With friends like these, who needs enemies? As the Monday, June 27, episode of UnREAL opened, Quinn King (Constance Zimmer) was still reeling from the revelation that her former mentee, Rachel Goldberg (Shiri Appleby), had gone over her head to the network exec Gary to ask for both Quinn and Chet (Craig Bierko) to be removed so that she could run the show herself. ICYMI, that plan backfired when the network opted to bring in Coleman Wasserman (Michael Rady) instead of giving Rachel the reins.
But Rachel’s betrayal was just the tip of Quinn’s bad-news iceberg: Her dad was dead. When Rachel got wind of this, she put their current fight aside and went to see Quinn to tell her she was sorry for her loss. “Oh, that’s what you’re sorry about? Not Gary?” Quinn snapped. Rachel tried to leave, citing the fact that this obviously wasn’t a good time, but Quinn insisted it was fine. Rachel fessed up that she did, indeed, talk to the exec because she needed somebody who would be “reasonable and objective” to help fix things on set.
“You stabbed me in the back,” Quinn replied before reminding Rachel that thanks to her brilliant plan, they were now saddled with Coleman. “Stop acting like you care about me,” Quinn said. “I plucked you from nothing, made you a producer, and now you think you can just do this all on your own. Well, you can’t. The truth is, you need me.” Rachel bit her lip as Quinn pointed out, “You always crack, Rachel. You’re unstable and ungrateful, and you cannot make this show without me.”
Rachel took a moment before saying, “Watch me.” Then she left, knowing she had effectively declared war on her toughest opponent yet.
Darius Faces a Career-Ending Injury
Quinn was hardly Rachel’s only problem, however. Darius (B.J. Britt) was really hurt and stuck in bed. Rachel got a doctor (disguised as a messenger) to evaluate the pro athlete, and the doc insisted he get surgery, like, yesterday — not what Rachel wanted to hear. She did her best to sell both Darius and his manager/bestie, Romeo (Gentry White), on the benefits of sticking out the Everlasting season, promising a shiny sportscasting deal at the end of it, but Romeo was insistent that they were out of there.
Meanwhile, Chet — who had inexplicably decided to bring his infant son to work with him that day — had all of the hopeful ladies suited up in bikinis for a powder-puff football game. Rachel and Coleman devised a plan to get Darius on the sidelines, practicing sportscasting the game with Nicole (the “wifey” whose dad owned a competing NFL team) to keep him out of harm’s way, but that plan wasn’t going to last if Quinn had her way.
Nothing Unites People Faster Than a Common Enemy
Having heard that Quinn’s dad died, Chet dropped by her office to see how she was doing. “He was a worthless father, and now he’s dead,” she said as she sipped a drink. Chet asked if she wanted to hold his son, prompting her to point out that the child was the result of Chet cheating on her with his wife (back when he and his wife were still together), and no, she did not feel like cuddling with the baby.
“The show is our baby. We’ve got to fight for it,” Chet replied. He sort of had a point. Conveniently, Jay (Jeffrey Bowyer) popped in at this moment to give them a heads-up that something was definitely wrong with Darius. Smelling blood, Quinn and Chet united in an unofficial pact to figure out what was up and how they could profit from it — and it didn’t take long, once they began reviewing the footage, to realize the “messenger” was a medic, and Darius was really, seriously injured.
Chet and Quinn then crafted a plan to force Darius into the powder puff game and have the girls tackle him so that he would be even more injured and unable to hide it. Then they’d whisk him off in an ambulance in the midst of a gaggle of crying ladies and make the ratings soar. (Oh, and also potentially end his career, but that wasn’t their concern).
Despite Rachel’s efforts to prevent Darius from getting sucked into the game, he did — and in about 2.2 seconds, he got tackled by an army of women in varying states of intoxication and dress. Quinn’s smile went ear-to-ear as she watched Darius unable to get up.
Rachel Out-Quinns Quinn
Determined not to let Quinn sideline her plans for the season, Rachel talked to Darius in private and encouraged him to get an epidural from a doctor who she and Coleman had secured. Romeo was against it because numbing Darius’ pain could potentially make the NFL player unable to know when he was causing even more harm to his back and potentially not only end his career, but his ability to walk. Rachel, however, kept dangling the carrot of a shiny rehabbed image and a fat commentator contract.
Ultimately, Darius agreed to Rachel’s plan and sent Romeo home. The ambulance finally arrived, and Quinn had all the girls prepped with tears flowing — when Darius walked out, looking better than ever and announced he was ready for his one-on-one. One of the drunk(est) girls then came bounding toward him to claim her date and threw up on his shoes.
In the midst of the excitement, the police showed up … and arrested Chet for kidnapping. “That’s my son!” he screamed as they pushed him into the back of the squad car. It goes without saying no one exactly came running to Chet’s defense, and the night moved on with the elimination. (For the record, Darius kept the blacktivist Ruby, the black beauty queen Chantal, the wifey Tiffany, the confederate-flag-bikini–loving Beth Ann, some girl named Jameson who hadn’t had much air time, and “hot Rachel” Yael.
Ruby Makes a Play for Darius
Fueled by the fact that she hadn’t been cut yet, the outspoken Ruby sidled her way up to Darius after filming was done for the night and got him talking. After assuring him there were no cameras following her, he said it felt good to finally be his own man. “It feels good for once to do something that I want to do, not to worry so much, to take a chance,” Darius mused as Ruby beamed back at him and urged him to “be that guy.”
He moved in. “Are you sure this is what that guy wants?” she asked with a smile. Darius said yes. And then a camera appeared in the window as they began making out.
Meanwhile, Rachel hooked up with Coleman, Yael hooked up with Rachel’s ex Jeremy (Josh Kelly), and Quinn told the people in charge of her father’s personal effects to put them all in his house and “burn it to the ground.” Yikes.
Tell Us: Do you think Rachel and Coleman can take on Quinn and Chet?
Make sure to check out our Facebook Live UnREAL panel Tuesday, June 28, at 10:30 a.m. ET with special guests Constance Zimmer and Shiri Appleby. UnREAL airs on Lifetime Mondays at 10 p.m. ET.
