Although all four women seem, more and more, to be close friends, Mia and Caitlin definitely seem to have a closer bond than the others. It's very Carrie/Miranda, which makes sense if you've watched both shows. Mia and Caitlin are the closest corollaries for Carrie and Miranda.
Feb 13's episode had the two of them commiserating over sushi, retrieving Mia's sex tape, and shopping for baby items.
I'm not sure who's apartment that is, although I'll hazard a guess and say Mia's. It's clean and neat, whereas, I'd expect Caitlin's apartment to be messier and less...white. I thought it was cute how they were bonding over sushi and sake in little cups.
At first, I was going to be in a huff about how Lucy Liu is Chinese, and her character is eating Japanese food, but then I realized, hey, I'm Chinese, and I eat sushi ALL THE TIME. Sometimes living in a politically correct society can blind you to how life really works. On a side note, I think the Asian American community should be pretty happy with how Cashmere Mafia is making the Lucy Liu character. They flirt with the stereotypes (pushy parents setting Mia up with a nice Asian doctor) but don't focus on the Asian-ness of the character. She's just Mia, which I think is great.
Anyway, in this scene, Mia and Caitlin complain, respectively, about Jack and Alisha. This is also when Mia sees her scarf on TV. They have a great chemistry here, and I can actually believe that they're friends, unlike the other women sometimes.
In another scene, Mia asks Caitlin to go with her to Jack's apartment so she can take back her scarf and the misplaced sex tape. I'll be honest. I didn't take the screenshots so we could get a sense of the plot, but rather so we could get a sense of their (usually) fab outfits! Mia looks chic as always, but Caitlin looks a little offbeat here. It's cute, but just...different.
I wonder how both of them have so much time to just be traisping around New York all day. This reminds me again of Sex and the City, where the characters seemed to have all the time in the world to have long coffee talks and shopping trips and nighttime outings to whatever hotspot was hottest that week. Oh well. Wish fulfillment is always nice.
The last scene with only Mia and Caitlin is when Caitlin is looking at items in a baby store, while trying to decide if she's ready to be a mother. I just noticed that Mia is wearing a picnic blanket and that Caitlin's shoes came from the 1980's costume prop bin. Nonetheless, the scene was pretty cute, with Mia protesting at first against the shopping, saying that they should be figuring out if Caitlin's ready to be a mom first, and then realizing that the baby shopping was helping Caitlin figure it out in her own way.
I think the Mia/Caitlin relationship works because they're both the lighter, fluffier characters. By that, I don't mean there's no substance in their character development, but their problems are less heavy than those of Zoe and Juliet. Juliet is facing a very uncivil divorce with a husband who cheated on her and risked the financial stability of her and her unhappy teenage daughter. Zoe is trying to balance taking care of her household with working in a sexist work environment.
On the other hand, Mia doesn't have a stead boyfriend (so sad) and Caitlin might be a lesbian. While, yeah, their problems still do suck, it's nothing compared to Zoe and Juliet, probably because Mia and Caitlin are still single and thus fairly obligation-free.
Also, their characters seem younger and less serious, so it makes sense that they would bond. They're similar enough to be friends, and different enough to remain good friends.
For this episode's Mia summary, click here.
For this episode's Caitlin summary, click here.
For the complete episode summary, click here.
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Friday, February 15, 2008
BFF: Caitlin and Mia?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
EPISODE SUMMARY: February 13, 2008
Last night's episode marked a real growth in the series, I feel. The first few episodes were kind of stilted. I didn't really feel like I felt the characters, you know? And it didn't seem likely that four such different women would be friends.
This episode, though, it started making sense. I could see the chemistry between the four characters, especially between Mia and Caitlin. It didn't hurt that there were so many scenes with just those two characters.
Mia: Mia finds out Jack got a job comparable to hers. She then sees on TV Jack's new girlfriend wearing a scarf Mia left in Jack's apartment and goes to retrieve it, along with an errant sex tape. There, she finds a cute birthday DVD he made for her before and starts missing him. He comes over to give her back the birthday DVD. They kiss, have sex, and all seems well, but in the morning, Mia realizes that Jack only came to make up because his new position makes him feel confident in himself again. She gives him back his ring, and it is assumed that they are broken up again.
Caitlin: Last episode, we found out that Caitlin's girlfriend, Alicia, was pregnant. While at the ultrasound appointment with Alicia, Caitlin meets Alicia's ex (who had also wanted a baby), a woman who looks, well, a lot like Caitlin. The ex obviously wants to be a part of this family, and she and Caitlin do not get along. Eventually, Caitlin decides she does want to be a mother, and buys bags and bags of new baby items, just as Alicia decides that she wants to go back to her ex-girlfriend. And Caitlin is left alone again.
Juliet: Juliet begins the episode in the midst of divorce negotiations with her tough female lawyer. She wants the apartment, plus all the money she earned. Davis wants the apartment, all the money he earned and "manimony," a monthly stipend from Juliet. They obviously disagree, and he retaliates by moving a lot of things out of their apartment. Juliet is angry, until she gets the sudden news that Davis just had a heart attack. At the hospital, she meets Cilla Grey, who had apparently been with Davis when he had the heart attack. They exchange some words about divorce, and Cilla goes to Davis's bedside, where he says he repents for all the nastiness and wants her to have the apartment and the car. Doctor comes in, tells us that it was just a panic attack. (Darn! I'm getting tired of Davis's antics already. You can kill him off, producers!) Next day, Juliet is served an eviction notice on the apartment, and Davis says he takes back everything he said in the hospital. In retaliation, Juliet reports stolen the car that Davis is driving, and presumably gets it back.
Zoe: Zoe's story opens with her and her really annoying, misogynistic colleague Clayton , both finding out that a big important client is in town. Clayton wants to woo the client in his manly way, while Zoe tries to keep her foot in the door and get her share. She ends up winning over the client's wife and later, the client, even as the meeting place gets changed to a questionable "modern geisha" house. However, Clayton gets the promotion, prompting Zoe to realize that only white men ever get promoted at that company and she will never be appreciated fully there. She quits.
The episode ends with all four women eating chocolate and drinking together, with Mia saying that this was the perfect ending to a terrible day.
For individual character summaries, click:
Here for Juliet
Here for Mia
Here for Zoe
Here for Caitlin
For a list of this episode's quotable quotes, click here.
Read more!
CAITLIN SUMMARY: February 13, 2008
If you're comparing Cashmere Mafia to Sex and the City (and really, who doesn't?), then Mia has to be Carrie, more business-focused, but equally clueless about love. Juliet would be Charlotte, turned cold by the business world and an unsucessful marriage, but still the same WASP-y girl we know and love. I'm not too sure about the Zoe-Samantha correlation, but Caitlin would definitely by Miranda. Not only is she possibly a lesbian, and we all know Miranda was toeing the line for a long while on the series, but she's also the most different from the others. In SATC, Miranda was different because she was the hard, career-oriented woman. In CM, Caitlin is different because she seems paradoxically to be the softest one, often clutzy and apologetic.
Last week, we found out that Caitlin's girlfriend, Alisha, was pregnant. Alicia and her ex had apparently been trying to have a baby (with donor sperm, of course), and, well, it worked. Just a little late is all. How does Caitlin deal with the news?
Very well, actually. I was expecting her to freak out or something, but she just seemed very confused. I'm glad the characters on this show are more mature and serious than the ones on SATC. If this had happened to someone on that show, I'm sure a complete breakdown with tears and yelling would be involved.
Instead, Caitlin didn't even raise her voice. While talking over sushi with Mia, she just seemed a little lost and unsure of what to do, maybe add shocked to that list as well.
Caitlin: My girlfriend is pregnant. Just doesn't sound any better the more I say it. You say it.
Mia: Your girlfriend is pregnant.
Caitlin: No, that still sounds crazy.
However, she accompanies Alicia to the ultrasound, where she meets, surprise!, Alicia's ex, Olivia, who looks incredibly similar to Caitlin. While Caitlin and Alicia seem surprised at Olivia's appearance, she says that the baby is hers as well, so of course she'd come.
Later at a bar, Caitlin and Olivia talk while waiting for Alicia. (sidenote: Why is Alicia going to a bar? Isn't she, you know, pregnant?) Olivia tells Caitlin not to expect to be called Mommy, since the baby already has two, which will be quite enough, thank you. She also tells Caitlin that she's not sure she wants the baby to be too close to Caitlin, since Caitlin has such an infirm grasp on her own sexuality.
Insulted, Caitlin remarks that neither she nor Olivia have any biological tie to the baby, but then Olivia says that she just doesn't understand lesbians. At which point, Alicia shows up. Obviously her ex and current girlfriend get together smashingly.
Caitlin tries to figure out what to do, and talks it over with Mia while walking, when they chance upon a baby store.
Caitlin points at something cute in the window and goes inside excitedly, while Mia calls from outside that this really isn't helping her decide whether or not to be a mother, when she realizes that, of course, by getting so excited about baby items, Caitlin has already decided. She just didn't realize it yet.
Caitlin rushes back to Alicia's apartment, with bags of baby thing in hand, when Alicia tells her she has some bad news. I loved this bit of dialog about it:
Caitlin: I've seen that look before.
Alicia: This is really difficult.
Caitlin: No, it's not. You have the easy part. I have to stand here and listen to things I really don't think I want to hear.
It's so exactly what runs through your head during these moments, isn't it? I don't think anyone can ever really be broken up with by surprise. You always know, somewhere in your head, that it's going to happen.
And so ended Caitlin's first lesbian relationship and her storyline for this episode. Here's one last pic that I just thought was funny. It's so characteristic of Caitlin, too.
For more on the Mia/Caitlin friendship, click here.
For the complete episode summary, click here.
Read more!
QUOTABLE: February 13, 2008
Some lines from the episode--
Caitlin (about Mia): We're having a Jack flashback. A Jackback.
Caitlin: My girlfriend is pregnant. Just doesn't sound any better the more I say it. You say it.
Mia: Your girlfriend is pregnant.
Caitlin: No, that still sounds crazy.
Clayton: If you got that job, you could literally say goodbye to your kids until you see them at their weddings, maybe.
Zoe: You have kids.
Clayton: And a wife who doesn't work.
Zoe: Screw you, Clayt.
Caitlin: I've seen that look before.
Alicia: This is really difficult.
Caitlin: No, it's not. You have the easy part. I have to stand here and listen to things I really don't think I want to hear.
Jack's new girlfriend: Aww, you just can't admit that Jack's moved on.
Mia: And you just can't admit that you're the rebound girl. Enjoy the bounce.
And of course, the last line, by Caitlin.
"Sometimes the only thing that works is fudge...and vodka."And here is the rest of it.
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MIA SUMMARY: February 13, 2008
This episode, for Mia, was all about Jack. Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, scarf, Jack. The episode starts with Mia receiving worried calls from the three other women, and then a special muffin from her assistant. Everyone is asking how she's feeling. Why?
In her hand is a copy of a trade magazine with the news that Jack, her former fiance, has now been named Publisher of a competing magazine. Gasp! Even worse, she sees Jack's new girlfriend, a TV anchorwoman wearing a scarf that Mia accidentally left at Jack's apartment. That harlot!
Not to worry though. Mia has, sort of, moved on. After all, she does have the Asian surgeon she's dating and, as Zoe reminds us, the "manny" that she made out with last episode. One thing she doesn't have, and would like back, though, is the sex tape she and Jack made. Tres risque!
We find out about this during a coffee date with all four women, all of whom have apparently made sex tapes, with the exception of our favorite maybe-lesbian. Naturally, Zoe and Eric taped over theirs with a birthing, and Juliet only engaged in "groping" in hers, while always making sure she had on sunglasses. This discussion sparked one of my favorite lines from the episode, Caitlin's "Has everyone at this table made a sex tape but me?"
Determined to get her tape back, Mia meets up with Jack, who reminds her that she herself hid the DVD somewhere in the apartment, and OK's it for her to come over and take it back. So she and Caitlin go over to find it, taking one of their many duo walks.
If I were going to search my ex-fiance's apartment (that I used to live in) for a sex tape we had made while still in love, all the while assuming that chances are big that I might run into him or his new girlfriend whom I despise, I would dress up too. And wear heels.
Anywho, at the apartment, they both find a DVD in the hiding space. So what's the other DVD of? Apparently, an achingly cute birthday movie of Jack surprising Mia with a cake and song.
The singing? Cute. The amateurish camera angles? Cute. The birthday cupcake? OK, we get it. It's cute. We feel the cuteness. The cuteness is seething out of the screen and into our livers.
Just as we're about to bowl over with cuteness, there's a knock on the door. Of course, it's not the cute guy who've we've almost forgiven (he kept the video! he must be a sweetie!), it's the bitchy new girl he's dating.
I love how Cashmere Mafia makes these distinct delineations between good and bad. Maybe it's just because it's the start of the show, but you there are few characters that don't fall into the Good Camp (our girls, Zoe's entire family, Juliet's daughter, um, other people?) or the Bad Camp (all other women and especially all men). Jack's new girlfriend is definitely not in the Good Camp and she shows up wearing Mia's scarf.
The two have a verbal tiff, and the new girl says "Aww, you just can't admit that Jack's moved on." Mia replies, with typical CM bite, "And you just can't admit that you're the rebound girl. Enjoy the bounce."
So the sex tape is back in Mia's hands. But a few days(?) later, lo and behold, but who shows up at Mia's door (while she is shredding the Alexander McQueen scarf no less)? We have, as Caitlin would put it, a "Jackback" (Jack flashback). Talk talk talk, for about thirty second really, and then...
Kiss! For a few minutes, the fans are allowed to hope that all is well between Mia and Jack again, but he wouldn't be her Mr. Big if they just up and got married right then would they? Of course, because this is television, kissing necessarily leads to a fun romp in the bedroom, giving us this scene after commercial break.
Does this look like the cover of a romance novel to anyone else? Or maybe a DeBeers ad. They look so perfect and happy, so of course it all must be ruined within minutes of waking up, when Jack makes some comment about how great it is that they both have good jobs and thus can be together again, to which Mia, naturally takes offense.
Why'd you do that, Jack? It was going so well! You were getting all cutesy with the dialogue: "I made a huge mistake, and I want to start over....Hi, I'm Jack. Can I buy you a drink?" She was laughing. You were cuddling. It was blazingly cute. But then of course, you had to talk about your inferiority complex and then she was gone (again).
"Life is full of ups and downs. I can't be with someone who's feelings depend on what their resume says." Said Mia, in a pretty cute purple with black lace nightie. She gets out the box with what we assume is the engagement ring and tells him, "I kept this hoping you'd change your mind. But now I've changed mine."
Aaaaaand, cut. That's all we hear from Mia for the episode. Basically, she saw her scarf on TV, went to retrieve it and her sex tape from Jack, fell for Jack again, slept with him, then realized she couldn't deal with his insecurities. Is she over him? Is he over her? Will they keep doing this dance ad infinitum, a la Carrie and Mr. Big?
Only time (and a contract for more seasons!) will tell.
For more on the Mia/Caitlin friendship, click here.
For a summary of the whole ep: click here.
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FASHION POLICE: Feb 13, 2008
I think one of my favorite things about Cashmere Mafia that carried over from Sex and the City is the great array of different fashion choices you see every episode, on every character. So here are all the outfits I deemed noteworthy for the Feb 13 ep.
So far these are the characters as I see them, fashion-wise: Mia's fashion-crazy, Caitlin's edgy, Juliet's conservative and Zoe is...The Working Woman.
I know a big part of her character is her love for her husband and children, but this episode was all work, and come to think of it, we've always seen a lot more of Zoe's work woes than any of the other character's work business. We got some in the first few episodes with Mia, but no big problems, just small issues, mainly personal ones, that happened to be interfering with the smooth sailing of her work. As for Caitlin, the most we got, as far as I can remember, was that time she was forced to stay away from work until her zit cleared. And Juliet... I've basically forgotten that Juliet works. What does she do again? Hotels? Wasn't there something about an email or something?
Meh. Whatever. The point is, Zoe's fashion style, if nothing else, is that of a professional businesswoman. It's not overly fashionable, but it's not boring. She's not dressed for a night out or a day at the country club. She's dressed for work. Some examples:
This is Zoe at the coffee date with all four women. If you compare her outfit with those that the other women were wearing in the same scene, it's easy to see that Zoe is the least flashy of any of them. She's really just wearing a black fitted shirt. There's a chunky gold bangle on one hand, but other than that, no accessories (although I assume she's wearing her wedding ring).
Her hair is feathery and her makeup is light. While the other women are wearing outfits with makeup that the average working woman does not have time for, Zoe's outfit seems, well, possible. It's believable that a working mom could do that. I could do that. You could do that.
We might not look as good in the same outfit as Frances O'Connor does, but that's another issue.
OK, this picture's a little blurry. My bad. You can see the basics though. Long fitted red coat. Hot. Very work appropriate, but also very attractive. It looks great on her.
The burgundy dress underneath is also classic, simple, and professional, but not, and I repeat, not boring. The black belt cinched high on the waist adds a bit of flair to the outfit and the basic black bag matches perfectly. (Of course, what doesn't a basic black bag match?)
Zoe's hair, again, is natural and straight. I actually can't think of any instance when Zoe has been given really big or obviously "done" 'dos. I can think of some overstyled hair looks for the other characters (especially Mia-- wow, the looks they give that woman sometimes!), but Zoe has always had her hair kept pretty simple. Straight, or curled, or in a ponytail.
And you know what? That's great. Because that's how most of our hair looks most of the time anyway.
Mia seems to be the most fashion-forward, which makes sense in her industry. They give her wild outfits every week! Although this week was fairly toned down. No purple lipstick this time.
This was probably the "wildest" outfit, and it's actually pretty cute. As always, Mia's wearing huge earrings, which whoever does wardrobe for Cashmere Mafia must love, since all the characters always wear gigantic earrings. I know they're flashier on TV, but can't someone just wear simple studs one day?
And again with the puff sleeves for Mia. She's petite enough so it's cute, but her face is stern enough so it's not 8-year-old girl cute.
I hope that fur is faux, but otherwise, the outfit is pretty cute and actually believable, as in, I believe a working woman might wear that to work, in a very fashion-forward work environment.
The next outfit was my favorite, but I couldn't get a really good picture of it. Mia wears it in the coffee scene w/the other women and also in the meeting with Jack at the bar.
While it's true that Makeup should probably tone down the dark lipstick on such light-skinned actresses as Lucy Liu (Mia) and Miranda Otto (Juliet), this color looks all right, especially with this top.
I loved the jewel tone of this silky top. It looks luxurious and is fashionable but also classic. The earrings are really cute too and not overly ostentatious.
This is one of the few times we've seen Lucy Liu with her hair down, not overly styled or pomaded or curled. And you know what? It's cute! She looks pretty natural here, which is great, and a great change from what we've seen in previous episodes.
Mia wore some other outfits but those were the two that stuck out in my memory. Since we just went over Mia's outfits, I guess we should look at Caitlin's, as the two characters are apparently inseparable. (See XXXXX). While Mia's the fashion-forward one of the bunch (I'd say the most like Carrie), Caitlin has an eclectic style. She's edgy and willing to play with gender perceptions, i.e., willing to look like a butch biker chick, as we see here:
Yeah, I know. This isn't the best shot for Bonnie Somerville, but it does de-emphasize the incredible heights her hair achieved during that scene (although not as high as Juliet's).
The hair, plus the big silver hoops, plus the black vest-y thing with the off-the-shoulder sleeves, all screams "Look at me! I'm a lesbian!" to me.
Which is, you know, perfectly fine, especially given that Caitlin is sort of maybe a lesbian. Or bi. Or just really confused at the moment. We don't know, and she doesn't know, but it seems like her outfits have already decided.
I have to say, I don't really get Caitlin's outfits most of the time, but I'll accept that it's part of her offbeat character.
I'm a little surprised with Juliet's hair in this scene. It seems a little too big, too exuberant, too flashy for conservative ex-debutante Juliet. Maybe this is part of the new post-divorce her, and maybe the Makeup/Hair people haven't figured out a style for Miranda Otto yet. I'm giving both the benefit of the doubt.
The color, though, works really well with her hair color. Her makeup is actually not overpowering her pale face this time! Yay! I think the makeup artists are getting better at working with these actresses every episode. I'm sure by the end of this season, or by the beginning of (hopefully) Season 2, the characters' styles will get really defined.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention. The earrings were pretty cute. Ginormous, as always, but a refreshing color and interesting shape.
Another outfit I liked of Juliet's was the outfit she wore the day she got served and confronted Davis. Here are two shots, one of her in the office with the coat open, and one of her walking the streets of New York, where you can see the coat closed.
The outfit doesn't seem too intersting in the picture on the left. It's just a black coat over a white shirt. And something brown.
But the coat is uber-cute, in my opinion, as you can see in the pic on the right. I mean, c'mon, are those ruffles at the bottom of the coat? And at the bottom of the sleeves?
I also like that her hair is hanging naturally (well as naturally as the a team of hairstylists can make it). Everything seems to work in this outfit, and nothing sticks out.
While I only showcased a few of the outfits in this post, you and I know that there were many, many more outfits--some wonderful, some terrible-- in this episode, as there are in every episode.
If you're like me, and a former SATC fan, then you probably adore the huge wealth of fashion we're given every week to look at, model, and critique. So, Fashion Police will update after every episode (and back-update for past episodes) to comment specifically about the outfits: clothing, accessories, hair, makeup, the whole shebang!
Leave comments and join the fun!
JULIET SUMMARY: February 13, 2008
Can we nominate Davis for Worst TV Husband already? Not only did her cheat on Juliet multiple times, but he also dipped into their mutual account and lost gobs of money for both of them. And now he's trying to get rich off of Juliet's hard work? Puh-leeze! That guy has got to go!
[Although the actor that plays him is pretty good-looking. He was "The Hair" in the episode "The Head and the Hair" of 30 Rock. His role was to play a good-looking guy. Yeah.]
In this ep, Juliet and Davis started divorce negotiations, Davis with the lawyer we saw last episode and Juliet with a new, tough female lawyer. Julietwants the apartment, plus all the money she earned, although Davis's money will stay with him. Davis wants the apartment, all the money he earned and "manimony," a monthly stipend from Juliet, which his lawyer says he deserves because he made career sacrifices so that her career could thrive. Juliet and Davis start throwing around some less-than-civil comments, and they leave with nothing resolved. Davis retaliates by moving things out of their apartment.
If you look closely, you can see the moving van behind Juliet. Davis tells her what he's doing while this nice old lady watches on. When the woman approaches Juliet, Juliet thanks her, assuming she's trying to offer some concern. But instead, the woman says "That's just not how we do things on 5th Avenue."
The next day at her office, Juliet gets some surprising news about Davis. At first she assumes he did something again, but it turns out to be worse.
Davis had been rushed to the hospital with symptoms of a heart attack. Juliet races there (why?) only to find her old friend, Cilla Grey, the classic Other Woman. Apparently, Cilla had been with Davis when he had the heart attack. It's implied that they were having sex when it happened. Juliet is cold toward Cilla, naturally, but Cilla tries to give her some words of advice about divorce, as Cilla has herself been through the process.
She tells Juliet that it's actually nice "on the other side." You get back all those things you lost while you were married. Plus, contrary to popular opinion, there are plenty of men for women their age. In fact, they're everywhere! To which Juliet just replies "They're married." And Cilla says some chilling words: "Wait till you're on the other side, honey. Really. I think you're going to like it here.
After that confrontation, Juliet goes to Davis's hospital room, where he repents for everything he's done and says that he doesn't like how things have been going. He also wants her to have the apartment and the car. Just then, the doctor comes in and informs Davis that he had actually only suffered a panic attack, with symptoms that greatly mimicked a heart attack.
The next day, Juliet goes to her office as usual, only to be served with an eviction notice. Apparently, Davis wants the apartment back, unlike what he had said the night before.
She goes to confront him, and he tells her that obviously he wasn't in the clearest mental state the night before and accuses her of trying to use his sickness for her own benefit. The apartment's in his name, and he wants it back.
In retaliation, Juliet reports the car (her car, technically) stolen, and Davis has to watch it being towed away in front of him.
So, basically, no one's happy. Neither of them have won yet, and there seems to be a long road ahead of them. Also, where's the daughter? I thought she was going to check out public schools, not run away to boarding school and never be seen again, a la the older daughter of Celia's family on Weeds.
I'm not sure how I feel about Cilla's role in this episode. On one hand, she's still the woman that finally broke up the marriage, and she refuses to apologize. On the other hand, she gave some words of encouragement to Juliet. But I'd still place her on the Bad side of the line, at least until we get further character development.
For the complete episode summary, click here.
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