As the episode starts, we find out the verdict of Hank’s trial. Karen opens the computer to an article called “Novelist Moody Found Guilty In Lolita Rape Case.” Becca then walks in and Karen breaks the news. She asks if Hank is going to jail. Karen tells her she’s not sure and Becca storms off.
Meanwhile, at UTK, Stu is yelling at Runkle for shitty scripts when an intern comes in to tell Runkle the bad news about Hank. Runkle breaks down, crying in Stu’s arms. Elsewhere, Marcy is at the doctor’s office, getting her baby checked up on. She then gets a call and runs off. Lastly we come to Amanda and Hank. Sitting in Hank’s car, he tells her “well that happened.” Hank then asks what to do now. Amanda suggest they go get shit faced and we cut to opening credits.
Next we see Hank in a church. Greeting him is a nun, the one from the first season, who gave him the blowjob. They discuss the trial and she gives him some advice on what to do, before proceeding to blow him. Unfortunately for Hank, it’s all a dream and he shortly wakes up in bed, beside a naked Abby.
Hank heads out after saying goodbye to Abby and goes over to Runkle’s where he is greeted by Peggy. Runkle then comes downstairs to console his friend. Peggy suggests they play home invasion, which involves Hank raping her, but Hank says he’s too tired. To cheer him up, Runkle gives him the $100,000 cheque from Sasha’s film. Hank immediately goes out and buys a new car. One identical to the one that Becca crashed. He even bangs out the headlight.
He then goes to pick up Becca and they go to the airport. She tells him that she prays everyday for him to become a total bore. She asks how hard would that have been, to just be like everyone else. He takes her back home and heads to his hotel. He runs into an old lady friend (a prostitute) who he brings back to his room. They discuss his case and the guilty verdict and he asks if he can pay her just to be nice to him for a little while.
Hank falls asleep and has a dream. It’s an odd black and white sequence where Hank wakes up in a 50’s style house with Karen and Becca and becomes the ‘total bore’ of a father that Becca described before. He wakes up, heads to work, comes home, has dinner with the family, reads a bedtime story to Becca, watches TV with Karen and everyone is happy.
After waking up, to find the prostitute gone, he takes a drive. In the car he gets a call from Marcy and rushes over to Runkle’s house. To his surprise, he walks in and Runkle, Marcy, Karen and Becca have thrown him a surprise ‘Hank is innocent’ party. The group sits down for dinner and reminisces over old times. They realize that all of them were good together and wonder how they ended up here. Marcy says she wishes that things could go back to the way they were.
Later at night we see Hank and Karen together at home, dancing to some slow music. Hank tells her he almost fled the country earlier and Karen says that’s what she suspected. She tells him that she was lucky to have known and loved him, adding in that at one point they were a fairytale. But now she just feels broken. From the moment she found out about Mia, until now, it’s been a bad dream. As they stand there together, and the slow music plays in the background, the episode ends.
The aptly titled episode was a bit gloomier than usual. It had a depressing tone to it as everyone started to realize that Hank may be out of their lives, for good. It seems as if while it was always a possibility, no one ever thought it would become a reality. Now that he is guilty though, he very well may be locked up. Although, as Amanda said, he hasn’t been sentenced yet and he may get off lucky, with a simple probation.
Either way, Hank’s life is going to change drastically. With next week’s episode being the finale, I’m betting we see Hank go to jail. Even if it’s just for a short period of time. They’ve built up this rape case so much that anything but a prison sentence would feel cheap. It will also be interesting to see how the other storylines wrap up next week, or if they will even be given any spotlight. Will Ben take things further with Karen? Will Marcy tell Runkle the truth about her baby? Will Sasha make a return?
Guess we’ll have to wait until next week to see.