On last week’s episode of Famous In Love, Rainer declared he was moving to New York to be a philanthropist; abandoning his star lifestyle which Nina did not take well. Nina and Rainer had a reconciliation of some sort, but it was not clear how their relationship would progress. Paige and Jake looked like they were having relationship problems that could lead to their breakup. Jordan went on a daytime show and confessed to a murder that his mother took the blame for and served time. Marisol and Jordan looked like they had a good thing going and the writers were going to let that simmer. Tangey was in the Bahamas writing music, and no one seemed to know where Alexis was, maybe Sloane abducted her, who knows?
We meet the famous group this week in an episode titled “Guess Who's (Not) Coming to Sundance?" Things are not always as they seem; is a saying I believe in, and the episode took us on a rollercoaster of confusion for forty-five minutes of Sundance or Tin Creek and other areas. It has reached a point on this show where the plot doesn't matter anymore; everything is mixed in a pot then pulled out randomly for the viewers every episode. We get an introduction to new characters then they are dropped without any explanation. The shows writers might think that these are all twists; however, the mediocre consistency in their storytelling is very frustrating.
Jake and Billy head to the film festival without Paige who is supposed to have a photo shoot with US weekly. I must admit I liked the parallel framing at the beginning of the episode of Paige and Jakes conversations with Billy and the reporter respectively. The writers were trying to give us a heartwarming feeling about this relationship which I thought was cute. The screening of “Stealing Georgia” was at Tin Creek Film Festival a few miles from Sundance; I guess it’s for short films that don’t make the cut and get slotted at the small festival. Paige ditching her photo shoot to surprise Jake was the worst lame scene this show has managed to pull off, and they have had plenty. The set up was terrible, I know freeform is spending its money on Siren and Cloak, and Dagger but, COME ON! They could have filmed on location in Big Sur, and given us a more authentic feel of Park City. The fake snow and the lack of cloudy breath when the characters talked in the freezing cold had me rolling my eyes. Paige’s lackluster arrival and her awkward feeble “surprise” was the final straw, and I think my eyes almost popped. I am wagging my finger at you production team for this dreadful scene.
Despite her good intentions Paige’s visit ended up being a terrible experience especially after being dressed down by a “famous” Indy movie producer who blatantly informed her that the “Stealing Georgia” viewers resonated better with Billy than herself which hurt her feelings. Abandoning Jake at the festival was a pathetic move by Paige. Getting drunk and maybe hooking up (not clear) with an ex-boyfriend Eddie from college was a low point for her. I will pretend this was because she was freaked out by the break-in she arrived to at her home and the drinks at Shane’s bar. Jake feeling dejected by her departure takes the apology flowers he bought for her and has an almost cute moment with Billy; my friends here we are with attempt number “no one knows” of breaking Jake and Paige up. Why are the writers unable to do this without all the fanfare of additional characters? There will need to be a conclusion to the Jake and Paige storyline sometime soon, and as much as I was on their team, this mumbo jumbo writing is giving me migraines. The push and pull are not working, or maybe the actors are not feeling it, and it comes through in the scenes. This show has had difficulty trying to make Rainer and Paige an item or end game, if they manage to end the season together, it will be by some divine intervention.
The repercussions of confessing to murder on live TV also caught up with Jordan as a subpoena from the Chicago district attorney was handed to him when he went to collect his things from Rainer’s house. The brotherly relationship between these two is fragile right now notably after Rainer set Jordan’s stuff by his front door and broke a skateboard that they shared since they were young. I cannot express how much this scene bothered me, seeing Jordan try to pick his belonging was heartbreaking. I get that Jordan’s actions hurt Rainer, but it seemed he was punishing him more to numb his pain. Rainer’s confused look on his balcony afterward did not make me sympathize with him at all. Nina deserves as much blame for having a relationship with Jordan, but Rainer does not want to deal with his mother to resolve this. I hate that he called up alcohol service and fell off the wagon but he was in pain, and he wasn’t able to get Harper on the phone to calm him down. This development shows that the move to New York will be delayed or used as a cliffhanger for another season that might not be coming.
Tangey was back this episode looking fresh and relaxed with braids on her head. She introduces us to a crew of social media minions at her listening party for a new song she recorded with Pablo. The teenagers helping her create a buzz for the song online turn out to be professional trolls. One of them manages to engineer an Alexis trolling session during Tangey’s Facebook live. I am glad the writers made sure Tangey condemned the behavior because it was entirely out of character for her to participate in bashing Alexis despite their differences. In a conversation with Jordan, we find out that she and Pablo are taking their relationship to the next level. If I misinterpreted this, someone, please correct me. This scene was confusing because even though Jordan tells Tangey how much Marisol helped him get the courage to confess on the talk show, he seemed wounded by her announcement of the relationship with Pablo. One of the annoying young and upcoming paparazzi aka social media minion followed Tangey and took a picture as she was helping Jordan take care of his injured hand that he hurt during a nervous breakdown. I predict that Tangey will kiss her record deal with Pablo goodbye once he sees this picture. Is anyone else feeling the exhaustion with these two young people? I am bored with the love triangle.
An episode of Famous In Love cannot end without another appearance by our beloved, conniving mama bear Nina. Remember the script that Steve showed her but wouldn't let her produce or cast Rainer? Well, she devises a plan to steal it right under Steve’s nose, but unfortunately, there is a better conniving baby bear named Harper. Harper taking the script was coming from left field because I thought Sloane would be coming back to cause chaos but none of that happened. I am still salty about Ally Brookes two second appearance to say hello to Tangey in a scene with Pablo. Realizing she got played, Nina runs to accuse Allan who fortunately this time was not the culprit. He does rip her a new one and tells her to confess to Steve if she wanted to have a relationship. The scene between Nina and Steve was sad to watch, and Rob Estes gave a good performance. Nina’s actions hurt because he thought she liked him for more than just business, so he calls off whatever sliver of a relationship they might have started.
Where do we go from here? Only three episodes left to complete the season and it looks like Harper has taken over the game. Paige is having a meltdown of sorts while Rainer is spiraling out of control and he is back on the bottle. Alexis and Cassie are missing in action and who knows what is going to happen with Sloane? It seems like the show is circling back to the same place they were during the final three episodes of season one and all our mains will hit rock bottom. This episode was all over the place, and I got a headache from trying to figure out where all these storylines connected with each other.
I have questions…
Who is Eddie and is he the stalker?
What is Harper up to with the script?
Will Jordan go to Jail or will he hide from his troubles?
Don't forget to watch Famous In Love on Freeform Wednesdays at 8PM ET.
