Summary
Molly finally acknowledges her feelings for Arthur, and her attempts to pursue them lead to one of the funniest episodes of Loot in two seasons.
Loot hasn’t exactly been shy about Molly and Arthur quite clearly having feelings for one another, but you know how it is when you have a thing for someone you’re technically not supposed to. So, we’ve had to wait for both of them to admit it. In Episode 7, “Camp Wells”, Molly finally decides she’s ready to acknowledge her attraction – unfortunately, she’s a little too late.
Of course, Arthur admitted his feelings in Season 1, but in Episode 6 of Season 2, he met Willa, so he’s still buzzing about that and has shifted away from Molly, despite how much they got on during their mall tour in Episode 5. It’s complicated and totally unsuited to the workplace, which means it’s the perfect setup for a Loot episode.
Whatever Happens On A Work Retreat…
You can always rely on Nicholas to supply outside-the-box solutions to workplace problems, so he suggests that everyone goes on a work retreat since he once saw a HR sexual harassment training video that suggested lots of inappropriate things happen on them.
So, Molly being Molly, she announces they’ll all be going to her palace in Dubai for a little excursion, which everyone is thrilled about (especially Sofia, whose predilection for Disney princesses is a lot like the revelation that she’s a Swiftie in an earlier episode – a glimmer of girly humanity.)
However, once Molly angrily realizes how down-to-earth Willa is, she changes the destination of the retreat to a cabin in San Bernadino. Nobody is happy about this except Arthur and Molly, but the latter can’t help but cast a shadow over the whole thing by relentlessly and awkwardly trying to one-up Willa in ways she clearly hasn’t thought through.
Things Reach Boiling Point
The tragedy of all this is that Molly and Arthur have such clear and obvious chemistry. When they slope off into the kitchen to make chicken pot pie, you can imagine them having been married for years. Sure, nobody else is thrilled about the location – Nicholas makes the most of it by using a drone to take rural nudes, and Rhonda gets completely naked and goes skinny-dipping – but this isn’t about anyone else.
But miscommunication wins the day. Arthur’s phone keeps going off with messages from Willa, and he keeps talking about her at dinner. He’s not trying to get one up on Molly; he’s just excited. I also get the sense that he thinks Molly will be happy that he has found someone, since he doesn’t know she’s into him yet, and has been quietly coming to terms with the idea that his feelings for her will never be reciprocated.
So, nobody’s in the wrong here. But Molly acts like everyone is. She goes absolutely postal at dinner and attempts to drive the van to the grocery store to angrily retrieve supplies. But she’s a terrible driver and ends up crashing the vehicle right into Rhonda, whose naked ass smears across the windscreen and brings the ridiculousness of the whole affair into quite stark – literally – relief.
Molly Returns to Work
Feeling as if she has ruined her chance with Arthur, Molly returns to work with renewed purpose – by focusing on Space for Everyone, hopefully, she can distract herself from what a disaster the retreat was.
However, there’s a slight problem. Molly wants to take the project national, but as it turns out, these entirely altruistic non-profits cost a lot of money. And, for the first time, Molly doesn’t have enough of her own to fund her latest wacky idea.
RELATED: Loot Season 2, Episode 8
