UnREAL 2.09

Espionage

Rachel goes on quite the journey in this episode as she vacillates between her love for Coleman and her loyalty to Quinn. Jay finds out how fleeting success can be. One episode after replacing Rachel things quickly begin to fall apart for him as the actions of Rachel and Madison completely undermine his plans. Coleman goes over to the dark side and solidifies his pact with Hot Rachel. Chet does what he can to score with Tiffany who is angry about the way she is treated by Darius after their date ends.

Rachel gets revenge on Yael and humiliates her on camera, partly for the sake of the show and partly for personal reasons, during her date with Darius. She spikes the contestants food with (presumably) a laxative. She then refuses to let her make a quick run to the bathroom. When Yael insists she finds that the closest bathroom is locked. This is something that Rachel did earlier in the episode, although it wasn't explained at that time what she was doing. Yael poops herself on camera, although nothing is actually shown other than her crying. Quinn loves it. It is hard to say who has the higher moral ground here, Rachel or Hot Rachel, both of whom do things that are somewhere between questionable and evil.

Jay tries talking Chantal into quitting the show. It seems to work until Madison talks her into staying and doing something bold on her date with Darius: she gets in the hot tub naked with him. Darius loves it. Quinn loves it. The only one angry about it is Jay, who had plans for her.

At the elimination ceremony, Yael gets the boot from Darius. Coleman consoles her about getting kicked off by jumping into bed with her. This is after he reassures Real Rachel that she is the only one for him. The man is evil, plain and simple. This turn on his part may be in character for him but it does seem a bit fast. Not too fast for me, but still a bit out of character for who he presented himself to be initially.

Quinn finds out that she can't have children and loses her cool. She tells John she never wants to see him again. She kicks everyone out of the control room and then starts tearing apart equipment. Rachel is the only brave enough to approach her. Rachel talks her down by letting her know what Coleman knows and has planned.

Everything seems to be set up in the final episode as a showdown between Quinn and Rachel on one side versus Coleman and Hot Rachel on the other side. There's going to be more to the episode than that. no doubt, but that seems to be the most likely central conflict. I can't foresee what sort of twists and turns there will be in the final installment of season two but I will be surprised if Quinn and Rachel don't come out on top. What happens to everyone else? Who will Darius pick? Will Jeremy, Rachel's mother, or John Booth return in the season finale? How will Rachel and Quinn's relationship be affected by the events in the final episode of the season? I have no idea.