Zeta – The episode begins with Lucien Belmont’s (Zac Burgess) Alpha Gamma brothers waking him in the middle of the night to celebrate his 21st birthday. Lucien is still recovering the following morning when Caroline Merteuil (Sarah Catherine Hook) visits him with the promise of a blowout bash but she and their wager appear to be his only concerns. Caroline immediately reaches out to Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith) upon exiting Lucien’s room.

Blaise Powell (John Kim) spends the morning evaluating Alpha Gamma’s upcoming inductees until Scott Russell (Khobe Clarke) makes an offhanded remark about Blaise’s sexual preference. This later leads to a slight confrontation where Blaise is insulted again.

Cece Carroway (Sara Silva) and Caroline spend their morning elsewhere hearing all about Annie and Scott’s embarrassing sexual encounter. Although CeCe claims she would love a ‘do-over,’ she admits that it sounds as if Scott took her virginity. Caroline quickly becomes annoyed and rushes CeCe from the room when she attempts to share her similarly embarrassing virginity story. With CeCe gone, it becomes clear that Caroline intends to destroy any chance Lucien may have with her.

Blaise visits the registry office where he fails to convince Beatrice Worth (Brooke Lena Johnson) to transfer his transcripts to Congressman Russell’s (Jon Tenney) office. After telling him that it is the lack of his tuition payment, blocking the transfer, she offers him an ‘open-door’ deal that he immediately turns down. Beatrice appears confident that he will later take the deal.

Caroline’s skimming with Annie appears to have paid off when she continues to give Scott the cold shoulder during a much later visit. Despite how cruel she is, she lets him accompany her on an errand. At the same time, CeCe is in emotional arrears with her underling’s handling of the refreshments for Scott’s party. It doesn’t take Caroline long to intervene and CeCe’s further ranting about Professor Hank Chadwick (Sean Patrick Thomas) frustrates Caroline to the point of being cruel. Before Carline rushes off to arrange, Lucien’s consolation prize, she suggests that CeCe seduce Chadwick. Although the idea doesn’t initially appear to Cece, she appears intrigued in the end.

Meanwhile, Lucien and Annie sign in at the Roundtree Retirement Facility where she attempts to gross him out with stories of bedpans and wiping butts. She throws him for the ultimate loop when she hints at the facility being filled with STDs. As they wind up in the stairwell together, Blaise reaches out to Beatrice by phone after failing to trick Scott into helping him with his transcripts.

Caroline is briefly shown returning home where she bribes the housekeeper, Yolanda (Barbara De La Fuente) to remain silent about her borrowing the family Jaguar. At the same time, CeCe makes a fool of herself by trying to convince Chadwick to focus on the sexual frustrations of the world’s greatest conquerors (Hitler and Napoleon). Although he clearly isn’t interested in her advances, he appears intrigued by the class study.

Lucien takes a much different approach with Annie at Roundtree and appears to have much more success when she tells him that if he really cares about her, he will help her escape the stairwell. The story very briefly flashes back to Caroline in the Jaguar, headed to an unknown destination. Blaise is annoyingly pursued by Beatrice at Lucien’s party while Caroline gets updates from CeCee about Lucien’s arrival. Their conversation quickly evolves to Professor Chadwick. Caroline convinces her to approach him again, despite CeCe’s earlier debacle.

Lucien strikes a nerve with Annie when a game ‘Stranded Island,’ leads to him, asking if she’d rather be stranded with him or Scott. She doesn’t answer but allows him to kiss her after he admits to feeling vulnerable when he saw the two of them together. Things immediately go bad when she reveals that Caroline shared the story of his mother. This discovery ultimately leads to him rushing off, setting off the fire alarm in the process.

Blaise continues to sulk alone at the party as Beatrice joins a group of partyers who are snorting cocaine off a dancer’s stomach. CeCe lures Chadwick to the party by claiming to be sick again. After several minutes of awkward back and forth, CeCe is stunned when he suggests they both explore the dating pool while secretly getting to know each other. Lucien certainly doesn’t look happy when he shows up at the party and accuses Caroline of going too far. Despite how upset he appears, he remains calm as he tells her that he saw how badly she wanted him on the night of his mother’s tragedy.

Lucien immediately encounters a sympathetic Annie after his brief row with Caroline, which ultimately reveals that he found his mother hanging from the rafters of their on his 12th birthday. Despite Caroline’s accomplishment, she doesn’t feel much like celebrating when she learns of CeCe’s good news. At nearly the same time, a drunken Scott gets into a fight with Lucien. After several punches and Lucien’s sharing Scott’s sexual preference with the guest list, the cops raid the party. As Scott and Lucien both escape, Beatrice is revealed as the source of the leak.

 

Cruel Intentions Review

I wouldn’t necessarily say the episode was horrible but it was filled with the usual stomach-turning dialogue. I remember CeCe was a bit of a childish prude in the movie, but I certainly don’t recall the character being so loud and annoying.  Professor Chadwick’s approach to their relationship was even more of a stomach-turner for me, but I will accredit the writers for attempting to put a different spin on things rather than just having them jump right into an affair. The unnecessarily dark scenes continue to plague the series as well. Despite all that, I would give the episode a 5 out of 10.

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