Hulu's The Act season 1, episode 3 recap: Two Wolverines

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The Act — “Two Wolverines” – Episode 103 — Dee Dee makes Gypsy play dress up for a costume convention, where they each attract charming men who could dangerously complicate their insular relationship. And Gypsy is starting to question the lies her mother tells her — especially about how old she really is. Gypsy Rose Blanchard (Joey King) and Dee Dee Blanchard (Patricia Arquette), shown. (Photo by: Brownie Harris/Hulu)

The mystery surrounding Dee Dee and Gypsy deepens in episode three of The Act. Gypsy tries to lead a secret life behind her mother’s back, but that proves to be tougher than she thought.

This episode of The Act opens in 2011 for the first time. Dee Dee reads letters from supporters of Gypsy. They’ve sent money to help Gypsy and her mom. Dee Dee collects the money, barely taking the time to read the letters.

At night, we see that Gypsy is still sneaking off in the middle of the night to watch videos online (we see her watching a video on how to kiss). Gypsy also logs into Facebook where she checks out a video for an upcoming comic convention. She starts to do research on possible cosplays.

The Act shifts to Gypsy dressed up in a Beauty and the Beast Belle costume. She’s also doing her mom’s makeup (claiming she learned by practicing on a doll and not from watching videos online).

More. The Act season 1, episode 2 recap: Teeth. light

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After Dee Dee’s makeup is done, she tells Gypsy to change into her Cinderella costume—Dee Dee claims she must have shrunk the Belle costume. Gypsy is clearly disappointed.

At the convention, Dee Dee tries to get Gypsy in as a “child,” saying she was born in 1995 and is 15. The cutoff is 12 for children’s admission prices, but the ticket seller is nice and lets it slide. As they walk away, Gypsy is confused, since Dee Dee had previously said she was born in 1993 (making her 17 going on 18–which, you know, seems like an important distinction).

Dee Dee blames the mixup on a car accident and says 1995 is the correct year.

Gypsy moves on and is taken by all the costumes and attendees at the convention. Gypsy says she loves how nice everyone is to her at conventions.

The two come across Shelley and start chatting. Before long, a man (Russ) dressed as Logan/Wolverine comes up and starts talking to them. Shelley takes the hint and wheels Gypsy away so Russ can talk more directly to Dee Dee.

He tries to flirt with her, but she’s reluctant to talk about herself, instead of talking about Gypsy and Gypsy’s interests. She seems completely clueless about his intentions. Eventually, Dee Dee awkwardly excuses herself to go to the bathroom, leaving Gypsy with Shelley and Russ with…himself.

Of course, as soon as Dee Dee walks off, Shelley has to go with her boyfriend (who had accidentally made a kid cry) and Gypsy is left alone. Gypsy says she’ll stay where she is, but instead, she starts wheeling herself around the convention.

Seeing a different man dressed as Wolverine, she adjusts her costume (tightens the strings around her waist, pulls the top of the dress down over her shoulders) before going up to the booth where he’s shopping.

She introduces herself to Wolverine (aka Scott). They talk about comics, she’s clearly into him and he (who is seemingly much older) is nice. The combination of Gypsy’s behavior (thanks to Dee Dee not letting her grow up) and her costume makes it tough for anyone to really figure out how old she is, Scott included.

Scott asks her age and Gypsy says she’s 18.

The Act cuts to the bathroom where Dee Dee overhears two women talking about meeting men. After they leave, she takes a paper towel and starts wiping the makeup off of her face.

Gypsy and Scott walk and he tells her about Wolverine and Jean Grey (which Gypsy didn’t know anything about before now). Gypsy then calls Scott the most honorable man she’s ever met. He responds by calling her the sweetest Cinderella he’s met.

Just then, Gypsy spots a DeLorean from Back to the Future and tells Scott they have to go over. As they get in line, the photographer asks if they’d like to jump to the front of the line. Gypsy reluctantly agrees. As they get to the front, Scott scoops her up to put her in the front seat of the DeLorean. They take a picture together.

The camera flash transitions The Act back to the future (get it? see what I did there?) where detectives are still searching Dee Dee’s house. Shelley, Mel, and Lacey stand on Mel’s porch talking.

As they talk, Shelley starts to recall fuzzy details about a time four years ago when Dee Dee called her in the middle of the night, frantic about some man—she needed to find out the man’s name. Mel can’t believe Shelley didn’t ask more about it, but Shelley shoots back that she and Dee Dee weren’t as close as Mel and Dee Dee used to be.

Annoyed at Mel’s frustration with her, Shelley gets up to leave. In the end, Shelley can’t remember the name of the man or the precise reason Dee Dee wanted his name.

Back in 2011, Dee Dee rejoins the crowd and finds Shelley. She gets frantic when Gypsy isn’t there and Shelley says Gypsy is with “Wolverine.” Dee Dee clearly thinks she means the Wolverine who tried to flirt with her and she goes off to find her daughter.

Once Dee Dee catches up with Gypsy and meets Scott, she pulls Gypsy’s costume back up to cover her shoulders and tells her to say goodbye to Scott (despite Gypsy wanting to stay for a costume contest). Before they can leave, Russ comes over and asks to talk to Dee Dee again.

As they say goodbye, Scott says they can still be friends. However, he’s a bit thrown when Gypsy says that she and her mom share a Facebook account, even though she’s “18.” Despite this, she asks for his Facebook information.

Off to the side, Russ apologizes and confesses he lost his son at 13 and he admires what Dee Dee is doing for Gypsy. He also advises that she find a piece of the world for herself in the midst of all the giving she does.

Back home, Dee Dee is still rambling on about Russ. Once she pauses, Gypsy asks how Dee Dee met her dad. She says they were just dumb kids who fell in love. Gypsy struggles to understand why her parents split if Dee Dee still loves Gypsy’s dad.

Dee Dee says that what Gypsy needs to realize is that men can’t be relied on. In fact, Gypsy shouldn’t rely on anyone except her mother.

Dee Dee then reveals that there were two choices and she chose Gypsy.

That night, Gypsy is off on the computer looking up fan art of Wolverine and Jean Grey. She then heads to Facebook and creates a new account, but she pauses when she has to put in her date of birth.

Remembering what her mom said about 1995, but not trusting how that adds up, she goes to her mom’s purse and finds her insurance card that has her date of birth on it. Shockingly, it says she was born in 1991, making her 19 going on 20.

She seems instantly angry with her mom over this and she stands at the foot of their bed just staring at Dee Dee.

Gypsy then goes and finds the money her mom has been saving from what people send them in the mail and takes a few 20 dollar bills for herself.

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