‘UnREAL’ episode 8 review: Rachel, Adam, and kind of a big deal

Tonight’s “UnREAL” episode firmly reminded us, at least for the most part, why this show happens to be a cut above the rest of Lifetime. Even when it gives you what you want, it does not necessarily give it in a way that you expect.

For example, did we think that Rachel and Adam were going to get together at some point romantically? Sure, but not in the way that they did. We are also still trying to understand every little wrinkle with it. Here is what we know: Rachel had sex with him after being told that if she could deliver a spin-off show featuring him, in turn she would get to be the main showrunner on said show. Her dream occupation (or at least her feasible one) would actually get to be a reality! The problem was figuring out how to make that happen, and convince Adam that he should marry someone in a massive special and then go right into “Royal Love” (even if Adam is actually not a royal).

First, Rachel tried to push Anna after Quinn and Chet struck out seemingly with Grace, as Adam wasn’t feeling that at all. He admitted that he at least thought Anna was “lovely,” but did not want to go through the charade of marrying her on TV. Then, Rachel hatched a new idea: Push off the wedding part of it, get engaged to Anna, and then just make the spin-off all about the winery, which would be remade into something that did not have anything to do with “Everlasting.” It was the combination of what production wanted and what he wanted.

Also, Adam wanted Rachel. She knew very well that he wanted to sleep with her, and while the full extent of her attraction to him is unclear, she at least has an obvious connection. Did she use sleeping with him as a tool to get what she wants? Maybe. If he wants to spend more time with her, agreeing to do the spin-off is the right way to do that. There are still three other problems with this:

1. Eventually hurting Anna, who he had no real intention of marrying as of late.

2. Jeremy, who dumped his relentless boring fiancee to be with Rachel, only to discover that Rachel was not waiting around for him in the truck bed that he likes to call home.

3. What we saw in the preview at the end of the episode, which we will discuss much further at the link here.

The one negative for this episode is Chet spending all of this time and money getting his divorce together and getting Quinn to want to marry him, only then to get freaky with her PA. Why go through all of the trouble? What’s in this for him? Maybe he is the living manifestation of that horrible car ride he took Rachel on early; he gets a thrill out of waiting for everything to crash. Episode Grade: A-.

What did you think about this episode, and was the Adam / Rachel hookup what you wanted? Share below, and head over here to get some other TV news on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Lifetime.)