The season finale of I Love LA is definitely one of the most uncomfortable episodes to watch, especially that one scene of Maia and her ex-boss, who has literally always been the most controlling person to exist in her life. I don’t think Maia truly understands what she’s lost, because she genuinely thinks this break is 7 days of bliss until she can get back to her lover-boy, who will be okay with anything she does and not care a bit. We already know Sennott is capable of pulling off a masterclass in making herself the worst person in the room, and she nails it in this one, too, because it’s infuriating watching her make bad choice after bad choice until it’s almost too late. Or maybe it really is too late. Guess we’ll find out next season. But I do appreciate how Maia and Tallulah are literally the most unhinged baddies out there who keep getting forced into dalliances with the most unlikely partners, only to always escape in the last moment. I think the show does a great job in capturing the idea that even a woman who is confused and shattered can handle herself when a misogynist shows up. That’s what we’re talking about, girl. Anyway, the finale left us questioning a lot of things apart from our sanity and Maia’s, Dylan’s more than anything.
Spoiler Alert
What Does Maia Get Up To In New York?
Episode 8 of I Love LA begins with the 3 hot girls strutting to take over New York. They’re immediately down for a smoke because Maia can’t handle the stress of being apart from Dylan. On one hand, it seems she might’ve been happy to ignore the dude and move on; on the other, she’s upset because he’s not replying to her texts and just reacting. But this all comes to a halt when her girlfriends remind her that this break might be good for them. It’s then time to get working, and though Tallulah’s wearing an outfit she’s clearly uncomfortable in, she’s not the kind of person who’ll wear something simple, like a long black dress that covers all her bits for the Forme dinner. I mean, it’s THE dinner, and she has to be on brand, not forgotten in the background. But that is exactly what Antoine seems to want to happen, and Maia’s too busy dealing with her own crisis to care how Tallulah’s dressed.
So, Tallulah does the second-best thing and steals a backless green dress that’s way more her (we’ll get back to this), all while Maia takes the advice of some models and texts Ben, who gets the girls into a fancy restaurant at night. Oh, he happens to be there, too. It doesn’t take long for him to show up at the table, and the girls are all reeling about the fact that Maia’s going to sleep with her (married!) ex-boss. Oh, and it so happens that he leaves his credit card with Maia, and she ends up using it to get matching tattoos with Tallulah, with her own one being a tramp stamp. And guess what? Tallulah’s is on her back, i.e., the exact thing that would be on display in this stolen dress. “The Nightmare Before Business” would be a fun conversation starter with the designer you stole a dress from, eh?
Anyway, Maia and Tallulah go rushing back to the studio and somehow replace the dress with no consequences, because vapid LA girls can get away with anything, eh? But at the same time, Maia gets a text from Ben, who is coming to her hotel room to take back his credit card. Now, this is the most unsettling part of the episode, because not only is Ben the creepiest creep ever, but Maia is willing to drop everything for him! (sigh). Oh, and in the middle of all of this, she calls Charlie not because she’s worried about Dylan but because she needs a fancy dress for Tallulah.
So, as soon as Ben shows up, he immediately starts treating Maia like she’s nothing. He proceeds to spit on her hand and make her touch herself because he’s not there to actually sleep with her. He’s there to tell her who’s boss, and so after she finishes, he gives her a postcard with her salary written on it. Because they’ll be “sharing” Tallulah, it’s 380,000 dollars to start. But fortunately, even Maia isn’t money-minded enough to agree to this crap. The expression on her face as soon as he leaves is one of such shame, and you really feel for her here. Despite all of Maia’s mistakes, even her worst enemy wouldn’t wish something like this on her, but when Charlie shows up, he makes her realize that she’s far better than what Ben’s offering her, and for once, she makes the right decision for herself. But at the same time, she decides to lie to Tallulah that Ben wasn’t willing to take her. I’m really not sure why, though, because Tallulah, despite all her flaws, is actually an understanding person. I don’t think this would’ve gone wrong, but there’s a chance it will in the near future, i.e., next season, because she won’t like having been lied to.
Does Charlie Save The Day For Dylan And Maia?
The Dylan-Maia ship’s already in troubled waters when Dylan thumbs up reacts to Maia’s text that tells him she’s landed safely in New York. In that moment, she decides she’ll make the most of their 7-day break to sleep around and have a little fun. That doesn’t mean Dylan’s not on her mind, though; when we cut to Dylan’s perspective, he’s sitting on the floor of his kitchen sorting through his spices, and Charlie’s just shown up as Maia’s secret agent. The two guys start to bro it out, and they’re actually getting through to each other, with Charlie touching on Dylan’s frustration with Maia and Dylan breaking through to how Charlie really feels about Andrew. In the middle of ranting to Charlie about how many landmines he feels like he has to tread through when he’s dealing with Maia, Charlie can’t do much but nod along and interject, “Land-Maias.” There’s an awkwardness here, but at least they’re trying.
Finally, they start roleplaying, with Charlie wearing a wig to play Maia, and Dylan starts rambling about how unimportant she makes him feel about being a teacher, and how she always prioritizes her career over their relationship, all while Charlie tries to put forward Maia’s perspective, essentially playing devil’s advocate. Things go a little off-course when he starts defending Maia from Andrew’s perspective, though. Ultimately, even Charlie’s forced to acknowledge that he should get in touch with Andrew if he still feels this way about him. When Dylan then starts talking about a fantasy he’s always had, Charlie gets all revved up before he realizes that this softboy’s fantasy is watching Ken Burns’ Vietnam War documentary, but he plays along for friendship’s sake.
The next morning, Charlie’s so out of it that he ends up asking if they slept together last night. I guess the documentary’s just that good. But Charlie also ends up telling Dylan that he and Maia are his favorite couple and that she must be missing him just as much, too. Ultimately, when Maia video calls Charlie, he’s so excited that he puts her on speaker, but she’s just ranting about the tattoo and dress fiasco, not asking about Dylan, making the poor guy feel bad about Maia neglecting her to focus on her career again. He stomps off, and there’s pretty much nothing Charlie can do about it.
What Happens to Alani’s Father?
In the most shocking twist of I Love LA-ness, Alani bumps into a delusional fan/anti-fan of her father at his home, who pretends to be having an affair with him, and Alani quietly listens and busy her story that her parents aren’t soulmates. When her parents arrive and look happy and well together, Alani’s confused for a moment before Denise, this other woman, whom Alani’s father calls a stalker, stabs him in the arm and runs away. While Alani is screaming in fright, she also can’t help but pronounce how she still believes in love, thanks to her parents being together. Girl, get a grip on it (but also, we love her).
But in I Love LA’s ending, a smarter Maia finally makes that call to Dylan, only for him to decline it because, you won’t believe this, he’s slept with Clare! The same person whom Maia was freaking out about, what?! Why did you have to ruin it all, man! Dylan, we loved you. I don’t know if this is meant to imply that he was always into Clare or if he genuinely wanted to spite Maia and decided to do this on a whim. After everything Charlie said, sigh. Speaking of Charlie, he did buy Din Tai Fung for Andrew, so they might actually be happening. At least one of them took the other’s word seriously. But the season ends with Tallulah and Maia taking the subway to the Forme dinner, because the streets are filled with cars thanks to a famous actor getting stabbed. Oh, I wonder who that might be. Interesting how the two girls don’t even consider it might be their friend’s dad. Guess Alani’s too removed from the scene because she lives in LA? Who knows? Anyway, the episode ends with the implication that the new season will be havoc thanks to the dress, Ben, and Clare. Man, I’m already stressed thinking about it!
