Yoohoo, I’m back! And we’re off. Things kick off with Jane (Rachael Taylor) getting stuck in a secret junk closet in the basement, where alittle storage-room-urchin grabs her leg while still clutching onto her American Girl doll. I’m thinking, “Hey, is that Samantha? I always wanted her.” Fortunately for Jane, Henry (Dave Annable) opens the door and saves her and is all, “Where have you been? And don’t you dare say something about ghosts!” He doesn’t see that ghost toddler.
It was a good evening at the Drake. Let’s review and don’t mind that sound of a child in the distance playing the triangle. We’ll get to that later:
This week we’re introduced to another tenant at the Drake. Her storyline shows some spooky promise. Annie is an obituary writer who is “like, so sick of dead people.” She wants to be funnier and more creative in her work. Gavin (Terry O’Quinn) thinks he may be able to pepper her life with more of that. Back at home, Annie is writing the obituary for a Mr. Oscar Diebold -- DIEBOLD, serious. She ends up creating a whole imaginary life for Mr. Diebold about how this nobody was an American hero and when she hits F5 -- dreams come true. She gets held up in traffic the next morning because this dude actually becomes an American hero and his funeral service has congested the streets of Manhattan. All the stuff she wrote in his obit manifested itself into reality. As she begins to hone her powers she edits her late mother’s obituary and writes that her mom was a world famous children’s book author and guess what? Her life instantly reflects what the bougie life of the daughter of Judy Blume would look like. And so does her new wardrobe. She’s like The Hulk but with a makeover. Annie is on her way to being the next great journalist until one of her own creations -- a Soviet assassin -- comes after her and tortures her. She tries to call 911 but the operator says the call can’t be made. I don’t think that happens in real life but s’okay. It seems Annie may be dead. But not confirmed, confirmed!
Tonight, it was almost ten minutes into the episode when my roommate asked, “Do you think Vanessa Williams will have one line tonight? Fortunately, the gods were listening and Auntie Nessa was on full display in this episode doing what she does best. Having scotch together for lunch, Jane and Olivia begin bonding. Sorta. Jane’s all, “My degree is in architecture. but my heart is in historic preservation.” And Olivia is all, “Today’s the 10 year anniversary of my daughter dying.” Later Olivia takes Jane hot rodding through Central Park towards the scene of Sasha’s accident. Olivia is getting a little cray cray and Jane is trying to comfort her. It’s then that Olivia admits it wasn’t an accident. Her daughter wanted to end it all. And Gavin doesn’t know! V is all, “Real talk: Gavin would blame himself.” After Jane and Olivia’s six hour lunch, we see a tender moment between Olivia and Gavin. This gets complicated when later Olivia burns Sasha’s suicide note and it says something about, “he is evil.” I was starting to question their role in everything that is happening at the Drake. But I am wondering how much Olivia knows. Let’s discuss in a few.
Oh and real quick. There was this scene between Henry and Brian (Robert Buckley). The context of the scene did not advance major plot points but was I the only one who shouted, “Kiss!” Okay, thanks for entertaining that -- moving on.
Tonight also saw Gavin’s insistence that Henry take life by the cojones. Over a game of wall ball or something (I’m kidding, it’s dodgeball), Gavin is asking Henry about his job prospects and where is his life going? Gavin is trying to beat Henry at dodgeball and beat some sense into him. “BE CUTTHROAT” seems to be the takeaway.
When the two gents are dining at the same restaurant as a councilman that Henry has an interview with in a few weeks, Gavin urges/forces/Italian-mom-guilts Henry into approaching him to schmooze. A lot of politics, politics, politics. Of course, Gavin has the councilman wrapped up in all this, and a later conversation shows that they don’t exactly see eye-to-eye on this plan... and what Henry’s role should be. So, goodbye, down an elevator shaft he goes. Bye. When Gavin sees Henry next he convinces him that he should consider having a campaign rather than merely running one. Henry seems into it. Or brainwashed.
Throughout the whole episode Jane is hearing what sounds like the little girl in the storage room trying to ring a dinner bell, but her arm is too tired. A faint ting. It’s driving Jane mad. She is also seeing visions of blood OOZING over the door of the top secret storage room. She also continues to see this little moppet saying things like, “Girl it’s bad in there!” or “Don’t you dare open up that suitcase. If you do, you a dumdum!” The last we see our heroine she retrieves a suitcase with a bell on it that might just be the cause of the constant ting throughout the episode. When Jane places it by her bedside it bubbles and boils and hands are pressing on it. Stupid Jane, the ghost baby told you not to touch it!
Do you guys think that Olivia is unaware of how evil Gavin is? Is she in on it too? Are they evil, or are they doing the bidding of a larger entity? Does Jane make enough money managing the Drake that she does not need to pursue employment elsewhere - what about architecture!?
