4: “Frame Up”
Synopsis: “The Holograms are scheduled to play a concert at a casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. When they discover that the Misfits are their opening act, they start to worry. The Misfits bring along Ashley and use her to lure Aja away, hoping that if Aja isn’t there, the Holograms can’t play and the Misfits will headline instead.”
Summary: Fortunately, Aja comes back in time, and they perform. Unfortunately, while the girls are on stage Eric Raymond’s goons steal the money from the concert and frame Jem. Stormer and Ashley team up to tell the truth, and Jem’s name is cleared.
Jem: “Mifits… Stop! Oh Rio…”
Ashley: “You can talk to the wall, Jerrica!”
Dirk Hayes: “Because, honey, I love to see sparks fly!” — Why does he pronounce Holograms, “ho-low-grams?”
Once again, The Misfits manage to coerce Ashley into helping them sabotage the Holograms’ plans to do a concert in Vegas.
Shana and Jem have a heart to heart about the conundrum Jerrica is in with Rio. She’s torn about telling Rio her true identify because of her uncertainty towards how he might react.
(Cue “Deception” music video).
At a casino, Ashely lures Aja into the storage compartment of a charter bus, which The Misfits prompty lock. The bus embarks and the Holograms start to worry about Aja’s whereabouts. Lucky enough for Aja, a couple onboard notice an unsettling smashing noise coming from beneath the bus. After notifying the bus driver about a possible flat tire, he opens the storage compartment and finds Aja. In desperation, Aja, asks a couple of unsavory looking dudes for directions back to the casino (which of course, when suddenly a cowboy on a motorcycle rolls up and offers to take her (“hey pretty lady, I’ll take to the Gold Dust, hop on”). Just when Aja thinks she’s out of the woods, she finds herself in gridlock and tells the cowboy she’s going to run the rest of the way because she’s out of time.
Back at the casino, Rio asks to check The Misfit’s dressing room. Pizzazz seizes the moment and tells Rio: “What’s your hurry? We’re going to win, Rio. I could do great things for you. Dump Jem and I’ll…” (woah, is she propositioning him? Scandelous!) Of course, Rio won’t have it: “You’re not fit to breath the same air as Jem!”
Back to the concert promotor, the Holograms are reminded that there is a penalty clause in their contract for failing to perform, when conveniently, Aja makes an appearance (much to the relief of the band).
(Cue “Too Close” music video).
After The Misfits blame Ashely for screwing up and letting Aja get away, Eric calls in tells the band there’s an impending commotion. When the police start searching the casino, he instructs them to make sure the police check Jem’s room. Without divulging his dastardly plan, he tells The Misfits to wait and see. While Ashley overhears some of the conversation, Stormer finds Ashely and they confide in each other. Ashley says that Pizzazz and Roxy scare her. Stormer admits: “Ya, they scare me too sometimes.” This is an early moment in the series where we start to see Stormer’s soft side. She’s clearly not as willing to cross the line as some of the other members.
Changing scenes, Zipper and his goons steal the concert money and plant it in Jem’s dressing room, framing Jem for the robbery. The Misfits suggest to the police that they search Jem’s room (isn’t that kind of suspicous?). Jem is then arrested and taken away in handcuffs, how embarassing. But how could she rob the casino while she was on stage performing? Ashely comes to the rescue and testifies that she overheard The Misfits plotting to plant the money and make Jem take the fall. Of course, The Misfits’ rebuttal is that Ashely “can’t be more than 12” and because she lives with them, she’d say anything (that’s actually a salient point). Suddenly, a cloaked woman shows up to save Jem and says she can proove that Jem is innocent (I assume that Stormer, who this clearly must be, takes her mask off behind closed doors and confesses).
Back at Starlight Music, The Misfits complain to Eric Raymund that his previous hairbrain schemes haven’t worked. He suggests a new idea that may finally ruin Jem. He posits that like Pizzazz, perhaps Jem is just a stage name (Eric takes the opportunity to mention Pizzazz’s real name, Phyllis. She has a temper tantrum). So of course, Eric hires Malone, a private detective, to follow Jem around until he can discover her secret. Starting with the Countess De Voisant’s fashion show.
(Cue “Truly Outrageous” music video).
Once the song finishes, THe Misfits decide to sabotage the show by setting the sprinkler system off, causing everyone in the audience and band to be soaked. Ya, that will show them!
After leaving the show, the Holograms head back to synergy at the secret drive-in. Malone follows them and discovers the faux holographic entrance. Synergy seems to have no defence system and just keeps repeating “intruder! intruder! intruder!”
Trivia:
- This is the 2nd time that there no Misfits songs sung.
- Eric reveals that Pizzazz’s real name is Phyllis.
Duration: 1:01:21
Present: Alex, Aleen, Tempest.
Episode Links- Episode 4: “Frame Up”
- “Deception”
- “Too Close (For Comfort)”
- “Truly Outrageous”
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Download: Episode 4: “Frame Up”