Dead to Me season 1 episode 5 recap: I’ve Gotta Get Away

After dealing head on with the awful men in their lives, Jen and Judy have earned some time away. Dead to Me is off to Palm Springs!

This episode of Dead to Me opens with Jen and Judy poolside in Palm Springs on vacation. Well, it’s not really a vacation, it’s a retreat as part of their grief group. But, since Jen left her kids with their grandmother, she’s treating this retreat as a much needed vacation.

So, while Judy wants to participate in the workshops and sessions planned for the group (and the sister groups from other cities), Jen isn’t interested. She doesn’t want to wallow and is ready to move on.

It’s hard to blame her after that onslaught of discoveries about her late husband in the last episode.

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Anyway, Jen spots a really attractive guy at the pool and decides she’d rather spend her time hitting on him. As Jen and Judy leave the pool, the guy, Jason (Steve Howey), asks if she’s going to a seminar. She lies and said she had planned to go to the same one as him. He offers to save her a seat.

During the seminar, Jen flirts with Jason. After, she asks him to get a drink, but he declines, instead going to another session. But, he says he’ll see her at karaoke that night.

Meanwhile, Judy goes to a seminar for those who have had miscarriages or struggled to have children. As part of the group, they hold hands and chant “I am not broken,” which really seems to hit home emotionally for her.

Later, Jen and Judy head to karaoke (or, Carry On-Oke—people dedicate songs to those they lost).

They spot Jason and Jen works up the nerve to go over and talk to him. It’s worth noting that Jen has been pounding drinks since the beginning of the episode. So she’s in a constant state of somewhere between tipsy and outright drunk. Which means, when she gets over to Jason, she’s very open about the fact that she hasn’t flirted with anyone since Ted died.

Jason is very understanding (he lost his wife) and Jen awkwardly asks him to dance. They dance for approximately two seconds before heading back to Jason’s room.

The two start to make out on Jason’s bed, but he keeps talking about what happened to his wife. Obviously this kills the mood. He’s clearly not emotionally ready for a hookup, so Jen leaves. But, when Jen gets back to her room, she can’t get in.

While she had been trying to get with Jason, Judy had met a man of her own.

Judy met Nick after being swept away by his karaoke song. They talked and flirted and wound up back in Judy’s room. Jen gets it and lets Judy have the room. After Jen leaves, Nick tells Judy that he wants to take things slow, so they don’t have sex.

Later, as they lie in bed together, Nick tells Judy about losing his best friend, Lucas. Nick says that Lucas died on duty, so Judy asks him what he does for a living.

Meanwhile, Jen had gone outside to smoke and was joined by Pastor Wayne, who runs her grief group. As she smokes and he drinks, Jen confesses to him that Ted cheated on her. She starts to cry and admits that learning about it makes her hate him. She hates that she hates him and is tired of feeling all pain associated with his death at this point.

Wayne speculates that maybe Jen is mad because Ted’s death actually resulted in her having part of her future ripped away. She’ll never know what was going to happen between her and Ted, which makes this cheating info even tougher to handle.

Dead to Me then cuts to Jen going to get more cigarettes. She’s walking down the side of the road and she drops the carton in the street. When she bends down to get them, she’s almost hit by a car.

She stumbles out of the way just in time and collapses on the roadside crying.

It’s morning by the time Jen makes it back to the room. Jen tells Judy that she needs to get her life together for her kids. Jen says that the reason she feels sad and angry is because someone ripped her life apart.

Judy, of course knowing it’s her fault, says she hates that person.

This episode of Dead to Me ends with Nick coming out of the bathroom and Judy introducing him to Jen. Judy then says that Nick is a detective. Jen asks if he’s solved a hit and run before. And he says yes.

What is Judy’s plan here? Do you think Nick is going to solve the case (and figure out it was Judy the whole time)? Let us know your thoughts on Dead to Me in the comments!