UnREAL recap: Infiltration

Oh, what a difference a season makes. Last year, Jeremy was the too-nice-for-his-own-good guy who kept trying to pick up the pieces of Rachel’s life. This year, he’s physically assaulting her. It’s disturbing and unsettling — but even more so, the fact that this incident somehow made Chet look like a good guy is beyond confusing. “Infiltration” has just turned everything upside down.

The episode starts with Coleman and Rachel on top — they’re Everlasting‘s new power couple and enjoying every minute of it. Jeremy certainly is not… even though he’s sleeping with Hot Rachel in a very public way. Real Rachel calls them out for it and finds a picture of herself that Jeremy uses for target practice. When Coleman sees it, he tells her it’s a fireable offense, but Rachel says Jeremy is too good to lose. He realizes something happened between them, but doesn’t ask too many questions.

Instead, he goes straight to the source and essentially demotes/fires Jeremy. Jeremy is obviously not happy about this and takes it out on Coleman’s fancy sports car by peeing all over it. Chet finds him and offers to help. After being bailed out from jail and rejected by Quinn, Chet feels he needs a reset on his Paleolithic self, and he makes Jeremy do a faux sweat lodge with him. He says that by admitting the truth and taking responsibility, they’ll get clarity.

Chet admits to kidnapping his kid, and Jeremy tries to “admit” to being fired, but every time he places the blame on someone else, he gets slapped by Chet. After enough slaps, the truth comes out: “My damage is Rachel,” Jeremy says. And he admits he still loves her.

The farthest thing from Rachel’s mind is Jeremy, though, as she’s attending the Impact Awards with her new beau, Coleman. She was uneasy about going since the tickets usually go to Quinn, but she quickly gets over it and dons her best show-stolen ball gown to schmooze the network’s new owner, John Booth (Ioan Gruffudd). Quinn was hoping to meet him at the awards to win him over, but instead Coleman and Rachel do that… until Quinn finds a way to get in without the tickets and wins him over. See, John Booth is a huge fan of Everlasting and Quinn. He knows she’s the real mastermind of the show and goes so far as to call her a “legend.” And he’s in luck, because this legend invites him to watch the crazy play out on camera himself.

This week’s episode of Everlasting was supposed to be an overnight date with one of the two audience’s fan favorites. Fan favorites on this show is code for whomever Quinn wants. She picked Yael, a.k.a. Hot Rachel, and Dominique, the tall pro basketball player we haven’t seen much from, so that Darius would have to choose Hot Rachel. But Real Rachel had a trick up her sleeve: She told Dominique about Yael sleeping with Jeremy, and Dominique told Darius on camera.

WANT MORE? Keep up with all the latest from last night’s television by subscribing to our newsletter. Head here for more details.

Darius obviously doesn’t pick Hot Rachel, but he also doesn’t pick Dominique because he doesn’t like her lack of discretion. He instead chooses to take Ruby to the dream suite. Jay and Rachel are thrilled, but Quinn is angry at Darius for going rogue. And she hates losing control.

So to get it back, she uses Wagerstein’s files to find a way to get to Ruby. As if installing extra cameras in the suitor’s suite wasn’t bad enough, Quinn then brings Ruby’s dad on set — and here come the fireworks she’s brought John to see. Luckily, Rachel and Coleman get there just in time to stop it… only Rachel doesn’t.

NEXT: Coleman on one shoulder, Quinn on the other

While Darius and Ruby are quite literally in the middle of sex, Ruby’s dad (Carl Lumbly) bursts open the doors. Coleman tells the crew to stop filming, but Quinn appeals to Rachel the best way she knows: good television. Rachel takes a beat to think and tells the cameras to continue filming; they capture Dr. Carter telling his daughter he’s ashamed of her and leaving her in a puddle of tears.

Rachel tries to ask Quinn what’s going on; she thinks she’s mad about the Impact Awards, but Quinn brushes it off and tells her to get rid of Coleman. “He’s your Chet,” she says. Rachel says Quinn is just jealous that she’ll soon have her own show and “a man who loves me.” Whoa, Rachel, it’s only been like a week. But Quinn says she’s just trying to protect her.

Quinn then tells Jay and Madison it’s time for an elimination ceremony…. even though it’s midnight. As the women get ready, Ruby tells Darius she doesn’t care what her father thinks: She knows Darius can be a better man, and she wants to help him get there.

Instead of a bracelet ceremony, the remaining women each hold a candle that will be extinguished by Darius if he chooses her to go home. Only one person is going home tonight, and it’s Dominique (I’m not exactly sure why Darius could forgive Yael’s transgressions and not hers, but we didn’t get to see her much outside of this episode, so I’m not too upset about it). But then Darius says, “I’m not done” and walks over to Ruby. He tells Ruby he’s not the one for her, that she deserves someone better. “It’s going to be too much work to disappoint you every day, Ruby.” Jay is almost as upset as Ruby as she exits.

Quinn is particularly happy with her work on the episode and asks John Booth if he got to see everything he wanted. He says no and asks her to come home with him. But she turns him down because she still has to buy a casket for her dad’s funeral in the morning. John Booth offers to take her to Costco, where there’s a mortuary section that stays open late. Umm, what?

Chet is moping in the corner watching them drive away, and it’s a good thing he’s there because he sees a still-drunk Jeremy (so much for that sweat lodge) follow Rachel into the wardrobe truck. She just wants to change out of her ball gown, but Jeremy has other ideas. He yells at her for being a “selfish, manipulative little bitch” while holding her against the wall. She hits him in an attempt to get away, and he knocks her over. Chet comes in to save the day, kicks Jeremy out of the truck, says “That’s not what a man does,” and fires him.

Is it okay to like Chet now?

Extras:

• Ioan Gruffudd being on the show just reminds me of Ringer — a show we should never forget. RIP.
• Also Carl Lumbly and Alias.
• “What JJ is doing for Star Wars, that’s what we’re doing for Everlasting.” Oh, Coleman, you dumb-dumb.
• Was Graham wearing a wet suit to sit in the hot tub?
• “It’s like The Notebook for black people.”

Share your thoughts on the episode below or find me on Twitter @realdalener.