The French Connection
Season: 4
Episode: 10
Characters: Ryan, Taylor, Seth, Summer, Sandy, Kirsten, Julie, Kaitlin, Henri-Michel, Holly, Will.
Editors Choice Quote: "Isn't that just so cute you just want to kill yourself!?" - Holly.
Episode Guide
It’s Valentine’s Day in Newport. In three weeks. But Taylor found such a perfect present for Ryan that she’s giving it to him now. It’s a scrapbook of items from their relationship. Their very brief relationship. Happy, Ryan thanks her and heads back to work. When Taylor turns to leave, she notices something in the nearby bookstore. "A Season for Peaches" by Henri-Michel de Momourant. You may know him better as Taylor’s French ex-husband. Taylor asks a book clerk what the title is about and, well, it’s basically about her torrid fling and subsequent marriage. Maybe Ryan can get her that for Valentine’s Day.
Seth is packing for a trip to Seattle to ask Dr. Roberts for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Which perfectly fits into his scheme, as Seth totally expects Dr. Roberts to flatly turn him down. Taylor busts in, anxious to find Ryan and share the news of the book with him. She begs him not to read it.
Down at the New Match offices, Spencer and Julie are discussing possible new hires for the adult wing of the company when Kirsten drops in with some coffee. Julie quickly tucks the potentials’ headshots into the company ledger and slides it into the safe. Kirsten is suspicious of Spencer’s presence, then further suspicious of Julie’s frantic attempts to cover up for Spencer’s presence.
Elsewhere, Taylor finds Summer in the kitchen. Summer mentions Seth’s trip to Seattle and laments that she’ll be married soon. Taylor advises her to call Holly, a classmate of theirs that got married, and see how happy she is. Summer notices "A Season for Peaches" in Taylor’s purse and snarks about how filthy dirty it is. Taylor defends the female protagonist as simply having a healthy sex drive.
At El Pavo Guapo, a man is reading the book in question at the bar when Sandy sits down for lunch. Sandy remarks that Kirsten is reading it as well and man, is it ever filthy dirty. Ryan, privy to this conversation, just wants to put the clean glassware away. Ryan spurts out that Taylor is Peaches. He hasn’t read it and he isn’t going to.
At Harbor, Will and Kaitlin are studying women’s history. Kaitlin is now highly confident about her scholarly abilities. Will calls the session quits, but Kaitlin asks him what he’s doing tomorrow night. Aware that she’s asking him out, he coyly forces her to ask the actual question, then agrees to come over tomorrow night.
Summer sits in her room with Holly, who’s all too eagerly sharing her wedding album with Summer. Holly says being married is the best. There’s a whole group of them and all they do is wake up, eat lunch and shop. It’s the best! And Summer is invited to lunch tomorrow, in a chilling preview of her future if she gets married.
After work, Ryan is walking home when he detours into the bookstore. He picks up a copy the book everybody is talking about and immediately realizes that was a horrible idea. The store clerk tells him the reading is over, but maybe he can still get it signed. And then, all of sudden, there’s Henri-Michel standing before, signing his name to the book that vividly describes how he and Taylor made two become one over and over and over and over again. Ryan asks him to sign the book to Taylor.
The next morning Taylor drops by the pool house and spots an opened copy of "A Season for Peaches" on Ryan’s bed. Ryan says reading the book isn’t the bad part, meeting Henri-Michel was. Taylor pleads with Ryan to believe in poetic license, but Ryan can’t even look her in the eyes.
In Seattle, Seth pops the question to Dr. Roberts about popping the question. Seth intentionally stumbles through the process in order to get rejected and Dr. Roberts asks if Summer’s pregnant. The good doctor gets a call to see a patient and tells Seth they’ll continue this chat tomorrow. At the same time, Taylor has decided to drop by Henri-Michel’s hotel room. She angrily complains that his book and presence is ruining her new relationship, so Henri-Michel contritely offers to have a group dinner to talk everything through.
Over at New Match, Kirsten has finally figured something out. Maybe. She asks Julie why she’s been so jumpy lately and warns her to not do anything that would jeopardize her job. When Julie jumps up to grab a phone call, Kirsten sneaks into her pure and nicks her cell phone.
Summer arrives for lunch with the Newpsieweds. Within seconds, she hates them all. But round after round of champagne starts to take the edge off of that. Meanwhile, Taylor is nervously pacing outside of El Pavo Guapo, trying to muster up the courage to talk to Ryan. Ryan tells her it’ll be okay, so Taylor has some more news for him.
That night, Will and Kaitlin sit on the couch watching COPS, Kaitlin’s favorite show. When Julie leaves for the evening, Kaitlin asks Will if wants to smoke up. In fact, he does not. Maybe he should go. He thought her bad girl thing at school was just an act.
Ryan, Henri-Michel and Taylor have dinner at The Yacht Club. Henri-Michel mentions that a famous French talk show, one that he and Taylor have appeared on before, is coming to Newport to do a piece on the town that gave birth to Peaches. And with that, Taylor and Henri-Michel are off and running with memories as Ryan sits there looking glum. Ryan claims fatigue and heads out. Taylor chases him to see what’s wrong. Well, the book, mainly. He’s still not okay with it.
The next morning, Julie asks Kaitlin how her date went, and Kaitlin belies the fact that she’s into Will. Although she screwed it up. Julie frantically searches for her cell phone, worried that it’s lost. But it isn’t. Kirsten is looking at it at this very moment. And she doesn’t like what she sees. She calls one of Julie’s clients and asks her to confirm the particulars of her date that evening. Then she cancels it.
Ryan drops by Taylor’s room to apologize. He claims that it’s not the rampant sex that bothers him so much, it’s the rampant intellectualism. He was afraid that he was out of league. She assures him that he’s just as smart as Henri-Michel, then frets that she agreed to appear on the talk show tonight. Ryan tells her to do it, stick to who she is, then asks if she’s interested in recreating page 112 from Peaches.
In Seattle, Seth and Dr. Roberts sit down to lunch. He tells Seth he can’t bless his proposal because he feels that Seth doesn’t truly appreciate Summer. Now on the defensive, Seth begins arguing about his love for Summer and how real it is. Pleased by Seth’s arguments, Dr. Roberts tells him to ask again after college. When he has a job. Which is okay, because a day with the Newpsieweds has convinced Summer this isn’t the life for her.
Taylor wraps up her talk show appearance and Ryan, waiting in the wings, has a big hug for her. She heads off to change and Henri-Michel sidles up to Ryan. He wants to ask him about a famous intellectual. You know, the one Taylor told Henri-Michel that Ryan was studying. Ryan even wrote a series of articles on the origins of skepticism for The Vienna Journal. Taylor told Henri-Michel all about it after Ryan left dinner the other night. Of course, this is all news to Ryan, who is actually currently studying refried bean scraping. Ryan confronts Taylor about her stories and Taylor says she didn’t know what to say after Ryan stormed out of dinner. Ryan wonders if maybe they’re too different to stay together.
Elsewhere, Julie gets a call from Spencer. He tells her Kirsten was waiting for one of their studs at the hotel. She asks the beefcake how it works and he explains it’s a simple money for sex exchange. At the same time, Kaitlin rushes into a Harbor clothing drive to explain a few things to Will. One, she likes him, okay? Two, she hopes she didn’t mess things up too badly the other night. He forgives her and promises to call when he finishes with the drive.
Julie finds Kirsten at the New Match offices. She wonders if they can quit now and pretend it never happened, but Kirsten wants Julie out of the office by Monday. She’s not going to tell anybody, but Julie is on her own.
Summer is in her bedroom throwing out wedding guides when Seth finally returns. Without permission to get married, which comes as a great relief to Summer. She explains that she doesn’t think a person can be with somebody until they can be with themselves. She has to figure out exactly who she is, whether Newpsieweds or Earth mother, before they proceed with anything.
Sitting in the pool house, Ryan flips through his new scrapbook. Filled with resolve, he rushes to The Yacht Club, runs in, grabs Taylor from Henri-Michel’s company and kisses her. But…only in his imagination. Or possibly hers. In real life, he simply closes the scrapbook as Henri-Michel begs Taylor to stay just a little longer.
SpoilerFix
+ Taylor’s ex-husband gets a little too close to home while he is promoting his erotic memoir. After Henri-Michel tells Ryan about Taylor’s exciting life in France, Ryan questions their relationship. Seth visits Dr. Roberts in Seattle to ask for permission to marry Summer. Meanwhile, Summer reconnects Holly and a vision of her future in Newport. And Kaitlin realizes she likes Will (guest-star Chris Brown), but is concerned he thinks she’s too shallow. Special Guest-Stars: Chris Pratt as Che; Chris Brown as Will. Guest Cast: Henri Lubatti as Henri-Michel; Michael Nouri as Dr. Neil Roberts; Brandon Quinn as Spencer. Source: FOX
+ Ryan starts working at a restaurant named "El Pavo Guapo." Source: SpoilerFix BuddyTV Spoilers Chat
+ Remember the Episode 4.04 spoiler where I dished that Taylor got married to a French man and now wanted divorce? Well, we will meet him in Episode 4.10. Henri-Michel, a 30-year-old intense man with long greasy black air who is awake all night smoking cigarettes and reading Sartre. The title of Henri-Michel's novel about Taylor is "A Season for Peaches." So Taylor's name in the book is "Peaches." It does look like Seth asked Summer's hand in marriage. Now Seth must do what's right, and ask for Dr. Robert's blessing. Will they make it to the altar? Source: SpoilerFix BuddyTV Spoilers Chat
+ Sandy drops by Ryan's new place of work. There he chats with another customer and Ryan about a new hot book... unknowing, until Ryan tells him, that it's based on Taylor. Julie sets a meeting between Kirsten and a man named Ken. Henri-Michael and Taylor take part in a French TV show. Summer and some of her friends, including one who will soon get married, party at a Newport yatch club. Che also appears. Source: SpoilerFix.com
+ Taylor faces a French man who wrote a book about her. She goes to his Four Season Hotel room to ask him to stop as he is now invading her privacy by coming to Newport, meeting her boyfriend, etc. Source: SpoilerFix.com
Rating
7 / 10
