Opening this week’s extravaganza, we are backstage at Molly’s Crisis with Jorge while he begins his production of “Kiss of the Spiderwoman.” Picking up virtually where we left off, Katy, in the meantime, is caught in her web of guilt. Patricia had asked Katy to design her wedding dress, except will Katy be able to move past her steamy night with Prince Errol and give Patricia the dress a Princess desires? In the most musical episode of the freshman series yet.
Katy declines the offer outright! Patricia, Errol, and Gloria are stunned as this is genuinely Katy’s dream. She is trying her best to divert and tell Patricia that she needs a more experienced designer, a Vera Wang, if you would. Prince Errol thanks everyone for their time as he and Patricia leave, with the bride-to-be insisting that she think about it.
Jorge stuns both Pepper and Francois at Molly’s in his debut stage outfit for “Kiss of the Spiderwoman,” while setting up for his new timeslot. He wants to do this as a one-queen show, blending both worlds, between drag and Broadway. Jorge dreams of channeling the artistry of Molina while exuding seductive allure of the Spiderwoman herself. While Pepper brags that between Francois’s direction, Katy’s costumes, and her press connections, Jorge could be center stage at the Pride parade. Giving Jorge a chance to ask Pepper as a producer to help in financing. They decide to put on a show for potential investors at the Pepper Plant.
Pepper pays Josie a visit at Chubby’s to invite Alex to the presentation for the off-off-off-Broadway hit, though Josie is skeptical, she decides to do so when Alex stops by their apartment later that day. Alex has come bearing news though, someone has heard their EP after all, and it happens to be a scout for the Apollo! They want to hear Josie do a little more, have some smaller gigs under her belt first.
At Lacy’s, Gloria is suffering from a horrible migraine, thanks to Katy. She asked what the reason was, that is when Katy sees her first personal Spiderwoman, consumed in darkness. Katy tells Gloria that she is committed to making the costumes for the musical. Amanda steps in with tea to help with the migraine, while Gloria tells Katy to leave as her lack of ambition has only made her headache worse.
When Katy shows up at the Pepper Plant to the audition for the backers, she runs into KO and Xandra. KO tells her that she should follow her dream and design the dress. KO also thought she and the Prince would have started dating when he saw them ring shopping. During the performance, however, potential backers walkout, one after the other as Jorge performs in half drag, half Molina. All that remains are his friends and people who genuinely support him.
Katy returns to her apartment with swaths of fabric in tow, while Errol waits for her in the darkened hallway. She is not only surprised, as he tries to take the material, but she also refuses. She tells him he has one minute to explain why he lied to her. He did not. He did end things with his fiancé, but then the engagement photos came out, and his family told him it was too late, that the scandal would ruin them. Errol tells Katy that he doesn’t care if it’s scandalous, he will call off the wedding, he wants to be with her. But does Katy feel the same way? She says no, but he doesn’t buy it. Katy insists it was a fling, a mistake, like designing the dress for Patricia. Additionally, our dear Katy wouldn’t be able to live with herself artistically if she did follow through with designing the dress.
Katy runs into the apartment to find Josie and Jorge listening intently at what happened with Errol in the hall, asking for their opinions. Is she going to design the dress, or run off with Errol? As Katy stands in the middle of the room having this debate, a massive spider creeps down from the ceiling! Katy screams while Jorge insists not to kill it as a spider at this moment is a good omen. Jorge later meets Pepper and Francois at Molly’s to find out how many investors they have lined up. The answer is, unfortunately, none. Pepper reassures our queen not to give up hope. She is pitting one Calvert sibling against the other, and both agree to invest. Alex, on the condition that Josie plays Spiderwoman, and Xandra on the condition that she is the lead role in the grand production if it makes it to Broadway. KO notes that if anyone can take this show from Molly’s to Broadway, it’s Jorge. He’s the next Billy Porter, after all. Jorge is upset that he has to give up the role of Spiderwoman. However, without Cabot money, there would not be a show. They both want something more “traditional.” Between Pepper, Francois, and Jorge, they agree to do a bait-and-switch for Broadway where Ginger would take the lead role, which Jorge will consider as his father may not be ready to see meet Ginger.
Pepper pays a visit to Josie to inform her of Alex’s decision to invest and the conditional agreement. Josie doesn’t want to take the role away from Jorge, however after reminding Josie that no one cared about Jennifer Hudson’s music until Dreamgirls, she reluctantly agrees only if it is okay with Jorge as well.
Gloria calls Katy into her office to find out once and for all why she is not designing the dress and why a one-man-show needs 55 costumes. “Would it have anything to do with the way he looks at you?” Katy comes clean and tells Gloria about sleeping with Errol, and she couldn’t live with herself if her dress defined Katy’s career. Gloria says to Katy that she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she threw away the most significant opportunity of her life over a man. Katy gets marching orders to design the dress, not for Patricia, but Lacy’s and herself.
At the apartment, Jorge shows Katy the tabloid cover with the engagement photos of Errol and Patricia. Is she going to go through with it? Katy vents to her best friend, that Gloria is giving her no choice, and that if she doesn’t, that would be sending a message to Errol that she does not support his marriage? Jorge recommends that Katy design one that underwhelms her, a flawed masterpiece, but Katy is apprehensive. She doesn’t want to be haunted for the rest of her life or be strangled by Gloria with a veil. Jorge winces that he doesn’t want Josie to play Spiderwoman. Katy, however, reminds him that as a kid, Molina was the reason he fell in love with the musical. Further telling him that his father made him change Halloween costumes from Molina to Danny Zuko when they were in fourth grade, he loved the character so much.
Katy decides to drag Jorge to Lacys to have Francois teach him the joys and fun of being a window dresser, and musicality ensues. Being shown that dressing them up, standing your ground, and not settling for less, Jorge decides to be Molina for his show while Josie can co-star, but he plans on stealing every scene he is in. Katy suggests inviting his father to the show so he can see what a star his son has become.
Jorge comes home to find his parents checking for more spiders in other apartments. Mama tells him to please not walk in the street anymore at night as there have been more attacks on gay men in the area as well. Sadly, homophobia is not a new thing, but Jorge comes with good news about the show and invites both his mom and dad to the show. His dad jumps at the chance and moves on to the next apartment, while mama hangs back for a moment to ask if he is playing as himself or if he is Ginger, playing Spiderwoman. She does not believe that his father could handle that. Jorge is disappointed, if not angry, and ashamed, assuring his mother that he is playing Molina. Jorge’s mom sings to him that she could never feel shame for her son, that he is perfect just the way he is.
Katy presents the very simple, clean, and timeless dress on paper to Patricia, who is indeed underwhelmed. Katy once again tries to push her toward a more household name as she feels “too green” for this. Patty tries to tell Katy that she is not too green, just a bit scared. Meanwhile, at the Pepper Plant, Pepper is showing Didi the accounting books of money in versus money out. Didi notes that according to what they brought in, they have twice as much as what is needed to put on Jorge’s production. Pepper teaches her she will like her plan in the end, why not have both? Money for the production and a little for the Pepper Plant?
At Lacy’s, Katy pins up a sketch of the real dress for Patricia she has designed. Darkness clouds the room, and the specter of Spiderwoman haunts her again. Katy takes a deep breath and disappears. However, a Cupid Courier appears behind her with flowers delivered from Errol, the note reading, “I’m sorry, and I miss you.” Katy goes to Gloria about the ghost/specter, and that when she was with Errol, she didn’t believe she was betraying anyone as he and Patricia were done. Now she doesn’t think she could live with the guilt. However, Gloria tells her that she will design this dress, and she looks forward to seeing the Princess in the poufiest dress of her dreams.
Rehearsals are taking place at Molly’s Crisis while Josie runs the part of Spiderwoman. Jorge looks on, he is proud of his friend but hurt as it should be him. Meanwhile, at the apartment, Katy is putting final touches on the dress for Patricia making an accidental tear with an improper cut. She takes the scissors and destroys the dress instead, while Francois comes in to see what she is doing, aghast. Katy makes up her mind that she cannot do it. She can’t have someone walk down the aisle in a dress she designed, and their husband-to-be had feelings for them. Francois praises Katy’s moral compass, but he does not want to see her integrity torpedo her career. Luckily he has an idea that may help Katy in the end.
That afternoon at Lacy’s, Katy approaches exclusive designer Guy LaMontagne as he has done several high-profile wedding dresses before, and has a reputation for supposedly sleeping with the brides. Katy wishes she could say the same, yet here we are. Despite the advice Guy deposes on Katy, she needs a favor, not a friend right now. Patrica is in for her dress fitting with Katy head-over-heels for the one Katy has “designed.” However, when Katy tells her that it’s a Guy LaMontagne original, as well as Katy’s dream dress. Gloria looks on, proud, and slightly shocked. Perhaps because Katy still came through for the store and didn’t have to sell her dignity to do it.
Guy is waiting downstairs on edge for what Patty thought, and to his delight, she loved it. Katy thanks him for saving her, and he invites her to dinner as a thank you. She instead invites him to Jorge’s show by enticing him with her costume design. Playfully, he tells her he might make fun of it all later.
Josie and Jorge are rehearsing for the play, and Jorge decides he is going to have to take back the role of the Spiderwoman. He wants his dad to see the real him in drag. Francois hears this and has a brilliant idea? Katy shows up with two dresses for Spiderwoman and wants to know who she is going to be fitting. Neither answer as we switch to the stage with Josie beginning “Sooner or Later,” after the first verse, however, Ginger comes down the center aisle to join in. Walking past her parents, mama is thrilled, and her father, Luis, is stunned, exclaiming that his son is a star! Though Luis’s favorite part was when Ginger kissed Josie, and he asks Jorge to change out of the costume. Bernardo comes over and assures Jorge that he’s perfect, that he doesn’t have to change.
In closing, Xandra tries to get KO into acting, possibly modeling, and the booker for the Apollo approaches Josie to ask if she’s ready to do gigs with her music. Guy asks Katy to be an apprentice on his next collection!
As Bernardo walks Ginger home, he assures her that she should be proud of all that she has accomplished, and she is. Things begin to heat up between the two of them in the alley as they are approached by four men, the ominous shadow of a spider behind them is prominent on the garage door.
Find out what happens next week, Katy Keene airs Thursdays on The CW at 8/7 p.m.