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The Other Two Recap: Let Us Pray

Folks, these most recent episodes of our favorite TV comedy were truly some of the best — and the bar, as we know, is exceedingly high. So let’s not waste any time, and instead just dive right in (both physically and metaphorically) to recapping The Other Two.

Episode 5: “Chase Gets Baptized”

You know, it really was only a matter of time until The Other Two tackled one of the pressing issues of our time: the celebrity mega-church. It was even more fitting that last week’s episode came on the heels of the entire internet becoming aware, willingly or not, that John Mulaney and Olivia Munn (now of “having a baby together” fame) met at Sunday services.

We start the episode where all of the greatest comedies begin: in a Catholic mass flashback. It’s 2003 in Canton, Ohio, and the Dubek family are at church — with Mr. Dubek being portrayed, in a genius move, by Tuc Watkins of Fake Father in the second episode fame. The priest is lecturing against this “demonic” new show, Will & Grace, due to its portrayal of homosexuality. Young Cary is terrified and imagines the whole church (hot altar boy included) turning to shame him. I’m not the first, and certainly won’t be the last to say: not cool, Roman Catholic Church!

Flash forward to today, and Chase is joining a church of his own. This time, though, it’s far from the guilt-inducing halls of Catholicism. Because this is not just a house of worship, it’s a Soho House of worship. Literally. It is in the New York Soho House. As a way to boost his image — and to continue walking alongside Justin Bieber’s footprints in the sand — our favorite pop star will be baptized into the Christsong church.

My brothers and sisters, let us join hands and discuss the vibes of this place. First of all, we get cameos from not one, but TWO verified celebrities of both Twitter and 54 Below (and all-around musical talents): Alex Boniello as the lead singer of the church choir rock band and Natalie Walker as part of Hailey Bieber’s management team. Anyone who is cool will have, like me, seen them and done this:

So we have this divine guest list, and we’re at a pool party with Jesus-branded merch and tropical cocktails. I would say the vibes are… immaculate.

In case you haven’t picked up on this so far: I was raised Catholic and I studied the art of the Italian Renaissance in college. That’s right — you can’t even begin to imagine the biblical pun arsenal I’m working with right now.

Not one to miss an event of any kind, Streeter arrives. And though Jesus once said “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed,” you actually need to see this man’s shirt:

The Other Two merchandise when???

The moment finally arrives for ChaseDreams to be submerged in holy water (again, the rooftop pool of Soho House) and join the church. Conducting the sacred rite is Christsong founder and leader, Pastor Jax Dag.

Justin Theroux-lite first felt his heavenly calling when he was water skiing and got up on the first try, and that’s the least annoying thing about him. He poignantly baptizes Chase with one soul-stirring question: “do you fucks with God?”

Chase is not the only one getting baptized today though. One by one, Cary, Brooke, and Streeter all suddenly decide to join Christsong. Why, you ask?

Let’s start with Cary. He has just ditched his manager — who is always at a sporting event for some reason — because he wants to do more acting, and less hosting. The producer of a new Riverdale spin-off is a member of Christsong and Cary recently submitted his twenty-something-year-old self for the fitting role of “elderly teacher with dementia,” on the show. Only baptized members of the church can hobnob at the after party, so into the pool Cary goes.

Brooke’s reason is probably the most understandable: she is exhausted and overworked, and wants to go on a church trip to Mykonos with Lou, Jagger, and Seinfeld from Hailey Bieber’s team. I would have let Kirkland-brand Colin Farrell dunk me too.

Finally, Streeter has been going through a phase of feeling extremely fatherly towards the Dubek siblings (due to his dating their mother), and is feeling immensely threatened by Jax Dag’s constant claims of being Chase’s new father figure. So, with a glare of warning, Streeter Peter Peters takes the final plunge of the day to stake out his turf.

Streeter’s spiraling continues at the afterparty, where he reveals the belly button tattoo he got on 9/11 — but when it’s clear it can’t compete with Jax’s angel wings, the manager commences an hours-long process of replicating the pastor’s entire canvas of tattoos onto his own body in Sharpie. You all know I stan Streeter until the day I die, but this was hard for even me to get behind. Is this what it feels like to be a Lana Del Ray fan?

Fortunately, Cary and Brooke are more successful in their post-baptism pursuits. Brooke gets an invite on the private jet to Mykonos (complete with an in-flight root touch-up), and Cary is literally handed the role of elderly teacher with dementia. Unfortunately, Cary’s friend Curtis then breaks the news that this church is — surprise, surprise — both anti-gay AND anti-woman. While both siblings acknowledge that leaving Christsong is probably (read: extremely) the right thing to do, neither wants to let go of their newfound rewards, so they seek second opinions from both women and gay men.

Throughout the day, Brooke has been on Cary’s case to finally join Grindr and get out there — he did break up with Jess for lack of dicks seen, after all. Judging the profile he set up far too tame, Brooke supplies him with a tasteful nude of Lance’s to post on the app until he can take his own. You know, like a good sister does.

She has clearly chosen wisely, because Cary has no shortage of insanely attractive men to meet up with in the halls of Soho House and share his dilemma. Sadly, he gets neither a go-head nor a hook-up from this (and yes I *did* see the joke to be made there and I *chose* to be better than that). Brooke has similarly bad luck, with even a very Republican-looking Texan woman deeming the Mykonos trip not worth the misogyny.

Realizing that it’s Chase’s reputation on the line, Brooke and Cary decide that the Dubek family cannot be members of Christsong. The pair prepare to break the news to Chase, but, clear-headed child of Gen Z that he is, their little brother immediately makes the decision upon sensing a mere whiff of homophobia and misogyny that he will leave the church. But not before standing up and telling the entire room off for participating. AND revealing (thanks to a two-second Google search) that Jax Dag has helped his father cover up some serious allegations. Further proof that there’s only room for one hot priest in the pop culture canon:

In an episode full of nods to those of us who are Very Online, the final nod is Cary and Brooke acting like all of Twitter, all the time: pretending they’ve shared Chase’s outrage at the church since the start and shaming everyone around them for even considering to be a part of it. I mean… they aren’t wrong! Everyone in that room was okay with some very evil stuff! But Brooke and Cary interrupted a massage AND an orgy to attempt to get permission to stay. Really guys, it’s like the Bible says: why do you look at the guest role on Riverdale in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the trip to Mykonos in your own eye?

So with that, the Dubeks (and Streeter) leave the party. But only three of the four leave Soho House: Cary has some unfinished business with his very first Grindr match. And suffice it to say he does not need any help from Lance moving forward!

Episode 6: “Pat Becomes #1 In Daytime”

Alright, before we jump into our second episode of the week, I must air out the one single bone I have to pick with The Other Two: how can you have Molly Shannon in your cast and give her so little screen time? And how can you make that limited screen time so flat? For much of this season, all we’ve seen of Pat has been her going along with the various antics thrust upon her in her hosting role, and while she complies she does so with a clearly strained smile. Even in an episode for which she’s the namesake, she’s only in a handful of scenes that are hardly about her.

If last season was any indication, this is all leading up to a major blow-up or a major breakdown, which is stressing me out. But at least it would give Shannon the opportunity to showcase the heaps of talent we just haven’t had the opportunity to enjoy all season. Here’s hoping Pat is less of an afterthought in the remainder of this season.

We start the episode learning that Pat’s talk show is now the #1 show in daytime — a feat she is to be rewarded for by going on a truly insane number of “win-a-date-with-Pat” prizes with her fans (including one to go see Audrina Patridge in Chicago on Broadway, a joke that deserves its own Emmy).

Cary, meanwhile, is looking for a new agent. He meets with one, Mackenzie, who offers to help him land the types of acting gigs he wants — which could even include “one of those Netflix shows that just comes and goes and no one ever sees.” HBO Max takes no prisoners. She agrees to consider representing him so long as he’s a “multi-hyphenate,” which is how I’m going to start referring to myself when I both cook dinner and clean the dishes. What it means for Cary, though, is that he finds himself promising that he can not only act, but that he has a fully finished feature-length screenplay written and ready to send Mackenzie. (He does not.)

Our hero goes on a full cosplay journey towards becoming a Writer, which includes purchasing fingerless gloves and a Moleskine journal, and taking them to a Central Park bridge in black and white to write this:

As compelling as his life sounds on paper, it somehow turns out to be the exact same story as a one-man show Cary stops in to see a workshop of (and the women in the audience are literally so sick of it — show them more suffering!). So he heads home to come up with a completely original idea, not based on his own life. Calling Brooke after finally having a breakthrough, Cary — in what could possibly be the greatest scene of this entire series — describes the entire plot of the film Beginners. A film which, Brooke then reminds him, he once made her and Lance watch while he sat facing them the whole time.

It’s time, then, for Cary to enact Plan C: riding a Metro North train and trying to Before Sunrise someone into a life experience he can write about. I actually don’t have words to describe how much this scene feels like it was developed in a lab to speak specifically to me and my life.

And it turns out not having words is exactly Cary’s deal too. While he does run into his mom (on another date with a terrible fan), he does not find the Julie Delpy figure he was seeking, and must return home to one of the most visceral depictions of writer’s block I’ve ever seen. I’m crying and shaking just thinking about it. Finally he gives up, and sends a single title page to Mackenzie, resigning himself to his fate never to act.

As Cary struggles to somehow become Jughead Jones (the Cole Sprouse version) overnight, Brooke is struggling to survive being visibly ill due to overwork. I love Chase and Pat, but are their careers so precious that they can’t survive even a single day with just Streeter as their manager? Fortunately, Shuli shares some good news with Brooke: she has nominated her for Variety’s “30 Under 30.” Now the only thing separating Brooke from this recognition she so desperately desires (and deserves!) is a woman named Dina hearing her name enough.

We all (Shuli included) see it coming: Brooke spends the next couple of days following Dina around the city, loudly shouting her own name. Sometimes in an Australian accent. Dina’s onto it pretty quickly, but reassures Brooke that she has nothing to worry about. And it’s true! Brooke makes the list, and is thrilled to have a day where she is the star of a photo shoot — and can get some much needed TLC via glam squad.

Sadly, creative directors don’t get big photo shoots at Variety. Brooke gets what essentially amounts to a passport headshot while watching fellow honorees ChaseDreams and Tavi Gevinson get lensed in full costume. (Are you normal or did you yell, “not TAVI!” at your television like I did?)

Finally, our siblings come together for the “30 Under 30” party — just in the nick of time, on the eve of Brooke’s 31st birthday. Guess who isn’t there? Literally all of the cool honorees. Chase, along with Alessia Cara and Dua Lipa, has been invited to sit courtside at the Nets game. Only the creative directors go to the dinner. Guess who is there though? Lance! I thought we’d never see his beautiful face again, but he’s being awarded for his upcoming streetwear collab with Shawn Mendes (a man who is both “small and big,” in the immortal words of Lance).

Despite the road bumps, the event is ultimately a success for the Dubeks. Cary runs into Mackenzie, who we discover suffered from an acute case of reader’s block and is now pretending to have loved Cary’s nonexistent screenplay. And Brooke — at Lance’s urging — gets to take a red carpet photo that will eventually have a Getty Images watermark, which honestly is one of my own highest aspirations too.

The trio head back to Cary’s apartment for some takeout, and there Brooke offers Lance the chance to ditch his collab with Shawn for a collab with none other than ChaseDreams — an offer he gladly accepts. And when he reveals he has a new girlfriend, Brooke is genuinely happy for him. Everyone’s in such a good place, and my heart is warmed and full!!!

We have very little information about what the rest of the season holds, as we appear to have caught up to the events in the trailer. Here’s hoping that we see more Molly Shannon, and that Brooke and Cary continue to find moments of joy amidst the chaos of their lives. Until next week!

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Written By

Allyson lives in New York, where she was born and raised. She likes short stories and long movies. When she's not writing about Film & TV or conducting research for cultural institutions, you can find her making sure everyone knows she's Italian.

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