Summary
The penultimate chapter leaves on a cliffhanger that gives the finale something to shout about.
This recap of Netflix’s The Duchess season 1, episode 5 contains significant spoilers.
We recapped the entire season — check out the archive of recaps.
The opening
Cheryl keeps dropping off Shep’s semen to Katherine on a regular basis. She has been injecting it in her every day. Bev is curious why Cheryl is so invested in the spunk drop-offs — she reckons that they want Katherine to be a surrogate. Katherine believes Bev. They compare it to The Handmaid’s Tale. Katherine spends the night watching the series to understand what is happening to her.
You love her
Shep goes to the dentist and Sandra is doing his teeth. He believes it’s a setup and part of his stag do because she’s attractive — he starts making out like she’s a stripper. Evan comes out and wonders what Shep is doing. Shep reveals that he’s getting married to Cheryl and that he believes Evan loves Katherine.
Stop stealing my babies
At Cheryl’s house, Cheryl keeps trying to give Katherine sperm. Olive gets dressed up in a wedding dress but Katherine doesn’t like how Cheryl is controlling everything and accuses her of stealing her babies. Katherine confronts Shep about him and his soon-to-be wife trying to steal her kids. Shep denies it and says some people are just nice. He tells Katherine that not everything is about her. Episode 5 is a little bit of a reality-check for Katherine who is beginning to lose control of her life.
While walking with her mother holding her hand, Olive sees her friends and panics and pretends she is getting her haircut. When her friends walk off, Olive agrees with Katherine to go get a haircut. At the hairdressers, she asks her hair to be cut to her shoulders. It’s her baby hair so it’s an emotional moment for both mother and daughter.
The ending
Katherine walks out of the hairdresser and rings Evan sobbing. Evan runs through the town to get to her. She’s worried that the innocence is drained out of her daughter. Katherine states she wants to change because she needs Evan. She promises that Shep is out of the window. Looks like Katherine has got her man back. The next morning, Katherine wakes up starving and realizes she may be pregnant. Looks like it’s not as simple as it seems. There’s one more test for the finale. The penultimate chapter leaves on a cliffhanger that gives the finale something to shout about.
