The Act season 1, episode 3 recap: Two Wolverines

Jerald Raymond Pierce

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).

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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.

The Act moves to Dee Dee filling up her van at a gas station and asking Gypsy to get her some tea (even agreeing to let her have a sip). While she’s in there, Gypsy secretly buys herself a prepaid phone with the cash she took.

Back home, Dee Dee gets a call from Russ. We don’t hear much of the conversation before The Act cuts to that night when Gypsy sends a text to Scott.

They text back and forth and Gypsy giggles to herself as Scott expresses interest in her and her life. We learn that Scott is a surgeon (or at least works with the elderly, I never trust voiceovers from people I don’t know). He also says that he wants to get married one day, once he finds the “right girl.”

Gypsy talks about the kind of wedding she’d want and says any girl would be lucky to have Scott as a husband.

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During this, time is passing. We see Dee Dee get a couple of phone cals from Russ. Then Gypsy says to Scott that it has been a month since she and Scott met. She calls it their “anniversary.” She also says she’ll give him her address, you know, in case he wants to send a present. This section of The Act ends with her saying, in a very fairytale way, that the address could be for if Scott wants to come to take her away.

This appropriately transitions to Gypsy watching the movie Shrek. Just then, a delivery man arrives. Gypsy meets him outside (saying she doesn’t want to wake her mom). The package is addressed from “Wolverine.”

Gypsy goes to the bathroom and tears into it. It’s a red, Jean Grey, wig. One that she saw at the convention when the two of them met. She puts it on and giggles at her reflection.

Russ, on the phone with Dee Dee, says that, since they’ve been talking a lot, he’s wondering if Dee Dee would let him come over. As they talk, we learn that Russ also got married really young. He offers to come over to do any “handyman” work Dee Dee might have. It’s playful banter right up until he offers to help with Gypsy. Dee Dee promptly ends the conversation and hangs up.

Later, outside, Gypsy gets a text and is giggling to herself when Lacey comes up and startles her. Apparently, Lacey didn’t get enough of a scholarship for college, so she has to go to community college instead (according to her mom), so she’s mad at Mel right now.

Lacey asks what Gypsy was giggling about. Gypsy agrees to tell her, as long as she agrees to keep it a secret. Gypsy says she met her “Prince Charming.” She tells Lacey about how she saw him and just knew and says that they’ll get married and have two kids. She goes on to talk about very, very elaborate (yet, still very fantasy-land based) plans she has with Scott. She asks Lacey to be her maid of honor.

(Now it makes sense why Lacey wasn’t sure whether Gypsy actually had a secret boyfriend or if she was just in her own fantasy world. The way Gypsy describes things to Lacey are pulled straight from a storybook.)

Gypsy then gives Lacey her secret Facebook name: “Emma Rose” after Gypsy’s grandmother. Lacey again agrees to keep Gypsy’s secrets.

That night, Gypsy gets a text from Scott. Something has happened and Scott is in the emergency room. His phone is dying so he can’t elaborate, but Gypsy looks immediately concerned. She gets on the computer and looks up the number for a taxi company.

She gathers her things and gets up. But then she freezes, caught between the choice to go out the door and go to Scott, or to go back to her room and her mom.

This cuts to Gypsy walking (I repeat, walking) through the hospital wearing her red wig looking for Scott. She finds him with a bandaged nose and blood on the front of his shirt. He’s stunned to see her standing there.

When he asks about the walking thing, she blows it off by saying that yeah, she can walk, but he shouldn’t tell anyone. As they talk, he stumbles over his words, trying to grasp what he’s seeing.

Gypsy, who says she came because she knew he needed her, asks if he’s been given medicine for his pain. When Scott says they wouldn’t give him any because he’d been drinking, Gypsy laughs it off and says that you don’t need to tell the doctors the whole truth if you’re in pain.

(Yes, you do. Trust your doctors. Ok, back to the story.)

While Scott is still trying to process Gypsy’s new look (he says she looks good with red hair), Gypsy says he doesn’t have to worry, she’s going to take care of him.

The Act then cuts to Dee Dee waking up and not seeing Gypsy. She checks around the house and finds a note from Gypsy. Gypsy says that she’s running away to get married and have kids and there’s nothing Dee Dee can do to stop her. Then she signs it, “your 19-year-old daughter” (with 19 underlined three times).

Dee Dee starts to breathe heavily, panicking.

Next, we see Dee Dee on the phone, calling Shelley. Her voice quivering, she’s asking about the man they met at the convention who dressed as Wolverine, but not that Wolverine (Russ), the other one. She clearly knows Scott is somehow behind this.

Meanwhile, Gypsy arrives with Scott at Scott’s house. Scott gets a beer and some pills and comments on how small Gypsy is (nothing that she’s not much taller than when she’s in her chair). Gypsy says she’s never going to be in the chair again now that she’s with her prince.

Right then, a door opens and Scott’s roommate comes out, clearly annoyed at being awoken in the middle of the night. He goes back in his room and Gypsy says she wants to dance. Scott, on the other hand, just wants to sit. Gypsy jumps into action, going to the kitchen and finding popsicles in the freezer for him to put on his nose.

She asks what happened and Scott tells her about a fight he got into at a bar because a guy was bothering one of Scott’s female friends. Gypsy tells him that he’s brave and Scott replies that he was just doing what was right.

Then, Gypsy speculates how great it would be for Jean Grey and Wolverine to end up together so Jean Grey could be rid of the “evil” Cyclops. To which Scott replies that Jean Grey kills Cyclops in “Last Stand.” (Hopefully this metaphor is a mislead as to what actually happens in this show.)

They sit on the couch and Gypsy leans her head on his chest. They start kissing. Before things get any further, there’s a pounding on the door. Scott answers the door and it’s Dee Dee.

In tears, Dee Dee pleads with Gypsy to listen, but Gypsy is still angry that her mom has lied to her about her age for so long. Dee Dee tries to justify by saying that she’ll always see Gypsy as her little girl. She apologizes and says she’d do anything for Gypsy.

Gypsy says she knows, but Gypsy still refuses to go with Dee Dee. Gypsy says she wants to stay with Scott. Dee Dee says she won’t make her stop seeing Scott. She says there’s a right way to do this and sneaking off in the middle of the night isn’t the right way. She tells Gypsy to slow down and enjoy it.

Finally, Gypsy succumbs and leaves, telling Scott that she’ll talk to him soon. As soon as Gypsy gets past her mother, Dee Dee turns around and tells Scott that she’s not sure what Gypsy has told him, but Gypsy is 14 years old.

In the van, Dee Dee pulls Gypsy’s wig off of her head.

Back home, Dee Dee makes Gypsy climb into the back and get in her chair before she leaves the van. Gypsy looks completely defeated as she wheels out of the van. Gypsy is then left to labor her way up the ramps to their house as her mother walks behind and watches without helping.

Finally, when Gypsy is exhausted and can’t go up any more, Dee Dee helps to push her the rest of the way. It’s a brutal power play to end this episode of The Act.

Did Gypsy make the right call leaving Scott’s house? Do you even trust Scott? Let us know your thoughts on The Act in the comments.

Jerald Raymond Pierce

Jerald Raymond Pierce is a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in American Theatre magazine, the Seattle Times, the Charleston Post and Courier and the Syracuse Post-Standard. He has his BFA in Acting from Ohio University and MA in Arts Journalism from Syracuse University.