PRIVILEGED: All About Overcompensating

As Nicole mentions in her review below, yes, I did get to spend last Wednesday on the set of PRIVILEGED. I had a blast.  In addition to getting to tour “the mansion”, I also got watch them film some spoilerific scenes with Sage that I think you’re all going to really love.  I also got some time to chat with Ashley Newbourough (Sage) about everything from Sage’s to die for wardrobe, what her friends at home in Canada think of the show, and what it was like to work with Perez Hilton.  She’s a doll.  And of course you don’t want to miss out on the adorableness that is JoAnna Garcia (Megan) and Brian Hallisay (Will).  Since there is no new episode next week I think it might be best to save some of my sccopage for the next new episode.  But I may get impatient so keep checking back.

Over to Nicole (who rocks for “donating” her mini bio at the end of the post)…

Well by now I hope you’ve all heard the great news that The CW has picked up five more episodes of our favourite Palm Beach dramedy. Not only that, but you will want to note a scheduling change in the next couple of weeks. The show is not airing next week, but will air Mondays after the juggernaut Gossip Girl on December 1st and 8th. This is a big vote of confidence, as Privileged could benefit greatly from a lead in from GG. Let’s hope so – if it works, we may see a full season order for the show!

So, about last night’s episode. There were some pretty separate and distinct storylines going on so I’m going to break things down along the same lines:

Laurel
Laurel has decided that she was hasty in her decision to cancel the book just because Megan discovered her big secret affair with the twins’ true grandfather. She tells Megan that she thinks bringing her personal life into the book is a good idea after all, and asks her to try to track down Miles, the man she hasn’t seen (presumably) since having his child while married to her (now dead) husband. It becomes evident as the episode goes on that Laurel is more interested in finding Miles than she is in writing the book, and I started to worry that there would be another big blowout between she and Megan as a result. However, Megan was successful in tracking Miles down (conveniently his wife has died; not so conveniently he lives in Santa Barbara), and Laurel immediately made travel plans to pay him a visit. On her way out the door she and Megan had a really nice moment where we saw them as co-conspirators and friends, bonding over their big secret and Laurel looking happier and more radiant than we’ve seen her yet. I love this new aspect to their relationship – they really need to be allies in their efforts with the girls (especially when it comes to Sage, presenting a united front is crucial). This part of the story was a little thin last night, but it looks like Laurel and Miles will be featured heavily in the next new ep, so stay tuned!

Charlie and Mandy
These two have been spending a lot of time together, with Mandy staying the night at his place most of the time. When she goes through some rough times with her unreasonable landlord (and after giving Charlie some deserved grief about caring about Megan’s dating life more than her much more pressing housing issues), he makes up for it by overcompensating as the title indicates and asking Mandy to move in with him. Considering he did the classic soap opera “disingenuous hug” face, this can’t end well. You could almost see the thought bubble over is head saying, a la G.O.B. Bluth, “I’ve made a huge mistake”. They’ve been dating for all of a few weeks – it’s definitely a little soon for cohabitation. Something tells me that hearing that Megan and Will are dating had more than a little to do with his decision to take things to the next level with Mandy. Will this backfire? Of course it will! I’m not being spoiler-y, I’m just confident.

Rose and Sage
Well, well, well. It looks like little Rose Baker can turn on the whiny bitch just as much as her sister Sage when the time is right. To be fair, she was in panic mode having just tanked her English Lit final and facing a history exam that she was not prepared for. But when Megan tried to organize study sessions with the girls it was Rose and not Sage who put up a big fight. When Sage Baker thinks you’re being unreasonably testy, you know you have a problem.

Rose got a D on her “Farewell to Arms” exam and she needs to ace the rest of her tests in order to keep her average respectable. She is not prepared for history, and so she decides to buy a copy of the test. Sage finds out and is appropriately disapproving, but more than anything she wants to ensure that Rose doesn’t get caught. So she comes up with the most ingenious (and expensive) cheating method I’ve seen in a long time. She has a purse custom-made (in one day!) with a spiraling pattern of seemingly random letters, but the answers to the test are highlighted if you know how to read it (and the purse was adorable to boot)! I would absolutely use it all the time, test or no test. She wants to make sure that Rose doesn’t get caught and you have to admit…it’s a fantastic plan if your tutor isn’t on to you (and you have $2,400.00 lying around). Unfortunately Megan is on to them, and rushes to the school in time to see Rose beginning the test with the purse propped up in front of her in easy view.

So here’s my theory on the purse/cheating scam, and it’s especially appropriate given all of the Mike Seaver/Growing Pains talk in the comments of Kath’s trip to Cali post. Does anyone remember the episode where Mike spent the night before his history test copying all of the answers on to the bottom of his running shoes so that he could sneak a peak in class? And then, when he actually started to write the test he found he remembered everything all along and didn’t need to cheat, but then he propped his feet up on his desk after the test and his teacher saw the answers? Well, I feel like something along these lines will happen to Rose. Maybe she’ll put the purse away when she finds herself remembering answers all on her own? We don’t know, because we got the dreaded “to be continued” after Megan spotted the purse, but we’ll know soon enough.

Megan and Will
Wow – what is going on here? We just get a commitment and a “do you want to be my girlfriend” between these two and bam! Will gets a job in Brazil for six months?? I have no idea if Will is actually leaving or not (seeing as how Kath saw him on set this week, I’m guessing he’s still around – maybe she’ll have some more info for us when gets a chance to post the details of the visit), but if he is leaving that might be the shortest happy relationship I’ve seen on tv. There are both pros and cons to Will leaving (Megan getting together with Charlie would be a pro, but Will is great too and I’d like to see their relationship play out some more before they end things) but I’m betting he’s not going anywhere just yet.

Marco
I love, love, love Marco. That is all.

What do you think is up with Will? Is he really leaving? What does that mean for Charlie and Mandy? And did Rose use the purse for evil? We’ll have to see how it all plays out on December 1st after Gossip Girl – I’ll see you here with the review on December 2nd!

— posted by Nicole

Nicole is a lawyer…blah blah blah. I’m using my bio paragraph to plead Pushing Daisies case again! If you have ever been curious to watch but not gotten around to it, ever thought, “hey, that guy (or girl) from that show is pretty cute”or even if you’re just a fan of pie…you really must watch PD tonight. No excuses. This week and next will determine the fate of the show so you really can’t put it off any longer. Have you every started watching a show on dvd after it was cancelled and wished it had gone on for longer (like I did with Freaks and Geeks)? Well, there is a very good chance you will find yourself in that predicament with PD if you don’t watch now. So please do, and tell all your friends!