In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
Fanny's back! She seems to have enjoyed her trip a great deal, though she is sad to find out that Truly's business, Sparkles, is kaput. She tried doing the transient thing, but it has been unsuccessful. She's feeling like a total loser right now, which is sad to see. Scotty's back! Fanny is alarmed to find him sleeping on her couch and puts him to work doing handyman stuff.
Michelle is acting very secretive and odd, beginning with taking one of Fanny's classes. Then, she asks for a day off. Then, the girls follow her to LA as she auditions for the chorus of a new musical coming to Broadway, Dark Victory. It's an adaptation of a classic melodrama with Bette Davis and the choreography is surprisingly jazzy for a show about a lady going blind. She gets called back to sing, which is a total coup considering she hasn't auditioned in a while and she nails that as well. Then, she realizes that the show has already been cast and the audition was just a union obligation. Totally the name of the game and totally depressing when you are standing on the outside looking in.
Meanwhile, the girls are talking about sex. A lot. Sasha makes Roman give her a list of all of his intimate moments (I'm assuming kissing is included because the list was longer than one name -- however cute he is, he's still a baby). Boo reminds Sasha that she and Carl are waiting a year and a half, but Sasha thinks they should do it now. After they follow Michelle to her audition and actually dance the audition combo with the group (undetected by Michelle), Boo tells Sasha that she is sticking to her own timeline regarding sex.
Sasha makes an appointment with Michelle to talk about sex. This, of course, makes Michelle uncomfortable. I'm assuming part of her discomfort is the recognition that a person like herself who woke up with Godot in her bed and took an unauthorized nude-ish photo on her phone of him is not necessarily the sort of person who should be dishing out advice about sexual health.
After being pressured to do something to help Truly's mood, Milly offers to let her run Sparkles in one of her buildings rent free! Things are great between the sisters again! Then, Scotty comes through and, just like Michelle kind of predicted, there's maybe something in the air between him and Truly. And Milly. Milly and Truly both like him! This is just going to rip these girls apart again.
Ginny tells Michelle that she had sex with Frankie! And, he hasn't called her. And she's upset. She feels like he doesn't even know her name. Well, that's heartbreaking.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We begin with Michelle in bed. She has company! It's Godot and he's still sleeping. She looks on his brawny form with admiration, pushes down the covers a bit then takes a pic with her phone. I didn't really know that I could admire her more. I know that now. Meanwhile, Fanny is back in the US and finds Scotty sleeping on her couch. She doesn't know Scotty, so she grabs some sort of Hindi sculpture and stalks towards him and scares him awake. She demands that he get out. He says that Michelle told him where she keeps her key. So, she barges into Michelle's place and finds her in bed with Godot. She says that he's a child who wears flip-flops in public. You know, Godot isn't the absolute youngest person in that town. Exactly how old do they want Michelle to date? I mean, mentally, she's not that far ahead and I'm not even insulting. The arts keep you young. Or immature. I bet she has never bought her own microwave. Scotty comes in and Michelle didn't know that he was going to be there. Fanny insists that they find Godot's pants, but that proves very difficult.
The girls insult Ginny's banner welcoming Fanny home. They don't think that Frankie is doing a very good job teaching her how to draw. Michelle insults the banner too, thinking it's welcoming home Tranny. Fanny comes in to applause from the girls. She was on a yoga retreat or something. Truly comes in and tells Fanny that Sparkles is officially closed. She calls herself a loser. Michelle tells Fanny that she would like to join class, which gets a laugh from Fanny but also permission.
Later Roman brings a letter to Sasha at the studio. She apparently demanded that he write a letter detailing his past sexual exploits. She got the idea from Anna Karenina which is the most on the nose thing that her character has ever done. It's perfect. She thanks him and sends him on his way. , she's at a slumber party at her apartment with the girls debating the veracity of the letter. Sasha thinks that it's only about sixty percent true. Carl apparently didn't take the assignment seriously and gave her a comic book. Excuse me, graphic novel. Ginny laments that her drawings aren't as good and she wants to keep Frankie interested. Sasha is really frustrated that Carl didn't complete the assignment. She thinks that the answers are very important. After everyone is asleep, Sasha and Boo do face masks. Sasha says that she thinks that they should have sex now, instead of waiting. She's going to make a whole plan of it.
The day, the girls look up a whole bunch of stuff about sex. Boo can't seem to concentrate as much as the other girls and switches from reading Judy Blume to The Hobbit. Who knows which one was teaching her about sex, really? At the studio, Cozette drops a copy of Our Bodies, Our Selves and walks away. Seriously, she should try minding her own business. With homemade snacks in hand, Sasha takes them to the drug store to look at condoms. It's stressful.
Fanny meets with Milly and tells her that she has to help Truly. Milly is her usual well of empathy and says that maybe she'll get Truly another factory job. Michelle enters the studio in dance clothes and Fanny wonders why. She says that she was feeling bloated and wanted to spin around in the hopes of flinging it off. I mean, that's really funny. Michelle is working on something. She seems nervous. Sasha comes in and says that she wants to make an appointment with Michelle about sex. She explains to Michelle that she overintellectualized getting a dog when she was a kid and she doesn't want to do that with sex. She wants some interaction. You know, she is pretty severe, but I think she's coming from the right place.
We see Scotty performing some odd jobs around the manse, which is cute. It gives Michelle a chance to rag on him, which is always fun. She asks Fanny for a specific day off and she gives it to her. She asks her what Fanny says to the girl when they ask her about sex. They don't. Michelle tries to slide out of the convo, but now Fanny wants to know about the sex talk that is happening. Michelle doesn't give anybody up and I can't decide if that's a good thing or not.
On the day of Michelle's day off, the girls show up for dance class and see a girl fleeing in tears, so they know that Jordan is teaching. They are going to ditch class rather than deal with his golden boy door cruelty. Sorry, I still love him from SYTYCD. They see Michelle get into her car and very hesitantly in a stop/start way...leave. The slow exit gives them enough time to decide to follow her. stop, LA.
We see Michelle sign up for an open call audition. She's wearing her stage make-up, which is a great detail. The line is long. Really long. She's done this before though. She plops her butt down on the grass and pulls out her book. The girls find Michelle but hide from her. The audition is at a Methodist church, which worries Boo that she might get in trouble because she's Lutheran. They find out that Michelle is auditioning for a musical of Dark Victory, a Bette Davis movie. The girls decide to hang and check things out.
1 2 3 4
Michelle gets inside for the dance call to the tune of "On Broadway." The girls sneak through the back and spy on the audition. The call begins with a guy saying yes or no, based on look, to everyone standing in a line. Michelle makes it through, while the girls are holding their breath nearby. Finally, like fifty people or so remain. The choreographer teaches a combination. The girls think that it looks easy and Boo steps onto the floor. The others join her. We see a girl near Michelle ask another dancer at which count a kick comes and the dancer lies, but Michelle corrects her. That's some karma that was flying around there.
The combination begins and Michelle kills it and the girls have a really good time too. Afterwards, Boo tries to join the part of the audition, but they stop her. Sasha and Boo argue about it. The argument ends with Boo saying that she will wait to have sex, just like she planned. Meanwhile, Michelle is dancing in a smaller group and does well again. Just her and another person are asked to stay and sing.
The girls continue to hide from Michelle. When Michelle goes to the accompanist with her song, he stops her. "No Hathaway." Apparently, everyone is doing "I Dreamed A Dream," which I think has been a no-no since the late '80s, but maybe it has seen a resurgence. Seth Rudetsky is the accompanist and he's a really funny guy. He talks her into singing "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and it's awesome. The girls are watching and lamenting that the producers aren't even looking at her. They thank her and go for their bathroom break. Outside, Seth tells her that she was terrific. Then, some dancers enter. The show has already been cast and the open call was required by Equity. He says that he would love to have her in one of his showcases but he can't find his card and he has to go back into rehearsal. Then the door is closed in her face. Poor Michelle. The girls watch her drive away.
Milly meets with Truly. She tells her that she can re-open Sparkles in one of her buildings. She doesn't have to pay rent for the year. She also apologizes to Milly for ruining the first incarnation of Sparkles. Scotty shows up with something for Milly from Fanny and both Truly and Milly make some serious eyes at him. Looks like that sisterly reunion is short-lived.
Michelle returns to the studio to find Fanny having a sex talk with the girls using some of the oldest teaching aids ever. Like, our bodies have evolved since these were made. She tells Fanny that she will handle it herself, but Fanny's not having it. She passes out bananas to the class. This is bad. She tells them to name their bananas. A name that they have positive feelings about.
1 2 3 4
Michelle goes outside and Ginny follows her. She asks Michelle how her audition went. She says it was fine, then she notices that Ginny is crying. Ginny's banana's name is Frankie. She slept with Frankie. Michelle says that she didn't know that Ginny was dating Frankie and she says that she isn't, in fact, dating him. Frankie doesn't date, she says. He just exists with the rest of humanity. Michelle says that she doesn't know what that means, but neither does Ginny. She can't understand most of what he says. That is, when he's talking at all. "He's just so beautiful." Oh my gosh, this breaks my heart. She did it last week and hasn't seen him since. He hasn't called. She's not sure that he knows her name. She wrote him a thank you note. She reads it to Michelle and it's really clinical. She says that she's an idiot and Michelle says that she isn't. She thinks that he's never going to talk to her again. She repeats that he was so beautiful and Michelle holds her tight and doesn't say anything.
We close with the loveliest dance routine, all around the studio, to "Makin' Whoopee." Girls in demure '50s bobbysoxer outfits, but precocious and sexy, bathed in red light. Ginny features heavily, along with Cozette, and it's perfect. It ends with Ginny having slid under some dude's bent back with a spotlight on her smiling face. I love that this ended on a sex positive note. In general, I think that this show is about sweetness and regret and our non-stop dance around the two. I sincerely hope we see another season.
Jeff Long is a writer/performer in Brooklyn. He can be reached at jeff.long75@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @jblong.
1 2 3 4