Pose Season 2 Ep. 9 Recap: 'Life's A Beach'

Photo: FX

With its second season about to come to a close, it wouldn't have been totally surprising if Pose decided to delve further into the dramatic fallout of last week's explosive "Revelations." Instead, it gives us one of its most delightful hours with the sublime "Life's A Beach."

However, it wouldn't be Pose without some drama, which comes to Blanca's doorstep courtesy of a 4 a.m. phone call telling her her salon has caught fire. Hmm, how very convenient a fire would destroy the salon just after Blanca won her suit against Frederica. And right on time Ms. Norman flies through the door, feigning shock and dismay. Of course she drops the act once the inspectors leave, gloating about how she plans to raise the rent and attract rich clientele, relishing the idea of Blanca filing acrylics in her "grim little" apartment. Checkmate Frederica. It's a bit anticlimactic given all the back and forth we've seen between these two. That said, torching her own building to collect the insurance money and put Blanca out on the street fits perfectly within Frederica's wheelhouse of wickedness.

Between the salon(and her life savings) going up in smoke and all her kids moving out, Blanca's not in the best headspace. It also doesn't help that it's August and New York is  hot as an inferno. Or, as Elektra puts it, "I feel like I'm being fucked by Satan himself in the seventh circle."

August in NYC also means the city's wealthier residents have fled to their summer homes. Except for Joe, a client of Elektra's who loves the scorching temperatures--all the better to be left alone and sweaty for hours on end. Joe loves isolation, so much so he wants to be left alone all night. But, Elektra, not comfortable with leaving clients to their own devices for obvious reasons, is not having that. Joe let's it be known he has a summer home, and Elektra plants the idea in his head about letting her use it for a girls' trip. All she has to do is keep him in a cage in the garage and check on him every few hours and it's all good. Child...to each his own.

While Lulu and Angel are excited to escape the heat, Blanca's initially not in the mood for the trip, worried she'll be clocked and harassed. That fear lingers among the women throughout the episode, like when Angel asks Elektra if they should be walking around New York in bathing suits. Or later, when Lulu worries another beachgoer is eyeing them too closely. Even something as simple as a nighttime walk along the beach with a man is cause for concern. "They don't kill us because they hate us," Elektra says at one point. "They kill us because they hate what it means to love us." These fears aren't portrayed in an overtly dramatic way, but an unfortunate part of what comes of being a transgender woman. It's why Elektra carries a switchblade in her cooler, or why Lulu and Angel have a taser and brass knuckles on deck. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Fortunately, the worst doesn't come to fruition in "Life's A Beach," where the idllyic setting allows the girls to let their hair and their guards down. Elektra and Lulu share a tender moment when Elektra reveals she regrets not going up to Candy's casket during her funeral. Lulu reassures her the grand send off she gave Candy is what she would've wanted and more than makes up for it.

Blanca, whose mood has lightened by the time they hit the beach, checks in on Angel, who swears she's been keeping her nose clean(literally) and hopes to move back into her house with Papi. But Blanca explains she's an adult now, and needs to concentrate on building her own family. Things almost take a tragic turn when Blanca nearly drowns in the ocean. But wouldn't you know, a handsome lifeguard named Adrian comes to her rescue.

Blanca is absolutely glowing afterwards, revealing a giggly, flirtatious side we've rarely, if ever, seen from her. A much smaller crisis occurs when the girls discover Joe has no liquor, so they opt to go to an upscale restaurant. Blanca runs into Adrian, and agrees to go on walk along the beach, despite Elektra's reservations. The vibe at the table is good, and not even a snooty country club wench can kill it. She tries though, leading to Elektra unleashing a read to rival the tongue lashing she gave the House of Ferocity last season. A highlight: "God may have blessed you with Barbies, a backyard with a pony, a boyfriend named Jake and an unwanted pregnancy that your father paid to terminate so you could go to college and major in being a basic bitch! None of these things make you a woman." The true gag of gags was the sight of mother pausing for the cause to take a sip of her drink before continuing to read Hamptons Hanna down to her brown roots. "Now pick your jaw off the floor and go back to your clam chowder and shallow conversations!" she concludes. Bloop! As delicious as her read is, she also usea it to make an important distinction between herself and Hamptons Hanna: while she is filling a privileged slot picked out for her by the world, Elektra, Lulu, Blanca and Angel have done the hard work of finding out who they truly are. And now that they know, they aren't going anywhere.

Meanwhile, Blanca meets Adrian for their impromptu date. Adrian tells her he wants to be a doctor, inspired by his mother's death from cancer when he was a kid. Blanca drops hints she's not like other girls when she talks about "the outside world" and "my community." But Adrian already knows, and doesn't care, kissing her as the waves crash behind them. Blanca strolls back to the house barefoot the next morning, beaming ear to ear. "It was nice to be wanted and seen," Blanca gushes.

Her outlook is the opposite of Joe's. Elektra hits him with a quick two piece of wisdom as she and the girls prepare to leave. "You have the luxury of choosing loneliness," Elektra tells him after he rhapsodizes about the fantasy of her leaving the house and leaving him locked in a cage for days, possibly forever. "For some people, it's not optional." Candy makes an appearance on the ride home, popping up in the rear view mirror to sing along with the rest of the crew to the En Vogue's classic "Hold On" making Elektra break out into a wide smile.

Back in the city,  Blanca and Angel come home to a message Adrian left on her machine. Beaming from ear to ear again, she calls him back. Good for Blanca. Like Pray Tell, we've seen how much she thrives as a caretaker and mother. But romantic comedy heroine looks good on her as well.

Pose has more than proven itself adept at depicting the darker realities of life for transwomen. "Life's A Beach" is a wonderful reminder it's equally adept at showcasing the lighter moments as well.

Other Thoughts/The Shade of It All

• Elektra bitches about the heat, but demurs when she accidentally brings up the smell in her apartment, lying to the girls--well at least to Lulu and Angel--when they ask to go to her place, saying the smell is from some other tenant's cooking.

• "We may not live in the same house. But you'll always be my daughter Blanca." Aww.

• "A popsicle in this heat is like throwing a snowball in hell."

• "I have a Hertz rental car waiting outside. O.J. himself would approve." Well, it was 1990.

•  "Are you three done eating each other out yet?"

• Lulu: "How does this man have all this money and nothing to drink? Angel: "Girl, white people."