an internship to get away from Darlington. We also see Landon Mays wanting to team up with Nate, which sounds hella dangerous, and the girls anxious for their website going live which gets flooded with messages.
Ophelia: Looks like we're gonna be busy.
Final Thoughts
When we were coming to and end I was dreading the cut, I wanted to watch more, and that's usually a good sign. This leaves many open storylines I'd love to watch, but if this is the last episode we get from Sweet/Vicious, I'm still happy about the trip this show took us for. This is a story that need to be told and spread. And this show handled it wonderfully despite the difficulty of the subject. It made us angry, it made us laugh and smile, and it made us cry.
I'd love for them to get at least two more seasons to see play out this exciting storylines they've introduced. I'd love to see more kick-ass take-downs, and their use of the S/V website, I'd love to see Harris at the DA's office and I'd love to see the psycho villainous Landon/Nate team at work, even if the idea itself is super scary. And also, I would absolutely love seeing Evan and Ophelia's relationship evolve as beautifully as it's been growing the last couple of episodes.
I'd love to read your thoughts on the show, this finale, and your hopes for a possible second season.
