The third episode of MTV’s Sweet/Vicious delves into the world of Tinder (I mean, Mate) while Jules and Ophelia take on a catfishing rapist. Kennedy shows the world and Nate that she is not here to be anything less than the amazing woman she strives to be. We also take a trip (and I do mean trip) into mushroom land with Fiona and Gaby while Harris tries to balance babysitting and writing his Law Journal essay. Written by Amanda Lasher and directed by Brian Dannelly, here are some of the events of episode 3, “Sucker”.
BAIT AND SWITCH | Ophelia (Taylor Dearden) is very excited to start training with Jules (Eliza Bennett) to be a vigilante. While she is not quite there yet with the hand-to-hand combat, she can throw a knife with dead on precision that raises more questions than it answers. I’m not entirely sure I am ready to know why. The target of the week is a guy named Max (Evan Hofer) who raped a girl, Jesse (Madalyn Horcher), that he met on Mate (MTV’s answer to Tinder). They plan on a time to take him down but first Jules must go study as she is nearly failing statistics. Ophelia offers to tutor her (with M&Ms!) and who is Jules to turn that down so she stays. Ophelia presents her findings on the Max and Jesse case. She found a video Jesse made talking about what happened to her. It is a rough watch and it is clearly affecting Jules. Jesse makes a comment about a heart-shaped birthmark on his collarbone. The video is giving Jules flashbacks to her own rape so she gets up and leaves to get some air. Outside, she doesn’t notice Tyler (Nick Fink) coming up behind her and FALCON PUNCHES him in the throat when he taps her. She immediately apologizes but he compliments her reflexes and asks if he can walk with her. Not long into their walk a cop comes up to Tyler to talk about his brother (you know, the one Jules helped bury last week). She tells Tyler she has to go and meets Ophelia who is stalking Max. She set up a bunch of fake Mate profiles to bait him into swiping right. Jules is too worried about Tyler asking about his half-brother so Ophelia takes her back to her place and shows her the magic jamming cage she is keeping his phone in. As long as the phone is in the cage she can turn it on and program it to say it’s anywhere. They use it to text Tyler (as Carter) and tell him he’s in Canada snowboarding. They get a notification that Max swiped right on one of their fake profiles and it’s game time.
Jules and Ophelia wait in the shadows for Max but they are interrupted by Kennedy (Aisha Dee) calling out for Jules. Jules forgot she didn’t turn off her “Find My Friends” app. She tells Ophelia to stay put and goes to talk to Kennedy. Max shows up looking for his date and Ophelia says screw it, she will just take him out herself. She jumps him and he looks like he may have wet ‘em. He doesn’t have any idea who Jesse is and when she pulls down his shirt, he is heart-shaped birthmark free. It would seem they have jumped the wrong personification of spring break. She improvises and tells him it is a mugging. She books it out of there while Max cries on the ground (yeah he definitely wet ‘em). Ophelia compares the Max profile they interacted with to the one Jesse did and finds out that they are not the same. Jesse was catfished. She isn’t able to get into this guy’s network beyond knowing his name, Darren Ford (Matt O’Leary), and if he sends anything out. Jules goes Undercover: Computer Science Edition and chats Darren up in a coffee shop. She fake-spills his drink and sneaks his phone away long enough to allow Ophelia’s remote override software to download. Ophelia sends him a text as “Becky” asking to meet but adds a virus so he knows she is better than him.
Jules and Tyler hang out in her room. He wanted to clear up that the cop from earlier was there to talk about his brother, not him. He confides in her about his brother which is useful but also making Jules feel even more guilty. He goes to put his hand on her knee but she jumps up like she’s been shocked. She tells him it’s just a knee injury but he can tell she’s not being honest. Ophelia and Jules wait for Darren in a building that’s under construction. He shows up but he came ready for the trap wielding a baseball bat. They lure him into the bathroom and hit him from behind. They get some solid hits in but he manages to escape outside. They chase him to the courtyard and beat him down. They tell him if he ever looks at another girl without consent they’ll be back. They give him an extra kick for good measure and take their leave for the evening.
Jules goes to her rape survivor support group that Jesse also attends. Jesse talks about how she can’t even walk to class without having a panic attack. She says, “My rapist isn’t having any trouble sleeping,” (THIS SHOW IS SO IMPORTANT) and that she will likely have to drop out and go home. Jules goes to Ophelia’s and questions why they are doing this if girls like Jesse still don’t feel safe. Ophelia is mad that Jules didn’t tell her the group is how she knew about Jesse. She tells Jules they need to let each other in. Jules confides in her that she and Tyler aren’t happening because she can’t sleep or be touched. “You know I can barely remember the girl I was before I got raped and I just know that I miss her.” THIS. SHOW. IS. SO. IMPORTANT. Ophelia tells her if she really likes Tyler than she owes it to herself to try, even if it means going super slow. If he’s a good guy, he’ll understand.
Jules asks Tyler to meet her at the house. He thought she didn’t want to see him but she says she has been sending him the wrong signals. He is absolutely delighted to be wrong. She she needs to take things super slow and he can absolutely roll with that. He asks her permission to kiss her and she nods. I would also just like to point out that he kisses her once after asking permission and then waits for her to initiate the second kiss. Have I said I love Tyler? Because I love Tyler. Speaking of Tyler however, he is later approached by the officer from earlier and told that there is officially a warrant out for Carter. He goes to Carter’s apartment looking for any clues and discovers that his board is still there (hard to snowboard without an actual board).
NO ONE’S ARM CANDY | Kennedy is getting ready for a house event with her idol, Leslie Garner, when Nate (Dylan McTee) comes up behind her. He is looking for a little nookie time but she is busy. He reminds her of his football luncheon tomorrow. Kennedy gets a call from Leslie while she and Nate are studying asking her if it would be alright to move their meeting to lunch instead. Kennedy agrees without question and when she hangs up Nate is staring at her like she just personally dinged his car. He is mad at her for missing his luncheon and she points out that this is really important to her and she isn’t just going to blow it off. I love that they aren’t painting her as someone who would give in to his guilt trip. The next morning, Kennedy shows up in Jules room and climbs into her bed. She hasn’t heard from Nate and is upset. Thankfully she refuses to give in and call him. She tells Jules about her mom who had a full career before she met her father and gave it all up to raise a family and be a wife. She doesn’t want that for herself and worries Nate is only interested in a girlfriend who will be his plus one. Speak of the devil and he shall knock on the door. Nate apologizes and tells her that he loves her ambitions. He says all the right things which is all fine and dandy except he is a rapist and nothing he can say will change that fact if only Kennedy knew. She thanks Jules for being there for her and leaves with Nate. Jules is visibly messed up because she knows the truth and she is watching her rapist be happy with her best friend.
ADVENTURES WITH MUSHROOMS | Mackenzie (Skylar Day) is stressing about Leslie Garner coming to the house and the pledges forgot to pick something up. She and Kennedy call on Gaby (Victoria Park) and Fiona (Lindsay Chambers) to go get it. Unfortunately, the two of them partook in some ‘extra credit’ magic mushroom sampling and shouldn’t go to the bathroom unsupervised let alone run errands. They send them to the record store for Jules to babysit. At the record store, Jules and Ophelia are studying. Harris (Brandon Mychal Smith) is on his way out the door to go work on his essay when Jules gets the text about Gaby and Fiona. In order to not have to reschedule their Max-beating, they puppy-dog-eyes Harris into babysitting the mushroom twins. Harris is trying to work on his paper but Fiona comes over to talk to him. Apparently she licked his face (pics or it didn’t happen) but she says the drugs wore off. She gives him actual useful advice on his essay and explains she is pre-law and her mother is a judge. They geek out over lawyer talk together and he admits he is very attracted to her right now. The next day, Ophelia shows up at the store and Harris confronts her about all of her screw ups both as an employee and as a friend. He tells her he has to fire her. Ophelia goes back to the record store and gives Harris her resume to reapply for the job. She tells him she is working on her shortcomings. Fiona shows up because she and Harris are going out to celebrate his getting into the Law Review. I ship it.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
• I personally think they would have Natty Light in hell. Actually I think that would be the ONLY beer available in hell. I feel like Satan is THAT cheap.
• Who doesn’t like sunset pics on Instagram?! They’re colorful and nature is pretty!!
• If I were reviewing resumes and someone listed Rick Ross as a reference I would hire them on the spot. This is why I’m not allowed to do the hiring.
So what did you think? Will Jules and Tyler work out? Was Harris right in firing (and rehiring) Ophelia? What is Tyler going to do now that he knows something is fishy with Carter? Let us know in the comments below!
Be sure to catch Sweet/Vicious Tuesdays at 10/9c on MTV!