Summary
Neff starts to suspect her new BFF is a fraud, while Anna Chlumsky delivers one of the best performances of her career.
This recap of Netflix’s Inventing Anna season 1, episode 5, “Check Out Time,” contains spoilers.
Inventing Anna season 1, episode 5 recap
The show opens with Neff swatting the arm of her fellow employee. He tells two young men they are both riding with that the elevator is for employees only. He doesn’t realize that one of them is the son of the hotel’s owner, Aby Rosen. Vivian revisits Neff and informs her she still hasn’t visited Anna in prison. She tells the journalist at Manhattan Magazine that she met Anna at the hotel and tried to get her to finance her film.
The reporter is about to become the story while working on this case. As an example of bad journalism, a television news magazine will feature how she screwed up, causing her to scramble with the Anna story to restore her reputation. Paul comes to her later and desperately tries to convince her to do an exclusive interview with them to clear the air. Vivian, for the majority of the episode, struggles with not knowing what to do. Later, she comes clean to Anna’s lawyer. She lost her job and reputation when she ran a story with a small blurb about an 18-year-old who had millions of dollars.
The thing is, Vivian knew something was off about the kid and even told Paul about it. Paul said he would research it but never did. The thing he did do was a sexy headline that was picked up by major networks and papers. And Paul never changed a damn thing in her article. Yet, somehow Vivian was demoted, and Paul was promoted. She denies the interview and confronts Paul, and tells him he needs to do the interview for throwing her under the bus.
Again, men fall and fail face-first into promotions.
The only money Anna had that appeared genuine was tipping to Neff, who became her concierge at the hotel. She took care of it all, including making sure Anna was on the “hot” database used by clubs, restaurants, and PR firms. Anna is the score Neff needs to finance her film. While Anna got her foot in the door with associates in the city and Alan gave her credibility with the real moneymakers, Neff ensured she was on the right lists to reach a reasonable level of fame.
Neff rides this train to her short film by collecting Anna’s 100 dollar tips. She accepts gifts like trendy clothes, expensive haircuts, and fine dining. That’s until the old ruse crashed down again. The hotel demands a credit card because they do not have one on file. After all, when they switched systems. Her credit cards were declined at a dinner with Anna, and Neff paid the bill. When she investigates and finds Anna has a hotel bill of over 30,000 dollars she has not yet paid. The hotel eventually confiscated her belongings until she paid the bill.
Her best friend Neff refuses to help her grab her things, including her passport.
The ending
Somehow Anna pays the bills and even pays Neff back. Vivian clarifies to Neff that she was the only one Anna reimbursed. (I personally think it had to do more with getting her passport back). The episode ends with Neff finally visiting Anna in prison.
What did you think about Netflix’s Inventing Anna season 1, episode 5? Let us know in the comments below!
You can watch Inventing Anna with a subscription to the streaming service.
