Welcome to our coverage of Katy Keene! The CW’s newest series is a glitzy, warm, escapist spinoff of Riverdale and to be completely honest, it’s a mess. A fun mess! A mess with a great cast! But a mess nonetheless.
1. We’re in a Groove, People
Good news everyone- this show has settled into a certain range of quality over the last three episodes. We’re in solid B- territory and it’s honestly a relief. B- is something we can work with; it’s perfect fine, certainly worth some amount of investment, and leaves room for critique. This week we got the penultimate episode of Katy Keene’s freshman season and it certainly moves things forward in very big ways. If this was an episode of Friends, it would be called “The One Where Everything Blows Up.” If it were an episode of Community, it’d be called “Experiments in Explosive Substances.” If it was an episode of Scrubs, it’d be called “My Fallout.” Do you see where I’m going with this? After Hannah Melvey spilled Pepper’s secrets to Alex Cabot at the end of last week, things come crashing down for just about everybody this episode and it’s a sad affair. The only thing is that outside of Pepper’s storyline, a lot of what’s going on feels incredibly avoidable. That doesn’t mean that the plot lines are bad but it does mean that when things went wrong I was like “oh man that sucks but you should’ve seen this coming” instead being like “oh man that sucks and I’m so so sad.”
2. Jinn Jorge
The weirdest storyline of the week goes to Jorge, who’s trying to help his parents pay down their mortgage so they don’t lose their apartment building. He picks up 2 gigs- one as a Lacy’s Department Store employee (which mostly serves to give us a delightful Debi Mazar cameo), and one as a male stripper. It ends up serving absolutely no narrative purpose and I have no idea why it happened. No Jorge hate here (I swear), it just isn’t fun and doesn’t move anything forward with regard to character or story. I do love Debi Mazar though.
3. Josie Gets the Short Shrift
I love Ashleigh Murray. I think she’s really good at playing Josie McCoy, a character that I really enjoy watching. I also think she has been deeply underserved in the second half of this season. The show keeps gesturing toward Josie getting to be an active player in her own story but everything she does keeps getting absolutely swallowed up by the Cabot’s. Maybe that’s the point and we’re supposed to feel bad for Josie, but feeling bad for a character isn’t enough to carry a narrative. If they’re doomed, they have to be the primary architect of their doom for things to work (see: point number 5 in this review). Instead, Josie is stuck with Alex Cabot, who I guess is supposed to be sympathetic but I think actually just sucks. The big tragedy that he experiences is getting absolutely scammed by Pepper, who embezzled money he invested in the musical into the Pepper Plant. At one point he says something along the lines of “If I fail it’s proof to my dad that I couldn’t make it on my own” and that’s supposed to be compelling but, uh, the guy couldn’t make it on his own. So when he ends up working for his dad again, taking over the Pepper Plant, it doesn’t feel sad, it feels like he’s dumb. And I don’t feel bad for Josie because I feel bad for Alex Cabot, I feel bad for Josie because she has to be involved with Alex Cabot. Also, what’s the deal with the Pussycats? Seems like we’ll have to wait for season 2 before they’re more than ornamental characters.
4. BREAKIING NEWS: GUY IS CANCELED AGAIN
Guy LaMontagne sucks and I never should’ve let my guard down. As fate would have it, on top of being an abusive boss, he steals design ideas from all of his apprentices, including Katy. When Katy calls him out for it, he brushes things off by basically saying “when I was an apprentice my designs got stolen and it was an honor and that’s how things work in this town.” I was very mad when this happened because it felt like yet another bad professional lesson for Katy. It feels like every time Katy learns something about how to make it in fashion, the lesson involves getting over some kind of abusive or otherwise corrupt practice because it’s commonplace and that just doesn’t feel like something the series should be pushing. Luckily, Katy came to the same realization toward the end of the episode and drew a line in the sand with Guy. It’s an incredibly welcome development that gets topped of by a sudden KO appearance for a nice pep talk. Things are set up in an interesting way going into the finale and the show treats Katy well enough that I’m hopeful that they stick the landing.
5. Carolina Reaper
A Carolina Reaper is the most dangerous kind of Pepper- so dangerous it can be fatal. I feel like the analogy here is obvious enough that I don’t need to explain it to you so I’ll just say HOLY COW. Over the last few episodes, Katy Keene has been consistently pushing on the gas pedal of Pepper’s arc; this week, the writers drop a cinderblock on the pedal and watch it run into a brick wall. Now, I recognize that this could seem like a critical metaphor but it’s not and I got excited when I came up with it so please let me have this. The show has been doing a good job at setting Pepper up for a tragic fall from grace. She’s constantly been getting backed into new corners and scheming her way out of them by making impossible promises and striking impossible bargains. Inevitably, all of that comes back to ruin her at once. All at once, her friends find out her secrets and her scam-ees start to wise up and she has to drop her whole facade and figure out how to do right by her friends. And she does! By the time the Pepper Plant opens, she’s paid down Jorge’s parents’ debts and given Katy a personal studio and Josie a consistent gig. All of the loose ends are tied up except for one- a handbag she stole from Lacy’s. And that’s what takes her down and it’s sad and tragic and feels inevitable like all good falls from grace do. As I’m writing this, it’s becoming clear that this strikingly similar to Uncut Gems. Also, are we at the butcher? Because Julia Chan’s got some chops. She plays Pepper’s franticness and desperation incredibly well; even as she betrays her friends, she feels like a sympathetic, interesting character worth our emotional investment. And oh my god that broken smile at the end of the episode when she gets arrested is heartbreaking. Man oh man does Pepper’s whole deal get me excited for the finale.
