Loveday Writing

Meanwhile, Edie and Tim are in her office, reading Diane’s testimony, which Edie admits is brutal. Tim talks about them going to his grandmother’s 80^th birthday party in Washington DC, but Edie manages to talk her way out of it by saying she needs to work. Meanwhile, Roxy is training Izzy at Round Offs Gym and she runs into a frenemy from her gymnast days, Nina Bennett. At the Institute, Julia and Isaac discuss one of the patients who has come in for a referral for a uterine resection that Isaac recommended, but Julia thought she was considering her options.

Meanwhile, as Leon is walking down the street, Brian approaches him. He angrily tells Leon that his parents are splitting up because of his actions, he punches him and leaves. Afterwards, Julia goes to Leon’s apartment to see him, where Edie is increasing security and tells her that Leon was at the hospital getting his injuries treated but he left. Julia tries to apologise to Edie, but she also doesn’t accept it. Roxy is also there, still giving Julia the silent treatment.

Leon asks Julia what is going on with work, she brings up the patient that she was discussing with Isaac, and when she hears him make the same recommendations using the same words Isaac used, she realises that Isaac and Leon have been working together behind her back. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Edie asks Roxy to keep her affair a secret and she agrees.

Later, Edie drops a revised witness list to Amanda’s office and overhears a boy, Lorenzo, reciting a legal-like speech. He reveals that he’s taking part in a junior mock trial and Edie gives him tips. Moments later, Amanda arrives and Lorenzo reveals that he is her son.

Meanwhile, Genevieve comes to see Leon and brings a jazz record with her, but Leon tells her he wants to go to a jazz club. He tells her that he remembers Brian’s case, his father had such a low probability of conceiving and that he wanted to help them. Genevieve asks him how much of his actions were motivated by wanting to help people and how much of them were motivated by him playing God.

The musicians at the club ask Leon to join them on stage, he is reluctant but goes up. He starts playing the piano when he hears some guys in the crowd recognise him from the scandal and mock him. Leon and Genevieve leave. He tells Genevieve that he wanted to take his mind off the scandal for five minutes and he asks her why she’s not angry with him about it. She tells him that there is so much to be angry about it in the world and she doesn’t like to waste time being angry about things she can’t change, and she was thankful to have Edie any way she could. He asks he on balance, didn’t he do more harm than good. She tells him that he’s not bad person but he’s done bad things that have hurt people and she’s not going to make him feel better about it. She also tells him he needs to feel terrible about it but he’ll survive.

Genevieve’s comments to Leon are echoed when Amanda tells Edie at her apartment that everyone who was affected by Leon’s actions have the right to be pissed off. Edie initially comes to Amanda’s apartment to prep Lorenzo for his mock trial. Amanda and Edie almost kiss, almost, as they are interrupted by Tim calling Edie so she can sing Happy Birthday to his grandmother as promised.

Meanwhile, Roxy and Isaac are hanging out at Julia’s apartment, just as they are starting to kiss, Julia comes home and confronts Isaac about working with Leon behind her back. He tries to make the argument that they worked together as he and Leon are doctors and she isn’t, but she reminds him that she’s in charge and she can no longer trust him, so she fires him. Roxy asks her if she’s jealous of Isaac as she never got her chance to become a doctor, but Julia dismisses this.

Later, Roxy and Izzy are training at the gym and Roxy sees Nick, a former coach and her ex-boyfriend. Nick now owns the gym and apparently dated Nina in the past. He clearly makes Roxy uncomfortable, to the point that after running into him for the first time, she and Izzy leave immediately.

Meanwhile, Julia goes on a date with Donovan, a public school English teacher who is widowed with two teenage children. His revelation of being a widowed father is too much for Julia and she runs away. Later, Edie comes to see her and while she makes it clear she’s still mad at her, she needs her advice. Edie admits that she has feelings for Amanda and that she met Lorenzo. Julia tells her she’s proud of her for taking a huge risk for herself, but also tells her to be careful because she doesn’t want to see anyone get hurt. Julia also tells Edie that she ran away from Donovan because she was afraid of dating someone grown up when she doesn’t feel that way herself. Julia meets up with Donovan and apologises, he tells her that he understands the revelation that he is widowed and a father would have been overwhelming for her. He gives her a napkin with a fake invoice, joking about her running away from him.

Later, Edie goes to Lorenzo’s mock trial and sits next to Amanda, holding her hand. Julia goes to Leon’s apartment and confronts him about consulting with Isaac behind her back. Leon tells her that she can’t fire Isaac as he needs the job to stay in the country. Julia tells him that he needs to be honest with her as the Institute is just as much hers as it is his.

Later, Julia, Edie and Roxy meet up at the diner. Julia tells them she is going to rehire Isaac and Roxy asks Julia to help her find a job at the Institute. When both Edie and Julia ask Roxy what happened with training Izzy, she tells them about her past with Nick and Nina. They give her a pep talk and they go with her and Izzy to Izzy’s team tryouts. Edie and Julia are shocked that Nick is clearly older than Roxy as they were under the impression that both Roxy and Nick were teenagers when they dated.

Later, Julia goes to see Isaac and is surprised that he lives in a modest apartment. Isaac tells her that he sends most of the money he makes back to his family. Julia tells him that she wants him to stay at the Institute but that she needs to be able to trust him. Meanwhile, Edie goes back to Amanda’s apartment and declares her love for her, Amanda admits she’s falling in love with her too, and Edie asks what they do now.

Later, Julia looks at Donovan’s napkin invoice and finds his phone number on the back and calls him. The episode ends with Edie coming home, surprised that Tim is home early, and he tells her that he knows she was lying about being at work all week. Edie tells him that the baby pressure is a lot and blew off steam with her friends but he clearly doesn’t believe her.

Overall, this was a good but not great episode. We got some character development with Leon when he confides in Genevieve about his desire to help patients and his stress about the consequences of his actions, however the fact that in every case he mentions, the father was always the problem raises a red flag for me. I also appreciated that Genevieve told him that he needs to face the consequences of his actions, playing the double role of his victim and his friend. We also got an insight into Roxy’s past with the reveal of a clearly predatory, toxic relationship she was in when she was a teenager, and she is clearly still affected by it.

It looks like Edie will have to deal with her affair now that she has dedicated her love to Amanda and Tim knows she is hiding something. I felt the reveal of Amanda having a son and therefore complicating their affair was a little cliché. I also felt that including Brian, another Bechley child, was pointless. Yes, his parents splitting up and him being angry at Leon and punching him was a realistic consequence to Leon’s actions, however once he punches Leon, he never appears again. Considering that the episode opened with his arrival in New York after travelling across the country via train, and that he assaulted Leon, the writers could and should have done more with him, and Leon just walks off his injuries anyway.

I also appreciated Julia getting a new love interest in Donovan. The dialogue and chemistry between them was fantastic.

It will be interesting to see where we go from here now that Edie possibly has to admit to the affair, Julia has a new love interest and Roxy’s past is coming back to haunt her.

Stray Observations:

Running gag – Wolf whistling constantly coming from Julia’s phone as she doesn’t know how to put the notifications from Footsie on silent.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “You’re on a dating app again? The paint isn’t even dry from the Brother Humper scandal.” (Isaac to Julia)
• “She’s feisty.” “She had to be.” (Genevieve-Leon on Roxy)
• “When in doubt, object, forcefully.” (Edie to Lorenzo on junior mock trial)
• “You’re so cute. I didn’t mean to talk about your looks. I heard women feel condescended to when men compliment their looks.” “Who are these women? I don’t know them. Should I condescend to you by saying you have mesmerising eyes?” “Yeah I’m good with that.” (Donovan-Julia-Donovan going back-and-forth)
• “I need advice on a messy situation and you are literally the messiest person I know and I have no friends.” (Edie to Julia)
• “I’m sorry for calling you the messiest person I know.” “No, it’s okay, it’s accurate.” (Edie-Julia)
• “You are not old, you could still see the screen when your kids handed it to you.” (Julia to Donovan)
• “Going in there, day after day, having my past thrown in my face, it’s like a sewer fire.” “You mean dumpster fire.” “I’m being vulnerable and you’re correcting my slang?” (Roxy-Julia-Roxy)
• “Let’s pound some water, sober up and ruin some lives!” (Roxy to Edie and Julia)
• “I don’t want to run anymore.” “So don’t run. Walk, crawl, whatever, as long as it’s in my direction.” (Julia-Donovan)