The stories of Katy, Pepper, Jorge, and Josie have enticed us for 13 episodes this season, and hopefully there are more to come. Read on to find out what happened on the season one finale of our freshman series, Katy Keene.
We pick up almost immediately from last week with Pepper in jail after her arrest. Luckily, Jorge and Josie come and bail out Miss Shirley Temple herself after raiding the bar. The one person missing, though, is Katy. She is at Lacy’s being assured by Mr. Cabot that personal shoppers will be offered through Caboture and all of Gloria’s girls are welcome to apply. It’s an insult, really, to all the girls, and to Francois who is dressing his final window in 30 years. Francois needs pieces for the window from Guy for Fashion Week, except Katy isn’t talking to him after she accused him of stealing designs from her and past apprentices.
At the end of the day, Guy does show up with the designs for Francois and promised that he designed them himself, alone. In his apology, he admits that Katy was right, but he is a good designer and has risked the only things that matter to him: his name and Katy. Has Guy lost Katy, though? He then offers her a position to be the lead designer at House of LaMontagne after Lacy’s closes. With everything Katy has been through this year, Katy feels as though she has lost herself. Will she accept such a position? It could launch her career as a designer and Guy knows what she is capable of, but so does she.
Jorge’s parents fight the city council in regards to their building being sold to a big developer from out of town. However, they have to break the news that their fight was in vain and they failed. He has to be the one to break the news to the girls, and as his mother leaves the Bodega, Xandra comes on the radio singing Josie’s song, recorded under the Cabot agreement. When Josie hears this, she runs over to Chubby’s, where everything is plastered with Xandra’s name and face, and even Chubby is forced to wear one of the t-shirts. Xandra is downstairs in the studio recording more of Josie’s songs, and she is ready to tear into Ms. Cabot. Before Josie loses her temper completely, Xandra tells her she needs to be more worried about Alex than a song, since he is using again and won’t listen to any of his family, but maybe he will listen to her.
Pepper checks in on her Plant after being bailed out of jail to find Miss Freesia running things, actually saving her investment and holding off the landlord. However, Miss Freesia stole the money from Pepper to do it, and she used the same money to con a Gotti into believing the two of them were leather brokers for celebrities. She figures it would be a big enough con for Pepper to buy the building outright.
At the apartment that evening, Katy, Jorge, and Josie are discussing the options with Katy. And though Guy owned up to it and Lacy’s is closing, Josie tells her to run since he stole her art, even if it is the opportunity of a lifetime. Josie breaks the news about Alex using again and how she found out from Xandra. Josie knows she’s right, she thinks of the “Sliding Doors” version of her life had she not met Alex that day in the park. At the very least, Josie’s voice would still be hers. Katy thinks for a moment, if she had said yes to KO, at least she could be herself with him 100 percent. Katy is informed that Xandra and KO have are also no longer together. In the end, Jorge has some sage advice for the girls: “as much as we may covet the road not taken and Gwyneth Paltrow’s pixie cut, just because the path gets rocky, it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong.” Rocky roads or not, Katy is just not ready to reach out to Pepper yet and forgive her.
Meanwhile, Pepper is being pressured by her paper to tell the story of her arrest from her side in an exclusive when her dad walks in. He brings bad news that he did not get the studio apartment at the Georgia where he works, and Pepper promises to get him the Penthouse one day instead. He doesn’t want that, not if it involves conning, scamming, and whatever else she’s been doing to become who she is now.
Katy meets with Guy to accept his offer of Lead Designer, along with a list of demands. It turns out Katy can have anything she wants, since there is no price tag on her talent. Guy professes his love for Katy while KO is standing unseen in the doorway. They decide to announce her new position at his show during Fashion Week, and even though Katy urges Guy to reach out to his past apprentices, he believes he is making it right with Katy. When Katy tells Amanda about the promotion, she asks Katy to clear up her stuff early so she can spread out. They talk about Gloria and agree she took good care of them, thinking of how much she has grown under Gloria’s care; is Katy reckless and strong enough to do what she believes is the right thing? She calls Gloria to find out.
The two meet over coffee, and Gloria sees no problem with Guy’s offer to Katy, except Katy does, from what her mom had done. Katy’s mom compromised her life and dreams because a man got in the way and she couldn’t morally live with herself and do the same thing. Gloria is relieved to see that history isn’t going to repeat itself, but this plan to save Lacy’s is going to require someone with more money and clout than Mr. Cabot.
Jorge’s attempt at neighborhood signatures to save the bodega was a failure, acquiring only 200 of the 10,000 he needed. When venting to Pepper about this unfortunate occurrence, she capitalizes the opportunity for the newly dethroned Miss Subway to influence them to hand the crown over to Ginger Lopez. With Pepper editing the Daily Hail for the story of her arrest, she is using her powers of the press for good to help Jorge save the bodega. Hopefully people will come out to this celebration for the Queens and he may be able to obtain the signatures required to get the city’s attention. Jorge fears what his dad will think but comes to the conclusion that it’s his problem, not anyone else’s.
Josie approaches Alex about his drinking problem and he brushes it off as family issues with his dad. Alex says he just needs a fresh start, they both do. He invites her to move to LA with him since she is losing the apartment anyway, but then his nose starts bleeding. Alex flips out and dashes out of the apartment, leaving his coat behind, a coat that has a bag full of cocaine in it. Later, Josie meets Alex in the park and brings Xandra with her. The two of them tell Alex he is going back to rehab and there is a car waiting for him. He expected to be betrayed by Xandra, not by Josie.
Katy eventually stops by the Plant to see Pepper. She lets go of the Sunset Diamonds Purse as Mrs. Lacy is too consumed with selling the store to the Cabot’s. Katy can forgive the lies eventually, it’s that Pepper has family she can call and she kept all the things that are special about herself hidden away. The two come to terms and agree that Katy is far too talented to have been hidden away in Guy’s attic, or to be his Lead Designer, and if Katy and Gloria are going to try and save Lacy’s, they need to put on a show. It is Fashion Week after all, and Katy’s plan may be a genius one as she begins reaching out to Guy’s former apprentices.
While Katy is planning a Fashion Week undertaking, Josie is cleaning up Xandra’s mess at Chubby’s, when Xandra not only thanks her for helping with Alex, but asks her to be part of the Kitty-Kats. Josie’s dream was to one day turn on the radio and hear her music, and she did, but with Xandra’s voice instead of her own and she can’t move past that. Josie asks Xandra to come to the party in Washington Heights to help save the block. Later after crowning Ginger “Miss Subway,” Jorge presents his father with the petition and enough signatures to possibly save the bodega. His dad tells Jorge about his Tio Alberto, who Jorge looked up to, and that he kept being gay and contracting AIDS a secret from his family. Jorge’s dad was afraid he can’t protect his son because of how his brother lived and died, and that’s why he reacted the way he did and couldn’t accept Ginger at first.
Katy’s Fashion Week dreams may come to a crashing halt when Guy stops by the Pepper Plant. She knows this is a risk, she may never work in the industry again going up against him, but it’s one she feels she has to take. As the show begins, Josie and the Pussycats play to Fleetwood Mac while Guy’s former apprentices have their moment to shine, and a couple of Katy’s own designs do as well. Gloria and others in the audience watch with pride and take notes. Afterward, Miss Freesia approaches Pepper to discuss the next big con, which Pepper turns down. Pepper hands Miss Freesia a check to buy her out of the Pepper Plant, and out of her life, for good.
Backstage, Gloria brings her friend, who is also the Dean of Parsons, to meet Katy, who is offered a spot in the upcoming class. According to Ms. Francesca Arnault, “Katy is the kind of designer who is not only talented, but lifts up other designers and that is a rare find.” It’s the best news that Katy has received all year and all she wants to do is share it with KO. Raj overhears this and tells her she is going to have to run, because his train is leaving for Philly for the training job he put on hold. She goes and tells him goodbye. It’s time for KO to chase his dream.
As we close the episode, and get ready to close Lacy’s, Mrs. Lacy is addressing the staff about the store closure when Gloria walks in with Prince Errol. He was the dark horse Katy had in mind as a buyer to help save the company, and it worked. Errol cannot own a department store, can he? Why yes he can, seeing has he stepped down from the Royal Family and is now financially independent. But as Mrs. Lacy says, you need a Lacy. Errol agreed, noting that her son Leo was not happy about the sale and was willing to come fill the position for his mother. Could it be the same Leo Lacy who wrote the letter to Katy’s mother and might have given her the sewing machine?
While Josie and Pepper discuss her future in music, Josie asks Pepper to be her new manager, seeing as she is not only single, but has no music to call her own at the moment. At the bodega, we find out the Mayor is reviewing the petition and there are enough signatures to save the whole block. Then, ominous footsteps sound and we see Hiram Lodge, born in the Heights, so close to buying the block, because it’s time for him to come home.
“In life we have to choose what we fight for, who we fight for.” Katy will always fight for her friends and her home, Lacy’s on 5th, and to be a designer, but on her terms. As new days begin, with Errol in the elevator, Katy rushes into Gloria’s office to come face to face with Leo Lacy (Cary Elwes). After a bit of awkward conversation and introduction, Katy tells him she thinks he is her father!
Now, we can’t finish with that kind of cliffhanger, can we? Make sure to stay tuned for Katy Keene renewal updates and more!