Rochelle Aytes (April), Jes Macallan (Joss), Alyssa Milano (Savi), Yunjin Kim (Karen)

PREVIOUSLY: “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”

First, for those of you who pay attention to such things, yes, this review is quite late. This episode aired two weeks ago, and I usually post my review that same night, but I had to work early that next morning, so I wasn’t able to stay up passed 10pm, and therefor had to skip this episode that night. I didn’t get a chance to finally watch it (via the ABC website) until that weekend. I was going to write a review then, but it no longer seemed urgent and I got busy with other stuff. And there was no episode last Monday, because it got preempted by that Bachelor nonsense, so I figured I’d just wait until tonight, before episode 9 airs, and post both reviews then. So here we go:

Okay, I’ll start with April. At first she’s all down with being Daniel’s (Ricky Whittle) side-chick, and actually has the nerve to act all high-and-mighty with Karen, who brings up Daniel’s wife. April points out that Karen willingly started sleeping with a man that she knew was married, but this is different because April didn’t know that Daniel was married until after she’d already started sleeping with him and developed feelings for him.

Negro please! The minute you slept with him after you knew he was married you lost all claims to the moral high-ground! Just sayin’…

Anyway, April appears to be happy with her decision, until Lucy (Corinne Massiah) brings up the fact that her friend’s father is cheating on her friend’s mother, which Lucy think is totally wack. THAT supposedly strikes April’s conscious, and she tells Daniel it’s over. I dunno, I’m not feeling this storyline, so far. They’re starting and stopping it too abruptly. I’ll have to see how they plan to continue this (because I know it ain’t over).

Joss moves into Scott’s (Justin Hartley) place, and that relationship is going well…until Joss convinces Harry (Brett Tucker) to take a job as a Chef at an elite restaurant that Scott is a partner in. So Harry is not moving to Australia after all! Yay! (Not that anyone really thought he would). His decision to stay in America also seemed rather abrupt after how sure he was in the last few episodes that he was ready to leave. But nevermind. Scott feels a little weird about this, pointing out to Joss how actively involved she is in her ex-Brother-In-Law’s life, and wonders if her feelings are more than just sisterly towards him? Oh HECK no, Joss insists! But then there’s a look in her eye…oh boy, I knew they were going to go there. I’ve been predicting it since the 2nd episode of this season. But they’re playing it as if Joss really never thought about it until Scott brought it up.

The Savi/Dom strained relationship continues, with Savi insisting that she does want to be with Dom (Jason Winston George) and he, rightly, pointing out that she hasn’t really acted like it. But the big question mark here is the role of Toni (Rebeka Montoya). When she’s with Savi she’s playing the whole us working women need to stick together and look out for each other in this oppressive male-dominated society-card, and then with Dom she’s all you’re such a swell guy, you deserve a woman who appreciates you, I’m here if you need a pal to confide in. She’s nice and devious, I’m curious to see exactly what she has in mind.

And once again, for the 2nd episode in a row, the most interesting story of an episode is Karen’s. Yes, I’m still shocked that I’m actually saying that, too. But it is. Okay, she still has that annoying habit of making everything harder for herself than needs to be. Now that she found out that Jacob’s (Matthew Del Negro)ex-girlfriend, who he dumped in order to start seeing Karen, is her patient Anna (Catherine Haena Kim), her first instinct is to dump Jacob (who is understandably PISSED) without explanation, and then go search for Anna (who is apparently Karen’s only patient…seriously, how does this woman earn a living?!?). They play some lip-service to the doctor/patient confidentiality rules, but why couldn’t Karen just tell Jacob that Anna is her patient and let them both figure out how to handle it from there? That would have been a lot simpler than screwing with Jacob’s feelings like she did.

Anyway, after Anna misses a session, Karen goes searching for her and finds out that the home address Anna provided is bogus (hmmm…mystery!), and then she tells Jacob the true and suddenly he’s all cool with her again. And then as Karen is escorting him out of her office they kiss in the elevator just as the door opens and Anna is standing right there! BUSTED

Frankly, I saw that coming a mile away, but it was still pretty cool to see. I loved the looks on all three of their faces.

Alright so the April story could use some work, and I’m not crazy about anything happening with Joss and Harry, and the Savi/Dom/Toni and Karen/Jacob/Anna triangles kept this episode flowing well enough. A solid effort all around.

And the stand-out new song this episode (played while Savi was packing to leave the house) is FADE INTO YOU by MAZZY STAR

Okay, now in about 10 minutes it’s time for episode 9!

MISTRESSES airs Monday Nights @ 10pm on ABC
You can also watch episodes online via http://abc.go.com/shows/mistresses