The L.A. Complex, episode 4: pearl necklace and birthday hate sex
What kind of world is it where a little amateur pornography can ruin your chances of dancing in a Willow Smith video? Spurned by society for her appearance in Ricky Lloyd’s sex tape (all we heard was smooching), aspiring dancer/part-time stripper/full-time crazy-eyes Alicia takes a meeting with an adult film company, despite Nick’s reservations. (“It’s just sex,” she says.) More from LaLa land after the jump.
In relationship news, everyone’s pairing off: after a week of awkwardly living together, Abby and Nick finally make out after he teaches her how to fish. (The lesson is useless—that girl’s way too high-maintenance for dock work.) Raquel has birthday sex with Connor on the kitchen table. And, in one of the truly gayest scenes ever committed to prime time, covert lovers Kaldrick King and Tariq sojourn to a romantic bed-and-breakfast where they learn to love each other.
One welcome storyline this week comes from Connor’s encounter with a UCLA acting teacher who shows him how to ditch his imposter syndrome. Understandably, he gets freaked out when Connor starts to get too clingy. Connor’s story is a welcome glimpse into the constant paradox of audition insecurity—even if you do book the job, how do you know that you deserve it? He’s blossoming into a great character: the neurotic actor who seeks approval from almost everyone, usually with his penis. (Trust, we’ve dated this guy at least three times.) It’s a damn shame that our stay at The L.A. Complex is almost up. With only two episodes to go, we hope the series gets picked up so it can dive into these characters’ back stories while still retaining its high-octane plot development. When will someone have sex in the pool already?!
The L.A. Complex is a veritable Frankensoap, mining the backlogs of other primetime dramas for inspiration. Here, our weekly look at what they stole and from whom:
• She complains endlessly and uses him for cool points; he thinks she has pretty hair. Abby and Nick are the 2012 incarnation of The O.C.’s Seth and Summer, living in Hollywood sin.
• A new development this episode was a Lost-style flashback showing a young Connor being abandoned by his mother. Is everyone going to get one? We hope Nick does, because god knows, nobody wants to be a comedian without some serious psychological damage.
• For the gift of a pearl necklace on her birthday from her sugar daddy and ensuing hate sex with Connor, Raquel could be Samantha Jones, minus the dirty puns and drag queen mannerisms.
• With all those feather earrings, Abby is clearly channelling the fashion crimes of jailbait bobblehead Aria Montgomery on Pretty Little Liars.
• No wonder this episode was so after-school-special-y about Alicia’s foray into the porn industry: it was directed by Degrassi royalty Stefan Brogren, a.k.a. Principal Archie “Snake” Simpson.
, aspiring dancer/part-time stripper/full-time crazy-eyes Alicia takes a meeting with an adult film company, despite Nick’s reservations. (“It’s just sex,” she says.) More from LaLa land after the jump.
In relationship news, everyone’s pairing off: after a week of awkwardly living together, Abby and Nick finally make out after he teaches her how to fish. (The lesson is useless—that girl’s way too high-maintenance for dock work.) Raquel has birthday sex with Connor on the kitchen table. And, in one of the truly gayest scenes ever committed to prime time, covert lovers Kaldrick King and Tariq sojourn to a romantic bed-and-breakfast where they learn to love each other.
One welcome storyline this week comes from Connor’s encounter with a UCLA acting teacher who shows him how to ditch his imposter syndrome. Understandably, he gets freaked out when Connor starts to get too clingy. Connor’s story is a welcome glimpse into the constant paradox of audition insecurity—even if you do book the job, how do you know that you deserve it? He’s blossoming into a great character: the neurotic actor who seeks approval from almost everyone, usually with his penis. (Trust, we’ve dated this guy at least three times.) It’s a damn shame that our stay at The L.A. Complex is almost up. With only two episodes to go, we hope the series gets picked up so it can dive into these characters' back stories while still retaining its high-octane plot development. When will someone have sex in the pool already?!
The L.A. Complex is a veritable Frankensoap, mining the backlogs of other primetime dramas for inspiration. Here, our weekly look at what they stole and from whom:
• She complains endlessly and uses him for cool points; he thinks she has pretty hair. Abby and Nick are the 2012 incarnation of The O.C.’s Seth and Summer, living in Hollywood sin.
• A new development this episode was a Lost-style flashback showing a young Connor being abandoned by his mother. Is everyone going to get one? We hope Nick does, because god knows, nobody wants to be a comedian without some serious psychological damage.
• For the gift of a pearl necklace on her birthday from her sugar daddy and ensuing hate sex with Connor, Raquel could be Samantha Jones, minus the dirty puns and drag queen mannerisms.
• With all those feather earrings, Abby is clearly channelling the fashion crimes of jailbait bobblehead Aria Montgomery on Pretty Little Liars.
• No wonder this episode was so after-school-special-y about Alicia's foray into the porn industry: it was directed by Degrassi royalty Stefan Brogren, a.k.a. Principal Archie “Snake” Simpson.
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LOVE this show! I really hope it gets picked up for a full season, and then many more seasons to come.
It’s got all the drama from Degrassi, but with more sex, violence and juicy adult themes.
Please CTV and MuchMusic! We want more of The LA Complex!