Will Katy and those around her find everything they want and more this coming Valentine’s? Ever the optimist, Katy, tells us of Valentine’s Day with her mom growing up while stitching her latest creation, making heart-shaped cookies with pink frosting, and as long as she has been with KO, they have never spent Valentines Day apart. KO has moved in only one week after his proposal to the tiny two-bedroom apartment that has no room for the four people living in it, however being so close, Katy mentioned that KO has never felt so far away. Katy wants to make the upcoming Valentine’s Day perfect for the two of them to get back to where they used to be. Meanwhile, Jorge wakes up to his boyfriend Buzz getting ready to leave. Jorge tells him the roommates believe he doesn’t exist and offers to make breakfast for everyone. Buzz promises soon they’ll all have breakfast together, seals with a kiss, and leaves.
Cut to Pepper and her warehouse flat. She wants to turn into the next hottest club in all of New York. She is awoken by a contractor to go over her ideas and plans for the space, including a runway, dancefloor, and, most importantly, heat. Unfortunately, it’ll run Pepper $20,000 to have it started. Back at the apartment, we see just how crowded it can be with all four people and only one bathroom. Katy and KO talk about Valentine’s Day and that he has a fight scheduled. She has never missed one of his matches, but she also does not have time off work yet.
Josie and Alexander are at Chubby’s distracting themselves from the work of both her job and their album. He wants to hear what New York has inspired in her and any new songs she has, and they make tentative plans for Friday, Valentine’s Day, to go over some new material. At Lacy’s, Gloria is pointing out that Valentine’s is the most important holiday outside of Christmas, and the store is having a “Night of a Hundred Hearts” party. Katy asks Gloria for the night off to go to KO’s match, but Gloria tells her she has to work at the party instead, while Amanda is there to witness. Gloria walks off, while Amanda tells Katy the last time she tried to take a morning off because she was hungover, Gloria showed up at her apartment on Park Avenue. If Gloria wants one of her girls working, they will be working. Katy lashes back at Amanda that just because Gloria doesn’t have someone to go home to, it doesn’t mean she has to take it out on her, but Gloria is right behind Katy! Gloria is already home, though, surrounded by the loves of her favorites designers, Dior, Gucci, etc. She tells Katy if the boxing match is so important, she can have the night off. However, Gloria also thought Katy would have been dying to meet the list of Vanity Fairs designers to watch who will be attending the party on Friday
While Katy is helping a client on the floor, Alexander walks in to get a gift for someone special. Alexander compliments Katy’s skills as a salesgirl, and as a talent manager, also commending her for looking out for Josie. Later that evening, Katy, Jorge, Pepper, and Josie are in the apartment while Katy tells them about Alexander coming in to get the silk robe for “someone special.” Josie insists they are keeping things casual because she cannot be distracted from why she moved to New York. Pepper meanwhile states that she does not do romance when it comes to Valentines, and Jorge talks about Buzz turning from a hookup from an app into an LTR. However, because Buzz hasn’t met or hung out with anyone else from the group, Pepper suggests to let him go. Buzz should be showing Jorge off, now shoving him away, though maybe having him meet at Molly’s Crisis for a performance by Ginger? Possibly. Just after Katy tells KO she (and the others) want him in the way and to be part of the conversation, the kitchen is filling with smoke because KO preheated the oven for lasagna, unaware that Jorge’s wigs were stored in there.
After the fire is put out by the local station, Jorge realizes he likes Buzz and is going to invite him out of the bedroom. Alexander tells his sister Xandra that he will not be at the annual Cabbot family Valentine’s dinner because of plans, which she immediately assumes involve Josie. Meanwhile, at Chubby’s, Josie meets a fellow songwriter, Jimmy, lover of Bob Dylan and similar artists. After a discussion, they share common music interests and decide to collaborate the following evening. Josie quickly texts Alexander to tell him she has to work tomorrow night instead. Katy offers Gloria a peace offering of Valentine’s Day heart-shaped cookie and begs to work the party to meet the designers coming, Gloria reluctantly agrees.
At the apartment building, Katy and Josie are hauling a punching bag up the stairs to the apartment, while Katy expresses that she feels like she can’t disappoint KO again. Josie points out that Katy is working hard to make KO happy and denying herself what she wants. Pepper is at a familiar doorman building to meet Miss Freesia, who runs a high-end escort service. Pepper inquires about taking about forty men to dinner for $500 each, but Miss Freesia expresses disappointment that Pepper hasn’t been able to move beyond these hand to mouth payouts, that she should be playing with the big boys by now.
Katy shows KO the punching the bag, and he loves it, which makes breaking the news that Katy has to work the evening of the flight easier. If only she could tell KO, it was her idea and not Gloria’s. KO says they have plenty more Valentine’s together to get it right.
Valentine’s Day starts on the right foot for Jorge and Buzz. Jorge is still being pushed aside for depositions and work, that he can’t come out until he is done. Jorge tells Buzz he knows what it feels like to be hiding; his parents don’t know about Ginger after all. He invites Buzz to Molly’s Crisis for Ginger’s show that evening and Buzz agrees that he will show. We switch to Pepper having drinks with several older gentlemen, one after the other until we meet Richard. Pepper tells him she is a grad student at Columbia, her parents have cut her off, and she needs $20,000 to cover her last semester. He then tells Pepper he will want something in return for that kind of investment.
At the apartment, Jorge tells Katy the apartment is too small for everyone and her relationship problems, and temporary cannot be forever. Katy hands Jorge one of her new dresses as consolation. Pepper decides to call Richard, but rather than meet at a hotel; she has him meet her at Lacy’s Night of a Hundred Hearts after having Katy put her on the list for the evening. Over at Chubby’s we see Josie and Jimmy singing over new material, as things are going well, Alexander walks in with dinner for two, not three. Josie lets Alexander have it, telling him that he is acting like a jealous boyfriend by showing up unannounced and buying expensive gifts/robes, while she is supposed to be focusing on her music. Alexander tells her the robe was for his sister. They always buy each other gifts for Valentine’s. Josie points out how weird that is, then defends Jimmy’s songwriting skills and gives Alexander his demo to judge for himself.
The Lacy’s event kicks off with Katy chatting up one of her favorites up and coming designers, Sumi, and always answer ‘yes’ when asked if she is a designer. While she is able to get advice on moving her own career forward, KO shows up after his fight. KO accidentally gets blood on a white silk shirt, and Gloria rushes her off to get the stain out. Amanda is waiting in the wings to tell him that Katy should have gone to his fight and that Gloria did give her the night off. KO meets Katy in another room where she is trying to steam the stain out, asking if the shirt is salvageable, but to also stop acting like everything is okay. KO confronts Katy about lying to him, that she should have just told him the truth. Katy replies she did want to meet the designers, KO goes further, telling her that if she didn’t want to be with him that night, and if she didn’t want to marry him, she should have also told him. He feels like moving in with her was a consolation prize.
Meanwhile, Pepper is taking Richard around, gathering some of the most expensive items she can find, that she cannot accept such expensive jewelry. However, Pepper had called Richards wife, Alicia, impersonating his new assistant, telling her Richard had an epic Valentine’s Day planned for her. Pepper walks away with all her bags, telling him that his wife is fantastic and she is the one who deserves to watch the sunrise over Central Park, while she deserves to finish her dissertation without selling herself off.
Later at Molly’s Crisis, the group discovers that Buzz did not show up for Ginger, Katy cannot reach KO, and the robe was for Xandra. Josie decides she has to draw boundaries with Alexander because she has not felt that chemistry since Archie. Ginger goes on to perform ‘Unbreak My Heart,’ Katy remarks that she is going to kill Buzz, Josie states she’ll help hide the body in Riverdale, where no one will ever find it.
Buzz does show up to the apartment later that night with chocolate to apologize, but Jorge tells him to go home, that after a year, what they are still doing, isn’t it. Jorge takes the chocolates and shuts the door on Buzz, declaring himself back on the market. Katy voices that she feels this time she may lose KO, and she is told she needs to make room for him, to do something big
Alexander gives Xandra the robe. She notes that he is annoyed about Josie meeting Jimmy. He tells Xandra that he’s “annoyingly good,” further frustrated, Alexander feels like he is messing things up with his father even more by not proving what he needs to do with the label with Josie. He then accidentally leaves Jimmy’s demo in the car with Xandra before leaving.
Pepper returns to Lacy’s, bags in hand, to return all the items from the night before, as Lacy’s does cash refunds, adding up to just over $20,000. Amanda insists that the agent call the next time Pepper is in the store. Josie brings Alexander to Chubby’s to tell him the more time they spend together, the harder it is to focus, and he is unable to compartmentalize. However, if a manager is what she needs right now, he will keep it professional. Jimmy comes by Chubby’s to tell Josie he was offered an exclusive contract with Cabot by Xandra, and he can’t write music with her anymore. Katy, Ginger, Pepper, and Josie take sandwiches to the firemen who helped save their apartment as a thank you, and Ginger has a moment with Bernardo, introducing herself as Jorge as well, and they decide to set up a date.
Katy brings KO to an apartment in front of Essex she found from one of Lacy’s girls, she tells him that she already talked to Josie and Jorge, and if she and KO can move here, they can follow their separate dreams together. He asks her if she really wants to make this work. Katy believed if she could keep them the same as they were, they would be okay, but KO tells her they are not okay, not really. Katy admits they have been growing apart, but she didn’t want to say it because it made it real. KO tells her he is still here, but should he be? Tearfully, Katy tells him, “Yes. I don’t know. No.” There in front of the apartment, they would never see, Katy and KO ended their relationship with a kiss.
Katy returns to the empty apartment later to find the Valentine gift from KO on her bed, a new sketchbook made out “to the best designer of all time, I’ll love you forever.” Katy breaks down because the thing about Valentines Day is not only admitting that it’s possible to believe in love, but that you have to believe in its power to break your heart.
Katy Keene airs Thursday at 8/7 on CW.