Somewhere I Belong: Twisted “Sleeping With the Frenemy” Review

This week’s episode was all about hang time. Jo unintentionally gets herself invited to a sleepover at Lacey’s, where we’re lucky enough to witness how unpracticed she is at being sociable in groups. Particularly those that have more than one member named Rico.

Danny is making friends of his own as he adjusts to being the new star player (and only convicted murderer) on the high school soccer team. Kyle Masterson is busy working up a search warrant – that ends up yielding nothing – for the Desai’s home. Meanwhile, Tess Masterson invites Karen Desai to a luncheon event hosted by Judy Porter, but things go bad quicker than a banana bought ripe.

One of the episode’s biggest surprises came within the first couple of minutes when Karen has a flashback after touching an old, beaten up recliner. It’s on this piece of furniture that a young Danny is watching soccer with his father. When the present Danny disturbs the memory, Karen turns to him and they have a positive emotional connection. The moment was touching and also the first time Danny didn’t seem like he was pulling at his mother’s puppet strings – or despising her very existence.

We were in for another surprise when we met Lacey’s mom, Judy (Robin Givens). In her few minutes on screen, Judy stakes her claim as the coolest parent of the once-upon-a-trio. After Jo bumps into Lacey outside a bakery, Judy Porter appears carrying a box of cupcakes. The desert is a nice tip of the hat to Judy’s personality: warm and sweet. The best part of this little reunion was when the divorcee dropped a single ladies reference as she flashed her ringless hand. The show needs more Judy, am I right?

On the Masterson and Desai parental front, Tess attempts to reach out to Karen. It’s almost honorable, until you remember how coldly Tess reacted to Karen’s last stop at the Masterson’s house. There’s also the part where Tess leads Karen into a den of wolves. Tess’ motives are well intentioned, but she knows what Karen has walked into and still leaves her unguarded. Karen retreats back into herself when Regina’s mother threatens to destory Danny’s life at the event. This was a hard one to watch, due in large part because it took so much for Karen to open up.

Things at Lacey’s sleepover didn’t look like they were going to go much better. It wasn’t, however, due to the tension between Jo and Lacey. (Side Note: You can totally see how Jo and Rico are best friends now, right?) In fact, fault for the awkward and semi-hostile night lied with the tiny firebug Sarita. Once she hit the hay, things relaxed and we were allowed to see Lacey and Jo together – guards down – for the first time. It was a necessary moment for fans of the show’s two lead protagonists, and certainly made one long to see them together again as friends.

Sarita is less fond of Lacey’s rekindled frienship with Jo. So after she catches Jo stealing something out of Regina’s box at the sleepover, she feels obligated to tell Lacey. When Lacey finds out she confronts Jo. The conversation essentially burns any repears made to that bridge, or so we think. Later, when Jo has the chance to mend things, she does and in the process reveals why she is so adamant about proving Danny’s innocence. This is a key aspect of the story and it was great to hear the reasoning, as its hard to be invested in characters when we don’t understand their motivation.

While the girls try to work out 5 years worth of bad blood in a couple of minutes, Danny is at the height of his game… literally. Towards the end of last week’s episode we saw Danny plead with Archie to just let him “blend in.” His words appeared to be some kind of genuine too when Danny sulked at the diner over being excluded from male bonding. Danny’s moment with Rico as the team entered definitely had a rudolph vibe, leaving us once again to feel sorry for the kid. Avan Jogia has this wonderful (and handy) way of making you relate to Danny, turning him into the protagonist you most identify with.

Those feelings of understanding don’t last long though after another glimpse of the darker Danny. When the team loses the game because Archie won’t pass to Danny, a sort of uprising ensues. Danny uses the intel Jo gathered to force Mr. Popularity’s cards and we finally hear that he wasn’t at home the night of Regina’s murder. Bad news for Danny, he also wasn’t with her. The team feels betrayed though by the contents of Archie’s revelation, and Danny has again successfully taken something from Archie. Is Lacey next?

This week was a wonderful change of pace as we got to see everyone belong, if only for a short time. By taking its foot off the gas pedal, the series showed another side of itself. From the soccer game to the sleepover, we were shown a story where characters, their relationships, and the smaller parts of their lives are front and center; a story where not everything is about death and an unacknowledged game of chess. If anyone doubted the staying power of the series beyond the larger mystery, “Sleeping With the Frenemy” cleared that right up.

Here are this week’s twists, turns, and queries. Share your thoughts on the episode or feel free to add to my list of twists and turns in the comments below.

Twists: 1.) Regina made a love video of Archie, indicating that they may have had a thing.

Turns: 1.) Regina’s mother is out for Danny and looks to be Karen Desai’s biggest threat, 2.) Karen Desai has discovered Aunt Tara’s necklace

Queries:

1. Does Archie seem like a real suspect now that we know about Regina’s DVD and his tendency to lie, or is this just a well planted red herring?
2. How adorable was the budding bromance between Rico and Danny? Would you like to see more hang time between the two boys?
3. How did you feel about Jo revealing why she’s fighting so hard for Danny? Should we now know why Lacey won’t accept Danny, or should that be shared later in the season?
4. Danny gave us one of his classic smirks again after turning the team against Archie. Do we think Danny is trying to set Archie up or is Archie just taking his own self down?
5. What do we suspect Karen will do now that she’s found the necklace Danny hid?

Twisted airs Tuesdays at 9:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on ABC Family.