Season 2 Finale Remains a Mental Block for UnREAL

“Oh God please, let this be a great season”.

As excited as I was for the premiere of Season 3 of UnREAL, I was a little wary of how they’d deal with that tiny issue of Jeremy killing two people. And how do they do that? By making a blood oath (between the conspirators after the fact) of course.

But I’m getting ahead of myself; because before this, we find out that Rachel has been on a farm the past six months “floating in water and tending goats” – in Quinn’s words. This itself is not surprising because every season, we are introduced to a new improved Rachel (Rachel of this season is “currently not a bullshitter”) who always ends up going back to default Rachel.

Quinn has come to Rachel’s sacred farm because she needs her for Everlasting; she’s on thin ice and needs the show to succeed to build her empire. Rachel is reluctant at first but Quinn says those magic words “I need you. I miss you” and Rachel is back on board. This particular scene reminds me of one of the things I love about UnREAL – the dysfunctional relationship between Rachel and Quinn. The other thing being Quinn's no-bullshit attitude.

Back on Everlasting, this season’s Suitor (“suitress”) is “the female Elon Musk – smart, hot but single” – Serena Wolcott - who has had difficulties finding love. The choice for the suitor is not surprising as UnREAL tends to align with dominant social issues – like last season with the African American suitor when the #Blacklivesmatter movement was intense and this season with a feminist figure smack in the middle of the #MeToo movement.

 Although, Unreal was done shooting when the movement gained momentum; according to the creators.

The choice of the suitor (a smart feminist) along with Rachel’s newfound honesty raises a few issues for Rachel; the fact that she somehow sees Quinn in this woman and as Quinn says, has made her the face of feminism, she is unwilling to manipulate Serena like she would have done with any other suitor/contestant. There’s also the fact that Serena seems quite unwilling to bend to the rules of the reality show. 

Towards the end of the first episode, it starts to look like Serena might be willing to flush her feminism down the drain if it means she gets to spend the rest of her life with a man by her side. I’m curious to see how that act might become a moral lesson for the season, but then again, when has Unreal ever been about lessons? Rachel did call the cops on a black man driving a car that didn’t belong to him, hoping for the best.

Per the usual Unreal drama, Rachel will definitely end up sleeping with the sexy, sensitive, man-bun wearer, August (and who can blame her), Chet has a new young girlfriend (surprise!), Quinn is still Quinn, Madison is sleeping with Gary, Network President (the girl is boning up the ladder), there’s a new shrink who refuses to share client confidential information and might actually be there specifically for Rachel - which is a good move if you ask me; the woman is unstable and is responsible for the death of 3 innocent people (if we are to believe newly reformed Jeremy). 

I’m eager to see how Quinn deals with the Jeremy threat – because she will handle it - and how this season of Everlasting will go down. This first episode of Season 3 was a pretty strong one (hopefully better than Season 2) with promising storylines but I can’t help but wonder how it will end. UnREAL/Everlasting tends to end with chaos but how exactly does one top the murder of two innocent people? This is the problem with overreaching when it comes to drama or thrillers; viewers expect the next to be better than the last and when it isn’t, there’s a user quality decline.

Here’s to hoping the UnREAL doesn’t become a cautionary tale for overdoing it.

Unreal Moments

• Selena’s toast to a “superior and effective season”. Took me right back to the board room.

•  Rachel to Chet – “You’re an incompetent overpaid man-baby who’s riding on the back of women who do all of your work for you”. About time someone told him.

• August saying “Africa is beautiful” like it’s this quaint garden in his backyard in Beverly Hills.