MISTRESSES episode 6: “Payback”


Okay, first things first, I’ve got a long, busy, and hot day ahead of me at work tomorrow, which I need to get to early, so I don’t have time to be quite as thorough as I usually am, because I need to get to sleep ASAP. I’ll try to hit the high points.

Picking up from last weeks episode, after a hot fling in the shower, Joss appeared to be ready to indulge in a full-fledged relationship with her new female friend Alex. April had told Richard everything she’d been going through, and the two ended up in bed together. At the urging of Tom’s widow, Elizabeth, Karen had agreed to forge notes about Tom, declaring him suicidal, to give to the insurance investigator. And, of course, the big story was that, after a miscarriage scare, Savi confessed to Harry that she is pregnant and that she’s not sure if the baby is his.

The series kind of cheated us, by not showing us Harry’s immediate reaction to Savi’s revelation. It picks up the next morning, when Savi is having breakfast in her (incredibly large) backyard with April and Karen, telling them what happened. It seems that Harry didn’t say anything, he just left. It’s also interesting to note that when Joss arrives on the scene, Savi tells them not to say anything. I’d noticed in previous episodes that Joss seemed to be cut out of this particular storyline, which is a little odd, but is explained later. Savi sees Dominic at work, and he mentions that one of their firm’s Partners is retiring, which means he and Savi are on the fast track to making Partner now. Savi tells Dominic that she’s pregnant and the baby is Harry’s, which means that there is no future between her and Dominic. The look on Dominic’s face when she tells him that, and then later on when he finds out that Savi is looking for a job at another law firm, expresses such emotion. The man DOES care about her, you can see that. And it’s clear that at least part of her cares about him. As a fan, I have to say, this is tough to decide where I hope this goes. I like Savi and Harry together, but I like Savi and Dominic together, too!

Savi tries to confront Harry at his restaurant (which I only just this episode noticed is called “Savannah’s Kitchen”…oh, the irony), where he’s been staying, but he still doesn’t want to talk to her. Savi notices Harry’s Hostess, Kyra ( or “Kyra with the funbags”, as Savi calls her), and becomes convinced that Harry must be sleeping with her. But when she brings that up to him, he flat-out says “Don’t turn this around on me. I don’t sleep with people I work with.”

OUCH.

However, later on, Kyra With The Funbags (played delightfully by Ashley Newbrough) does come on to Harry, offering to let him crash at her place, instead of sleeping at the restaurant, but he (gently) turns her down. I said on Twitter tonight that I think it would be a mistake if the show had Harry start cheating, as some would think that makes him and Savi “even”. But that would be a cop-out, in my opinion. Later on, during another confrontation, when Harry blows up at Savi and tells her “You destroyed me!”, you can’t help but feel sorry for the bloke. Brett Tucker knows how to play this role just right. When Savi tells him of her plan to get another job, so she won’t be around Dominic, Harry knows that she’s still just trying to take the easy way out, but he won’t let her make him “the bad guy” by being responsible for her leaving the job that she loves and works so hard for. Whatever choice she makes, it’s going to have to be fully her own.

Karen arrives at her job, and is greeted by a police officer who was called because her office was broken into the night before. Karen also learns that Elizabeth has left the country, with no return date planned. Later Karen tells her fellow psychiatrist Jacob that she thinks the break-in had something to do with her but, despite his pleading, she refuses to tell him the details why. Then later, alone at her place, she finds a picture of her with a note from Tom’s son, Sam on it. He’s missing her. Uh, oh…

April meets with Miranda, her late husband’s baby mama, and gives her a check for $100, saying that’s all she can spare at the moment, and will try to give her more next month. April & Richard arrange another hot date, which gets postponed at the last minute when the babysitter Richard hired had to cancel. So then they have to try again and make a 2nd date to go to a baseball game, but that gets canceled when Miranda shows up at April’s door, complaining that the money April gave her isn’t enough (I gotta admit, $100 is pretty low, just sayin’…), and they get into an argument, which totally kills the mood between April and Richard. However Richard assures April that he’s now in it, for the long haul (I hope so, because they make a good couple). Later, April gives Miranda a bigger check, after selling part of her store back to her original investor. But things are still uneasy between the two women.

Mike Dopud returns from episode 3, as Joss’ new boss Olivier, and is continuing to make her work-life miserable, taking all the fun out of the office. It’s fun to see Joss still getting nowhere with him, as he is completely immune to her charms. Things get worse when Joss blows what should be an easy sale, but a little practical joke she pulls on him later seems to make him somewhat amused. He might be warming up to her, after all. There’s also a running subplot where Joss discovers Harry’s book about pregnancy, figures out that Savi is having a baby, and gets all excited, thinking this is just a good thing. Finally, at the end, Savi clues Joss in on the whole story about her pregnancy, and the two sisters have an intense argument about who they are, and their roles as sisters, and how they’ve always viewed each other. Great scene by Milano and Macallan.

Great cast, great writing, great show.

MISTRESSES airs Monday Nights @ 10pm on ABC

You can also watch episodes online via http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/mistresses

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