Venice, 4x04
Recap by Jaina
"Moron."
It's a great way to open the episode and Brandon's totally defeated "The hell did I do?" is the perfect response. But. Poor Brandon. Sounds like dude's got problems at home for sure. Dana's joining Gina in the "has an ex-boyfriend and has problems with them club". Brandon just needs to come up with answers for Guya about Owen, only he's concerned that she won't like them when she gets them. The "Dude, you'll do your job, just like you always do" made Dana sound like stoner!cop, which I feel like might be a completely different (and awesome) show. Spin off?
Oh, look, it's heaven! And even O's gone old school with his quill. Apparently Owen's been in "the reception area" - pardon me - this whole time doing paperwork. That shit looks worse than medicaid forms. Poor O wants to see his mom. Can't blame him. If there was an upside to being dead, that would have been it for him.
Gina's at Adrienne's bar. Adrienne isn't there. Doesn't work there anymore. But it doesn't really tug at Gina's brain because she can't stop reliving that kiss with Ani. She's not the only one, but it's killing Gina. And I was wrong. Gina CAN remember things in places that aren't the beach. Van's comments about not being able to change the things they've done are echoing with Gina too. Coincidence? I think not. But just as she's about to leave the hell bitch, I mean, Logan, shows up.
Owen's finally done with his forms. His apology for his language is kind of priceless. Oooooh, does Owen being needed in the reception area soon mean that Gina's car accident is going to also happen soon? Please tell me y'all have all watched the promo.
Ani's pissed at Jake for his celebration. He's ruining their cover...of not being engaged. The look Ani shoots him when he makes some pointed comment about "her and Lara or just her?" wanting to keep things on the down low is priceless. But Jake-y is nothing if not a perceptive bastard.
Katherine and Alan walk in. Oh shit. No way those two (Alan and Jake) didn't plan this out on purpose. Or maybe they didn't, but it's another huge coincidence. Although how Katherine immediately realizes that it's specifically an engagement party is beyond me. Maybe some of Guya's psychic abilities are rubbing off with all that motorboating. Alan, if he didn't already know what this was, is immediately making plans to tell Gina about it at the moment it will hurt her the most.
Logan is like one of those pickup artists. She sits down next to Gina and starts with an insult, then claims to be Gina's one true bff. Hopefully Gina isn't buying that bullshit.
Brandon and Dana are in their car/office deducting. Sami's either got mad skills and did some serious premeditation or she had some assistance after the fact. They're betting on the latter.
Logan, meanwhile is extending a helping hand to Gina. Gina's checking the other one for the knife coming for her back. Gina needs more alcohol and less hateful, confusing exes. But damn, Logan's good. She knows exactly what to remind Gina of to break down her defenses. If this is where Gina got the habits and defenses that made her treat Ani like shit, well, it makes a lot of sense. Logan makes Gina look small time. She's very good at this game.
Gina tells Logan that she allowed Logan to hurt her for too long and won't do it again. I hope Gina sticks to that plan. Even the little we've seen of that woman, she seems toxic. I love Gina's speech here and the hurt look in her eyes. It's pain but not weakness. She's acknowledging her mistake but taking responsibility for it. Her parting shot was good, but I don't think it got through to Logan. It didn't really seem to register. Logan has an agenda. She doesn't seem one to go back for sloppy seconds, especially one she was happy to discard. Her issues with Ani makes me curious if she has some convoluted connection to this whole dastardly plot or if she just feels insulted.
Gina's rifling through things in a chest of drawers at The Colonel's house. The Colonel approaches her about Sarah...gently. Maybe he's trying things differently this time.
Gina's looking for her mom's engagement ring. I love Gina to death, but, um. The grief has clearly driven her crazy. I love that The Colonel has his wife's engagement ring because he likes to take it out and look at it from time to time. I agree with Gina. It is very sweet and it's nice that she can appreciate that now. But Gina's gone crazy. She's determined to propose to Ani and nothing is going to stop her. Not even The Colonel's refusal to let her have her mother's engagement ring.
The Colonel and Gina are talking but they're not speaking the same language. This time you can't even blame the Colonel. Gina's so far out in left field she's in the parking lot. How awesome is it that the Colonel's snark about her getting married is because she's very single at the moment, not because of the gay thing. I say this a lot, but damn, the Colonel's come a long way since Season 1. I really, really wished I'd seen the look on his face though when Gina told him that she was going to marry Ani. She looks so damn proud of herself. This is going to end so badly.
A lot like this engagement party where Jakey's trying to shove champagne down Lara's throat. Jakey's putting things together about Lara's drinking though and god, he's a bastard. But a fun one!
Jamie pulls Ani in for a sidebar and tells her that she needs to tell Gina about the engagement stat. Ani ain't having it. She's stuck in protective aka stupid mode. Like she thinks all the people at this party aren't going to spill and gossip and talk to their friends. Meanwhile, Lara's having a bad party and Ani putting Gina's feelings before Lara's is the last straw. She over hears Ani putting Gina first yet again and confronts Ani about, then walks off. Man, Jamie and Ani are bad at covering. This treating your girlfriend like shit thing...it's like it just gets passed on from Logan to Gina to Ani. Someone needs to break the cycle. But this time Ani fucked up and she knows it.
Lara really wants a drink. Ani comes in before she can do anything stupid like pour herself one and then Ani apologizes. It's a good way to start, but worthless if Ani isn't willing to change the way she's acting. I'm not sure that's even possible since her feelings for Gina don't seem to change. Lara compares Gina and alcohol and suggest Ani go cold turkey too. Like Lara did. I snort with really inappropriate laughter. If you think about it, Ani is going cold turkey exactly like Lara is. You know, if cold turkey means still drinking and still hanging out with Gina.
Lara whips out the "if you don't want to be here" emotional bribery card concerning both the relationship and the engagement and Ani promises that she's in - all in. Then she apologizes profusely some more. Ani's behavior is making my gut churn here. Not because she saying all this stuff to Lara. That's fine, but clearly the things that she's saying are all going against what she actually wants. She's only doing it because it's what she needs to do to keep Lara. That makes me ache for Ani. She's not being true to herself, and that's not fair to her or Lara or Gina. All she's doing is hurting herself and everyone in her life. She needs to rip the bandaid off and be honest. This is just going to eat her up inside.
It's not healthy what either of them are doing, but neither of them have the guts or the desire to stop. It's sad.
Wait, stop, someone give the Colonel a parenting award. He's sitting there telling Gina why what she's doing - or thinking about doing - is stupid. Because Ani doesn't love her. Or so it seems. Not because Gina's gay or because he thinks gay marriage isn't real. He even accepts it when Gina corrects him when he calls Ani a girl and Gina responds that she's a woman. The Colonel is amazing. Never thought I'd say that.
The Colonel rightfully points out, if Ani saw the letter and pretended it never existed to Gina, surely that means Ani doesn't love Gina. That damn letter just keeps coming back to bite Gina in the ass. Aw, damn. Poor Colonel. He just doesn't want to see Gina get hurt if she proposes to Ani and Ani says no. He heard that letter and he knows how badly it will hurt Gina if Ani turns her down and it's killing him. He has to go get her the ring though, because he admires her bravery and determination and it's what he would have done. Gina's finally proved herself worthy even if she is Don Quixote. But oooh, those doubts they are creeping in on her even as he goes to get the ring. Gina's determined but she knows that this is a desperate plan.
God, this is going to be bad.
Lara's pushing for photos - which we know from Gina Ani doesn't like - and Ani's lying her little ass off saying she needs to fix her hair to go sneak off and answer Gina's phone call. I didn't think she had it in her. But more peeps are getting in on the picture fun and Gina's call goes unanswered. Gasp!
Over in the corner, Alan and Logan scheme, the former informing the latter that Gina doesn't know about the engagement. Something tells me Logan's gonna bring that up the next time she sees Gina.
Brandon and Dana are still angsting about how Van can be innocent in all this mess with Sami and Owen. Dana is all bad news, doom and gloom. They have to do their jobs even if it means bringing in Van. Brandon desperately does not want to have to be the one to tell Guya the bad news again, but it's not looking so good.
And, oh shit! Gina's snuck into the engagement party. How the hell did she figure out where Ani was? Did she borrow one of Frank's Nat Tracker 3000's? Or is it just unlucky coincidence? Yup, looks like that one. Jamie is literally running to stop this from happening but yeah, that's not gonna work.
I can't watch. I feel like peeking through my fingers. I think Jamie does too. He throws his hands up in the air. He tried, but oh this is so not his fault.
Oh shit.
Gina burst in and walks up to Ani and Lara's table. She's so caught up in her own head, her plan, that it takes her a minute to realize that something's going on. Gina is interrupting. Lara gives her a death glare. Ani sees Gina and her smile slides right off her face. She realizes she has a giant engagement ring on her finger and looks mortified. Gina looks slowly stunned and stricken as she sees Ani's engagement ring. The way Gina says Ani's name begs Ani to explain all this, to tell Gina that she's wrong and that Gina isn't really seeing this. Reality is not matching what Gina had planned. Ani's on the spot - the place she hates to be the most. She's looking desperately for someone to save her, but Gina and Lara are both looking at her. This time Ani has to decide. She can't keep playing the middle. She has to face them both and unless Jake proves to be a very unlikely savior, the shit is about to hit the fan.
Venice is really killing me this season. I can't even begin to guess how Gina's going to react. Angry and sad, yeah, but at a certain point there's just too much angry and sad. Where do you even go from there? Does she have any heartbreak left? I guess we'll find out next week.