Lipstick Jungle: Chapter Four: Bombay Highway (Episode 4)

Screening Room: Wendy traps Nico and Victory to make them watch one of her movies.I think I liked this week's episode because it's been two weeks since I've last seen this show (thanks, Rohin, for recapping episode 3!), and that's given me some time to forget how much I hated it. Also, Victory's finally grown a pair. A pair of cupcakes, maybe, but she's got some strength this week -- is it Roy and his support? Is it Joe and his whimsical romance? Is it all those luscious fabrics at the sari store? All those green tea lattes she chugged while making a dress for a starlet? But who cares about that when Nico's got a lawsuit on her hands?

When she gets Kirby fired, Nico finds herself hit with sexual harassment charges. While she swears she's never met him, the legal department has got a witness to her and Kirby's first encounter at the web launch party. Maybe it was Mike Harkness (who hints that he knows) or maybe it was Kirby, but in any case, Nico signs a statement stating that the party sex was unwanted, and went nowhere. Clearly Kirby didn't really care about her, and besides Charles is actually a warm man. Maybe a bit too warm to his grad student Megan, but warm nonetheless. Before Nico can turn in the document, Hector surprises her with some good news -- Kirby's dropped the charges. And because Nico can't let something alone, she finds Kirby at the bar where he's working to find out why. Because this is a soap opera pretending to be a primetime dramedy, Kirby says all he wanted was her. And apparently, he has her, as they end the episode walking home together.

Yes, other things happened. Wendy had a big premiere for a relatively small movie to micromanage. Of course, it's just a device for her to avoid thinking about the revelation of Nico's affair, which only occurred at the start of this episode. When Victory calls her in it, they get in a wicked (though mercifully brief) fight, and Wendy comes to her senses after she's released by the police.

That's right. You heard me.

Victory's got a plum gig from pal Wendy: make a dress for starlet Chloe Jamison to wear to the premiere of Parador's newest release, "Bombay Highway". Victory has a brief scare when she runs into an unkind critic at the sari store, though Roy steels her up for the dressmaking session of her career. Okay, maybe that's going a bit far, but seriously, Victory looked half-crazed. Wendy doesn't make it any better by barking orders at her. Things come to a head when Chloe gets drunk at Victory's house, having broken up with her rocker boyfriend that same day. At the premiere, Wendy thinks she's got it all under control as long as Chloe can enter through the side entrance and avoid the paparazzi on the red carpet. But with Victory fighting her over how she diminishes Victory's opinions on everything from dressmaking to her take on Nico's relationship, it doesn't take long for Chloe to see her ex and his new skank and promptly crash the limo.

Of course, Wendy and Victory come to their senses. So does Chloe, who strides out of the police station with Wendy -- both are more than happy to tell the paparazzi that Chloe's wearing a Victory Ford design.

So yay -- big night for all. Happy (if temporary) endings abound. Though I do have one question: where did Charles run off to when he left the premiere early? Cannot wait to find out...