What/If Recap: Transforming The Protégé

By Daniel Hart
Published: May 24, 2019 (Last updated: last month)
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What/If season 1, episode 6, "What History"
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Summary

What/If season 1, episode 6, “What History” delves into the characters’ past, opening up new and old wounds, while Anne enjoys watching Lisa grow.

This recap for Netflix’s What/If Season 1, Episode 6, “What History”, contains significant spoilers. We have provided extensive coverage on Mike Kelley’s neo-noir social thriller, and you can read the recap of the previous episode by clicking these words.


What/If season 1, episode 6, “What History” reveals the result of Anne (Renée Zellweger) transforming Lisa (Jane Levy) into her protégé. Lisa appears comfortable with Anne’s plans while helping Cassidy figure out her history. We still do not know what Anne has in mind, but she soon allows Gage Scott to sue Emigen for one billion dollars. When Lisa finds out that it is a manufactured story, she leverages the news to propel Emigen into the limelight, and Anne looks curiously proud while keeping Gage Scott’s sexual advances at bay. The Netflix series still frames that her games are subject to her childhood, as the camera continues to pan to the keys she holds in a glass casing.

Episode 6 provides a great middle act where Lisa and her friends enjoy a gathering, which is a reunion with all of Sean’s (Blake Jenner) friends. The gathering’s intention is evident in terms of the writing, designed for the characters’ to think about their past and the passing of Maddie. Maddie’s death is having an impact on Sean, and Lisa is considerably supportive at the gathering. “What History” gives What/If the opportunity for the characters to develop, we learn a lot about their past, through a series of home videos when they were younger.

What/If episode 6 “What History” delves into secrets; Lisa decides to continue watching the home videos, and we learn that Todd’s father was abusive. Sean is seen assaulting Todd’s father brutally, and his friends having to pull him off the man, with Maddie soothing him to calm his anger. Lisa understands the violence in him for the first time, and Sean has to explain what it felt like to feel so much frustration.

With Lionel away at a retreat, Marcos is still hungover feeling sorry for himself in episode 6, so his new friend, the man they had a threesome with, comes round and sets up a glamping spot in the living room. Marcos enjoys a trippy experience after consuming hallucinogenics, but then his state of high reveals something was disturbing his childhood. Marcos has little to complain about; he has a loyal boyfriend (up to this point) and good friends around him, but he enjoys feeling sorry for himself.

What/If episode 6, “What History”, finalises events with Lisa making a speech on the leading news channels about Gage Scott’s true intentions, and with the popularity of her company, she has been invited to an FDA panel. Sean is adamant that she should attend, despite his emotional state, and just as she leaves, Anne meddles with his brain, implying that his wife has a higher purpose. Just as a side note to end the recap; it seems that Angela is in danger after Ian has planted cameras and gadgets around her house to spy on her marriage. The doctor has not taken his dismissal well.


Our coverage of What/If season 1 does not end here. You can read the recap of episode 7 by clicking these words.

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