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Last week on MP, we found out that Violet is a tenant at The Complex because she tracked down Sydney, who she believed was her mother. Sydney denied it, but looked rattled enough to make us believe it's the truth, so let's go with it for now. We also got some hints that Violet has a weird craving to posthumously be close to her mother or things that were related to her when she was still alive. So all of that boils down to Violet stealing one of her dead mother's dresses and wearing it to try and impress Auggie, who shoots her down again. Thanks for playing, Violet.
There's trouble in paradise when Jonah comes to the realization that Riley has yet to update her Facebook status to "engaged" and realizes that, hey, if she hasn't updated her Facebook... she must not have told anybody! What gives? Riley is her usual non-committal, terrible girlfriend self, revealing she hasn't even told her parents. Jonah flips about it just in time to get whisked away by Ella for a music video shoot. Oh, that Ella. If she came between Jonah and Riley any more, we'd think she was the lucky one in a threesome.
Speaking of Ella, this music video shoot is yet another job-threatening "crisis" at Ella's publicity agency. Her schedule must look like this: MONDAY: Morning - Crisis, Afternoon - Avert crisis, Evening - Keep job; TUESDAY: Morning - Crisis, Afternoon - Avert crisis, Evening - Keep Job... It's called "job security," El. Buy Caleb a gift or something, jeez. This time, a music video shoot has gone disastrous, and it's Ella's job to save the day. A popular director has walked off the set and it's Ella's bright idea to employ Jonah to replace him. Looks like we'll finally get a chance to see Jonah's directing chops.
And... yeah, Jonah's not very good. I mean, in the context of the show what he does is a big success and people seem to like his work for some reason, but the ideas he has and what we see him actually shooting -- not good. He does show a more assertive side when he gets into the swing of shooting and it leads to him making a bizarre connection with the lead singer of the group he's filming who is some crazy chick packing heat at all times. Makes perfect sense. Naturally, he rejects her advances and rejects Ella's veiled remarks about Riley before the shoot is over. The music video is a big success with Ella's agency, but they refuse to give Jonah the directing credit. Ella is forced to screw her friend out of the recognition he deserves.
Meanwhile, Riley is mulling her trepidation about announcing her engagement with the help of Auggie. She decides that she can make up for being a bad fiancée with some cooking. That might be the smartest thing Riley's done so far because it means she gets to spend some time with Auggie who advises her on what to cook for Jonah. When Riley shows up at the music video shoot to apologize and try to schedule their meal, Jonah brushes her off because he's being an important filmmaker. She retreats back home and catches the eye of Auggie. Noticing things didn't go as planned for her, he lets her drink her sorrows away until she kisses him. Worst. Fiancée. Ever. Jonah comes home later and they make up, but not before Jonah unwittingly drops a guilt trip on Riley about not keeping secrets from each other.
David does some more sneaking and stealing. He goes back to his father's house to steal a security keycard to gain access to his dad's office at the hospital. Once in the office, David gets on Dr. Mancini's computer so he can install a remote access program that'll allow him to spy on his dad's files from the comfort of The Complex. In the process, he gets caught by Lauren who just so happens to be applying to be an intern under his father. How convenient is that, guys? Wow, what are the odds?
Lauren gets no help from David in seeking a recommendation since his dad kinda doesn't like him. Her qualifications nearly get her the internship, but her financial situation is a red flag. Dr. Mancini appears ready to pass on her when she reveals that David had been in his office earlier. He catches on to what David is up to and confronts him. The outcome is that the good doctor decides he will be keeping a close eye on David and his friends. That means Lauren gets the internship. Yay! Everybody's happy! But, man, the doctor ain't lying about keeping an eye on everyone. When David gains access to his dad's computer, he finds that Dr. Mancini has files on all of the tenants at The Complex. At least somebody cares what these people are doing.
-- Pablo G. is some guy who lives in San Antonio, Texas. Check him out at Space Monkeys!, Obscure Sports Reference, and follow him @PendejoJoe on Twitter.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!David's black Porsche weaves through traffic to the tune of Sean Paul's "Press It Up" until he arrives at a nice suburban house. The music keeps playing as we see Ella walking through her apartment, texting. Her newest message reads: "DISASTER on video shoot. Where are you?" Lauren sits at the breakfast table and asks if Ell wants coffee, but she's already out the door. Lauren's eyes go down to the newspaper where there's a job posting for a rotating physician assistant at ULA, the hospital where she works. Back to David, he's doing his breaking and entering thing in broad daylight. We see picture frames right away to let us know he's broken into his dad's house again. David makes a b-line for a briefcase, cracks it open and grabs a security keycard with "ULA" on it.
At the Love Nest, Riley is sneaking up on Jonah who is singing in the shower, "I got Riley Richmond in my hand!" Riley turns on the sink to shock Jonah with some cold water and stop the singing. First good thing she's done all series.
Back at The Complex Pool, Violet runs her hand through the water. She looks up to see Auggie coming back from a run, sweaty and shirtless. She smiles at him. Auggie smiles back and just sorta Auggies away.
As David leaves the house he just burgled, his dad, Dr. Negligent, pulls up in his car, jumps out and immediately begins to question him. David shouldn't be there without calling first, the doctor yells. David says he was just leaving a birthday present for his little brother and gestures to the porch where there's a little RC car with a big, red bow on it. Michael has his wife Vanessa in tow so David takes the opportunity to direct some animosity toward her before his dad can direct her inside the house. The two guys fill us in on some backstory via their barbs. David reminds Michael that Sydney was going to the medical board to tell them Michael helped her fake her death. That's plenty of motive for Michael to have murdered Sydney, he adds. Michael says nobody on the board would believe her because she was whacked out on drugs. He starts to walk away from David and FLASHBACK. A bloodied Sydney is being rolled through an ER on a stretcher. Michael, in scrubs, asks her who did this to her and she cryptically says it was someone from her past who wants to kill her husband, and asks him to let her die. , Michael is zipping up a body bag and putting Syd's name with the corpse. She's lying there on the cold, metal slab and begins to thank him for the risk he's taking. He and Sydney share a tender moment when he tells her she's worth it. END FLASHBACK. David tells him he'll do what it takes to prove Michael killed her and walks off.
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Ella walks into her WPK office to find Caleb waiting for her. Their client, a director named Kavi DeKnight, walked out of a Boomkat music video shoot. Ella's spin recommendation? DeKnight had a bad burrito and had to go home. Craft service will take the hit. That diabolical Ella. Caleb says it's too late for that brilliant strategy. If they don't find another director, Kavi will take a huge PR hit. Halfway listening to Caleb, Ella pulls up her contact info for an A&R guy from Columbia Records. She shouts out for someone to get him for her. Umm... you just pulled up his contact info and you have a phone in your hand, Ell. Caleb asks what she's doing, and she points out that this guy owes her a favor and can handle things on the label's end if she can get him to sign off on the director. "Who is the director?" Caleb asks."Only the hottest up and coming director in Hollywood," she declares as she walks off.
Cut to Jonah taking photos of Riley looking at wedding dress magazines. He plops down at his computer and brings up Riley's Facebook profile. Riley, this guy is way too clingy. He's lurking your page before he even finishes a conversation with you. Jonah notices her status still says "in a relationship," which to all the Facebook aficionados out there immediately means she hasn't updated it to "engaged." That's an offense punishable by tacky inclusions of social media references in storylines. Jonah asks about it and Riley lets it slip that she would like to inform people in a more personal way. Uh oh. She hasn't told anyone at all. "It's not like I'm hiding it from them," she tries to appease Jonah, but he's already ahead of her in the argument. Has she told her parents? Riley stays silent. Cue Jonah getting all emotional. "Did the fact it was three a.m. East Coast time stop me from calling my family and sharing the happiest news of my life... BLAH BLAH BLAH." This is what happens when you say "yes" to a Facebook lurker. Riley digs herself an even deeper hole, saying there's nothing wrong with telling people in her own way, which is to say, not telling them at all. "Should I have saved the receipt for that ring?" Jonah cuts at Riley. Just before Riley can put her foot any deeper in her mouth, Ella walks in. "Did someone forget to put down the toilet seat?" It says something that a terrible line like that is relief for this ghastly argument scene. There's an attempt by Riley to tell Ella now isn't a good time, but Ella goes straight to Jonah to tell him he's about to get his big break. She explains about the music video shoot and Jonah turns to Riley so he can passive-aggressively make his exit. "Let's get out of here," he says to Ella as he stares down Riley. Ru-fi-ohhhhhhhhh!
Lauren is leaving her apartment when she hears something upstairs in Syd's roped off apartment. She slowly goes to investigate. Everything seems normal until she finds a framed picture of her, Sydney and Ella on the floor. She walks by a suspiciously open closet door with the light on without investigating as the music swells. We catch a brief glimpse of Violet in there. Lauren just keeps walking and leaves. Violet is standing naked in the closet alone, covered only by a green dress she's holding up against her chest. She does a suspicious eye thing. Why is this happening?
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At the hospital, Lauren is walking and talking with a doctor who says Dr. Mancini is the best cardiac surgeon this side of the Mayo Clinic. Everybody wants a chance to work with him. Lauren's asking for a chance to just talk to him when he happens to walk up behind her to ask the nearby receptionist for help getting into his office. He seems to have misplaced his keycard. That's some skillful storyline weaving there. Lauren introduces herself to Michael, but he is all business and disinterest. "I'll see you at the interview," he says. Lauren starts to walk off and then decides to play the David card. Michael asks how well Lauren knows David. She mentions they live in the same apartments and that leads to her bringing up Sydney. Michael brushes it off as he enters an elevator. FLASHBACK. Michael is at home putting together a crib. His wife comes in the room to tell him one of his colleagues from the hospital is there to see him. It's Sydney. Michael is obviously shocked to see her and concerned that if the cops found out she's alive they'd both be in a lot of trouble. Sydney puts that concern to rest when she tells him she just finished a 6-year prison term. She's pissed that he's married and living a nice life, and begins to remind him that she protected him from the rap of being an accomplice to a felony. Then, she tries to appeal romantically to Michael. "We want what we want. And we get it. It's just who we are." END FLASHBACK
At the video shoot, Ella and Jonah arrive. She tells him that the label already signed off on the original treatment, so he has to follow their storyboards. Jonah asks how Ella got him the gig. She told everyone he's a younger, hipper version of Kavi DeKnight, and if anyone can imitate his work, it's Jonah. Jonah's never met the guy, but he follows him on Twitter. Same difference, Ella claims. Her phone rings and she walks off, leaving Jonah lost in the madness.
Violet shows up at the Love Nest, which is being manned by Riley. She asks for some help with a wardrobe malfunction (ugh, I hate that phrase). Riley
compliments her on a gorgeous dress. FLASHBACK (really? again already?) Violet is walking around The Complex Pool carrying luggage like she is there for the first time. She's met by Sydney who she is also seeing for the first time. Sydney is wearing the dress. END FLASHBACK. Riley asks questions about the dress and Violet says she's wearing it for someone she likes at work. Odd that Riley doesn't make the connection that she's talking about Auggie. Violet wants to get Auggie a gift. Riley makes some crappy suggestions. And scene.
Jonah knocks on the door of a trailer to find a raccoon. Oh wait. That's Taryn Manning of Boomkat. She looks pissed and asks who Jonah is. He explains he's the new director and she pulls a gun on him. Appropriate response. Taryn yells out for security. A big security guy walks toward Jonah who looks flummoxed and frightened.
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Back at the Boomkat video shoot, Jonah is being followed by Ella as he storms off the set. She's trying to convince him to stay, but he's thoroughly freaked out. "The gun probably wasn't even loaded," she tries. Ella sees she's not getting through and resorts to leveling with him. She admits she's risking her career to give him this opportunity. Jonah asks what she's talking about. She sighs and says, "You know it must be tragic when I can't even sugarcoat it." Ella tells Jonah the situation at work with Caleb and Jonah starts complimenting her on her abilities. "You don't have to convince me I'm good. I'm great." Ella concedes that she didn't tell Jonah her problem because she didn't want to lose his respect. She catches herself, shakes off her vulnerability and puts the focus back on Jonah. She tells him she believes in him. Johan decides to try to disarm Taryn.
Riley shows up at Coal to ask for advice from Auggie for a surprise dinner she's planning for Jonah. Auggie starts gashing up when Riley explains she and Jonah are having problems. He tells her that Jonah's lucky and better hang on to her. Riley's face becomes a giant block of cheese. Auggie recommends she cook filet mignon with caramel-merlot sauce. "That sounds complicated," Riley says. Auggie's reply? "Relationships are complicated. Cooking comes with instructions." Wow. Just... wow.
Jonah enters the trailer of doom. He makes a big production of approaching Taryn with caution. He talks her out of keeping the gun on her during the shoot. There's "way too many people out there with lives and stuff," Jonah carefully deadpans. Taryn tells her story of her crazy number-one fan who tried to cut her head off when she was too trusting. She gets Jonah to admit that the gun scares the crap out of him before they head to the set together. The gun was loaded. "Always," Taryn says.
On the set, the video shoot looks like a reflective, fold-up windshield visor just exploded. Jonah is restless behind the monitor as he shoots the video. Taryn looks like she's not having any fun, but Ella says it looked fine as Jonah yells "cut." He starts to walk up to Taryn as Ella implores him to just get the thing done without incident. He ignores her and asks Taryn to rip off her costume. Taryn is excited at the idea. Jonah calls out to the backup dancers to do the same and just freestyle their dancing. He wants a handheld wide angle lens, shot low. Wow. I was with you until that, Jonah. Just no. Ella freaks, but Jonah reminds her she chose him and asks her to trust him.
Back at the hospital, David uses the security card he stole to get into his dad's office. He plugs in a USB flash drive and installs a remote access program. Lauren throws open the door for some reason and walks into the office, which should be considered off limits if it requires a key card. "David, what are you doing here?" Lauren, what are you doing here?
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Lauren asks what David is doing in his dad's office again as she leaves her application on Dr. Mancini's desk. He says he was just in there to see if his dad wanted to go to lunch. The look on Lauren's face says she doesn't buy it, but she doesn't care because now she can ask David for help getting a recommendation. Lauren geeks out that she could be working with the guy who invented the transcatheter aortic valve. I'm so jealous, Lauren. David advises against working with Michael, saying he goes through interns like ex-wives and can be brutal. Lauren tries to get schticky when she says "brutal" is watching David and Ella drink by the pool while she has to study. David walks away. I would too, David. I would, too.
At Coal, Violet goes up to Auggie in the kitchen to give thanks for getting her the job. She's wearing her mother's dress and looks really happy. She pulls out a pair of sunglasses as a gift. Auggie's eyes go wide with fright. He immediately asks for someone to cover for him and leads Violet away so they can talk privately. He says he can't accept the $200 glasses and she doesn't owe him anything. Violet doesn't argue and puts on a smile as she takes the rejection and leaves.
Back on the set, now the music video looks like the type of party I would throw if I liked things that suck and Taryn is dressed like Hedwig's mom in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Riley shows up and Ella jumps up to try and keep Riley from interrupting Jonah's "genius." They bitch at each other a little bit until the take is over and Riley heads straight for Jonah to try and share excitement over this opportunity with him. He's in his professional mode. Riley doesn't seem to get the hint until he flat out tells her he's busy and rejects her dinner proposal. Riley walks off upset and embarrassed. Ella smiles.
In Dr. Negligent's office, Michael is looking over Lauren's application as she sits across from him and says everything looks good. Then he asks why the admissions office has her red-flagged. Lauren tries to assure him she's doing everything she can to straighten out her finances, but Michael is cold about it. His interns will have "no time for extra shift at Starbucks." He says he'll be in touch with her. Lauren gets up to leave and for some reason thinks to ask if David found him. Michael freaks out about David being in his office, but catches himself before he lets Lauren know something's wrong. She leaves none the wiser.
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Love Nest. Riley blowing out candles as Auggie happens to walk by. He's all smiles as he says he noticed Jonah's car isn't out front and he doesn't smell food cooking in the kitchen. Riley tells him the dinner is off. She admits to Auggie she hasn't told anyone about their engagement because she doesn't want the phone calls and fanfare. Auggie doesn't believe that, but he believes they'll work through it. Riley wonders why they should have to work at all. This is supposed to be the easy part. He pours her a glass of wine and asks if she's hungry. Riley smiles.
Back at the cliché music video shoot. Jonah yells, "Cut, and that's a wrap!" Taryn pulls Jonah aside and tells him to come to an afterparty so she can get freaky with him. Jonah passes. Taryn is jarringly accepting of rejection and just sorta leaves after making a wisecrack about Jonah being gun-shy. Ella walks up, having seen the whole thing. She is in disbelief that Jonah plans on going home to Riley after the day they've had. Jonah feels like he was too hard on Riley. Ella goes back into the "you're brilliant" speech again and advises him not to let anyone get in the way of his talent, but Jonah feels that if he doesn't have Riley to share it with, it doesn't matter. He can't just turn off his emotions like Ella. Oblivious, much? Ella threatens that if he doesn't put his career first, he'll only have birthday parties and bar mitzvahs to share with Riley.
Back at the Love Nest, Riley is finishing her bottle of wine. Riley starts crying to Auggie. She doesn't know how she feels. They kiss. She catches herself and starts saying she's drunk. Really, really drunk. But totally coherent and her motor skills didn't seem impaired on that kiss. Auggie excuses her. He assures her everything is fine before leaving.
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Crappy CGI sky transition
It's late at night and David walks into his apartment to find the RC car he left at his father's house earlier sitting on his coffee table. Michael is lurking behind him. He asks if David wants to play that game. Does this game involve the RC car? He asks David what he took. David is flippant about the whole thing. This is like a battle of wits between two snails viewed at double speed. Finally, David brings up Sydney and Michael slams him up against the wall. Michael tells him he knows he stole the painting then starts lecturing David about him thinking he has everything figured out. He thinks he can just blame his abandonment for his problems. David counters with the fact Michael didn't just abandon him, he also abandoned his mother. Then David attacks Michael's livelihood, saying he just stood by and watched as David's mother died though he's supposed to be some great doctor. The doctor has had enough, and spitefully tells David he is going to be in his life now. He's going to make up for lost time and find out everything about David and his friends. Michael leaves David with that thought.
Michael walks out to The Complex Pool. The water reflection dances on his face as FLASHBACK. He's at home as his phone rings. He picks up and Sydney's on the other end. She's asking for retribution. He says he already opened his checkbook for her, but she sounds like she wants something else from him. Michael tells her he doesn't want to hear from her every time she has a meltdown. Sydney threatens to expose how he helped her fake her death to the medical board. He calls out to his wife and says under his breath that he has somewhere he has to go.
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Jonah comes home and Riley immediately apologizes. She admits the problem is her. She asks why would he want to marry her when she doesn't know what she's doing? She claims he's intimidating. OK, if you say so, Riley. She says she saw him on the set today and he was fearless. He doesn't question himself and is sure of what he's doing. Well that's easy to do when you don't know you suck. After all this nonsense, she tells Jonah she finally told her parents about their engagement and she changed her Facebook status. Good. Can we end this story arc now, please? Jonah seems to think so. He hugs Riley and then randomly says they can't keep secrets from each other. I KNOW! Let's take a guilt trip! We don't even have to decide where we're going first. Let's just get in the car and go!
At WPK, Caleb walks down a flight of stairs to find Ella waiting for him. She asks if he saw the dailies, to which Caleb replies he did and they looked great. Ella boasts that she made the right choice about Jonah. Caleb pretends to not know who she's talking about because Kavi DeKnight directed this video. Having his name on the video will get it more airtime and, as a result, will get more exposure for their client. Ella is forced to accept Caleb's decision so she can keep her job.
Michael finds Lauren at the hospital. He gives her the internship right on the spot. He credits David for the recommendation. Lauren swears she'll do whatever it takes to work out her finances. Whore.
Ella comes home to The Complex to find Jonah out by the pool. She's a bit catty when asking if he and Riley worked things out. Ella apologizes for being hard on him at the shoot. She bears the bad news that Kavi will get the director credit. Jonah can't believe it and starts thinking legal action, but Ella knows better. She knows Jonah doesn't want his first exposure to be a lawsuit. She tries to make him feel better by claiming his stop is feature land. I always wanted to go to feature land, but it's so expensive. Jonah thanks Ella for fighting for him and she turns back to the camera, looking guilty.
David is fixing his apartment door when Lauren walks up. Lauren tells him she made the team and that his dad said he had put in a good word for her. David goes back into his apartment and locks his door. Inside, he gets on his computer and brings up remote access to explore his dad's computer. He notices folders named with people's names. People's names we know, like: David, Ella, Auggie and a few names from the old series. There's also blank rental agreements. "What the Hell are you doing, dad? [You're totally cramping my style]"
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Tonight's Melrose Place featured music by Alpha Rev. Who gives a shit?
-- Pablo G. is some guy who lives in San Antonio, Texas. Check him out at Space Monkeys!, Obscure Sports Reference, and follow him @PendejoJoe on Twitter.
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