The Shake Up
Season: 4
Episode: 14
Characters: Ryan, Taylor, Seth, Summer, Sandy, Kirsten, Julie, Kaitlin, Frank, Holly, Jason.
Editors Choice Quote: "Isn't it just so cute you just want to barf?" - Holly.
Episode Guide
In the middle of the night, an earthquake rattles Newport. But 72 hours earlier, Summer and Taylor are out shopping. Summer discusses the plans for Taylor’s first-ever birthday party in her honor and asks Taylor what she would like for her birthday. Taylor confesses that what she wants more than anything is for Ryan to ask her to go to Berkeley with him next year. That’s a gift they probably don’t have at Hot Topic. But Taylor can go since she got accepted, news she’s been keeping under wraps. Taylor thinks it’ll be easy to get Ryan to say he wants her to come to Berkeley. All she has to do first is get Ryan to say he loves her. Summer, in a bit of foreshadowing, says Ryan talking about his feelings would be an earth-shattering event.
The next morning, Ryan emerges from the pool house to find Taylor setting up breakfast in the backyard. She again thanks him for planning a birthday party for her. Ryan says he can thank him physically afterwards. Then she turns the subject north toward Berkeley, wondering if it will be weird when all of this ends soon. Ryan bobs and weaves through all possible mentions of emotional feeling. He’s not thinking about Berkeley at all. That’s a full six months away.
Kaitlin comes downstairs to see Frank and Julie kissing in the kitchen. She complains about how much time Frank has been spending at the home lately and he admits that he has been around a lot. He excuses himself to a job interview, leaving his bag behind. And here’s where temptation starts to kick in for Kaitlin.
Kirsten arrives for her first prenatal yoga class and she immediately spotted by Holly, queen of the Newpsieweds. Holly boasts that she fully expects to keep her six pack in shape while pregnant, and Kirsten is hit square in the face with a generational and intellectual clash.
Summer drops by El Pavo Guapo because she’s meeting Seth before heading out to an art show sponsored by GEORGE. But since she has a few carefully planned out minutes to spare, she starts chatting up Ryan, asking about his feelings for Taylor. Summer mentions how magical it is that first time you tell somebody you love them and Ryan admits that he hasn’t said it yet. Summer thinks that would be a perfect birthday present! Ryan, smelling something in the air, asks Summer how involved Taylor is in that suggestion.
Frank meets Kaitlin at the mall so he can talk to her in private. She claims she doesn’t have anything against his past, he’s just boring. The Bullit was fun! Frank says he makes Julie happy and begs her to just give him a chance. At the same time, Julie is at home and stumbles over Frank’s bag, which is still sitting on the floor. When she opens it, she finds a hefty quantity of porn inside.
Things aren’t going so well for Summer at Seth at GEORGE’s art show. Summer is moved by each environmental tale, but Seth is finding the artistic value to be poor at best. So she challenges him to make a better film.
Sandy is pleasantly surprised to see Kirsten waiting for him in his office, but she’s not there for pleasantries. She flat out tells him the people in Newport are awful. It seems that Holly and the rest of those young dingbells at prenatal yoga had quite an effect on her. She can’t believe they actually plan on inducing labor at eight months if they gain too much weight. Sandy assures her that Newport has always been vapid and they’ve still carved out a nice life. In fact, why don’t they have dinner with Spitz and his wife tomorrow night so she can see that some normal people still live in Newport?
Ryan and Taylor sit on the couch taking in a movie and Taylor brings out an ulterior motive. Taylor asks if he thinks it’s tragic that the main characters can’t express their love for each other. He doesn’t. She proclaims that if we let the big moments in life slip away, they’re gone forever. Ryan is a little unsure how to proceed.
The next morning, Taylor informs Summer that she’s written a letter to the dean at Berkeley turning down her scholarship. Summer asks what happened with Ryan. Taylor complains that they had a perfect moment last night, but Ryan didn’t take advantage of it. Summer thinks they just need to loosen his tongue a little. Fortunately, she has a plan.
Ryan comes in from a morning run and when Sandy hears about the 10-mile distance, he knows something is troubling Ryan. He wonders if perhaps Ryan is thinking about telling Taylor he loves her on her birthday. Hmm? Hmm? Boy, that Sandy is good. Ryan admits that’s the issue and he’s terrified of it. Plus, he doesn’t know if he does love her although he cares about her and enjoys being with her. Sandy advises Ryan to tell her just that, then.
Meanwhile, Seth is outside putting an inflatable orca and shark into the pool for his environmental documentary. Elsewhere, Julie confronts Frank about his sizable clown porn collection. Frank denies it’s his and Julie realizes that Kaitlin is trying to sabotage their relationship. Frank chuckles and figures that Kaitlin is just trying to haze him. If he can get through, it’ll be good for everybody in the long run. Kaitlin surreptitiously overhears this conversation and angrily storms off to continue plotting.
Seth screens his film for Summer, which is simply six hours of a camera on a tripod filming the inflatable pool toys bobbing around. He took two naps during the shooting. Summer, not appreciating the Warholian satire, challenges Seth to stop being so lazy and actually do something.
The Cohens arrive for dinner with the Spitzes. When the Cohens sit down, Mrs. Spitz is immersed in a cell phone conversation that sounds suspiciously like one Holly the Newpsiewed would have. Except, you know, Carrie Spitz is about 20 years older. Carrie even has the same vapid Newport patois.
Taylor has invited Ryan over for a romantic dinner and quickly proceeds to pour Ryan a rather heavy glass of red wine. This is probably part of Summer’s plan. Back at the Yacht Club, the Cohen/Spitz meal is proceeding. In a short span, Carrie invites the Cohens out for tequila poppers, claims it’s weak that Kirsten stopped drinking now that she’s pregnant and yells at a woman to take a crying baby outside. That baby being the Spitz baby. It seems that when they go out to dinner, Carrie likes to have the nanny sit with their baby a few tables away. Kirsten tells them she’s suddenly not feeling well and the Cohens make their way to the door. That meal is not going to do much to change Kirsten’s mind about Newport.
Summer’s plan has gone a little haywire. Ryan is handling the wine perfectly, but Taylor is completely soused. Ryan lays Taylor down in bed and she whines that if she can’t get him drunk, he’ll never tell her he loves her. Then she passes out. Sorta. Ryan asks if she’s pretending to be asleep so he’ll say it. She is. But when she complains that she’s tired of interpreting body language, he very quietly says “I love you.” It takes her a second to realize what just happened, then she joyously hugs Ryan, happy that they can now go to Berkeley together. Wait. What? Berkeley? Ryan does not love this. Taylor passes out and Ryan reads the acceptance letter on her desk.
Seth begins filming Ryan non-stop in order to make a more engaging film. Elsewhere, Taylor and Summer discuss the previous evening’s activities. Taylor tells Summer Ryan finally said he loves her. At least…she thinks she did. With Seth, Ryan rues the fact that his emotional outburst led directly to new problems with Berkeley. Seth suggests that the ultra-romantic bound book of French poetry that Ryan got for Taylor’s birthday will send a message. That message being, “Come to Berkeley.” With Taylor still struggling to remember if Ryan actually said it, Summer tips her off that an ultra-romantic birthday present is in her future. When she opens, just say I love you and then Ryan will say it back. Perfect plan! Unless, of course, Seth’s advice gets to Ryan first.
Julie comes downstairs, wishes Taylor a happy birthday and then says she mailed off the letter Taylor left on the counter. Letter? The resignation letter? What is this? “Charles in Charge”? Taylor races out to catch the mailman before he leaves. The mailman informs her that the letter is now government property, but Taylor’s frenetic, impassioned speech about love and the future inspires the postman to give Taylor her letter back.
Time for the big birthday dinner. Ryan and Taylor greet each other and share some awkwardness. Kirsten sits outside still fretting about Newport. Sandy tells her he’d be happy to move at any time, but Kirsten worries that this is their home. When the boys come home from college, she wants them coming to that house.
Taylor starts churning through her presents and finally arrives at Ryan’s. It’s a pocket dictionary. The party screeches to a halt. Julie heads off to the bathroom where she finds a flyer with Frank’s mugshot and a warning that he loves clown porn. Kirsten and Summer have moved outside to talk about Seth, not knowing that Seth is recording their chat for his movie. Summer confesses to Kirsten that she just wants Seth to get excited about something for once. He just seems lost. These words hit Seth hard.
Julie finds Kaitlin hanging her fliers throughout the mall and angrily grabs them from her hands. Kaitlin worries that things are moving too fast and Frank is going to end up like all of the other men that flitted into their lives and quickly left. Kaitlin just wants her and Julie to be a family by themselves for a while.
Ryan finds a sullen Taylor outside and apologizes for his lamely practical gift. He admits that the Berkeley news gave him a scare. She explains that she applied to Berkeley months ago, before they even started dating. She was just afraid to tell him. She asks if he would’ve said he loved her if he knew about Berkeley and her silence is all the answers she needs. She sadly goes back inside the restaurant, just in time to see her cake come out. She thinks about what her wish should be…then runs off without blowing out the candles.
After the party, Ryan slinks outside and finds Kaitlin alone on a bench. He tells her whatever happens between their parents, he’ll always be a brother to her. Julie overhears this chat. Man, those trees surrounding El Pavo Guapo make for great spying. Julie comes over and asks Kaitlin to talk in private. Before leaving, Kaitlin advises Ryan, as a sister, that if he doesn’t tell Taylor he loves her, he’s an idiot. Julie agrees. So it’s settled then.
Julie explains to Kaitlin that she told Frank they need to slow it down. She needs to spend some time with her daughter. But their relationship isn’t over. Just…slowed. Ryan finds Taylor in her bedroom. He has a second present for her. A bound book of French love poems. He apologizes for freaking out about Berkeley, but he meant it when he said he loves her. Berkeley, Paris, Oxford, wherever she wants to go, he wants to be there with her. They kiss…and the ground begins rattling beneath them.
Windows shatter, shelves collapse, pictures fall, power lines tumble, roofs starts sliding off buildings. And that’s just the start. Sandy finds Kirsten face down on the floor of the mall. A traffic drops onto the windshield of Seth and Summer’s car. A tall glass hutch tilts and then falls over on Ryan’s back as he protects Taylor underneath him. And a light pole begins falling toward Summer and Seth. They jump out of the car moments before the pole crashes through the front seats. And then…it’s over.
SpoilerFix
+ Ryan and Taylor share some special words… but did they really mean them? Meanwhile, Kaitlin decides to sabotage Frank and Julie’s relationship, until her Mom finally notices and makes a change for the better. And Kirsten, for the first time, realizes what Newport society is really all about. Also, Summer encourages Seth to find something he can be passionate about. And as the night comes to a close, an earthquake hits the Southland. Special Guest Cast: Kevin Sorbo as Frank Atwood. Source: FOX
+ Sandy and Kirsten have dinner with Kari and Spitz, one of Sandy's coworker. Kari is still somewhat her college self, which doesn't suit well with the Cohens. They especially don't like the way she treats her baby. One lady attends a pre-natal Yoga class. Source: SpoilerFix.com
Rating
9 / 10
