At work, Sofia tells everyone the board of supervisors is voting yes on their zoning proposal and wants them all to come to the vote to celebrate. Molly has her own good news. She brings in Jean-Pierre to announce that they are all going to the Silver Moon Summit, where world leaders and billionaires get together and discuss innovative ways to make the world a better place. Sofia tells Molly she should have discussed the summit surprise with her before telling the company. She’s not a fan of a conference where billionaires decide how the world should be fixed. What about their mission to stay local and give money to the people who are actually doing the work? But Molly assures her that there’s nothing wrong with increasing their ambition. Meanwhile, Nicholas gets a call from his director, who wants him to fill in for the lead role in the play. Nicholas becomes even more worried about the play, especially regarding a moment at the end where he’s supposed to cry. Howard promises to help him, but they’ll have to go back to being “mortal enemies” afterward. While helping Nicholas, Howard intentionally ignores several calls from Tanya. When he digs into Nicholas’ past, Nicholas shares that he had a nice, normal life–albeit one with no “I love you’s” or hugging. Howard finally takes a call from Tanya. He says he’s been busy helping Nicholas, and she accuses him of abandoning him for a traitor. He tells her to stop and breaks up with her. “We’re over. Goodbye.” He then hangs up. Howard tells Nicholas he realizes he was just trying to help him with Tanya. Before he goes on, he tells him he’s proud of him and loves him. He knows he can do this. The friends then hug it out. At a zoning meeting, a woman asks Molly why she gets to make all the decisions about her neighborhood when she instead could tear down one of her mansions and build housing there. Several other people make negative comments about Molly, and she barely holds in her anger. Seeing how upset Molly is about being attacked, Sofia says this isn’t about her. Everyone has their own struggles. Molly unironically states that she wishes her struggle were easier–right before receiving a pie to the face. Luckily, Arthur steps in front of her to shield most of it. At the police station, Molly thanks Arthur for protecting her, right before Jean-Pierre comes in to take her home. Molly tells Jean-Pierre what Sofia always tells her: that it makes sense for people to be wary of people like Molly. Jean-Pierre dismisses this, saying that Sofia can’t understand people like them. He says there are ways they can help without being attacked, like with the Summit. He then assures her there are multiple ways to be good. While on a jet with Jean-Pierre, Molly realizes Nicholas’ play is in 30 minutes. But there’s no way she can make it like she promised. Nicholas plays his part incredibly. All of his coworkers from the Wells Foundation attend–except for Molly. But she does deliver some champagne with a note instructing him to enjoy it.
The Episode Review
It’s such a relief to see Nicholas and Howard make up. I love Loot’s emphasis on friendship through these characters, even if their conflict was flat. This episode is setting us up for a finale and thus preparing Molly for some harsh realizations. Unfortunately, the writers decided to contribute to this arc by populating the zoning meeting with negative caricatures. These people care about their neighborhood and rightly criticize Molly, yet Loot would rather depict them as one angry mob. It doesn’t help me care anymore about Molly’s trite journey to self-actualization.
