This week’s UnREAL brings a shift in allegiances as Rachel deals with the cold front coming in from Quinn and finds herself coming up against what Darius has been hiding which leads to a team up, a break up, and an arrest.
Rachel and Quinn are still at odds after the former showrunner finds out the woman she had trusted and helped work through things stabbed her in the back (in honestly a very Quinn sort of way). The hurt feelings don’t end there as Quinn’s then hit with news that her father has died. But with that level of big news, she doesn’t seem to react in the way you would expect and instead becomes more focused and methodical (and slightly more destructive) with how she approaches getting her show back.
Darius’ injury is much worse than Rachel initially thought as she discovers that Romeo and Darius were hiding a whole lot about the extent of his back injury. The injury becomes the center of the hour and a tool not only for Rachel to keep Darius in as the suitor, but for Chet and Quinn as well, after they figure out that their suitor is hiding a major potentially career-ending injury. Their machinations and choice of bringing in one of the contestants to help them with their plan kicks off a series of horrible and manipulative choices that the conniving pair make. Their plan reminds viewers that these people are terrible and willing to do anything they want to get it. Darius’ injury also causes some friction between him and Romeo, especially after he opts to take the epidural at Rachel’s insistence (and Quinn-like play). It gets so bad that he even fires the man who has stood by him for years despite the fact he was just looking out for Darius.
Meanwhile Ruby and Darius, who have been getting closer since they met (and seemingly have sincere feelings for each other?), take it one step further after having a sweet conversation that got Darius to talk about what things will be like without Romeo beside him along the way. Their moment, the one that Ruby ensured wouldn’t be on camera because she’s not deemed “wifey material”, is most definitely caught on camera. The fact that Jay is right there leaves you with a feeling that maybe Ruby is just as invested in winning as the other girls which brings back memories of a few of the girls competing for Adam in season one. It will be interesting to see where that goes.
UnREAL also did something that I don’t think they happened in their first season and that is show a contestant sleep with a crew member. This season, we saw Yael (Hot Rachel) plot to get the most out of her time on the show. She’s tried to get close to pretty much every member of the production team with some limited success, especially when it comes to Rachel. Her latest (terrible) choice is to sleep with Jeremy, which really is just the worst thing she could have done even with all of her game-playing. Really, just the worst.
The end of the hour shows Quinn at her breaking point after dealing with her father’s death, Chet’s continued terrible (and now felonious) existence after he is hauled away by the police for kidnapping, and Rachel’s stunt. We see that her nonchalance was a guard against the anger and disappointment of people around her as she tells Rachel that it’s time to get rid of the garbage people in her life.
If that doesn’t seem like a glimpse of things to come, I don’t know what is.
Watch the next new episode of UnREAL on July 4 at 10 p.m. on Lifetime.