- As a result of Jane's tip-off, the police bring Ella in for questioning about Sydney's murder. Naturally, Ella downplays the tensions she had after meeting Sydney and of her fallout. Meanwhile, Lauren is torn between going on a shopping date with Riley for her wedding and impressing her new boss Wendi who just set her up on a "date." A stunned Jonah is accused of stealing a diamond necklace from a mansion he videotaped for a Realtor, but he later becomes even more upset after Ella mentions seeing a similar necklace in David's apartment who continues to set his sights on stealing more items from Beverly Hills houses to pawn for cash. Elsewhere, a jealous Violet maliciously sabotages the job of another female Coal bartender so she can get closer to Auggie, as well as further advance up the chain of command.—matt-282
- Fixer to the stars, junior publicist Ella Simms (superhot blonde slim long-legged Katie Cassidy) is rummaging through her closet looking for the hottest outfit to wear, with the picky-and-choosy attitude of a female finch, all to the tune of Kesha's "Boys & Boots." She has an extensive designer shoe collection, the one pair more torturous than the next. She selects a short, barely-there LRD (little red dress) and some strappy high-heeled shoes that defy description, and she's off to work, but Lauren is at the door, brandishing a cupcake with a single burning candle. It is Ella's birthday, and 'Laur' is praised for her many talents, (heals the sick, bakes cookies too), but when she encourages Ella to make a wish, the ambitious girl reminds her that she doesn't dally that way. "I don't play the wishing game. If I want something, I go out and get it." She scoops a lick off the cupcake.
Basketball buddies Jonah and David are playing horse. Ella reminds them they need soapy showers. Auggie returns from surfing, and she is much taken with him. He assures her that a table has been booked for her at Coal, Marcello's away for a meeting in New York, and thus, it can all be just as she likes. Violet also sidles up, she has instructed the doorman to let Ella's guest pass the velvet rope. Not much more that she could do with her limited salary, she laments. Ella reminds her about what she herself had learned from Sydney, "There is always room to move up."
Ella reflects back on an event a couple years earlier when she was a struggling newcomer at WPK (think Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada (2006)) and we are treated with the sight of a younger, somewhat harried-looking Ella encountering a Beverly Hills parking policeman disabling her little hatchback because of the host of unpaid parking tickets. She throws him a sad, very convincing, yet absolutely bogus, story about her (fictional) sister who had been in a rock-climbing accident a year before, and now needs physical therapy, and she has to drive her about, and now he is disabling her car, and she cannot afford the fine. The guy capitulates, and she gratefully hugs him there on the street. Earning her a round of applause from a passerby, Sydney Andrews. Who has an instant eye for fast-mouthed talent. Sydney owns an artist's gallery, which she needs to promote, and the service she got from WPK wasn't up to her demanding specifications. While Ella looks cute, French tips and hot fox hairstyle, her sundress is very far away from the cool, classy designer look. The older woman offers to be her mentor, not because she is such a good Samaritan, but because she clearly knows Ella could be moulded into being exactly what she and her gallery needs. So that is how Ella met Sydney, and the mutually dependent relationship was born.
That red dress sweeps into the office building, carried along by the long legs. Envious eyes everywhere. But. It is pointed out to her that there are visitors that have been awaiting her arrival. The police. Whom she mistakes for her birthday strippers, not that she has the time for such frivolity, her schedule being jam-packed. Inspector Rodriguez and his sidekick are following up on the information supplied by Jane (previous episode, Vine (2009)) and she has to accompany them to the police station. "You might want to postpone your morning meetings." They have acquired security film footage of her speaking to a P.I. just after one in the morning on the night of the murder, totally throwing a spanner into the works of her alibi. She scrambles for an explanation, after all, she is a publicist, she deals with intimate lifestyles, many of her clients are married to deadbeats with drug habits, she has five P.I.s on speed dial. And she doesn't wear a watch, so she had just lost track of time that night. She has to accompany them to the station, though. "You might want to postpone your morning meetings."
Jonah is filming a documentary film for Ella, featuring all her friends. David leaves a message filled with sexual innuendo, and Riley chides him, he is definitely not speaking at their wedding!
David spots the videos Jonah is filming at mansions for a realtor. Of particular interest is the $65 000 diamond necklace with ruby pendant lying openly inviting in a master bedroom at an exorbitant house on Canon Drive.
At Coal, we meet Kira, a bartender recovering from a bad spell last year when she had an addiction, now back on track and a sight to behold at the top of her game. Violet (foxy redhead Ashlee Simpson) is eyeing her, clearly on the prowl for bettering her own situation: LA living is expensive!
None finds the living as expensive as Lauren, who keeps the wolves from the door by sleeping with one occasionally. She is trying to be one of Wendi's girls, but Wendi is skeptical about giving her a tryout, she being an aspiring doctor with a hectic schedule. Lauren could come on board, but one strike against her, and she's out.
At WPK, Ella tries to make contact with Dante Zaretti, the P.I., to synchronize their stories. She is confronted by Caleb re "the incredibly attractive police raid" and told that she'd better get her house in order, she is an embarrassment to the company. Which brings another backflash. Sydney isn't satisfied with Ella's performance bringing in customers for the gallery anymore, last night her "publicity blitz' was a bust failing to gain enough revenue. Sydney reminds Ella that she made a real publicist out of her, that she stood by her through thick and thin. Ella reminds her that she got her gallery write-ups in the LA Times, even Variety, and that she is stll her friend, just no longer at her beck and call. "My, look who's grown out of her Uggs and into her Manolos." Then Ella flippantly suggests to Sydney's growing impatience that if she had to tell the artists anything re the gallery's inability to sell their work, "paint prettier pictures."
Soon, we see Ella being confronted in front of her clients because she maxed her credit card, Sydney's pulled the plug in retaliation, and is enjoying her predicament from her vantage point at an opposite table. They rehash old scores they have to settle, particularly re David, Ella hilariously stating that Sydney is "practically building a nest in that family tree." Ella threatens that she has enough info on Sydney to have her arrested, but Ella needs money to float her customary expensive lifestyle.
After not having seen each other for some time, Riley wants busy-scheduled, compromised Lauren to help her pick out a wedding dress. Lauren looks forward to it. She says she'll bring along the Kleenex.
Violet is angling for a job as a bartender. She has just started as a hostess, and she'd have to work her way up, but she needs the extra money. Auggie tells her she doesn't need expensive clothes, she looks great, which is very true.
Wendi Mattison has a job for Lauren at the hotel on Doheny. She provides her with the room key, and for the assignment, her name will be Nicky.
Jonah is dismayed to find out that he is being suspected of stealing the diamond necklace. After all, he was the only one who had access to that room.
Lauren (raven-haired Oriental-eyed Stephany Jacobsen) awaits her rendezvous with Frank. He enters the room, instantly approving of her, and kisses her, which she is clearly uncomfortable with, and then starts to undress her. Much to her dismay, he wants her to dance for him. She tries wrangling out of it, explaining that she is not a very good dancer, but he asks if he should phone Wendi and get another girl, and she doesn't want anything to go wrong. She does her best, she has a dusky complection and a hot centerfold body (very nice buttocks) and as she sways about for him, he is more than happy. They have sex (not shown). To his satisfaction. But it is getting late, she is going to have to hurry up for her appointment with Riley. Frank had taken an option on the second hour, and Lauren has to go along with it if Wendi is to be pleased.
At David's place, Ella takes a sneak peek at what she might be receiving for her birthday. Finds a stashed diamond necklace with ruby pendant in its jewellery case. She warns David, just in case she's off into "a tequila-tinged haze," that they'd have to update their alibis for the sake of investigating officer Rodriguez. He wants to know the truth, and she admits that on the night of Sydney's murder, she slept with a client, and that the client's wife is a WPK client as well. If he reveals her secret, it will get her fired, no future such career prospects ever again, she'd have to be a hamburger waitress, so she threatens she'll tell everybody he's from St. Bardoo.
Jonah obsesses about a police investigation. "Rum and Coke, my treat," Riley offers.
Ella is not exactly overjoyed with the gift she gets from David. Just a bracelet... She mentions the necklace she saw, and Jonah overhears. "Son of a bitch," he exclaims. Riley thinks he lives inside his own Hitchcockian thriller. First Violet, now David. Ella receives her birthday video, a beautiful collage of snapshots of her throughout her young life, on her cellphone, and she loves it, calling him over. "Come on, go to your Master," Riley sighs.
Lauren apoligizes to Riley for having lost track of time and missing out on their shopping date. She explains that she has that whole other life, "a hospital full of sick people", but Riley had phoned, she had not been there.
Violet is assisting Kira, and intently watches as the older girl handles the cash in the till.
Ella: "In this city, true friends are hard to find, and I'm lucky to say, I live in a building filled with them." She gets an anonymous e-mail "Meet me out on the fire escape for a birthday surprise." Turns out to be Dante, the P.I. who wants to know why she has sent him ten voicemails and six e-mails. She explains that they have to get their story in gear with each other's. He accuses her outright of having murdered Sydney. Lauren comes outside as well and interrupts them.
Jonah confronts David re the necklace. He denies it. Some other necklace Ella saw, one a girlfriend left behind. But Jonah doesn't believe him, and gets impatient, warning him not to burn through his trust fund the way he is burning through friendships.
$700 missing from the till at Coal, and Violet 'accidentally' knocks over Kira's bag, and out it spills. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" But there it is...
Riley reveals she wanted to appoint Lauren as her maid of honor. Lauren is honored to accept, but we all know her double life will get into the way. They laze by the pool, paging through bridal magazines. A call comes in for Lauren on her cell. Wendi. Lauren has passed with flying colors. Future such employment awaits.
Jonah apologizes to David. A maid had found the necklace "behind some furniture". A likely turn of events! We all know David returned the stolen merchandise when the risk of discovery became too great.
Violet requests to be instated as bartender in Kira's place. Auggie has already spoken to Marcello, and she'll get her shot. Poor innocent Kira still insists she didn't do it.
Rodriguez reports to Ella that Dante testified that she hired him to go find whatever Sydney had on her. When he entered, Sydney was already dead, floating in the pool. He claims Ella killed her and tried setting him up. Rodriguez smirkingly tells Ella how he is looking forward to handcuffing her delightful little wrists.
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