‘Grand Army’ recap: Episode 4, ‘Safety On’

Traumatized, Joey spirals. Sid opens up in his Harvard essay. And a health crisis puts more pressure on Dom in Grand Army Episode 4.

Grand Army Episode 4, “Safety On,” begins with Joey receiving a text from Anna about the previous night. “It just feels f—-d up cause we had that whole conversation. How’s Tim not gonna feel s—-y?”

At the party, Joey didn’t tell Anna what happened, but Anna did see the videos George and Luke took of her kissing them since they were posted to social media.

Joey hasn’t left her bed since getting home. Her mom assumes she’s just hungover. Joey wavers between saying something more honest to Tim or just glazing over the previous night’s events with a joke. She opts for a joke.

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Elsewhere in Brooklyn, Dom attends a church event with her mom and sister. Both women are upset with Dom for skipping out on babysitting when she was spending time with John. Dom’s sister says she felt mortified having to search for last-minute childcare frantically, but Dom points out that they’re not her kids.

The church event isn’t all bad, as Dom’s pastor tells Dom he has an incredible opportunity for her to get an internship with a group called Sisters Thrive.

The organization trains young women of color who plan to pursue a career in psychology. We know that’s Dom’s dream career path, so she’s obviously very interested.

Grand Army Episode 4 recap: Joey starts to spiral downward.

In the next act of the episode, we slowly traverse through each day of the week, focusing on Joey and her continued unraveling. On Monday, she struggles to get back to normal with her group of friends and gets the sense that everyone in the school is talking about her and whispering behind her back.

She’s not necessarily wrong, Leila and Rachel don’t hesitate to s–t-shame her, and Grace is now livid with Joey for her apparent involvement with George. No one knows the truth about that night. Even Joey is struggling to come to grips with what happened. By Tuesday, it becomes more apparent that everyone does know what happened, or at least some distorted version of it.

During a game of “Never Have I Ever,” Anna tries to call Joey out, saying, “Never have I ever had an orgy with my friends.” It’s a hit below the belt, but Joey pretends to go along with it. Things worsen for her during dance practice when Grace belittles her, and Dom accidentally lobs a basketball at the back of Joey’s head.

The basketball strike was clearly an accident, but considering the amount of stress Joey is under, it’s not that surprising that she thinks Dom was acting intentionally. Things get heated between the two teens until the basketball coach steps in to break it up. Joey runs to the bathroom, and Dom follows her, wanting to settle things.

By the time she finds Joey cowering in a bathroom stall, she’s stunned to find her standing above a toilet with her legs, covered in bruises, completely visible. Dom tries to help her, but Joey forces her out.

We finally get an update on Jay and his situation regarding his school punishment. Tension is heavy at home, where his dad and grandfather disagree on the school’s handling of matters. Jay’s dad thinks the consequences are fair, while his grandad thinks they need to hire a lawyer. It’s even worse for Owen, who Jay hasn’t seen or heard from since that fateful day in the principal’s office. His phone has been disconnected, and his spot on the school band has already been filled.

Joey’s downward spiral continues in English class the next day when the class begins discussing The Great Gatsby. Tim chimes in to interpret the novel, triggering Joey to go on an impassioned rant about racism, sexism, and mansplaining. All the while, she can’t stop tearing out her hair, and Tim notices a bald patch on her head. She starts crying in class and eventually excuses herself to the bathroom, where she meets with Luke to get some sleeping pills.

Grand Army Episode 4 recap: Sid meets his Grindr hookup.

For a main character, Sid gets surprisingly little screentime. His time in this episode is as brief as in previous episodes. Sid meets with his therapist about his updated essay, and she suggests therapy. Sid blows her off and decides to hook up with that guy from Grindr instead.

Later, Sid is forced to deal with the possible ramifications of the random hookup: an STD. He tries to research orally-transmitted STDs when he runs into Victor, who wonders why Sid never reached out about his essay. At that moment, George shows up (I’m so sick of this guy!) to make some stupid homophobic comments toward Victor. Sid gets distracted by his sister, who seems to be cozying up to another swim team member.

In the auditorium, Leila finally gets her chance to audition for Meera’s rendition of The Vagina Monologues. George and Joey happen to notice her performance, and George does his best to mess her up. Meera kicks him out, but Leila has already fumbled. George does try to apologize to her after, but Leila blows him off. It seems like her chances of getting a part in the play are officially zero, except the co-director, Omar (Zac Kara), tells her he’ll try to put in a good word for her.

Grand Army Episode 4 recap: Dom and John go on another date.

Poor Dom. She struggles to find a moment of privacy in her crowded apartment to do homework when she gets a call from John. Before they can really start a conversation, Dom’s niece interrupts her to tell her the toilet overflowed, and the dirty water got on her homework. Mortified that John heard the entire exchange, she hangs up to deal with the situation at hand.

Later, the entire school is forced to attend an assembly with the NYPD in light of the recent Grand Army Plaza bombing. The cops talk about how, often, the perpetrators of violent crimes are people you know personally. Joey pops another sleeping pill and reacts visibly to Luke, trying to inch closer and Tim asking her if she’s okay.

Also, during the assembly, John asks Dom for another date. Seconds before, she gets a text that her sister hurt her back, but Dom decides to blow her off to hang out with John and accepts his invitation. Jay takes the opportunity to start a petition to help get Owen back to school.

Ultimately, the assembly and the surrounding discussion is too much for Joey, so she runs out of the room, followed by Anna. Anna tries to comfort Joey and apologizes for the “Never Have I Ever” comment, but she still doesn’t know what really happened. Seeing Joey upset, Dom follows them to check on her and see if her legs are okay, but Anna basically tells her to get lost.

Jay finally decides to go to Owen’s house to see if he can figure out what’s going on, but Owen’s mom won’t let him in. They’re clearly struggling to handle the suspension.

Grand Army Episode 4 recap: Joey finally accepts what happened and tells her mom.

At least Dom and John’s date goes well. John’s mom is lovely and seems to genuinely like Dom. She says she should be proud of herself for being the first person in her family to go to college. After dinner, John and Dom share their first kiss! When Dom returns home, her night takes a swift downturn.

Because of her sister’s back injury, she’s lost her job. Considering how much their family is already struggling, the pressure will only get more intense for Dom and could disrupt her career plans.

In the final moments of the episode, Joey finally tells her mom what happened while sobbing in her lap. Her younger sister finds her torn panties, and it seems to trigger Joey and make her realize what really happened.

“They raped me, Mom.”

She names George and devolves further into tears as her mother struggles to comfort her.

Let us know your thoughts and opinions on Grand Army Episode 4 in the comments below.

All nine episodes of Grand Army Season 1 are now streaming on Netflix.