Sweet/Vicious season 1, episode 8, “Back to Black,” is all about relationships. Who will stay together and who will fall apart?
Barton writes the name Brady Teller on the wall in the girl’s bathroom to draw the vigilante out, and it’s not long before the girls notice the addition, thanks to a secret camera Ophelia had installed to check on any updates.
Both Jules and Ophelia are doing much better than last week. Jules is out of bed, running and looking a bit like her former self. Ophelia is having a great time with Evan, putting socks in microwaves and attempting to be a good girlfriend. She thinks she can be with Evan and be a vigilante at the same time, but Jules is skeptical, given her recent breakup with Tyler.
But now they have a mission, and it’s time to focus. Barton explains to Harris that Brady Teller is a rapist — he assaulted an international student named Cindy. She filed a report against him, but since she contacted him so many times after the incident (trying to get her bracelet back), it was used against her and the case was thrown out.
Barton proposes they protect Brady just long enough to catch the vigilante, and then they turn their focus on getting justice for Cindy. Harris is in. I love the focus the show has put on Barton because he really shines as a bit of a goofy character who has a heart of gold. I only wish he and Harris could have even more scenes together.
Back at the Zeta house, Kennedy has gotten a ton of flowers from Nate and he’s been sitting outside their house for hours. She goes out to send him home, telling him she needs space. She confronts him about what Jules said about him, that he raped her, but Nate asks if she really knows Jules at all. Hasn’t her best friend been lying to her for the last year?
It turns out Jules hasn’t only been lying to her old friends, but her new ones, too. Ophelia wants to take down Brady at the big fraternity party, the Bacchanal, and Jules agrees it’s a good idea. Except she lies about going to her support group and really goes through his room instead, taking back Cindy’s bracelet.
Meanwhile, Nate continues to win Kennedy over, despite the lingering hesitation growing in the back of her mind. In a pretty sweet move if it had been anyone but Nate, he and Miles put together a mash-up of the most romantic gestures in cinema in order to convince Kennedy to go to the party.
It works, of course, because she’s not as certain as we are that Nate is a bad dude. But can you imagine if Tyler had done this to Jules? It would’ve been so much cuter.
But this party is where everything starts to go wrong. Jules is dressed up as Brady bait, but Evan tagging along with Ophelia compromises the mission. Tyler wants Jules back and Harris really wants to go to the party, so they find their way there as well. By this time, both Nate and Kennedy show up, and it all gets a bit complicated.
Jules isn’t ready to give up the fight, though, despite all the unknown factors. When Ophelia spots the bracelet on her arm, she puts two and two together and realizes Jules has been lying to her as well. It’s too late to back out, however, because Brady’s date heads upstairs to lie down. The girls intercept her and lay a trap for Brady to meet his date in his room.
When he arrives, he has just enough time to hit the panic button Barton gave him before he’s attacked. Barton tracks the device to a room, but it’s not Brady’s. That was a close call for Jules and Ophelia.
But Jules is just getting started. After their usual punch out, the girls give Brady a warning that, “Next time, we won’t be sweet.” “You’re not sweet,” he tells them. “You’re vicious.” This sets Jules off and she begins beating on him even harder. Ophelia struggles to stop her friend, and when she finally does, it looks like Brady is only just barely alive.
Ophelia tells Jules she needs to deal with her shit. It’s not advice coming from a vindictive or angry place. Rather, Ophelia is terrified for Jules. She sees the darkness inside her friend, and she’s afraid. Ophelia is afraid that she can’t fix Jules.
But that was the wrong thing to say. Jules says Ophelia invaded her life like a disease, that she never wanted her there, and that she doesn’t need her around. The two part ways after Ophelia calls an ambulance for Brady, and it’s clear they’re both shaken up by their confrontation.
But in true Sweet/Vicious form, watching Tyler pull a condom out of Ophelia’s hair with a beer bottle does a lot to break the tension. Still, Ophelia’s wise words to Kennedy that she needs to own up to what she already knows is true make an impression on Jules’ best friend.
It seems no one can stay mad at each other for long. Ophelia apologizes to Evan, Tyler reaches out to Jules, and Kennedy stops by the library where Jules has been sleeping. Kennedy’s most recent argument with Nate opened her eyes to how forceful and angry he could be, and it was enough to make her admit to herself what really happened between Jules and Nate.
Sweet/Vicious is so good at showing positive female friendships. Kennedy had her doubts about what Jules was telling her, but considering how much Jules had been lying, can we really blame her for feeling betrayed? I love their conversation on the library floor where Kennedy tells Jules she will stand by her side, no matter what. They’ll report it to the school and they’ll do whatever it takes to make the board believe Jules’ story.
But I hope you weren’t expecting the episode to end on such a positive note. In the final scene, Harris confronts Ophelia about the camera she placed pointing toward the hit list of rapists, while Tyler lets the cops into Carter’s empty garage.
We’ve only got two episodes left of this season. Who knows what could possibly happen next!
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