Chasing Love Around A Figure 8: Mistresses “Breaking and Entering” Review

Where a couple of Mistresses‘ leading ladies were lacking storyline, “Breaking and Entering” helped to fill in the cracks. It may have also been our first real taste of the wrong kind of “soapy.”

Savi has apparently gotten over that “hump” with Harry, but all is not yet golden in her sky. When people cheat with their co-workers, they can’t just stop coming to work to avoid seeing them. That’s not to say Savi didn’t try, going so far as to buy a 2 week vacation as a means of dodging Dominic. Still, bills need to be paid and appearances need to kept, so Savi drags herself to the office where tension soaks every interaction with her co-adulterer. As a result, the two spend most of the episode exchanging heated whispers and awkward pauses.

To be fair, Dominic’s very smooth, and a hat should be tipped to Jason George for making us simultaneously long for – and want distance from – his character. What you read on the surface isn’t always what’s beneath though. To Savannah, Dominic’s words and body language are suggestive and she gets herself so worked up over the possible double meaning of everything, she can’t see how her guilt is feeding into it. Hopefully April’s confession about regretting the discovery of her husband’s affair can relieve some of Savi’s guilt, and get her off this train of destruction… for everyone’s sake.

Karen finds her way back under the foot of the Grey family, which – if you didn’t know already – is the worst place for her. Why she allows these people in her life becomes even more unclear once we see her at Joss’ L.A. party/open house. Karen lets her hair down for the first time and she’s even with a new man, her co-worker and fellow psychologist Jacob (Matthew Del Negro). While she’s buzzed and blushing, you can’t help but fall for her charm. She still, however, manages to get sucked back into the emotional whirlpool of Sam.

The young Grey calls her at the party to pick him up from the hospital. Depressed about his father, Sam got drunk, hopped into his car and then crashed. As she drops him off, he reveals the why behind his late night cruising and we learn how Karen’s earlier actions have come back to bite her. After hearing Sam would be moving into her old love nest, she went to Tom’s apartment to remove evidence. Sam came home, so she had to scram, but she forgot her sunglasses. So what started as a clean up job turned into an accidental admission of Tom’s philandering.

April spends the episode ignoring Paul’s other woman while trying to get an attractive dad to stop ignoring her. After blowing Richard off twice, he returns the sentiment when April shouts hello across a school parking lot. This flusters April and she clamors for ways to redeem herself. She does get the chance and when it arrives, April tells him a half-truth about why she didn’t show. Honesty would seem like the best policy, but these women’s lives are chalk full of catch-22’s. Instead of proving April’s not a flake, Richard turns her down. He’s apparently not into beautiful women with unresolved relationship issues.

Robin Lynch, Jes Macallan — Photo: Danny Feld/ABC — © 2013 ABC

Joss began her storyline not so politely telling a mother to “get a taller kid,” after the woman chides her about the length of her skirt. The moment seems to repeat itself though – and in a less humorous fashion – when the man who bought her firm overnight tells her to dress appropriately. That she can’t use her wiles to get ahead with her new boss (and that he thinks the way she dresses is solely for male gaze) is both frustrating and motivating to the fiery blonde. Tasked with moving one of her toughest properties, she pulls some strings, throws a party, and manages to sell the home.

Joss, whose storyline prior to this comprised mostly of looking good in a dress and rope bondage, now seems to have some substance. She’s definitely a fighter, and her need to be in control of her sexuality is actually just a general need for control in her life. April grew from being a reactionary character (only exhibiting angry emotions about her husband or her friend’s choices), to having some positive, if only fleeting,  motivation: Richard. He may have turned her down, but it’s incentive to deal with the other women issue so she can move on with her life. Karen and Savi offering each other advice seems to be a running, and slightly hilarious, theme on the show. Most of what they have to say has weight, but it’s like someone talking to their own reflection; it falls on deaf ears. The degree to which both women are manifesting their own issues is also pretty alarming – and a bit grating.

The tone of “Breaking and Entering” was definitely lighter than last week’s episode, but some storylines are becoming almost too painful to watch. Of course things will have to get worse before they get better, but they don’t need to turn melodramatic or be tortuously dark to keep our attention. This is a summer soap after all and everything should only be ridiculous in the best of ways.

Catch Mistresses Mondays this summer at 10:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.