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I am feeling more certain than ever that Kirby Anders will be the one biting the dust come the fourth season finale … whenever that may be. Does anyone know? There is a lot of confusing information out there about the number of episodes this season — some sources list 13, some 22, one has 14 titled episodes listed — and The CW hasn’t even listed a season finale date. If there were 22 episodes, that would put the finale on October 8 which is the same day and time the third season of Nancy Drew premieres (the 22 episode season would have worked had they not put an unscheduled break in there to air the new Gossip Girl premiere), so perhaps there will be a 2-hour finale the week before? No, that doesn’t work either because Penn & Teller: Fool Us premieres October 1. But if there are 22 episodes, there has to be a two-hour block at some point. But one source has stated we’ll see who is in the coffin on the season finale July 30 … which was posted before the Gossip Girl break, so that pushes the date back to August 6. With The CW being tight-lipped, we’ll just have to wait and see if the preview at the end of next week’s 12th episode says ‘season finale’ for the one following.
But even with that confusion, it really seems that they are setting up Kirby to be the deceased. This house of cards started crumbling when Oliver revealed that he was being paid by a woman to be there. Anders knew immediately that it was Alexis, and this week he paid her a visit with the recording of Adam admitting he murdered his adopted mother. A recording which was supposed to be locked away when the case against Adam was closed. Anders is more than happy to help re-open it if Alexis doesn’t send Oliver packing. Alexis tries to pay him off, but Oliver refuses to leave so she goes into ‘tiger mother’ mode and destroys the memory card with Kirby’s photo shoot (Oliver didn’t back any of this up to ‘the cloud’?) and vandalizes his camera, basically putting him out of commission. And without the photos and camera, he has no job. And no place to live as Alexis also checked him out of La Mirage.
While all of this is going on, Adam has also had enough of the Kirby-Oliver relationship, refusing to believe there’s nothing going on except photo shoots even though Kirby swears there is nothing else going on. But Adam has seen the effects of her partying with Oliver, Adam has seen them in compromising situations, and as Adam attempts to smooth things over with her at the bar at La Mirage with a bouquet of flowers, he finds her there once again consoling Oliver. There really was nothing going on, and she was consoling him over the loss of the photos and equipment, and as Adam gives Kirby the ultimatum that it’s either him or Oliver, Oliver throws in the jab that he’s only there because Adam’s mother paid him to be there to break them up. Kirby says that’s enough for her to know she needs to stay as far away from Adam’s family as possible and she leaves with Oliver. Okay, hold up a second … shouldn’t she also be upset with Oliver who is basically a mercenary at this point? He’s only there because he was paid to be there, so why does she trust that he still has feelings for her? At any other time like this, Kirby would have run to Sam as a shoulder to cry on. So this is one of the reasons I think Kirby is the deceased.
But it gets worse for her as she finally returns to the manor after a night of … whatever with Oliver, her father waiting by the door, telling her she’s not welcome at the manor any longer, her bags packed and ready to go. Okay, I think he’s being way to harsh since he knows what Alexis did to cause all of this, and isn’t even giving her the benefit of the doubt that there’s nothing going on. She says he’s doing what he always does — abandons her, and his claims that he’s always kept watch on her doesn’t really help. No matter how he’s tried to repair their relationship, Anders just proves once again that he’s a terrible father. And his actions did exactly what he didn’t want — sent her into the arms of Oliver, now both homeless and no idea what comes next. Except the little bag of coke Kirby still had on her. So it’s my feeling that things are going to escalate and Kirby and Oliver will be found dead from an overdose. At least until we see who shows up at the funeral in the next prologue. But Fallon, Adam and Sam being the first three to be seated, and this week’s events certainly point to Kirby. I don’t think it’s Liam, unless his mother shows up. Some suggest it may be Steven, who also has a connection to those three (sister, ex-husband, half-brother who made everyone think Steven was crazy), but I think Sam would be more broken up than simply putting a hand on Fallon’s shoulder, and Adam would have to be giving an Oscar-worthy performance to appear that distraught. So, for now, I’m sticking with Kirby.
Elsewhere, Sam and Culhane realized they have a lot to learn about being business partners, even when one of them is supposed to be ‘silent’. With permits needed to begin construction joining La Mirage and Club Colby, Sam is ready to jump at the first offer he’s given because the owner of the construction company can get Sam’s permit applications pushed through the city’s planning and zoning office, whereas it would take eight months without the insider’s help … if Sam uses his company for the construction. Sam is fine with that because the guy was recommended by another business owner. Culhane tells Sam they need to vet this guy before jumping into bed with him. Culhane has also cancelled an order for ‘swan head purse hooks’ because he doesn’t know what they are, and they are too expensive. Even though Sam told him they are a necessity. Culhane thinks it’s a frivolous expense and doesn’t bother to consult Sam when he cancels the order, leading to a terrible pairs tennis match where Sam demonstrates to Culhane what can happen when your partner doesn’t consult with you in business or on the court. Culhane had to finish the match with a ball boy … and lost, badly. But they both realized the benefits of having open communication (Culhane found that purse hooks were a necessity when he had nowhere to hang his bags), and Sam told the construction guy they wanted to pump the breaks on using his company, but Sam would pay his consulting fee. The guy said that his guys might not take too kindly to having a job pulled out from under them like that and it would be a shame if something bad happened to the hotel. Not that anything would, but … Sam said not to worry, they would proceed as agreed. Something tells me Culhane isn’t going to like this one bit.
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Fallon is ready to launch her IPO, but Blake discovers her presentation is exactly the same as another, unrelated business presentation and fires the woman who copied and pasted everything (even the silly holograms of Fallon). Blake tells her the only way to get what she wants is to use his ‘toolbox’ which basically boils down to lie, cheat and steal. Fallon wants nothing to do with that but during her presentation to the investors, they get bored real fast so Fallon drops some dirt on another company that gets their interest and their investment. Fallon lied, and now Blake has to make the lie a reality, but that’s what Blake does. But there is another investor who backs out of a meeting, so they crash his daughter’s Sweet Sixteen party. Fallon finds the daughter sitting alone and strikes up a conversation, learning her father won’t let the DJ play her favorite song, ‘Driver’s License’. Fallon also learns the girl has a huge social media following and gets paid to be an ‘influencer’, and is also told she’s lucky to be ‘so old’ and able to do what she wants. Fallon expression and retort, ‘Hashtag old and blessed’. were priceless. But it did get Fallon thinking and she commandeered a microphone and began belting out a verse of ‘Driver’s License’ before security wrangled her and Blake out of there. Blake thought they IPO deal was dead, but Fallon actually had a plan and did it her way, knowing the girl would post the video on her social media accounts, drawing the interest of some heavy donors and driving her stock to $40 a share. Fallon actually did it her way, and that’s how she wanted to do it, no more lies to get ahead, which meant she wouldn’t be needed her father’s toolbox any longer. But, as a consolation prize, Fallon bought the airline Blake had suggested she buy and gave it to him to run. The Carringtons are back in business.
Fallon learned that people don’t take her seriously as a businesswoman because she’s too young, meanwhile Dominique learned that she isn’t taken seriously as a fashion designer because she’s too old. Entering a competition to have her own runway show, it looked good for her until her younger competitor drew raves from the judges. Sensing she may lose, Dom sabotaged the girl’s dress by blinging it out, making it look like an ice skating outfit. And the girl won! Dom wanted to know how that girl’s inferior designs could have possibly won and she was told the girl also has a massive social media following and that was more important than the clothes. So both Fallon and Dom learned that to make it in the world, they had to do it for themselves … and learn how to use social media to their advantage (Dom should have already known this since she used social media to ‘leak’ the video of her and Culhane having sex to drive people to watch her reality show).
And lastly, things are sort of looking up for Cristal. There is an experimental treatment available that shows promise in shrinking tumors like hers. But it’s in Baltimore, and she’d have to leave Atlanta for six to eight weeks. Cristal tells Adam she has already vowed to spend as much time working on her relationship with Blake as she can, and spending that mich time away from him as she’s dying wasn’t an option. Adam has a plan though to get the funding at his hospital to begin the program there … except the Board isn’t about to shift any money at this time to his wish list. They remind him about the money given to the others thanks to Fallon’s grants, and there is no money available. Adam, now broken over losing Kirby, reverts to his old self and threatens the head of the Board with exposing the preferential treatment her own family member has received, and telling her his program begins Monday. Back at the manor, Cristal finds the solemn Adam sitting at the piano, knowing he’s hurting over Kirby and also accepting of the fact that he wasn’t able to swing things at the hospital. It seems that he’s about to apologize to her but … he got the money and they can begin the trials on an out-patient basis immediately! It’s great that Adam was able to help Cristal, but at what cost to himself?
What did you think of this episode? Tell us in the comments section below!
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