overnights

The Catch Recap: Alice Switches Sides

The Catch

The Princess and the I.P.
Season 1 Episode 4
Editor’s Rating 4 stars
ABBY MILLER, MIREILLE ENOS

The Catch

The Princess and the I.P.
Season 1 Episode 4
Editor’s Rating 4 stars
Photo: Kelsey McNeal/ABC

Hey boos! Sorry I was MIA last week. I had to finish writing my book manuscript, so basically, I was up in the crib, typing the way I do when I get into a Facebook fight with someone I barely know. Anyway, the book (You Can’t Touch My Hair, coming out in fall 2016) is done-zo, so I’m all yours again, and I’m happy to be back because last night’s episode was probably my favorite one yet! I gasped two times, almost got teary-eyed when Christopher/Ben was being bae, and felt a little sad for Danny. And I haven’t even mentioned Princess Zara, who I wish could be a cast member on The Catch because she’s so rad. Clearly, to me, “The Princess and the I.P.” has lots going for it and the show is quickly becoming one my favorite spring/summer shows, so let’s get into it, shall we?

We begin at Vaughn & Anderson. Alice and Dao decide to work together and talk about Zara and catching Chris/Ben, and she tells him that Valerie doesn’t know that Alice and Dao are teaming up. Uh-oh! This secret is going to really strain their friendship if Alice doesn’t fess up. I mean, Dao and Sophie know what’s going on, but not Alice’s BFF? Yikes. Meanwhile, somewhere across the office, Danny is talking to potential client Phillip, the head of a tech company, and one of his associates Marie, who need the company’s help because one of the employees/Marie’s best friend, Gwen, has been missing for four days. Scary! But then it’s even more scary because Gwen designed this technology called ThruSight, which allows users to see through walls and even human flesh, so that way you can save people in collapsed buildings, but it also has the ability to be weaponized. Oh no! Oh no, part two, is that Marie (after meeting with Alice and Val) tells Alice that sometimes Gwen just disappears, usually when she has a problem she can’t figure out at work, but now she fears Gwen is dead. Or, in my opinion, maybe she went rogue to sell this software to some baddies? Only time will tell. Finally, there is oh no, part three, and that is Sophie hitting it off with Agent Shawn, who is going to be working on the case. This rightfully makes Danny jealous because whatever red-blooded person looks at Shawn would think:

Anyway, the PI company takes on this case and Alice wants Danny, Sophie, and Shawn to work together. Oh, man!

Meanwhile, Chris/Ben is still rolling with Princess Zara as her new financial advisor, and while he hasn’t gotten the money from her yet, he assures Margot that everything is going according to plan. Yeah, except for one problem — Zara’s brother is coming to town to take her back home since Qasim has gone missing (remember, she was killed in the last ep). Zara doesn’t want to leave; she loves it in the USA, loves the rights that women have, and she’s contemplating just taking as much money as she can and disappearing. She asks him to help her disappear. He’s down and reports back to Margot that he’s going to get the money soon, but she reminds him that they are past due on the money they owe and says it’s only a matter of time before their boss, “The Benefactor,” sends someone to kill them … which is apparently now because when they go back to their place, there is a foxy bounty hunter there who’s like:

Eep! Sexy Bounty Hunter is ready to kill them, when Chris/Ben offers up $1.5 million for a 48-hour extension to get the money from Zara. SBH agrees and bounces, and Margot is like “WTF? We’re losing even more money now.” But then she stops panicking when she comes up with a new plan: Since Princess Zara is now a woke feminist, Margot wants Ben to get Zara to invest $15 million in a faux charity for women’s education and equal rights. #SadFaceEmoji. I really like Zara now and I don’t want her being duped, but I guess this is the only way Chris/Ben can stay alive, so …

Back to Sophie/Danny/Shawn: They find out that normally when Gwen is stressed she goes to one of the hiking trails at a local park, so off the trio go! Danny is obviously very jealous of Shawn, but it still takes Sophie like 10 minutes to figure that out. But she can’t figure out that the reason is because he likes her. C’mon! How blind is this girl?! Anyway, all this cute/flirtation/jealousy comes to a brief halt when they discover what appears to be Gwen’s jacked-up body and face on a trail. They identify her body by one of the tattoos on it. Oh, crap!

Chris/Ben goes to Zara with this plan and she is so on board! She knows that doing this will make her family disown her and she can finally have the freedom she craves. The next day, she has Chris/Ben come over to her hotel suite because she has a person from the World Wide Women’s Fund who might be the perfect fit … and it’s Alice!! OMG!! Ben and Alice awkwardly talk, and then when the two are alone, Alice, who is wired, gets Chris/Ben to meet with her another time to talk just so she can get him to make a confession and she and Dao can arrest him.

Alice meets up with Dao and he says he’s going to keep following Chris/Ben, and that’s when Alice gets a phone call about Gwen. She goes back to the office; they’ve located Gwen’s laptop, which has the only completed version of ThruSight, to a house. They show up, break in easily, steal the laptop and then when they are starting to drive off, a giant SUV rams into them. The driver runs up to the car and tries to rip the laptop out of Sophie’s hands. Alice stops her and sees that it’s Gwen, who is very much undead!

Gwen confesses that she faked her death in order to keep ThruSight away from Philip, who she believes wants to sell the software to terrorists. Because this is TV, the PI team confirms this immediately and comes up with a plan. They’re going to pose as an online buyer to get him to sell ThruSight to them, Alice and her team hatch a plan to give Philip the laptop back, pose as an online buyer to get him to sell it back to them, and then get their buddy Agent Jules Dao to be the point person for this exchange, and that’s when they will arrest Phillip, case solved. Great! Except that when the transaction happens, it’s Marie, not Phillip, who wants to sell this stuff to terrorists.

The PI team wraps up this case by allowing Gwen to stay dead to by giving her a new identity so she can continue hiding the technology without fearing for her life. Yay! Case over!

Meanwhile, Margot has a plan to buy her and Chris/Ben more time. And that plan is to dine on Sexy Bounty Hunter’s vajeen. LOVE it! Everybody on this show wants to bone everybody and most get a chance to follow through on this, which is so unlike my life where I’m on Tinder and a bunch of Joey Buttafuocos want to bone and I’m basically putting a “Closed for Renovations” sign on my lady bits to keep these dudes away. Anyway, we learn during these ladies’ pillow-talk session that Margot was next in line to take over The Benefactor position, but she didn’t believe that was ever going to happen because he is a misogynist. Oof.

Moving on! Chris/Ben calls Alice and they decide to meet on Friday at Grand Park. He says he will tell her everything if she stops chasing him. The next day, he meets with Zara. Her brother is there and he rips up the contract that she signed, so Zara goes to plan B, and later on, she’s selling off all her belongings and tells Ben that she’s going employ “creative accounting” to still donate the $15 million that she’s promised. When that’s done, she gives Ben a check for $15 million and he looks super guilty about taking the money from someone so clearly trying to do good in the world. Hmm, does this mean that he doesn’t want to be a con man anymore? We’ll have to wait and see I guess.

Back at the office, Danny and Sophie are talking/flirting. UHHHHHH, WHY IS SOPHIE ACTING LIKE SHE DOESN’T KNOW DANNY LIKES HER? I mean, he’s jealous of her hanging out with hot dude Shawn, Danny tells her she’s pretty, and is always asking about her relationship status. This is clear as day. But she still doesn’t get it, I guess, and then says that she’s not into Shawn because he’s all muscle-y.

Look, I’m not a muscle queen. Most the dudes I have dated in my life are pale and register on the anemia scale somewhere between “a woman on the second day of her period” and “octogenarian who hasn’t taken an iron pill in six days,” but to act like Shawn being Henry-Cavill-hot is too much to handle and not enticing is just ludicrous. Get your life together Soph, smash Shawn, take a breather, and then date Danny.

It’s now the next day, and Zara is leaving. She shares some kind words with Chris/Ben and gives him a necklace. She tells him to give it to the woman he loves and fix their relationship. She hugs him goodbye and then Margot comes over. He lets her assume that the con failed and that the brother, Bashir, was onto them, so the check is useless. But she sees the necklace and figures they can give it to Felicity a.k.a. Sexy Bounty Hunter and that will help them buy more time.

Now it’s all about this Grand Park showdown. Alice looks amazing and Ben keeps looking bae-licious. They meet. She’s still hurt, and he’s still in love with her. I believe she is still in love with him but feels so betrayed. Anyway, she gets him to start talking and Dao is patiently listening so he can send his men to arrest Chris/Ben once he confesses. Chris/Ben convinces that his love for her is real and that day he asked her to run away with him to the Alps is when he chose her over the con lifestyle. She starts to well up and he continues talking. That’s when she mouths for him to be quiet and shows him the wire she’s wearing. She mouths, “I’m sorry,” and he smiles, because he knows that by her not letting him confess, she still has feelings for him. He mouths back a “thank you” and then runs away just as Dao and his men start to chase him. Dao gets to Alice and is pissed because he feels like she let Chris/Ben get away, but she acts her butt off and says that Chris/Ben ran away because Dao’s men stormed in. Oooooh! She’s lying to Val, she’s lying to Dao. Alice just might be falling for Chris/Ben and I like it!

Alrighty, what did you think of this episode? Are you shipping Chris/Ben and Alice as much as I am? Do you think that Danny and Sophie will end up together?

The Catch Recap: Alice Switches Sides