Remember the inexplicable hour of "All's Fair" dedicated by Ryan Murphy to making us feel sorry for Carrington Lane? That was indeed peculiar, given the show's overall quirky nature. But let's put that aside for now, as Episode 6 of the series invites us to forget it and return to Carrington's villainous ways in "Divorce Is Like A Death." She mercilessly critiques Chase's hairstyle, leaving us still pondering the show's intentions with these two characters. And yet, she inspires him to wreak havoc on Allura's life during the divorce proceedings, all in the name of lining their pockets and settling an age-old grudge.
It's fair to say that Carrington's motivations drive the plot, but it does make the previous episode seem a bit silly in retrospect. Nonetheless, it's a reminder that Chase is a more complex figure than his jock exterior, absurd good looks, and insatiable sexual appetite suggest. This makes him oddly incompatible with Carrington, who attributes his performance during the pre-trial meeting to her wasabi-laced tissue, while it's clear he means it.
Allura, however, may have doomed herself. This episode reveals that the embryos she illegally implanted did not take. When she storms out of the meeting, it's not because of what Chase said but because her sudden period left her liable for the destruction of communal property – a charming way of describing potential children – and made her more vulnerable during the proceedings. She's even forced to confess to Dina. But luckily, she's able to prey on Chase's lingering feelings for her, causing him to reconsider the entire divorce.
The central tension of "All's Fair" Episode 6 quickly becomes whether Chase will go along with Carrington and Alberta's dirty, ruinous tactics. And he'll have to decide quickly, as Alberta has dug up an angle pertaining to the prenuptial agreement. She explains smugly that when Allura was a teenager, her mother, with whom she had a strained relationship, sent her to an abusive reform school. Her father eventually got her out, but the guilt of having sent her there in the first place led him to essentially drink himself to death. In his honor, Allura set up a scholarship in his name. But she also purchased the reform school and shut it down – an acquisition not reflected in the asset declarations.
Of course, Chase, already wealthy, wouldn't be interested in an abandoned building in rural Vermont. But the deception creates a worrying precedent, so the mediation must proceed under different terms. Ironically, this revelation – largely prompted by Alberta – creates more sympathy for Allura from Chase and even Carrington, though the latter's feelings on the subject are extremely difficult to parse due to the show's inconsistent characterization from scene to scene.
To illustrate, consider this: after expressing a measure of empathy for Allura's predicament, she immediately gloats during the mediation about the potential of instructing the fertility clinic to dispose of Allura's embryos like goldfish. Allura's cunning plan here is to confess to implanting the embryos, having clearly discerned that Chase would be sympathetic to the idea (he's not infertile, after all – the only loser here is Allura). And she's right. He's not pursuing charges of manslaughter and just wants to get through the proceedings as painlessly as possible, visibly empathetic to Allura's plight.
When Dina is suddenly called away by a hospice nurse, Emerald steps in, conveniently so since she had earlier pushed for using illegally-obtained evidence to fight Allura's corner, which Dina wouldn't let her do. Allura, however, is more flexible. So, Emerald unleashes a barrage of tea, including Chase's match-fixing to pay off his gambling debts (inadmissible), his serial cheating (with no legal relevance), and crucially, Carr's own improprieties. These include what we saw in the previous episode, including the dash-cam footage of Carr being arrested after her DUI, boasting about her relationship with Chase, and wailing that she needs a man. This leads to the standout sequence of All's Fair Episode 6, with Carr mounting the table in a rage and unleashing one of the most demented rants I've ever seen in my life. Sarah Paulson is incredibly insane in this role, and this is exactly the mode her character should be operating in at all times. And yes, I understand the context provided by the previous episode explains why she acts so extremely, but I firmly believe that this is one of those cases where we don't need the backstory. Just let her be awfully uncomplicated.
The ending of "Divorce Is Like A Death" is peculiar, given that it takes a sympathetic angle after all that has transpired. Carr's breakdown is treated as a cry for help, and both Emerald and Allura make overtures towards her that help to squash the beef that – let's not forget – has given the entire show its shape. Why is this happening now? And in this way? I just think it's a little weird and highlights how weak this show's writing can be when it tries to take on too much. Tearful hugs all around? Get out of here.
While this isn't an upside per se, the fact that Dina's husband dies is more dramatically fulfilling in my eyes than anything that happens between Allura, Chase, and Carr, at least in part because we can rely on Glenn Close to sell even wonky material in a way the others can't. And where's Liberty when you need her? A question for next week, perhaps.
