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“Chasing Life” recap (1.19): Enough

Previously on Chasing Life, Brenna confessed to Greer and Kieran that she had an abortion, Graham asked Beth to move in with him, Natalie kissed Dom, and Leo told April he’s never felt this way about anyone before.

We open at a Private Parts fundraiser, where everyone is being goofy and happy in a photo booth, including Brenna and Greer.

Well, everyone except Beth. Beth looks rather sad.

But before we get into that, we jump back in time two days. Beth tells April that Graham asked her to move in with him, but April is a little wary; they’ve only been dating for six months. Beth says she’s sure this is the best decision, so April tries to be happy for her friend. Besides, she’s in a great mood because she and Leo are giving it another chance. Now it’s Beth’s turn to be wary, since it’s hard to forgive people who have wronged your friends. Since they both have humps to get over, April suggests a double date dinner party, because surely four narcissists of varying degrees in one room will go over really smoothly.

At the Charles, Brenna complains to Greer and Kieran about Sara not being unconditionally supportive about her taking a gap year to travel before college. Kieran says his parents don’t care what he does as long as he’s happy, which is annoyingly perfect. Kieran tells Greer she looks good and she says she feels good, then proves it by teasing him for calling her crazy.

Greer is back on her meds because her parents didn’t even notice her act of rebellion. Speaking of which, she tells Brenna and Kieran that they can throw in the towel now, she will always win the Whose Parents Suck More competition.

Either on the other side of this coffee shop/bar, or in a different establishment also called The Charles (and in Boston, it’s very possible), Dom arrives early for a work meeting to say hi to Natalie. They chat about music and its ability to link itself to memories, feelings and stories like a time capsule, and how Air That I Breathe is Natalie’s favorite song. They’re interrupted by April and they both get really squirrely but April’s just there for some tea.

When April leaves, Natalie apologizes for acting so weird and Dom says it’s strange that they feel so jumpy, because it’s not like they’re doing anything wrong. They decide to just be friends and then exchange numbers and flirty smiles, you know, like friends do.

April goes to her cancer support group and runs into her little friend Julian. Julian tells her that he’s throwing a fundraiser for people with cancer of their private parts and asks if Leo would maybe MC? His wish-fulfilment adventures made him somewhat of a legend in the community. Even though Leo told her he wants to start separating himself from the cancer world, April promises Julian that she’ll convince Leo to help out.

Later that night, Brenna is woken up by a text. She goes downstairs and finds Greer standing outside in the rain. Greer explains that she tried to talk to her parents about being Out of Town all the time, but all her mother did in response was scold her for not respecting her parents. She asks Brenna is she can stay over, pretty please with sugar on top.

Brenna says she can stay as long as she’s quiet because Sara will tie them to chairs and make them talk about their feelings for 24 hours straight if they’re caught. The lie in bed and have some real talk, whispering and processing like the good queer teenagers they are.

Brenna doesn’t understand why Greer’s mom is being such a bitch, since Greer is practically perfect in every way. When Greer shrugs and says her mom doesn’t think she’s anywhere near perfect, Brenna tells her that her mother is wrong and, to prove her point, kisses her.

Greer looks a little nervous, as though she’s afraid it was just an impulse, as if she’s afraid to hope it meant anything more than just a quick show of support.

The next day, Beth and Graham are looking for apartments but things aren’t going well for their polar opposite personalities. It’s like daytime and nighttime trying to be in a room at the same time. But after a few high-strung minutes, Graham breaks the tension by saying that they should test out the mattresses to see which one is more comfortable.

At work, after an adorkable interaction and plans to meet up for another rendezvous, Sara meets her office mate’s wife and nearly goes blind and deaf from the shock of it. She calls Owen into her office and is absolutely FURIOUS with him. He tries to explain that it’s complicated, but as someone whose husband left her with his saucy mistress and their wild love child, she is not interested in his excuses or explanations. She doesn’t approve, the end.

At the double date dinner, the awkwardness starts out about knee-deep and is lapping April’s shoulder before dessert. April tries to steer the conversation outside their pool of hostility by bringing up the fundraiser, but that backfires spectacularly when Leo has absolutely no interest in MCing the event, despite what April promised Julian. It’s all so painfully uncomfortable. If I had been there, I probably would have faked food poisoning to get out of it.

Speaking of awkward, Dom toes the line between being friendly and being flirty by calling Natalie and telling her that he bought her an album with The Air That I Breathe on it (and sadly it is not the Little Rascals soundtrack on vinyl) and that she should swing by his office to pick it up on the way home from work.

At Casa de Carver, Brenna tells Greer not to come into the hallway while she preps Sara about their surprise houseguest. But Sara just got ambushed at work and is in no mood to chat, so she blows by her daughter, beelines for the wine, and finds a sheepish-looking Greer sitting in her kitchen.

Brenna begs Sara not to freak the freak out, because she’s going to tell her the whole truth she swears. Greer got into a big fight with her parents because her mother keeps getting randomly angry and unreasonable and she had nowhere else to go. Sara is surprised Greer stayed over without her realizing it, but feels bad for the girl. She tells Greer that she can stay, but only if she tells her parents where she is so Sara doesn’t get accused of kidnapping, since that’s exactly the kind of thing Mrs. Danville would try to pull.

Natalie does end up going to get the record from Dom, and while they’re listening to the album, she reminisces about her days as an angry preteen feeling sorry for herself while she lived the life of a lovechild. But eventually she decided she was going to let go of the hostility and be grateful that her father spent any time with her at all, which lead her to the IDGAF attitude she sports today. Dom likes what he sees underneath the ‘bad girl’ armor and kisses her, but she pulls away because she’s just now starting to form a bond with April and she doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize it. Dom makes a snarky comment about “girl code” and Natalie says she’s literally her sister you douchecanoe get over yourself. Except maybe not actually that last part.

Leo takes April home and they run into Julian, who stopped by to pick up some signs April made for the fundraiser. Julian says it’s too bad Leo doesn’t want to help out with the fundraiser, because April really believed he would do it, and bailing would kind of be letting her down.

Upstairs, Greer pops into Brenna’s room for a chat before she goes down to the sofa to sleep. She has been thinking non-stop about that kiss last night and needs Brenna to process some feelings with her. Greer has a question that is going to sound random but comes from a genuinely curious place and not a judgmental one; she asks Brenna if maybe going through an unexpected pregnancy and an abortion when she as a freshman caused her to seek out a girl to date, because she thought it would be less complicated. Brenna considers this, but says that while the abortion might have been why she never slept with Kieran – it’s not the kind of thing that ever fully leaves your mind, it’s something that creeps its way into your consciousness every once in a while, often uninvited – but that it had nothing to do to what drew her to Greer in the first place. She was living in a cloudy, rainy world, full of death and cancer and sadness, when she felt the gravitational pull of the sun in the form of a bright, dimpled smile on a blonde clad all in pink.

Brenna laughs, embarrassed for getting all poetic, but it’s exactly what Greer needed to hear. Because right now, her life is all fog and people telling her she’s not good enough, not smart enough, not perfect enough. But Brenna cut through all of it to tell her that she’s just that…she’s enough. Just the way she is.

And just like that they fit back together, the puzzle pieces that drifted to opposite sides of the box. Brenna returns the kiss with fervor and takes off her shirt, and the two lie down on their bed. I have a feeling the sofa will stay empty tonight.

The next day, Graham shows Beth the perfect apartment for them, but Beth has a mini panic attack about a two-year lease. Which I think is totally fair; I’ve been living in my apartment for three years, and intend on staying here indefinitely, but still can’t bring myself to sign for two years…I can only do one at a time. And that’s just commitment to an apartment, not an apartment AND another human! Beth and Graham fight and Graham uses a low blow and calls her a young 23, even though he’s only six years older than her.

At work, Sara asks Owen if he still loves his wife and asks why he’s stepping out on her, but he explains they have sort of a don’t ask/don’t tell marriage. They’ve been going through IVF treatments and it’s been a strain on their relationship, but he is confident that they’ll work things out; they just needed space and maybe some side-lovin’.

Meanwhile, Brenna and Greer are being giggly together while they help April with more gear for the fundraiser.

In the middle of philanthropic funtimes, though, Greer’s parents show up. Brenna tries to physically put herself between Greer and the Danvilles, but April pulls her back. Her parents try to demand she leave the house of hooligans, but Greer stands up to them and says they’re not allowed to be absent parents most of the time but then helicopter parents the rest. She tells them they’re terrible parents and she’s not going to boarding school (which sent a jolt of panic to my heart) and that she’s staying at Brenna’s until they stop being the worst. Greer’s dad loses his angryface at this, as it seems this is the first he’s hearing of this threat. But Mrs. Danville tells Greer that she can pitch a fit all she wants and storms out. Greer’s dad lingers but eventually follows his wife. April closes the door behind them, trying to hide the smile on her face, and Brenna hugs Greer and tells her that she’s her hero, beaming all the while.

Speaking of heroes, Graham feels like one because he found an apartment that not only fit all of their needs, but also came with a six month lease. He wants Beth to sign the lease right here right now without further discussion or actually seeing the apartment and Beth starts to hyperventilate. This causes her to second-guess the whole moving in together plan and she needs some fresh air.

And now we’re back to the start, at the Private Parts fundraiser. April and Beth are both pouting at the lemonade stand, taking life’s lemons and beating the shit out of them instead of actually making lemonade. Beth confides that everything changed so quickly, her new job, her new roomie, her new boyfriend, her new apartment, and that she’s not ready to be a real grown-up yet.

April says that she’s sweating the small stuff, it’s not like a lease is a magical binding spell, you can technically still break it. So Beth and April both decide they need to compromise a little more for their boyfriends. But it turns out April doesn’t have to, because Leo shows up, takes the mic, and gives a speech about being an example of someone who beat the odds, a symbol of hope, and inspiration to listen to your heart. Because to him, the heart is a “private part” too, and while some people know what it’s like to feel like your heart is full…

…this is the first time he’s experiencing it. He confesses his love for April out loud in front of everyone, cheering April up and winning Beth over.

The photobooth montage picks up again, this time giving us Brenna and Greer’s full photo session, where they pull an Emaya (without the psycho cyber stalker stealing the photos for blackmail).

The rest of the fundraiser is happiness and laughter until Beth pulls Graham into the photobooth and he proceeds to break up with her. Which is why Beth looked so sad at the beginning of the episode. Graham goes home and calls into Dom’s room, asking if he wants to watch a movie to numb his heartache, but Dom can’t do that because he’s in bed…with Natalie. Oops.

What did you think of “Life, Actually”?

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