photo: cw
San Vincente
Original Air Date: Dec 8, 2009
Meg – Reviewer
meg@thetwocentscorp.com
Tonight is a game-changer of an episode with Syd’s murderer revealed, the dissolution of Riley & Jonah, and some other fun twists and surprises! I’m glad this episode was plot-packed, because it’s going to have to tide us over until the New Year.
David & Lauren
David and Lauren are all happy and couple-y. Of course that doesn’t even last into the credits. Lauren goes off for a romp with a client where she takes a page from Pretty Woman and doesn’t let him kiss her. Anonymous John has some sparkly new club drug he wants them both to take. Lauren is hilariously aghast that he’d even suggest a champagne-guzzling hooker might also be into drugs. The nerve!
Sadly, she doesn’t get much of a say in the matter, as Anonymous John drugs her drink. Lauren ends up writhing on the bathroom floor (not my preferred way to end a date). She tells Anonymous John to get out, but neglects to ask him to leave the cash on the night stand (Doh! New Prostitute Error #7!). David calls Lauren and rushes to the hotel to find her and whisk her to the emergency room. When the docs tell him it looks like an overdose, he seems heartbroken and confused. Aww.
Jonah & Riley & Ella!
Riley freaks out about sample wedding invitations and her fear that her mother will become a mother-of-the-bride-zilla. Jonah points out that Riley is a big girl (despite her being size negative 2) and suggests they get rid of the stress by immediately eloping to Vegas. Jonah – why are you doing this? She has the personality of a leaf!
Riley is clearly waffling—she resists packing and gets into a stupid fight with Auggie. Meanwhile Jonah is packed and ready to go along with his lucky penny in case they decide to hit the blackjack tables (I worry for his chances if he thinks pennies are instrumental in blackjack…).
Although Ella is bummed about Jonah’s impending nuptials and clearly has feelings for him, she focuses on her job and manages to get him a pitch meeting with a fancy director. As Riley and Jonah stop for gas en route to Weddingville, Ella tracks them down (thanks to some product placement GPS fancy gadget) to tell Jonah that the director wants to buy his movie. Jonah is thrilled and then suddenly less thrilled when Riley says they should cancel their elopement so he can work on his pitch. Riley says Vegas can wait. Jonah says the movie can wait. Ella sensibly excuses herself from the awkwardness.
Jonah and Riley’s talk degenerates into an ultimatum (Jonah: “No more wedding? No more us!”) and they break up. Somewhere Auggie’s ears perk up and he and his glossy pecs pay a visit to Riley and deliver an ill-timed smooch. Ill-timed because a) dude, you couldn’t have waited maybe more than five minutes post break-up before swooping in there? and b) crazy Violet sees this exchange and is not pleased. As Auggie consoles himself with Jose Cuervo, Violet burns her rip-off Warhol painting of Auggie’s giant head.
Elsewhere in the city, Jonah finds Ella and tells her about the breakup. She tries to be a supportive friend, but he closes the door on that and starts making out with her. To her credit, Ella stops him and says she has no intention of being a one-night rebound, and Jonah tells her he’s sure about this. Sexiness ensues.
Amanda & Sydney
Amanda has an amusing flashback to a confrontation she had with Sydney in a church, of all places. They have some catty back and forth, which reveals that the mysterious “it” that Amanda was trying to get back from Sydney was a 19 million dollar painting she allegedly stole. Really? A painting? Yawn…
Sydney & MURDER
Michael Mancini is in prison for being found in possession of a bloody necklace belonging to Sydney. When Vanessa (his wife) comes to visit him, he reveals that he saw Vanessa fleeing Syd’s apartment the night of her murder and that he took the bloody necklace from the scene to protect her.
Michael calls David and tells him that he thinks Vanessa killed Sydney. He is worried that Vanessa will take their son Noah and flee, so he asks David to kidnap Noah and keep him safe, which sort of conflicts with the last time they spoke about Noah and Michael threatened to kill David if he took him again. And does anyone remember the last time David kidnapped Noah? It did not end well!
Regardless, nobody listens to me, and David takes Noah to Melrose Place. When he needs to rush off to rescue Lauren, he stashes Noah with Violet (?!) and says “I think my dad’s wife killed your mom.” Not sure why David suddenly believes Michael, but it keeps the story moving, so I won’t complain…
An enraged Vanessa shows up at the apartment complex and has a flashback of her own. When Vanessa found out about Michael’s affair with Sydney, she went to her apartment to confront her. Some beautiful bitchery ensues with Sydney taunting Vanessa for not keeping Michael satisfied and Vanessa calling Syd a whore (before Syd points out that Vanessa herself used to be a prostitute and therefore, this is pretty much a case of the pot calling the kettle a ho-bag). I love this scene!
Vanessa starts kicking the crap out of Sydney, strangling and knifing her before Syd retaliates with… a ballet flat? Not necessarily my choice of anti-homicidal footwear (stiletto anyone?), but okay… Vanessa puts the bloody knife in the hand of a sleeping David (who failed to notice the violent and very loud struggle about four feet away from him) and runs outside to finish off Sydney.
In the present, Vanessa hears Noah in Violet’s apartment. She knocks on the door and demands that Violet release her son. Violet gives her the crazy eyes and asks “You gonna kill me? Like you killed my mom?” You can almost see Vanessa thinking “okay, I was not expecting that…” Vanessa clearly hasn’t been taking her rage displacement pills and starts pounding on Violet. The two have a rough and dirty smackdown that ends with them fighting in the pool, where Violet drowns Vanessa.
Amanda shows up mid-drowning and observes impassively. Later, when Violet is interviewed by the police, Amanda vouches for her and claims she witnessed the entire confrontation and that it was clearly self-defense. When Violet says she doesn’t know how to thank her, Amanda rather ominously says “some day you will…”
So there we have it – mid-season and Syd’s murder is solved! I loved this episode, but was disappointed that the murderer turned out to be someone that wasn’t really an established character or someone that we’d gotten to know or care about that much. What did you think? Leave me some comments and let me know your two cents!
