Venice the Series: Season 4, Episode 9

Welcome to this, the ninth recap of the fourth season of Venice the Series.

…which is way more welcoming than Gina’s being. We pick up where the last episode left off. Gina’s come back from the waiting room in the sky and is showing signs of waking up. The Colonel goes off to get a doctor, so Guya’s the only one who hears Gina tell Ani and Sarah to leave her alone. Guya seems horrified by what Gina’s saying or maybe she’s just relieved that Gina’s awake.

Ani doesn’t seem crushed at all by this - which is what I was expecting. She’s downright chipper on the phone with Lara, telling Lara what’s going on at the hospital. Ani’s so excited about Gina being awake that she deigns to throw Lara a bone or two and thanks Lara for being the best fiancé ever about this whole weird, living at the hospital with her ex situation. Lara’s relieved as hell that Gina hasn’t mentioned anything about the accident, but Lara’s relief/desperation has gone to her head. She tells Ani, to hell with the engagement, let’s get hitched. Ani makes an attempt at putting her off subtly by reminding Lara that they’re waiting six months because Lara wants a huge wedding. Lara counters with a “life is too short” argument and she’s working her way up to a grand romantic speech about how much she loves Ani and can’t live without her when Ani cuts her dead and says she has to go because the doctor’s there. Damn, Ani. That was cold.

Lara is not happy. Try devastated and pissed off. She paces around the kitchen, slowly losing it until she can’t take it anymore and she goes for the bottle of vodka stashed under the cabinet.

Gina’s giving the nurse hell about when she can get out of the hospital while looking like she couldn’t lift a finger without the help of a forklift. The nurse is thrilled by her charming demeanor, which is my sarcasm speak for Gina is a pain in the ass and the nurse lets her know she has Gina’s number. When she leaves Gina’s left to her own devices and she wonders aloud what she’s supposed to do now that she’s back. It’s a freaking miracle. So what? Maybe she should watch season 6 of Buffy. I’m just sayin’.

That shot Lara took, or the half of a bottle she glugged, however you want to look at it, seems to have cheered Lara right up. She’s back on mission and almost as chipper and in denial as Ani was in the hospital earlier. She’s got it all set up. They’re getting married Sunday. Woo! Ani is less than thrilled and kind of weirded out that Lara’s in such a rush. She finds it odd that she calls to tell Lara that Gina’s out of her coma and Lara calls the wedding planner and implies they might be connected. YA THINK?

I’m sorry. That slipped out. Anyway, Lara shoots for the grand romantic speech about how much she wants to be with Ani again and Ani even lets Lara finish it this time. Ani starts to come around, mainly because she doesn’t have a good argument against it. Lara mentions something about Gina feeling like life’s too short at the moment too, and Ani flashes back to Gina’s speech on the beach after her almost proposal about how all she and Ani had ever done was hurt each other and that Ani should be happy and marry Lara. Because Lara can’t even make a romantic speech to Ani and persuade her to elope without Gina mentally intruding.

And then they hug. Woo!

Back at the hospital, Gina’s dressed and throwing her shit in a bag, while looking like, well, looking like she got run over by a car. Someone clears their throat and Gina looks up. She’s just thrilled as hell to see that it’s Richard standing there. She asks him to go away. Richard snarks that it’s nice to see her too. Gina says he was on the list of people who couldn’t see her, but apparently Richard has pull. Which Gina translates as having pot. Whoa, dude. Way more fun than the hospitals I’ve been too.

Gina has had enough, too much really. She’s hit her breaking point and waking up to find Sarah and Ani hovering over her did not help. She needs time and space to think and she wants Richard to get out of her face and let her have it. Richard steps aside to let her go, but Gina seems to regret the way she treated him. She tells him that she saw Owen and Owen wanted her to come back and deal with her life. I’m not sure Gina’s taking that quite the way Owen intended it, but anyway. Her story about Owen shuts Richard right up and he lets her go.

Gina is home, looking sad, but downright marvelous for someone who got smacked by a car and was in a coma. She’s thinking and looking angstily at a picture of she and Owen. Then we see Owen sitting beside Gina on the couch, talking to her. He hates that she’s doing this to herself and threatens to find a way to come down there and smack her if she doesn’t snap out of it. Gina starts to cry. She can’t hear him and it’s clear she misses him so damn much.

Lara’s at Malbecs and runs into Jake. She tells him the good news that she and Ani are getting married post-haste. Jake is dubious that she got Ani to agree to it, but he gets on board with it quickly enough and taunts Lara with a drink. She says she only wants one. Jake scoffs and leads her toward the bar. Logan emerges from the shadows, having seen everything that just went down and well, well, wells it.

Van drops Guya off at her place and tries to play off being the good son. It’s such a manipulative thing to do. Brandon walks in behind them, but when he sees Van, retreats back out of sight to wait for Van. We get to see Brandon at his interrogating best. He sympathizes with Van about how unfair it is that he was the black sheep of the family when Owen was a loser and gets Van to admit that he had never been over to Owen’s apartment, except for the once a long time ago to see Sami. Then we get treated to a flashback of what  really happened, Van coming out after Owen had been stabbed, freaked out and shaken at how far Sami had gone. Van hears The Colonel coming, knocking on Owen’s door and runs to hide where he was before.

Logan has invited herself in over at Gina’s and is breaking out a bottle of wine for both of them. Gina begs her to leave and says she’s dead on the inside. Logan counters that she looks great. I shouldn’t have laughed, but I did. Logan’s such a stone cold bitch, but I like her more and more. Anyway, Gina’s not having it with Logan and tries to kick her out again. Logan says fine, but she thought Gina might prefer to hear this from her rather than someone else. She lets Gina know that Ani and Lara and getting married on Sunday. Gina looks like she got hit in the head with a brick.

Lara’s lighting candles, setting the mode for some sexy fun times. It’s the first time Ani’s look content in ages as she takes Lara to bed. Guya’s looking at a photo album when Brandon comes in and sits down beside her. She’s clearly touched by the photo of she and Van. Brandon is worried as hell by this. Van helps himself to a beer and leans back against the fridge. He’s got problems too. Richard is having a beer too as Sarah and The Colonel come up to him. He looks delighted as hell to see them both. Gina is sitting up in bed, with her arms wrapped around herself. She doesn’t look great. Back at Lara and Ani’s, it’s afterglow time. Lara looks like she thinks things are great, but Ani rolls over away from her. There’s a great visual metaphor in there with Lara trying to hold on to Ani while Ani just keeps getting farther from her reach. Ani stares at her ring again and looks troubled. 

So that's episode 9. I think if the last two seasons were about Gina and Ani's growth as characters, then this season is about them backsliding. Because, holy carp. They have had a lot of crap thrown at them this season though. Does that give them a pass? Lara's certainly not the only one making bad decisions now.