The final two episodes of All’s Fair are like the nail in the coffin. I thought it would be worth giving this show a chance, but I was so wrong. Turning it around like this on the one person who seemed to be stable and grounded amongst all these characters was honestly shocking, and unnecessarily so. The show was always going to be kinda odd, but I never expected to see a character like Dina get wine thrown at her face on the same day as something much crazier happening later. I was expecting the final few minutes of episode 9 to turn things around. And seeing Kim’s expression, I honestly thought Allura had things under control, but it appears this is just the Kim face. I genuinely don’t know where Ryan is going with this show, because there’s all this talk about sisterhood and loyalty and friendship, and then the Carr storyline just gets dragged on in the final two episodes of the season, making it clear that she’s the one true big bad wolf here, sigh. It’s almost as if it was just for us to see Sarah Paulson in “I hate everyone mode” for longer. I don’t think I like it that much, but maybe I’m one of a select few. With that said, though, let’s jump straight into episodes 8 and 9.
Spoiler Alert
How Does Carr Crack Liberty?
All’s Fair episode 8 sees Dina become a partner at the ladies’ firm, but only in the capacity of a mentor, so they still need to bring on a 4th member real soon. For some reason, despite everything that’s gone down, the first and seemingly only option is none other than the sworn enemy, Carr. Sure, she said everything had changed after Allura’s divorce situation, but did we really believe it? I don’t think so. Anyway, the episode begins with a detective showing up unannounced because Walton, the guy who sexually harassed Emerald, did not die by suicide; he was murdered, because his genitals were bludgeoned before he died (yikes). Now this makes the obvious suspect Emerald, but the detective also claims Liberty’s alibi can’t be corroborated because her phone was on airplane mode the whole time she was supposed to be home. Everything is sorted when Dina shows up and throws some lawyerly statements at Detective Morrow and ends with a deal by accident. The next time she shows up, it’s got to be with a warrant and handcuffs (maybe Dina should’ve been a bit slow with that deal, eh?).
The next thing you know, the women are off to London for a fashion show, sitting in the front row and getting luxury massages on a private jet on the way there. It’s in the quiet moments that the girls try to help Liberty see a different side of Carr, hoping she’ll agree to at least sit at her interview to become 4th partner, but it doesn’t seem to work until Dina tells her that Carr’s dad died by suicide, and she was the one who found his body. Meanwhile, Carr and her gay ex-husband are having a movie night, and the latter dares her to get back with Chase, not as attorney and client, but as lovers. Carr can’t refuse a challenge that involves messing with Allura, despite all the mushy talk earlier.
Ironically, this is exactly when Chase is trying to convince Allura that he still loves her and wants to be with her again. But she needs him to show her dedication, and that’s what this man doesn’t know how to do. It really doesn’t take Carr long to convince the younger dude to sleep with her despite his “sex-addict anonymous sessions.” I mean, she’s willing to do anything for him. But Allura gets a whiff of it immediately, not from some little birdie, but from Chase himself, who accidentally tells her he’s sleeping with Carr and that Allura is too uptight and controlling and wants everything to go her way. So much for still loving her, eh? But right after, when Carr and Chase are together again, he accidentally calls her Allura, and yet Carr doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she turns herself straight into Allura right after Chase and she have a kind of sweet moment, as strange as that sounds.
And then Carr visits the firm to meet Allura, looking like a target version of her. I’m sorry, what was the point of this? Really, not everyone wants to be Kim Kardashian. Now the interview goes just as expected, but Carr’s still a great lawyer, and she sweeps the case easily, having done the right research and gotten the perfect pointers to get the man to give in. Also, just before heading out, Carr reminds Allura that she’s got plans with her ex-man, and when Allura asks her why, she keeps reminding her that when she wants a personal invitation into the firm; Carr tells her it’s because she knows Allura only truly cares about the firm, more than anything else in the world. But unfortunately, after Carr put her heart on her sleeve, thinking Chase might actually like her, she ended up heartbroken yet again, because he told her they should stop seeing each other. The thing is, Carr gave Chase therapy treatment; she told him he needed to find the “why” of his addiction rather than just suddenly try to put a stop to it. She even became vulnerable enough to show him the cuts on her wrists, but it appears she put her foot in her mouth by giving him free advice.
But at the end of episode 8, it becomes more than clear that Carr never believed in the sisterhood, or that she should actually give these women a chance. Maybe, just maybe, for a second she thought it would work out, but seeing Chase walk away might’ve changed her mind again, making her realize she needs to stick to her plan of infiltrating the firm and then ruining it from the inside.
Who Got Arrested For Walton’s Murder?
All’s Fair episode 9 begins with Carr having a therapy session because she’s feeling homicidal. But she promptly sends her therapist away, thinking she’s of no real use. However, it appears she’s the one who gives her the idea to go after Liberty as a friend rather than all guns blazing. Carr gifts Liberty a plate with Princess Diana’s face painted onto it, because it appears this is all that British women care about. Liberty’s immediately swooning because it’s a first edition, something you just cannot get your hands on, but Carr’s gifting it to her. More importantly, she also gives her wedding advice, telling her that she doesn’t need to pick Allura-style dresses for the bridesmaids’ outfits; they should be more her, more classic. Carr hits Liberty at her lowest, because they can both connect over the fact that they’re outsiders.
But nobody in their right mind would believe a woman who dresses in incredibly tailored suits most of the time would pick those purposely hideous gowns (specifically for all of these characters) for her wedding, because no matter how classic and British you want them to be, that’s not what it would’ve turned into. The girls don’t hesitate to make fun of Liberty for them, clearly thinking it’s a joke, and honestly, the whole show is a joke at this point. However, gown talk can be done later because while Liberty is off sulking because her friends don’t genuinely care for her and her gown choices, these same friends find out that her fiancé has lied to her and could put himself in serious financial danger; hence, his obsession with the prenup—he was trying to protect her from his problems. But at the same time, Liberty’s visiting Carr for more advice, and this is when Carr tells her that Allura actually does love Liberty, but she’s just insecure, and that’s why she wants everyone to turn into her.
Meanwhile, Carr visits Dina in her office, and the latter doesn’t remember that they had a lunch plan. Now, it appears Carr was certain Dina would’ve voted for her in the firm’s internal votes, but it turns out that out of the two negative votes, Dina was one, and the other was likely Allura, right? Or did Liberty realize Carr was playing her? We can’t be certain just now, but this is a lunch that feels odd as heck, because Dina’s completely flipped and tells Carr that she knows how venomous she is, and won’t let her anywhere near this firm. Dina seemed to be the only person who ever believed Carr could be “fixed,” but it looks like even she’s not falling for her games any longer. The conversation ends with Carr splashing Dina’s face with a glass of wine, and the latter simply wipes it off and heads out.
But shockingly, the next thing Carr does is go straight to Allura’s office and tell her that Dina’s sick and needs help. To be honest, it seems like Allura doesn’t believe the texts Carr shows her; she doesn’t even seem surprised. However, the messages are strange and make it seem like Dina’s a completely different person. She feels like the work they’re doing is all wrong because divorce is against the will of God. It also seems like Dina wants to kill herself. Meanwhile, Liberty calls off her wedding. The thing Liberty’s really mad about is the fact that Reg didn’t trust her enough to share the burden; he only gave her a ticket out of his problems, even though the whole point of marriage is to share the load. Reg believes Liberty is going to be in her life, but we’ll find out what that means in season 2, I guess.
At the end of All’s Fair episode 9, the girls confront Dina, Carr included, and she’s shocked to see her there. Carr has collected all the information needed to make Dina look like she’s fully losing her mind. But the question remains, has she really? Dina breaks down and talks about the grief of losing Doug. But shockingly, Carr gets her house help to show up and admit that Dina choked her and was violent. When Carr brings up the fact that Dina was the one who threw wine in her face, Dina claps back, saying it was the other way around, but nobody believes her. It seems like everybody is turning to the wrong side, and it appears almost as if Dina’s admitting to having dementia when she gives up and says she can’t remember. But the most shocking end to the first season is when Dina gets arrested for Walton’s murder. However, it still looks very obviously like Carr is on the wrong side of this table, as she crosses out Dina’s name from her notebook.
