Venice the Series: Season 4, Episode 11

And now, finally, the pentultimate episode of Venice the Series: Season 4. Gina’s apologized to her family for acting bitchy and ungrateful when she came back from the dead. Ani discovered that Lara’s still drinking and responded by taking off her ring and walking out of the house.

The episode opens with Lara still sitting at the dining room table where she’d prepared a romantic meal for Ani and drinking. She picks up Ani’s ring and mulls it over for a while. She tries to fit it on her pinky finger with limited success and I’m struck by how tiny Jessica Leccia’s fingers must be. Lara begs Ani to come home. With the open bottle of something alcoholic on the table, it’s probably not the most logical plea, but Lara’s heart-broken, devastated and not in a logical place at all.



It must be Sunday because Jamie and Drew are working on wedding preparations. It looks gorgeous. Apparently no one thought to tell them that Ani walked out and ditched the ring with Lara? I mean, it’s not specifically a “we’re not doing this” but it does seem like a pointed statement to me.

Ani’s hanging out in her giant SUV looking sad as she leans against the steering wheel. Gina is looking particularly hot in a sharp suit as she sits at what I’m assuming is the table of Damn Letter Writing. Something buzzes on Gina’s phone and it seems to leave her taken aback.

Brandon’s back in his car!office on the phone with someone as Dana comes back with coffees. Looks like Sami’s been found! Brandon’s relieved to be getting this case wrapped up and out of his hair at long last. Dana calls him on that, pointing out that he knows darn well that Van’s involved in this somehow and that he won’t have done his job if he doesn’t follow up on that. Brandon starts listing out the facts of the case. He starts off with mentioning that Sami stabbed Owen with scissors. It never fails to crack me up.

Dana’s not okay with Brandon’s plan to just let Van walk away from this scot free without following up on this, but she knows Brandon isn’t really okay with it either. So Dana doesn’t try to fight him on it, she just tells him that if he’s really happy about his decision then, she’s fine with it. Try to deny it though he may, Brandon’s not happy about it either.

Guya is happy though. Gina’s better and Gina’s bringing her a martini. It’s two of her favorite things. Gina admits to Guya that she saw Owen in the Waiting Room in the Sky. Guya freaks out a little about that while Gina tries to reign her in. Guya points out that if Owen’s worrying about Gina is causing him to lead a stressful afterlife, Gina should get her shit together - more or less. Gina doesn’t appreciate the pressure.

Lara’s at the wedding site, looking around in pained sadness. She’s still going through the motions, struggling to pretend that things are going to be okay. Natasha the wedding planner comes up to her and gives a self-compliment on how awesome it is that all this got pulled together in a few days instead of a few months. Natasha is excited to meet Ani. Lara can’t bring herself to admit that it might never happen, that Ani’s pretty much ditched her at this point. She looks around sadly, thinking about what she was so close to having.

Ani is still sitting in her SUV. Apparently she’s been sitting outside Gina’s house since sometime in the middle of the night. Cool stalking, Ani. Sarah comes up to Ani and says as much. Ani admits she’s been trying to talk herself into going in, but then she saw Guya go in and couldn’t. Sarah asks if Ani wants her to tell Gina she’s out there. Ani doesn’t. Sarah asks, isn’t Ani getting married that day? Ani drives off without answering, but carefully so that she doesn’t run over Sarah, ‘cause that’d just be bad form.

Lara’s in a robe, doing her makeup and getting ready for her big day. Jake comes in and Lara compliments him on looking good. And she does have a point. Those pants fit him mighty fine. Jake isn’t worried about that though. Lara’s not okay and it’s easy to see. Jake demands to know if Lara and Ani have been fighting. Lara says, just once last night but everything is going to be fine. She’s still trying to convince herself. Jake has too much riding on this to join Lara in the Land of De Nile. He gets pissed and asks if there will even be a wedding, but quickly realizes that the best way to keep Lara where he wants her is throw positive reinforcement at her. It’s a little sad how easy Lara is to manipulate with a little affection - even the sleazy brand that Jake’s offering.

Guya’s visit is over at Gina’s. Gina admonishes her to not spend the whole day obsessing over channeling Owen’s spirit. Guya counters by telling her not to spend it obsessing over Ani’s wedding. Guya leaves Gina with a parting thought: that sometimes things work out for the best. Gina gives her a “...the fuck” look as she’s leaving, but there isn't’ much time to dwell on Guya’s brand of crazy because Sarah’s walking up to the house.

Gina lets her in - metaphorically and physically. When she came and apologized to her family it was with the proviso that she wasn’t shutting people out any more. It seems like Gina’s really trying to make good on that.

Gina starts with a little honesty. She’s doing this - meeting up with Sarah - because Owen wanted her to. It’s not the worst of reasons. At least she’s doing it. Sarah’s being incredibly gracious when Gina admits she doesn’t even know how or where to start with this relationship. She thinks that just this, the two of them finally talking is as good of a place to start as any. Sarah reveals herself to be a nice, mature well adjusted individual, or at least she seems to be. She’s also cutting Gina some slack for the way Gina’s treated her so far. Then she decides to tell Gina that Ani was out there, despite Ani asking her not to tell. Good call, Sarah. Maybe. I don’t even know at this point. There’s so much drama and bullshit with Gina and Ani.

Gina swears when she finds out that Ani sat outside her door all night, then apologizes to her kid for swearing. Sarah reminds her she’s not four so Gina swears some more. Oh, Gina. Anyway, Sarah can’t help herself and lets out a little honesty, telling Gina that she thinks Gina and Ani love each other so much their teeth hurt but that they’re both terrified of each other. For someone who’s met these people barely a handful of times, the kid’s got a remarkably good grasp of the situation. Just like Logan the other week, I also appreciate someone who’s telling it to these two straight (pardon the expression). It makes me want to cheer and squee.

Gina’s so busy being worried about Ani that when Sarah tells her that she probably terrifies Ani just like Sarah’s terrified of her (Gina) that Gina just jumps right over that to mention that Ani’s not scared of her. It’s very interesting and I wonder if it will come back to bite Gina in the ass later. Doesn’t everything always come back to bite Gina in the ass eventually?

I do love Sarah’s “Is she?” little shit-stirring moment when Gina once again points out that Ani’s getting married that day. It’s a nice touch and something I could totally see Gina doing.

Guya’s burning some incense or whatever out back, trying to call Owen. Brandon comes up and Guya is giddy to see him. What Gina told her has put the life back in her. Guya thanks Brandon for letting things go with Van and Brandon actually seems okay with that. Okay with that and resigned to Guya’s crazy. Guya tells him all about Owen and the other side and Brandon manages not to roll his eyes too much. He seems so happy that she’s happy too. Sometimes I wonder what Brandon’s damage is that he loves Guya this way and this much. I mean, what’s his secret issues? Because this is Venice and everyone has secret issues. Maybe it’s just the contrast? He’s the tight ass cop and she’s the free spirit. Guya is awesome, but the amount of career ending things he’s done for this woman… I hope she appreciates it - and all the martinis - is what I’m sayin’.

Jake is at the wedding, drinking and freaking out. Alan notices and is pissed. Jake assures him with a reassurance that’s very lacking, that he’s on it. Alan is disgusting, as Jake points out, but good at keeping Katherine distracted. Poor Katherine.

Natasha’s helping Lara get her jacket on. Lara does look striking and Nadia Bjorlin is as gorgeous as ever. Jake comes in, still drinking and freaking out, and admits to Lara that he can’t find Ani. Boy, is he sure not happy about that either. Just as Natasha asks if there’s a problem though, Ani shows up. Natasha leaves to give the brides some time alone together, but Jake has to be shoved out the door. Oh, Jake. I might find Jake skeevy as heck but CJ LeBlanc has been one of the awesomest things about this season, hands down.

So Ani’s back in this relationship. She tells Lara again that she needs honesty and that Lara has to go back to AA for her to stay in this thing. I’m of two frames of mind about this. It sort of makes me happy that Ani didn’t go running to Gina when things fell apart with Lara. Ani does need to learn how to stand on her own two feet and make her own decisions without just falling back and forth between two women. That said...Ani has literally said all this before to Lara, when the drunken, getting knocked into a wall incident happened, and look how well that decision worked out for them. They’re right back where they started. So what does Ani do? She decides that she’ll marry Lara, because that will totally improve the situation.

Lara seems contrite and tells Ani she’s already called her sponsor. Given that Lara’s mouth is moving, odds are good that she’s lying about that, just like she spent all that time lying about drinking. I’m sorry. Was that harsh? Ani starts to leave and Lara calls her back to put the engagement ring back on Ani’s finger. Woo.

Also? Jessica Leccia’s fingers might not be as tiny as previously suspected - or she was just a little bloated that day - because Lara had to shove that little fucker past her knuckle. It looked slightly painful and too snug. I’d be tempted to look for a metaphor in that but it almost seems too obvious?

Ani tells Lara she looks beautiful before she walks out of the room. Jake is waiting outside to make sure they patched things up. He knows how to play Ani. This time he does it by saying he’s being supportive. Ani thanks him for not trying to change her anymore. He says something about maybe he was the one who needed to change and walks away laughing. It’s sort of Joker-ish. Ani finds it as weird and creepy as I do though, so that’s something.

Ani takes another look at her ring and a deep breath too, fortifying herself, telling herself she can do this. She turns around to go down the stairs and sees Gina at the bottom, waiting for Ani with her feelings written all over her face for anyone to see.