Nothing triggers an existential crisis like an afternoon party in the Hollywood Hills.
Photo: Kenny Laubbacher/HBO
It's true that the darkest moods on the entire planet can be found at daytime parties in the Hollywood Hills. Of course, any place full of people trying to band together and unite with each other is essentially a living nightmare. But when you're stuck with them in the Hills with spotty cell service, you might as well be in space where no one can hear you scream.
Maya, Charlie, Tallulah, and (especially) Alani have probably already been to a party like the one in Upstairs that internet star Quen Blackwell (playing herself) throws for friends and assorted hangers-on at Elijah Wood's house (just go with it). But, as they all quickly realize, Quen specifically inviting Tallulah after her viral destruction of Paula is a different matter entirely. They're not just throwing a random party for fun. They, like everyone else around them, are designed to get something out of it – and/or give something back to their owner.
Maya wants Tallulah to make a good impression on Quen, or at least part of her many millions of followers. Whatever works! To be honest, Maya wouldn’t mind joining Quen’s inner circle either. Unfortunately, this dream quickly dies under the destructive force of the contempt of powerful individuals for management. Once Quen identifies Tallulah as the person who In fact Once we talk, she immediately takes her away from Maya in order to sow the seeds of doubt about her friend’s management abilities. “Did you order anything after the video with Paulina?” she asks an immediately unsure Tallulah. “What are you trying to be? A fashionista? Maya gave you a bag or your sweat, bring you your bag?
Tallulah doesn't know what to say. Aside from the literal Balenciaga bag in her lap, her online gaming has yet to translate into any tangible success in real life. Judging by Adessa's performance in this moment, Tallulah is genuinely sad to realize that Quen isn't exactly the cool girl she can be friends with. She's a seasoned online professional who asks her tougher questions than her own manager, and she almost certainly invited Tallulah with some kind of plan in mind.
At this point, I thought about the comment that caught my attention in last week's review (yes, I read the comments, don't worry about it): “This recap… just like this show… is lacking.” anything” Although I was briefly tempted to feel offended, I had to admit that this feeling was not fully wrong. I found I love Los Angeles It's funny, but mostly it just skimmed the surface of the already shallow pool of LA influencer culture. At this point, it just didn't give me enough reason to dig in – and watching Tallulah go through even the tiniest of existential crises in this scene made me see why. With the exception of Maya's dream of becoming a star manager (if that's what she dreams of at all), no one in this series has any driving force, let alone a goal. They just want be. This may be true for the specific Los Angeles subculture that the series permeates, but the atmosphere can only take you so far. These characters' stubborn lack of direction automatically creates voids where there could be more compelling motivations.
As perverse as it may sound, Tallulah's reaction to Quen's question about what she In fact wants – this is a kind of nervous terror. She clearly has no idea, but maybe – just maybe! – this moment could prompt her to try to figure everything out. But even if she never does, the show will benefit from her considering the issue A little at least more seriously.
This week, however, Tallulah has no answer to any of those questions. Instead, she follows Quen back into the house and straight into a sophisticated video studio to record #Content for both of their channels. (What appears spontaneous online is, of course, anything but.) Tallulah, who loves benefits but hates work, can neither figure out the level of fiction of Quen's online persona nor imagine doing anything similar to support her own.
Countless takes and costume changes later, she finds herself having a full-blown identity crisis, which only gets worse when she runs into Quen. Hackers“Click farm” level of constantly buzzing iPhones. Quen notices Tallulah's horror, but brushes it off as another example of her not being serious. “If you stop for even a second, you will disappear,” she explains. At the same time, Tallulah must keep herself from falling face first into the well of despair by making an escape. However, to escape back to the foot of the Hills, she will first have to find her friends – and that is easier said than done.
Maya, suffering from Quen's insulting, careless rejection, ends up going along with Alani's main mission: to find and seduce Elijah Wood, the only celebrity who makes her nervous. However, she is not at all bothered by breaking Quen's strict “no one goes upstairs” rule. If anyone is going to ignore the “Please stay down :)” sign, it's Alani, who never seems to have felt, recognized or respected a single boundary in her life. Besides, she insists, “celebrities have the best at the top.” (Maya: “I know, but what happened to Diddy happened upstairs, so…”)
And that's who they should find at the top, except Wood himself, watching alone The Simpsons in my pajamas. He is not at all bothered by the interruption; in any case, he is simply pleased to remember that other people exist at all. The more people who want to join him in his favorite activity (like watching clips of his favorite cartoons on YouTube), the better.
As in the case Entourage before that, I love Los Angeles it's a show that's perfectly designed to allow celebrities to play weird versions of themselves, and Wood happily obliges. But with this characterization of Elijah Wood's whimsical world, there is – to use an improv/sketch comedy term – too much “acting”. He's nice. He's stupid. He's a hypochondriac. He has the memory of a goldfish and relies on his carefully mapped memory palace to move from one minute to the next. And he also loves Shrek and bathrobes just as much as he hates it when women think he wants to fuck (like Maya and Alani do). It's funny enough to see Wood deviate from his public persona, but it never develops into anything coherent enough to be as funny as it might otherwise be.
Either way, Maya and Alani head downstairs to get out of there before Wood's crisis escalates further. When they run into a shell-shocked Tallulah, the palpable relief they feel is a welcome sign that no matter the glittering promises of such a party, their friendship (for now) still comes first.
• Charlie (Jordan Ferstman) spends most of this episode alone again. This time he attacks Lucas, a nice guy who says he's “not gay, I'm Catholic!” before driving them both 40 minutes away to get more ice. Charlie is furious—until he learns that Lucas has over 4 million TikTok followers, an upcoming Vegas residency, and a possible job for his new unemployed friend. Let's hope this character becomes a more complete part I love Los Angeles sooner rather than later, but in any case it won't be this week.
• Dylan is even more MIA in this episode (oooh), but it's “basically okay” for Maya to have a threesome with Elijah Wood – albeit only if Alani “does the penetration” – which is at least another good character detail.
• Great casting: Comedian Caitlin Reilly (aka “The Girl Who's Gonna Be Okay”) as Quen's overzealous manager who can't seem to stop talking in hashtags.
• Alani most associates his good friend Robert De Niro with Shark Tale This is probably true across generations, but it's still annoying!
• “I don't want people to know my address. I just feel like I'm going to have a stalker very soon, so…”
