Recap: Putting Yourself Out There in ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Okay’ Season 2, Episode 4 “Cave Cockroaches”

Emily
11 Min Read
EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE OKAY - "Cave Cockroaches" - Genevieve decides to put herself out there and she gets an unexpected result. Drea works on her heart chakra. Nicholas discovers the meaning of unconditional love. This episode of "Everything's Gonna Be Okay" airs Thursday, April 22 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on Freeform. (Freeform) MAEVE PRESS

Whether it’s on the internet or in each other’s lives, sometimes it’s hard to figure out how to take up space. That’s the journey the Moss family finds themselves in this week in quarantine. Nicholas struggles to understand what those around him mean, and Matilda and Drea figure out what they mean to each other. All that and more in this week’s recap.

Spoilers ahead for Season 2, Episode 4 of Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. You have been warned.

Hello, Youtube!

In this Genevieve-centric episode, the show opens with Genevieve in French colonial clothes, bonnet and all. She has put her creative juices into a video essay talking about Joan of Arc in the form of a vlog, complete with a sponsor from the local blacksmith with an affiliate code, “Horseshoestew.” Meanwhile, Alex sits in Matilda’s room and they talk about how they’re both kinda bumming – Alex about his parents and Matilda about Drea. He suggests they work through their problems with lunges, but Matilda says she can’t because Drea is coming over, so Alex goes outside to do them himself.

Nicholas is watching Alex do lunges holding jugs of water, and is into it, surprising even himself. Genevieve comes up to him and tells him about the video and asks him to watch it because she’s not sure whether to publish it. He does, and tells her he loves it, saying it’s “effortlessly informative with perfectly pitched whimsy.” But for some reason, this isn’t reassuring to her. So she has Alex, Matilda, and Drea watch it, and they all give her praise and compliments as well. Drea tells her she really enjoys the creative aspect and that she, too, has recently been getting into some creative projects when she was in a dark place. They all continue to tell her how great the video is, but Genevieve can’t seem to believe their compliments.

Cut to Matilda and Drea spending some quality time in Matilda’s room. Matilda is lying on the floor with chakra stones placed down the center of her body. Drea asks her if a stone is red or green, and Matilda tells her it’s green — apparently Drea is colorblind. Matilda wonders if Drea should be placing chakra stones if she can’t tell which is which, but Drea assures her she knows what she’s doing. “I trust you,” Matilda says, and Drea flaps her hands, happily stimming in response.

As Nicholas plays with some of his cockroaches, Genevieve comes outside and tells him that she deleted the video she made — not just from her computer, but from her camera, and even threw away the costume and backdrop. Nicholas isn’t sure how to comfort her, so he just asks if she wants to race the cockroaches in a little racetrack he’s built for them, and she agrees.

The next day, Genevieve connects with her friend Barb over Facetime, discussing whether tomatoes have an effect on your sex life and the fact that Barb wants a cat, among other things, but Genevieve doesn’t seem over the whole vlog thing. She sits down in front of her ringlight again, this time as herself, and speaks from the heart. She talks about how “taking up space, like dairy, has never been something that sits well for me,” and how even if she felt ready to, she wasn’t sure she could trust her family’s opinions. She goes on to say that Alex lies about his true opinions and just tells everyone what they want to hear, and that she’s frustrated in how her brother believes him. But then she turns the focus on herself, realizing maybe she’s incapable of believing positive feedback. She’s sad she deleted the first video, and she’s not sure whether she’ll post this one. She finishes the video by saying maybe, like the ugly duckling, she has been a swan all along.

She posts this video and shows it to Nicholas, who once again tells her it’s amazing, but she’s still not sure whether she trusts that opinion. Matilda and Drea agree that they liked the first video better, and Drea comments she liked how it was educational. Barb calls her and calls her “Little Miss Cheeky,” saying she’s excited to rise to stardom together. Even Penny, Nicholas’ mom, calls her to say that she liked it, but to remind her to try to not look too crazy. Later that evening, Barb tells her to look at the comments, calling them “spicy.” To her surprise, Genevieve finds a comment from a boy named Oscar, which says, “that face when your new online crush sits behind you in math class,” causing a major teenage-girl freak out.

EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE OKAY (Freeform) ADAM FAISON

Feelings, both Good and Bad

Alex is sitting in the common area reading his book quietly, and like a golden retriever puppy, Nicholas wants attention. He’s chatting about his thoughts on Drea and Matilda, trying to cuddle, and overall being annoying when Alex clearly isn’t in the mood and just wants to read his book. Nicholas kind of gets the hint, so he goes to look for who else he can bug. He opens the door to Matilda’s room where Drea is once again placing chakra stones on Matilda, who promptly tells him to get out and close the door. Genevieve is also busy on her computer and uninterested in entertaining Nicholas. So, out of options, he goes back to Alex who’s in the kitchen and asks how he’s feeling about the divorce. In response, Alex starts to almost cry and says he just wants some time alone. Nicholas is confused by his reaction, and Alex tells him that he’s hurt because it’s been two weeks and this is the first time Nicholas has asked how he’s feeling. Nicholas continues to minimize his feelings, saying that he’s asking now so he doesn’t understand why Alex is upset with him. Alex tells him he’s sick of Nicholas acting like he’s the perpetual victim and slams the bedroom door. Nicholas is in somewhat shock and disbelief, still unable to comprehend what exactly just happened. Genevieve walks out into the hallway and offers her to room to him as a place to crash.

Nicholas sits on Genevieve’s bed and Genevieve sits on her computer playing a video game. After a few minutes she asks if Nicholas wants to talk about it, but he seems still kind of out of it, just responding he doesn’t even know what that was. Genevieve offers to talk about Oscar and Nicholas happily engages. She decides to reply to Oscar’s comment, saying, “that face when you can’t get away with copying the guy in front of you anymore,” which prompts Oscar to ask for her phone number, and call her! Nicholas leaves to give her space and this seems like the possible blooming of a new relationship.

Drea and Matilda, with seemingly aligned chakras, sit in her room and chat. Matilda apologizes that she’s not sexually attracted to women, but Drea doesn’t blame her. In fact, Drea says she’s not sure she’s sexually attracted to anyone. Matilda is confused, and Drea explains that while she enjoyed having sex, it was really just because she enjoyed being close to Matilda, but she felt closer when hugging Matilda or watching her play piano. Matilda makes the realization that she doesn’t want to have sex with Drea, and Drea doesn’t want to have sex with her. So, Drea proposes that they continue to be girlfriends, and Matilda can have sex with others. Matilda responds that she can’t think of anything better than that, and Drea says she can’t either while happy stimming. They’re girlfriends again, which is so, so lovely. (Author’s note, this is a big deal in terms of asexual representation. This makes Drea is one of only a few canonically asexual characters in television, and opens the season up for a great exploration into the difference between sexual and romantic relationships.)

The credits scene is Barb telling Genevieve to watch a video of someone named Leonard, presumably a classmate, playing a song on the guitar that is essentially lyrics written from her vlog. Maybe this is the start of Genevieve’s stardom! Overall after a rocky second episode, this episode has revived my faith in this show and I look forward to see where all of these relationships go, especially when there’s nowhere to go.

Everything’s Gonna Be Okay Season 2, Episode 5, “California Banana Slugs,” premieres Thursday, April 29 at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT on Freeform.

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By Emily
Emily is a a graduate of Simmons University with a Bachelor's Public Relations and Journalism and former Disney World Cast Member. An avid fangirl and media connoisseur, when Emily is not thinking of her next article topic, she is planning for her next convention, chatting about the latest book she has read or binge-watching her favorite nerdy shows on Netflix. Find Emily on Instagram and Twitter at @emilycoleyeah
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