MTVP So Cal Summer 2016: The LA Complex 1.02: "Do Something"

“Look, you can’t kill yourself over every audition. You just have to do them and forget about it. Not all of them are going to be winners for you. But, some will. Assuming you don’t totally suck.”
-Raquel

In the second episode of “The LA Complex,” all of the characters are hustling, and some do better than others at it. Abby and Raquel find themselves fighting over the same audition and the same man. Connor and Nick spend a day on set together, where Connor stresses over the demands of the job of a series regular and Nick frets over his lady troubles. Alicia meets a new friend who may have the key to her success. Tariq gets the chance to work with famous rapper Kaldrick King, and he almost ruins his chances several times. Everybody (other than Raquel) really gets more than they bargained for in this episode. Nothing about LA life is easy, and the hustle is key.

The episode starts with Alicia and Abby at the strip club, where Abby has decided to work along with Alicia. Needless, to say, it doesn’t go well. Abby is nervous to go up on stage, so Alicia encourages her to take someone into the champagne room. If she does that, her turn on stage will be skipped and she’ll make more money. Abby decides to give it a try, and when her first client says he’d consider casting her as a relative of Vanessa Hudgens in a project he’s working on, it seems to be working out well. Then the client gropes Abby’s chest and Abby calls for security. Apparently, though, groping is allowed at the strip club, and the client raises a huge fuss over the situation. Abby throws a drink in his face, and she is promptly fired. Ironically, as she’s leaving the strip club, she gets a call from her agent that she has an audition to play a hooker for CSI-clone “Cause of Death.”

Alicia, meanwhile, really wants to get out of work early to go to an audition, but her boss won’t allow it. Former child actor Ricky Lloyd is sitting at the bar and hears this exchange. He makes a big scene of wanting some private time with Alicia, and Alicia reluctantly agrees. When they get some privacy, however, Ricky tells Alicia to go to the audition and that he’ll cover for her. Later, when she returns, after not having done especially well at the audition, they have a drink together and swap entertainment business war stories. Ricky is planning to go to a vodka launch party in the hopes of meeting some important people, and he invites Alicia to come with him in the hopes that she might make some helpful connections too. She has a great time at the party, and afterwards, Ricky offers to let her keep the fancy gift bag. They make out in her car before she goes back to her room at the Luxe.

Abby goes to the Cause of Death audition to find Raquel there too. Raquel is known and loved by all of the staff at the casting office, so Abby immediately feels inadequate. In actuality, Raquel doesn’t feel all that confident, either, but she doesn’t let Abby see that. When Abby comes out of her audition in shock at how quickly it was all over, Raquel genuinely tries to offer her support. Then she goes and sees Connor after telling Abby, who also wanted to see Connor, that dropping in on someone’s set unannounced is uncouth. Raquel and Connor seem to be getting along at first, but then Connor sees he has a missed call from Abby and tells Raquel he has other plans and she should go. Raquel gets a call from her agent saying that Cause of Death “put a pin” in her (meaning they are holding her for potential casting), so she’s all enthusiastic. Abby, who is evicted from her room at the Luxe and ends up crashing with Nick temporarily (because that’s going to end well) gets the job instead. Raquel is devastated.

Connor has convinced his television show to hire Nick as his stand-in for the day. Nick makes a pass at Connor’s co-star’s stand-in, and she is not amused. Catching the hint, Nick decides to ask her for relationship advice instead. Because that’s not awkward. She tells Nick that he things too much and that he should trust his instincts, even if his instincts to kiss her earlier were wrong. Nick has a great time at the shoot since, you know, there’s actually food there for him to eat (he had skipped a few meals prior due to lack of money), and when he gets home, Abby asks if she can crash with him for a while, since, like I mentioned, she got evicted. They have a good time hanging out, but when Nick tries to kiss her, things go south. Abby is interested in Connor right now, so she moves away from the kiss. She and Nick decide they’re just going to be friends, and Nick does his best to be supportive.

Tariq actually sort of gets rewarded for the stunt he pulled in the last episode, sending Drake one of his beats. Dynasty, the producer Tariq works for, has an assignment for him. He’s going to work with Kaldrick King, aka “the King of Cali,” who is a well known, temperamental rapper. Kal has Tariq drive him around Los Angeles – he wants Tariq to show him some place important to him. All Tariq does is work and sleep, so he first takes Kal to a record store, then to the Luxe, both of which piss off Kal. Kal doesn’t want to talk music with Tariq during this personality vetting session (hence the record store pissing him off), and he gets a bit mobbed by fans at the Luxe. Once Tariq explains why he doesn’t have any other places to visit, though, Kal calms down a bit. They go for taquitos, and Kal beats up a fan who tries to take their picture. His reason for this becomes more clear at the end of the episode. Back at Kal’s house, Kal puts on a record and makes a move on Tariq. Tariq kissing Kal, and the rest is history.