American Housewife - The Venue - Review: "Not All Heroes Wear Capes"

The fundraising gala's getting closer and closer, and Katie's yet to find a suitable venue. On this week's episode, everyone else gets pulled into her scheme.

Greg suggests the Carson House. ("The outhouse is still there where Paul Revere took a rushed number two on his Midnight Ride! There's a plaque!") But, Stan, the husband of Katie's "number one arch-enemy" Chloe Brown-Mueller, whose recently run off to Nepal to "find himself," was the one at the historical guild in charge of dealing with the House rentals. And since he's skipped town, Chloe's taken over his seat.

Katie decides she needs to have "someone irresistible" to do her bidding. Even Anna-Kat's charms can't seem to do the trick, and Chloe sends her back with the message to tell her mama "that [she] hates her guts." From there, Katie moves on to having Angela do her bidding. She's supposed to go in, rough her up with some scary lawyer talk about easements and building permits.

Unfortunately, since Chloe's now single and ready to mingle and "lonely Westport housewives in crisis" are "kind of [Angela's] bread and butter," something very different happens. The next day, Katie's not happy to hear that her best friend's hooking up with her nemesis, and said best friend forgot to try and get the contract signed. Angela assures her that "it was a one-and-done thing."

Chloe, however, doesn't seem to see it that way when she waltzes into the restaurant and cozies up to Angela. When Katie brings up the contract, Chloe reveals that she can't technically sign the contract. She has to scan it to Stan and wait for him "to wander into one of those internet cafes." At this, Katie convinces Angela to stick it out until she can get the contract signed.

Meanwhile, Greg's been enjoying his time filling in as the school crossing guard, much to the kids' dismay. Eager to get rid of him, they concoct a plan to make it look like Trip accidentally hit Franklin with his car while Greg wasn't looking. (Franklin has no problem convincingly faking this. He's "been hit by cars multiple times!") It seems Greg's crossing guard days are over...

As Angela sticks it out with an increasingly obnoxious Chloe, Katie's finally able to get the contract signed. And Greg gets busy moping around the house playing sad piano music in mourning for his crossing guard accident. Seeing how sad their dad is, Taylor and Oliver start to wonder if they should have really pulled their stunt. (Anna-Kat has no regrets!)

Right then, Chloe shows up balling at Katie's door. Angela broke up with her, and what-do-you-know, she doesn't have anyone else to cry to but her arch-enemy. Katie quickly pushes her out the door, telling her that the best cure for her sorrows is "drinking by yourself, at your own home."

After she gets rid of Chloe, the kids fess up to Katie about their scheme. Katie tells them that "Sometimes, even though it's not good for you, you have to do what's good for someone else." And then she realizes that advice applies to her as well.

Katie takes off for Chloe's house in an attempt to actually comfort her but doesn't have to go far, as she finds Chloe sobbing in her front yard. Katie explains that it's her fault for making Angela stay with her until the contract could be signed, and even though Chloe feels better, and is back to her usual terrible self, she's now not going to let Katie use the Carson House for the gala. It's looking more and more like Katie's going to have to call up the YMCA and "tell the intramural basketball league that they can only have half the court that night."

Taylor, Oliver, and Anna-Kat find Greg a new role at school that he'll love even more than being a crossing guard - being the PA announcer. (He especially loves it because he now gets to embarrass them over a school-wide intercom!)

That night, Katie gets a surprise email from Chloe saying she can use the Carson House. It turns out Anna-Kat got the perfect leverage by putting Franklin's special talent for faking injuries to use and had him "trip" over the rug in her shop!

Random Thoughts:
-I love that Anna-Kat knows that "hip replacement" means rehab!

-Best line of the night goes to Katie after Anna-Kat is able to blackmail Chloe. "I'm raising myself and I love it!"

Do you think the gala will go off without a hitch? Are Chloe and Angela done for good? Let me know below!