The previous episode of UnREAL confirmed what I’ve been saying from (nearly) the start of the series: Jeremy is the absolute worst. In a show of despicable people, Jeremy might actually be the most terrible one after his attack of Rachel.
“Attack” is the lightest word I can use because — we have to be honest — without Chet’s intervention, Jeremy definitely would have raped Rachel. Even if things didn’t go all the way to that awful place, an ex-boyfriend assaulting you is a big deal, especially if you are someone like Rachel who has a history of mental problems and a backstory of not handling trauma well. All of this baggage leads to “Casualty” being one of the more intense and nerve-wracking UnREAL episodes ever. It might be just a build-up to a storm, but the storm is going to be a big one.
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The Inmate Running the Asylum
Chet convinces Rachel not to go to the police because Jeremy could sink the entire show with all his knowledge of Everlasting‘s seedy dealings (otherwise known as the show kind of killing Mary last year). So instead of making Jeremy get the justice he deserves, Rachel covers up her bruises with make-up and dives headfirst into her work.
This turns out to be the worst decision imaginable because Rachel’s way to deal with all the stress on her is to just yell at anyone in a two-foot radius, including Darius. Rachel confronts Darius and has a yelling match with him in front of the cast and crew. Rachel’s very public meltdown with Darius does convince him to go to Beth-Ann’s hometown, aka the very deep South, for the new episode.
Rachel is expecting the KKK, effigies and drunk uncles — her words, not mine — but instead she gets a wholesome if folksy Southern family. It’s not until poor stupid Beth-Ann goes to Rachel with a bombshell that Rachel begins to craft a dramatic storyline as explosive as Rachel’s own psyche. Beth-Ann is pregnant with her ex-boyfriend’s baby. This ex-boyfriend, Brock, is exactly the kind of violent racist that Rachel wants to film.
A One-Way Ticket to Crazytown
Though Rachel now has the human trash ready for her trashy reality show, all is not well. Quinn learns of Jeremy’s attack and tries to do everything in her power to get Rachel off the set and stop working. The only problem is that Rachel has hopped down into the Deep South with Coleman. Quinn has to try to do therapy over the phone. It’s therapy that Rachel is not at all interested in having, so she hangs up quickly.
Left with no other choice, Quinn tells Coleman about Jeremy’s attack. Since Coleman knows next to nothing about Rachel, this goes even worse than the Quinntervention. (Look, I’m going to use as many cutesy nicknames as possible because I sense that things are about to get really dark on UnREAL.)
Since Coleman’s attempts to get Rachel to calm down have failed, Rachel goes full-hog in producing an entire Jerry Springer episode on Everlasting. Rachel convinces Beth-Ann to tell her entire family and Darius that she is pregnant. While this is going on, Rachel finds Brock and has him crash the party to propose to Beth-Ann. This does not go over well.
Beth-Ann screams at Brock. Brock insults Darius. Beth-Ann implies/lies that she is pregnant with Darius’ child and then tells Darius she is in love with him. Darius freaks out. Beth-Ann’s father pulls out a gun and tells Brock to leave his property. It’s a trainwreck of epic proportions, and no one is loving it more than Rachel. She might be the only one too because Coleman is very worried about Rachel’s mental state and ecstasy over the misery of others.
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The Battle for Rachel’s Heart
When Rachel and Coleman come back to the homestead, Coleman has a house meeting. He wants to go to the cops with Jeremy’s assault, but Quinn and Chet get Rachel to agree to keep quiet. Rachel then storms out of the meeting, followed quickly by Coleman.
Alone, Quinn and Chet start to worry about Coleman. They are the twisted parents of this awful and fake family, and Rachel is their daughter who they desperately want to control. They can’t do that with someone as smart and ambitious as Coleman around. So Quinn decides to call someone to remind Rachel that Coleman isn’t her only chance for love.
You guessed it. Adam is coming back to UnREAL.
UnREAL airs Mondays at 10pm on Lifetime.
(Image courtesy of Lifetime)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
