What went down on the latest episode of grown-ish? Get all the tea with Sesi‘s weekly recaps.
In the three weeks since, as Zoey tells it, Cash dumped her — although, we seem to remember her telling him to leave in last week’s episode, but ok — she’s apparently been Toni Braxton/Mariah Carey-ing the mess out of all the days. She hasn’t washed her hair in the same amount of time, and we find her curled up in her bed among a gang of food crumbs, watching sappy old movies, and wallowing in her heartbreak. (We feel bad for Ana, too, though, for real. Zoey’s squalor of sadness isn’t just relegated to her own little space.)
A knock at the door. Ana announces she’s about to come in. Behind her, are Nomi, Jazz, and Sky, clearly appalled at what they see going down before them. They tell Zoey they’re getting her out of that room to party her sorrows away — ASAP. Zoey’s basically like, “Nah, fam. I’m good.” But after the promise of only having to be out for an hour, plus the threat of having her current situation live streamed for the world to see, Zoey gives in.
Her less-than-thrilled face doesn’t phase Zoey’s crew, as they pull her out of bed, stand her in front of her mirror, and get right to her much-needed makeover. The stained pj’s are swapped for a sparkling spaghetti-strapped number, those polka dotted slipper socks are exchanged for glitter heels, and her do-rag is traded for ka-yute double cornrows. But just as they’re about to hit up the party scene, the lights go out. “Welp. Guess this is a sign from God,” Zoey says into the camera, and in the time in takes Nomi to turn on her cell phone light, Zoey’s back to this:
The campus-wide blackout — also a metaphor for Zoey’s current mood? — pretty much lasts the entire episode, and as Zoey and crew make their way through the literal darkness until the lights come back on, Zoey also has the chance to work through the dark period she’s experiencing post-breakup. (Oh, that’s deep. We’re feelin’ this.)
Since their party plans are now cancelled, the girls decide to kick it in Zoey and Ana’s room. Surrounded by the light of Ana’s prayer candles and a bunch of comfy pillows, the girls gather in a circle on the floor that has magically cleaned itself of all the trash Zo had tossed on it. (For real, where did all the chip remnants, tissues, and dirty clothes go that quick??) They try to snap Zoey out of her funk, but the heartbreak struggle is just too real — especially when it’s heartbreak over a dude you have to see on banners, billboards, and television.
In order to help her move on to phase two of getting up out of her feelings, Zoey’s friends challenge her to stop focusing on bae’s greatness and turn her attention to his flaws. And they’re more than happy to get that list going:
“Remember those dumb videos?” asks Nomi. “Remember his grades?!”
“Please tell me you remember what his hair looked like,” Jazz chimes in.
“Girl, that was not his natural curl pattern,” Sky adds.
Zoey’s turn comes and she gets in a jab about Cash’s lack of grammatical skills (we so feel her on that), the fact that he cheats in his classes, and that he confuses “anemic” with “amnesia.” Wow.
But when Sky shares that she no longer feels bad about giving Cash the cold shoulder when she and Jazz ran into him the other day, Zoey flips and says she and Cash are still cool, and she doesn’t want to mess that up by having him think she’s talking about him behind his back.
Hold. Up. (Wait a minute. Cool? If y’all being cool still has you making a nest of sobs and scraps in your bed, Zoey, then you can keep that.) Turns out, ya’ girl has continued to talk to Cash! In light of this new development, Sky and Jazz proceed to explain that there are rules to break ups. And rule number one is obviously not to talk to the ex you still have feelings for. Just to make sure she’s absolutely clear on what not talking means, they break it down for her: stop talking, stop texting, unfollow all his social media, and if need be, block him completely. Unable to cut all ties with her former cutie, Zoey hands her phone over to Nomi, so she won’t be tempted.
Zoey heads off to “have a panic attack in the bathroom,” and then, there’s a knock at the door. It’s Aaron. And he was not expecting to see Zoey’s whole crew up in that room. He tries to act all cool and says he was just stopping by to check on her, you know with the blackout and everything, but her girls call him out — he was there to make moves on Zoey. He ain’t slick — especially when Vivek rolls through with the same game.
Aaron and Vivek join the girls’ night in, and the girls spill the tea on the fact that Zoey has still been choppin’ it up with Cash. When Zoey comes back in the room, Aaron immediately hits her with the “You’re still texting Frosted Tips?” Zoey gives him the side-eye, and he responds by telling her how guys get over break ups, claiming they know how to manage their feelings better. (Then why you always checkin’ for Zoey, ready to scoop her up and make her bae, even after she lightweight played you with Luca? WHERE HAS LUCA BEEN, BTW?!)
As if on cue, Zo’s squad and Vivek suddenly need a bathroom break and dip out, leaving Zoey and Aaron alone. Zoey teases him about his attempt to romance her, and then says she knows he was just trying to cheer her up. Aaron tells her Cash is the one who took the “L” in their breakup because Zoey is amazing. They make eyes at each other, and will they just get together for real again already?
But then, Aaron lets it slip that Cash is now seeing Zoë Kravitz (who is legit 11 years older than him, just saying). Zoey freaks out and rehashes the news to everyone when they come back in the room. Her girls kick the guys out in hopes of containing the fallout, but that doesn’t work, and Zoey demands her phone back. She plans to call Cash and let him have it. Of course, her friends strongly advise against it, but they reluctantly hand her phone back over.
Zoey storms out of her room and down the hall to the dorm lounge, where she stares at her phone struggling internally — to call or not to call? She calls and Cash says he needs to talk to her, suddenly appearing in the doorway to confess his love. (Oh. Wait. What? It was all a dream? Welp, IRL, it’s not all happy endings, so we ‘preciate that.) Zoey actually ends up not calling Cash and returns to her room.
With that, the lights come back on. Zoey’s seen the light, too, and deletes Cash’s digits. But don’t get it twisted — Zoey admits she didn’t get over Cash in one night, but surrounded by the support of her girls, she made it through. And since you can’t keep a brokenhearted girl down when she’s got her squad, the crew reconnects with Vivek and Aaron for their own little late night dance party, 7/11 style.
Catch up on the episodes you’ve missed here.
