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The Arrangement

The Arrangement – Trips (1×07)

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This week’s episode of The Arrangement shows us the other side of the perfect Hollywood relationship; a side where both actors are acting in bed while making love to each other because they’ve both done “things” they’d rather forget. Megan’s mind is distracted because she’s guilty about kissing and having slight feelings for her director Nate. Kyle’s is a little darker as he’s traumatized by having to live out Detective Gaffey’s sexual fantasy in order to save IHM. *Shudders*

And despite how gross Kyle’s latest “assignment” was, it was actually effective because it shined a new light on the Institute and his dear friend Terrence. Up until now it seemed like Kyle was under Terence’s spell and backing IHM because they “saved him” and he owed them. He didn’t see how twisted and corrupt the Institute was, which is something Megan was skeptical about since day 1. But after being pimped out and realizing that Terence didn’t even fight for him, he pulls up looking like a badass, pins the manager to the wall and tells him he’s done with him. No amount of threats from Terence about “I made you and I can destroy you” can scare Kyle anymore. But on a serious note – what does that mean for Kyle’s career?

The emotional distanced “lovebirds” are brought together again after attending the wedding of Tessa, Megan’s childhood best friend. Initially Kyle was set to skip the wedding to mingle with some big wig executives for his new movie but after his altercation with Terence, he blows it off and skips town (his favorite “I’m stressed” activity) with his girl.

I’ll admit, in a normal setting outside of the fake Hollywood life, Kyle is actually pretty charming. Tessa’s parents, who are like Megan’s second family would agree, especially when he accepts the challenge of building a gazebo to prove he isn’t just a pretty face. You go Kyle.

Megan seems to be in good spirits but her best friend knows something is up. For one, she’s not as giddy about dating Kyle West as she was in the beginning and Tessa just can’t figure out why. I kind of want to tell her about the whole IHM controls his life, I signed a contract, and I might have feelings for another dude, situation but really, that’s not my place. Plus, Megan is sworn to secrecy and that right there just shows you how far removed she is from the simple life she led not too long ago.

But the uncertainty of her relationship isn’t the only thing that’s bothering. Kyle is quick to realize that there’s something from Megan’s past that’s bugging her. We quickly find out that it has to do something with a girl named Rebecca, who Tessa reveals is actually coming to the wedding. At first I thought this was an “ex best friend” situation until the series took a horror-movie twist when Megan sees a reflection of a guy named Evan in her kitchen window. Whoever he is, whatever happened with him, is enough to give her a panic attack.

The day of the wedding, Megan remains uneasy, freaking out whenever she runs into Rebecca. During her last break down, Kyle is able to squeeze out the truth from his girlfriend – Evan was her stepbrother that molested her several times when she was a kid.

This is the first time we’re hearing anything about Megan’s family and since it’s so dark, it’s no wonder she’s haunted by her past. When Kyle asks what happened to Evan she simply says “he died.” And that’s that. Megan telling Kyle the truth somehow brings them closer together and they even exchange “I love yous” again.

While I feel for Megan, I have to admit that the story comes out of left field as she’s never really exhibited any signs of past trauma. It does however explain why we’ve never heard of her family and definitely opens up more story possibilities for the future. Yet for an episode that was supposed to be focused on her best friends wedding, Megan’s attention was everywhere but with Tessa. Even when the newlyweds were leaving their own party, Megan was too focused on her relationship to care. I’d say someone didn’t take their maid of honor duties too seriously.

Kyle and Megan’s getaway brilliantly paralleled what was going on in Hollywood, particularly with Terence. You think the wedding was dramatic? Terence was so thrown off by his fall out with Kyle, he took some “safe shrooms” and hallucinated in an isolation tank. I guess the whole purpose was to clear his mind and face his subconscious in hopes of getting back to being the great and mighty cult leader.

All I know is, it was one hell of a trip. He was basically Kyle, dating a very vain version of Megan. Apparently, Terence crafted Kyle in order to live out his own failed dreams. He also realizes that he’s created this institute to help people but he actually doesn’t care about anybody except himself… and money I suppose. Kyle was right, he is a fraud.

I’m not sure what the purpose here was but regardless, Terence emerges rejuvenated and refreshed and goes back to IHM and teaches a profound and touching workshop. It’s all so weird that I’m kind of sitting here wondering how the hell Kyle never saw any of this and thought “what the eff man.”

Meanwhile, Deann is embracing her new relationship with Annika, who is apparently a professional dominatrix. She’s giving Terence’s wife a massage to “reset” her after taking her body to extremes. I don’t really want to know what that means. When I see these two together though, the only thing on my mind is “trouble.” Imagine when Terence realizes he’s losing his hold on both Kyle and his wife. No amount of shrooms will be able to bring him back from that anger-fueled episode.

And while it seems like both Deann and Terence were busy “resetting,” someone had enough time to come and trash Kyle’s sleek apartment. Whoever did this didn’t steal anything they were merely making a point that they can come in whenever they please. Definitely sounds like something a post shrooms Terence would do to establish his authority over Kyle yet again.

 

 

If you thought things were messy when Megan signed that contract, you had no idea.

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Lizzy Buczak is the founder of CraveYouTV. What started off as a silly blog in her sophomore year at Columbia College Chicago turned her passion for watching TV into an opportunity! She has been in charge of CraveYou since 2011, writing reviews and news content for a wide variety of shows. Lizzy is a Music Business and Journalism major who has written for RADIO.COM, TV Fanatic, Time Out Chicago, Innerview, Pop’stache and Family Time.

The Arrangement

The Arrangement – The Break Up (2×06)

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The arrangement the break up

This season of The Arrangement is getting quite messy but one thing that we know for sure is that Megan will never get between Kyle and Terence.

IHM is always going to come first to him which means she’ll never fully have Kyle.

And for someone who is actively working to take IHM down, that’s just not going to cut it.

Megan thought she was making some headway with Kyle, who for the past few episodes, has been leaning on her more than the Institute.

But now, she’s more alone than ever. The only other people she has on her side are Kyle’s assistant and his little group, who pointed out that Shaun probably lied to her about what she found on Julie Wolfe.

Of course, she did! Shaun has been compromised. She’s totally crushing on Terence which is why she’s so hesitant to help Megan take it all down. And it’s also why she keeps getting mad that Megan is actively trying to take this thing down.

From what she’s seen, Terence is really doing this because he believes in his mission. Some people just aren’t that aware and can’t see through him.

And he relies on it! He relies on the people that fall for his charms, who feel like he saved them, for this Institute to stay open.

Related: Surface Tension (2×02)

Trust me when I say, there’s no shortage of women who are falling for Terence.

In fact, as Kyle goes through his “break-down,” after being forced to relive his break-up with Lisbeth for an IHM documentary, he starts reliving a meltdown that destroyed his relationship.

We’ve never actually seen what happened with Lisbeth and Kyle so we couldn’t really understand why he’s so jaded, why he believes he owes Terence his life and why IHM was his lifeline.

Now we know, Terence was the one who stopped Kyle from going too deep; from going to a place he could never come back from.

Kyle pointed a gun at Terence before turning it on himself. Not to mention a moment of anger directed at Lis caused him to punch a hole in the wall.

I don’t exactly know what his past demons are that have taken hold of him. What did he tell Lisbeth that scared her off? And who is Aaron? Why was he so set on calling him?

However, more shocking is how fake Terence really is. It’s always been clear he doesn’t actually have Kyle’s best interests at heart, but I never pegged him for the guy who was actually sleeping with Lisbeth while Kyle was dating her. He lied to his face and it’s terrible to watch because Kyle truly believes him. Open your eyes, man!

Kyle was really in love with her, but she was completely in love with Terence. I mean, she wanted to run away with him which in hindsight is ridiculous cause Terence would never care about anything more than he cares about IHM and his moneymaker, Kyle.

So really, Terence is to blame for whatever messed up state Lisbeth is in right now. Remember when Megan wanted to get some intel from her and she just kept repeating the same thing over and over? But what did Terence do to her?

Still, she knows from being with both of them that nothing will come between them. She tried to warn Megan but now, she’s learning the hard way.

After Kyle presumably “cleared his head,” he did the most irrational thing — he fired Xavier. He claims it had nothing to do with the affair rumors or anything else, he simply realized that he didn’t believe in himself to act in the movie. I think that’s rubbish but whatever. It’s frankly quite annoying that they made us care about Megan relationship with Xavier just to pull him out of this.

I think that Xavier will be Megan’s saving grace sometime in the near future. He never believed in this IHM crap and only joined because he thought it would make his director happy.When Kyle fired him, he was angry but he was also relieved because he could finally be free from all of this. He sees it for what it truly is — a cult — and also sees that Megan is completely terrified of them all.

And how could she not be? Terence hates her so much, she’ll likely become the next Julia Wolfe. He even told her she “isn’t that important.” That’s basically code for, “I could end you in a day if I wanted to.”

I think that Kyle is going to turn his back on Megan when he realizes she isn’t fully supportive of IHM the way he thought she was because if they let her leave, she’ll expose them or try to ruin them.

Megan has every right to be on edge — I’d be freaked out too if I saw the guy from the Farm that drugged me and succumbed me to all this mental brainwashing. Then, he’s talking about immortality.

The only thing scarier than IHM is IHM talking about living forever. What’s next? Taking over the world. It seems like that’s what The Arrangement is setting up for.

Will Megan find Julie? Will Shaun tell Terence that Megan has been looking into her? Will Megan be sent to The Farm again? Does Terence know that Megan is conspiring against him? If he had such a solid repertoire with Lis, it’s possible she told him or he still watches her.

Terence could be playing the long-game here and setting up his pieces so that it’s going to be relatively easy to wipe Megan off the map.

Catch up with The Arrangement on E!

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The Arrangement

The Arrangement – Surface Tension (2×02)

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The Arrangement Surface Tension

Is The Arrangement started to feel discombobulated to anyone else? I don’t even know where to start with all the oddities.

We have Terrence’s brush with death that has led him down the path of alcoholism and taken a toll on his already strained, open marriage.

It’s unclear what that attack was supposed to mean for his overall story because it didn’t make him a better person and it didn’t teach him any lessons. In fact, the only thing that he did realize was that whatever was happening with Megan wasn’t a “one-off” occurrence. Yeah, stress usually isn’t Terrence.

His marriage is falling apart and no amount of therapy can help if Deann doesn’t want to make it work. And from the looks of it, she really isn’t interested in being with him or sleeping with him, although she damn well got made about the tie on the door. Why is she still with him? Is there a reason other than their business with IHM? Is he more trustworthy with a wife? Cause he was definitely looking like a creep at the bar practically drooling all over the young girls.

Then there’s whatever the heck that scene with Lisbeth was. Megan’s sole goal has been to take down IHM for good, including Terrance. In order to do that, she has to know what the hell they did to scare Lisbeth away. It was surprising that Lisbeth all of sudden wanted to chat and even weirder when she just began repeating the same thing over and over. Is she programmed to say that? Is that her defense? Call me crazy but it seemed like she was trying to signal something to Megan. Maybe she’s still being watched by the Institute?

One thing she did mention? Terrance was poisoning her. Now, it’s unclear if that was true or just a figment of her imagination. It’s easy to trick your mind into believing something when you think you’re in danger, which it seems like everyone at IHM is.

However, Megan also has some kind of stomach pains and paired with Lisbeth’s minuscule intel, you’d think she’d be a bit more concerned. Maybe go to a doctor on her own? Instead, she ignores the pain for a few months until she collapses at her own Women in Hollywood event. The press begins speculating everything from drugs to an eating disorder but the truth is, it’s just stress.

At least that’s what the IHM doctor said. And he’s obviously on Terrence’s payroll so he’ll say anything. Hopefully, she doesn’t have stomach cancer like her late mother but given how many times they brought it up, I’m beginning to worry.

It could very well be an ulcer she’s given herself from constantly obsessing over how to take this untouchable organization down and also, the fact that she’s constantly living a lie. How exhausting must it be to fake your happiness about a career you once dreamt of and pretend to love the guy you’re marrying. Okay, I know she loves Kyle but there’s a lot she’s keeping from him.

Shaun is putting herself in the line of fire with Andres. She really thought he would just show her the way to a top-secret location? That just shows you how much these ladies underestimate IHM. To get the clearance, I’m sure Andres had to sign his life away. He’s indebted to Terrence in ways I do not even want to know.

I mean, we’re talking about an organization that quite literally owns their own talent agency. And they make dreams more than happen, at Creative Partners dreams flourish. It makes you wonder how many levels of Hollywood IHM has infiltrated.

I can’t remember if season one was also this outrageously weird but there was a moment where I really thought Xavier and his girl were swingers. Thank god that wasn’t the case and in actuality, Kyle decided he was the perfect guy for the movie. While they were at the party and Kyle was so opposed to Logan, I had a hunch they would go for the blossoming jazz musician with soul. However, I still don’t trust his little girlfriend.

Thoughts on The Arrangement? When will Kyle and Megan get married? Hopefully, the series finds its flow before than!

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The Arrangement

The Arrangement – Long Game (2×01)

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The Arrangement Long Game

The Arrangement is back and in full-on wedding mode!

Kyle and Megan are getting married but it isn’t based on love, it’s fueled by a pre-existing contract, a movie deal and a publicity timeline. Romantic, right?

Megan also isn’t fully invested; every since she left the Facility, she’d been detached. Understandably so. Her future husband is the man who gave her away to Terrence and dragged her to this place where she was basically brainwashed.

He knows it too and wants her to admit that she’s angry at him so they can learn how to fix it and move forward.

But Megan refuses because if she’s to move forward with her plan to take down IHM, she has to pretend like she’s fully invested.

It’s impossible to take on a such a task and not break a few hundred times. After spending some time at the Facility, Megan knows what they are capable of if they figure out what she’s doing. And despite her new fondness of the place, I don’t think Terrence fully trusts her.

Megan’s love for Kyle is real, however debilitating the PTSD may be, but she has to decide if she’s going to attempt to bring him on her team or take him down with the institute.

At first, it seems like Kyle’s ex-girlfriend Lisbeth was right, there’s no separating Kyle and Terrence.

But after their major fight, Megan notices that Kyle isn’t just blindly following what Terrence says; he takes control of the movie, pulling out as an actor and signing on solely as a director. Yes, his unfavorable decision comes with the possibility of funding being pulled but he’s that confident in making it work for them as a couple. Which means there may be hope to pull Kyle out of IHM after all.

Megan knows that Lisbeth isn’t telling the public the truth about why she broke off her engagement with Kyle. Ever since then, she’s been acting really sketchy and when Megan tries to hunt her down for answers, she looks terrified and pushes her away.

Eventually, she agrees to talk. What did Terrence do to her that made her give up on the relationship? Will these two work together to bring IHM down?

I really want to trust Ingrid but given as she’s IHM’s lawyer, she could very well be working against Megan and simply pretending to find out exactly what she’s planning to do. With Andres now accepting a job at the Facility, will she be able to find out where it’s located? You expose that, you can expose everything.

Terrene honestly gives me the heebie-jeebies — the way he controls Kyle, his vision on expanding IHM to the masses, and sleeping with all those young and impressionable women. It’s just disturbing.

And what’s up with Deann? They have an open marriage so her jealousy was a bit irrational, especially since she was sexting Mason, who appears to be a former lover. Honestly, why are they even together? Does it make for better business? I personally enjoyed seeing Terrence’s hook-up freak out after seeing Deann in the room and even more so when she wasn’t even phased by it.

Megan’s only saving grace would have been Leslie but she just fired her because she was a bit too chaotic for IHM and would likely thwart all of Megan’s plans. She was trying to give her a career but that’s not what Megan cares about at this point; it’s do-or-die, and she just doesn’t want to be a prisoner in her own, fake world.

Do you think she’ll go through with the wedding? With the plans to destroy IHM?

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