Cash On Delivery
Episode 7 of Inventing Anna begins with Paul grilling Vivian and asking her to crack on and get the article to him asap. With the baby due in two weeks and the first draft not even written, Vivian is still torn over the Rachel debacle. So why is she not talking to Vivian? Well, it turns out she’s actually sold her story to Vanity Fair already. When Vivian does some research, she realizes the article was actually written by Rachel herself. Although Paul claims they’ve been had, Vivian throws shade at Rachel, saying she’s not a real journalist and that Vivian’s piece is about “the fetters of female ambition.” Her pitch does well to keep Landon on her side, and she’s allowed to keep writing. During flashbacks, we see Rachel drowning in stress. She’s still $62k in debt, with Anna avoiding her calls and dodging the real issue. She promises to wire the money but it’s been over 3 months and still nothing. Until one day when Anna transfers… $5k. A fraction of what she really owes. Rachel still clings by the fact that she and Anna are still friends but Noah is concerned. The thing is Rachel won’t turn over Anna to the police in “Trump’s America” but fails to see how big of a con artist she is. Eventually the real Anna comes out and Kacy forces an intervention. There, they call out her BS but Anna claims the money is coming and continues to dodge the question. After calling Rachel a baby and dramatic, she runs away. When Vivian shows up to try and retrace Anna’s steps, Kacy gets cold feet and wants her name taken out the article. Of course, this is all to drum up a bit of superficial drama, as Kacy soon decides to keep her quotes after all, but using the alias of “The Trainer”. Just as Vivian receives this news, she goes into labour and is rushed into hospital, complete with the whole editorial room erupting into applause. Anyway, Vivian gives birth while her article is released to the public.
The Episode Review
So the bulk of this episode essentially revolves around Rachel trying and failing to get her funds back from Anna, who continues to dip, dodge and weave around paying back any of the money she’s stolen. There’s still a weird undercurrent of championing this woman though, and the lack of analysis surrounding just why Anna did all of this and her upbringing and past is a little disappointing. It also doesn’t help that most of this show has been hijacked by Vivian and while seeing things from her perspective is handy, her attitude reeks of bias. Even after everything she’s learned about Anna, she still refers to the story as “the fetters of female ambition” like she did something admirable. Maybe it’s just my interpretation but there’s nothing empowering about destroying lives and stealing money. However, we’ve got two more episodes to go now and although this show has been drawn out, it’s been enjoyable at times – let’s hope the final two episodes deliver.
