Venice, 4x10
Recap by Jaina
Ha. Alan's drinking in a bar and "working". Jake skeeves on by to ask Alan if he's heard. Alan almost makes me snort soda out of my nose when he counters by asking, "which thing?" It's a nice meta tip of the hat to Venice's usual insane plot twists.
Jake is worried that their plan will fail now that Gina's up and about again. Alan reminds him that this plan was in play before Lara did them a giant favor by drinking and side-swiping. I like Jake a little bit more for pointing out to Alan that Katherine isn't as dumb and he needs to keep on top of the situation with her. We don't find out much more about their plans, but I'm guessing money laundering? And speaking of Katherine, I do hope we get to see her as a pissed off woman scorned, coming back to reign fire and brimstone down upon Alan. I think Tina Sloane would be awesome at that.
Logan comes and sits down at the table where Katherine's hanging out. They're both wearing the same lovely shade of blue. I don't know think that detail is particularly important. It just struck me.
Katherine comments that she knows Logan still has feelings for Gina and asks if the two of them will be getting back together. Logan denies it and says it's too late. Katherine urges her not to give up. If she can find love at her age, surely Logan in the prime of her life can. I wouldn't be surprised if Logan knows what's really going on between Alan and Katherine but it doesn't show on her face and she seems to be touched that someone's being nice to her. I like these two together.
Meanwhile, back at Lara's house, the woman in question is just leaving when Jake shows up. She tries to blow past him by saying Ani's not home and she's going out, but Jake's not having any of it. Instead he takes his shitty day out on her and puts her in the headspace that he needs by reminding Lara that no one will believe it was an accident that she almost murdered her fiance's ex-girlfriend that she hates loads and loads. Lara responds by asking why he's doing this, which seems a much more aware question than her usual way of dealing with the world. Jake apologizes, name checking said shitty day and compliments her on getting Ani to sprint down the aisle with her so quickly, just like they planned.
I don't like Jake, not one bit, but his disbelief that Lara's ridiculous speech to Ani about life being short and how much she loved Ani actually working made me laugh. It's uncharitable towards Ani, but yeah. I felt the same way Jake does. Of course, as viewers we know that it was Gina's words to her on the beach that pushed Ani to agree to get hitched so quickly, but still. The woman needs a backbone infusion.
It's a Stella sighting! Only the second of the season sadly. Gina says she's alive and well - mostly. Therapist!Stella says it takes time to heal. Therapist!Stella also seems kind of pissed which Gina points out. Stella softens a little but when Gina asks about her kid, she shoots back and asks about Gina's own kid. Gina realizes that's part of what Stella's upset with her about. And maybe a tiny bit about the fact that Gina dropped her like a hot cake after they kissed and hasn't spoken to her since? Just going out on a limb there. But Stella can't stop herself from helping - or offering snarky life commentary. No bullshit is her setting at all times and it's a good thing for Gina. Stella doesn't cut her any breaks. Not even when Gina admits she can't remember why she and Ani were arguing when she got hit by that car but she refuses to just ask Ani. Hint: because Ani's getting married on Sunday, whenever that is. Gina is sad but asks how pissed off her family is with her. Stella calls her a coward for hiding, but Gina admits she just couldn't deal. Does this mean she's ready to start trying now? I'm not convinced. But Gina asks for Stella's help at making it up to her family, and Stella agrees after checking to make sure that Gina is prepared for what her help means. Which sounds ominous actually.
Ani is on her way to pick up her wedding dress, but stops to recall her argument with Gina the day she was hit. That damn letter. It's the gift that just keeps on giving. Then we get a shot of Ani dissolving into tears after Lara pulled out the ring and proposed to her. They didn't really look like happy tears. In fact, they looked so unhappy I'm surprised Ani said yes to Lara at all. Jake was right about that though. Ani does have a need to say yes to people and fix them when she can - and even when she can't. Ani does her best to convince herself that everything will be okay if she marries Lara as she gets in the car.
Gina's family - sans Richard and Van, plus Brandon - are gathered at Malbec's. Brandon and Guya are sitting across from one another with pointed looks and even more pointed not talking. It's so weird and jarring to see these two like this. The Colonel sees Stella come in and asks if she knows what this is about. Stella says yes but doesn't elaborate. The Colonel clarifies that point, but there's a comfortable camaraderie between these two that I love. I miss having more of their scenes.
Oh, wait! Richard was there. I just missed him a minute ago. My bad. Gina comes out to face the music. Then she tells everyone that she appreciates them waiting on her while she's acted like a brat and thanks them for it. As a speech, it's kind of underwhelming and she's clearly uncomfortable. She tries to end it with a little bit of humor, but while Sarah quirks her lips, no one spares her a laugh. It made me miss Owen on her behalf. He would have laughed for her, come up and slapped her on the back and suggested that they get drunk instead of making Gina be the one to suggest that herself. He really was her best wingman.
Brandon tries again to speak to Gina, but Guya walks away, ostensibly to speak to Gina. Gina tries to make light of the serious look on her face and says Guya won't throw the martini at her because it's a really excellent martini. Guya will forgive her niece a lot but there's one thing Gina hasn't done yet and that's apologize. Stella agrees that Gina hasn't apologized yet. I love the slow nod to Stella that Gina does here. Hillary B. Smith lets this scene spool out with a slow methodicalness that creates the perfect tone for it. Guya loves her niece but part of loving someone means being tough sometimes too, and that's what Guya's doing here. She's loving Gina in all the best ways. Gina apologizes to her aunt and Guya makes her apologize to everyone else that's there as well. Then Guya hugs her because Guya's awesome like that.
Lurking in the shadows of Malbec's Jake sees the reunion and looks less than thrilled. It seems as if it might be time to screw with Gina again, some more.
Meanwhile at Lara's house, Lara's setting out a romantic dinner - complete with roses - for her fiance. They share a cute moment about how hot of a couple they are - and they ain't wrong. Lara asks Ani how her day was and Ani admits that it was just the usual and that she was going to go see Gina to tell her about the wedding. Ani says that she's tying up loose ends so she can be with the only person who's always been there for her to slam her into walls. Okay, so maybe that last part wasn't in Ani's speech. Unsurprisingly Lara would rather not talk about Gina at all. They make out for a second until a timer goes off and Lara heads into the kitchen to grab dinner before it burns.
Ani takes another bite of the appetizer and it's a little hot. She reaches for Lara's seltzer water and smells bullshit, I mean alcohol. She takes a sip just to confirm and gets pretty damn pissed off and horrified. Lara comes back into the room and realizes she's busted as soon as she sees the glass in Ani's hand. Ani is pissed, realizing how much of a fool she's been. As much as I don't care for Lara's actions a lot of, it still gets me every time when she falls apart, looking so scared and vulnerable. When Lara uses lack of perfection as an excuse, Ani says she doesn't care about perfect, she just wants honesty. Lara struggles to give her that though when Ani asks how long Lara's been drinking again.
Given Venice's sometimes wonky timeline, it's hard to tell how much Lara's lying when she tells Ani that she's only had one or two drinks over the past two or three weeks. Lara thinks she should get a gold star for only drinking that much and maintaining (forgetting that pesky little hit and run while drunk) as well as she has while all this shit with Gina's been going on. Ani seems fed up and they get into an argument about whether this is about Gina or not. They both have good points on that score, but Lara snaps and gets pissed and slaps the table. It shocks Ani and Lara too. She's immediately regretful, stammering about how she's never hurt Ani, only loved her. It's a particularly poor denial at that moment. Ani counters with at least Gina's never lied to her, which Lara scoffs at. Lara tries to touch Ani again, tries to blackmail into staying by saying that she knows she's sick but she needs Ani to stay to be okay. Ani doesn't know what to think, but this time she's having none of it. It's too big of a betrayal for her - for now. Ani takes off her ring, putting it down on the table and brushes past Lara to walk out the door.
It's a perfect clusterfuck of awful.