As this season of I Love LA is coming to a close, I feel like the show has finally shaped up into what it was meant to be all along. A warning for the privileged and driven Gen Z who see the world as their playground and trample all over it. The show has followed a pattern throughout its first 6 episodes: whatever goes wrong, Maia will fix it, no matter the consequences. But it’s finally time for the unbreakable Maia to break, and how does she get this message? Through an actual physical breakdown. More importantly, the voice of reason, as always, is Dylan, the one person who is somewhat “regular” in this situation. The whole show has been pushing the idea that, despite everything that’s gone down, Dylan seems to be okay with the way he’s been treated, but after last week’s episode, I really thought he’d just leave. Somehow, he stayed even after all that. Also, the whole thing with her ex-boss is a little bit terrifying, and I hope there’s nothing more to it. However, the ultimate knockout came this episode, which means their relationship is hanging by a thread for the season finale, which is very scary! With that said, though, let’s jump into this recap.
Spoiler Alert
What Happens to Maia’s Foot?
Episode 7 focuses on a man named Antoine, a French guy who hosts the most noteworthy fashion dinner in all of New York, and Maia is desperate to get Tallulah a seat. The Forme dinner is something most regular people would’ve never heard of, but Dylan somehow knows the significance of it, mainly because of how obsessed Maia is with herself and her work (honestly, kinda slay). However, Alyssa has other plans. Despite labeling Maia her prodigy, Alyssa thinks it’s currently time for her own client to get that seat, not Tallulah. Which is fair enough; she’s got something on her mind. Camilia is Alyssa’s biggest client, and she’s already got everything going in fashion, so that’s who she’ll push. However, when the very French Antoine shows up, he’s immediately enamored by the terrible Ritz picture Alyssa chose of Tallulah for her client wall.
And this gives Maia the perfect opportunity to step in and essentially sabotage Alyssa’s plans. Maia gets herself and Tallulah a lunch meeting with Antoine, and she’s super excited for it. However, the next thing you know, Tallulah doesn’t even seem to care, because after her neat little vacation with her girlfriend, she feels like she needs to take things slowly and unwind a little. An already frustrated Maia gets even angrier when Tallulah’s reaction to her exciting news is negative. But more importantly, earlier, Dylan worked on getting all of Tallulah’s packages out because his parents are coming to visit and he wants to show them a good time. So Maia, using a knife reminiscent of “Psycho,” is cutting through these boxes while they’re having this discussion and ultimately drops it on her foot (yikes!).
It doesn’t matter that she’s bleeding from her toes, because the meeting is more important. Tessa drives the two best friends to the hospital, and Maia makes sure it’s the one close to the meeting rather than the best hospital around. Good Samaritan is filled with people from a Jewish school, because there was a bus accident, and they need to be prioritized, that’s also something that Maia doesn’t seem to care about because of Forme. Anyway, while waiting to be called in for stitches, Tallulah continues to insist that the Ritz ad was a massive flop, while Maia can’t help but focus on the 100,000 dollars she made (which is fair enough). Ultimately, though, in the stress of it all, Maia admits she was wrong, and it was a massive flop, but this dinner is not the same! So, finally, Tallulah is pumped for the meeting and heads out to find Charlie, who has to bring a dress for Maia. Oh, and, by the way, Miss Mimi has now rehired him because she fell off the stage since her new stylist wanted to make her a mermaid, though her concept has always been alien (bruh, you gotta get it right!). Guess Charlie’s finally getting it all back together. Also, he’s just had a hair transplant, so good for him.
Anyway, Maia then pretends she’s Jewish and then says she’ll be fine without anesthesia despite the doctor’s warnings because…meeting! But, as soon as it starts, Alyssa calls Maia and tells her that the meeting’s cancelled. This leaves Maia completely dejected as she’s all alone while getting the stitches because her friends are lost in the hospital until they finally find their way to her through the sound of her screaming. After all of that, a dejected Maia tells them the meeting is cancelled, and she also has no idea what to do next. This is shocking to everybody because it’s very unlike Maia, but the boss-lady energy gets to her, and she calls her co-worker, who was using her Duolingo skills on Antoine’s assistant.
What Happens At The Meeting?
Despite being told she can’t walk on the stitched-up leg, Maia has other priorities, and she and Tallulah (looking fab as always) show up to lunch, where they find Antonie with Alyssa. It appears she lied to Maia, and not knowing why, Maia decides to conquer the lunch, even putting her stitched-up foot on the table. “She’s different; I like it,” says Antoine as he feels intrigued by her uncouth ways. Maia’s plan works, and Antoine invites Tallulah to the dinner, which means no Camilia. This is the last straw for Alyssa, who immediately calls Maia out for being impatient and a terrible employee. Alyssa asks her if she’s willing to do what’s best for the company, but Maia says no, she’ll always put her clients first, so she gets fired. It’s not that Alyssa didn’t believe in Maia; she always did. That’s why she wanted what was best for her, and Maia doesn’t even seem to care. She’s okay with losing her perfect job because she’s gotten too ahead of herself now that she has what she wanted. Maybe she’s high on all the blood loss, eh?
At the end of I Love LA episode 7, Dylan finally breaks when he finds out that Maia didn’t show up to the dinner with his parents because she went out to get drinks and didn’t even for a second think to let him know she was injured hurt. To be honest, I didn’t even realize she didn’t call him because Dylan’s literally always been on the back burner. So rightfully, Dylan is upset that Maia called all her friends but didn’t even bother telling him what had happened (I don’t even want to talk about how proud she was about pretending to be Jewish). Anyway, the ultimate breakdown happens at the end of the episode, when Dylan finally tells Maia that they need a break and he’s going away to his colleague’s. Maia’s left crying to herself, because she always thought Dylan liked that she was ambitious and kind of wacky while he held the fort down (oh no). I guess some self-reflection is just around the corner, now that Maia’s going to be alone with her thoughts without Dylan to keep her in check. There’s a chance we’ll have to wait all the way till season 2 to see Dylan again (sigh). The ending of this episode leaves us with no idea what the future holds for Maia. She’s lost everything that she’s worked hard to achieve, she’s so focused on Tallulah’s life, but she has her own plans, so there’s really nothing going for her. Plus, she’s been acting quite unfriendly ever since Tallulah showed up, though the latter has been working on herself thanks to her new girlfriend. This all leaves Maia as a villain in her own life, and only she can deal with this whole situation. So, I guess we’ll find out in the season finale of I Love LA.
