‘Grand Army’ recap: Episode 7, ‘Making Moves’

Sid tries to find the person who leaked his essay, while Dom gets vulnerable and real during her internship interview in Grand Army Episode 7.

Grand Army Episode 7, “Making Moves,” opens to a discussion between Meera and Sid in the dark. Meera is doing her best to comfort Sid in the wake of his essay being published online. She doesn’t think it’ll be a big deal at school unless he makes it one. Sid is most concerned with their parents finding out and thinking they failed.

Dom crawls into bed with her mom. She’s stayed up all night somehow and her mom warns her she can’t keep like this, it’ll cost her. After setting multiple alarms on her phone, Dom curls up next to her mom and tries to get a few minutes of sleep.

At Joey’s house, her sisters are trying to find the best ways to be there for her, which generally consists of multiple handmade cards. It’s sweet.

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Grand Army High School is undergoing its very first random bag check. Jay meets up with Sonia and tells her about his Owen dilemma. She tries to make him feel better, saying it’s not his fault. Sonia hands him a BSU sticker, they decided to go with Jay’s slogan that he pitched during his first meeting.

That bag check serves as an intersection for a few storylines. Orlov hits on Sonia the second she walks in and Meera is disgusted by it.

She gets a few text messages from Flo, she doesn’t know what to do because Sid is ignoring her. Sid gets distracted by Victor, who he immediately accuses of posting his essay. Victor says he would never out someone. Why would he? He’s bi himself, it doesn’t seem like something he would do.

Also at the security gate is Leila, who notices Rachel nearby. She uses it as a moment to apologize to Rachel for everything that’s been going on and reveals she’s been talking to Rachel’s rabbi, which doesn’t go very well. Rachel is a little weirded out by Leila talking to Sadie but hears Leila out.

At first, Leila is kind of on the right track with a genuine apology, but she quickly diverts and winds up blaming the rift between them on Rachel “not being there for her.” It doesn’t go over well. It doesn’t seem like Rachel and Leila are going to be friends again anytime soon.

Grand Army Episode 7 recap: Dom gets vulnerable during her internship interview

Elsewhere, Dom’s alarm doesn’t go off and she oversleeps, missing her interview. She accidentally set her alarms to PM. Thankfully, the secretary at the internship office is able to schedule her an hour later. It means potentially missing her math test. During the interview, Dom reveals her internal struggle and why she thinks it’s so important to bring mental health awareness to her community, and others like it.

In a poignant and moving monologue (delivered by the consistently excellent Odley Jean) reveals how she is struggling to balance her own mental health with the many challenges in her life and to make it even worse, she feels like she can’t be heard, she can’t be angry because then people will just see her as a stereotype. Dom points out that almost 95% of mental health workers in the city are Caucasian, and it matters. It matters who you talk to.

One of the kids at school approaches Sid and offers him a flyer for a Gay-Straight-Alliance meeting. Leila approaches him next and offers him her support because he was there for her when the bomb went off. Like Rachel, Sid doesn’t really appreciate her half-hearted apology. He’s also obviously not comfortable with being “out,” or having people talk to him about it yet.

While Dom’s interview seemed to go well, she’s not allowed to retake her math test, which will likely bring down her average. Dom’s friends convince her to attend the BSU fundraiser to have some fun.

Grand Army Episode 7 recap: Joey prepares to move to her dads

Elsewhere, Sid visits his counselor to discuss the essay. He asks her if she knows how the essay got out and basically accuses her of leaking it since she had the only copy. Does he not remember leaving his laptop wide open in the locker room? I feel like that would be the first thing I’d notice when I returned. His counselor tells Sid he needs to figure out how to move forward at this point and should try to be cautious of pushing people away who care.

During a rehearsal for The Vagina Monologues, Leila is more focused on finessing an apology text to Joey than she is on watching the performance — which isn’t smart considering she needs to know all of the blocking and ASL as the understudy. I’m starting to think Leila is a little sociopathic.

She cares more about people listening to her than she does about actually making legitimate apologies and trying to empathize with how she makes people feel. It makes me wonder if she’s capable of it.

We return to Joey, who is packing for her new private Catholic school, Sacred Heart, she’ll have to live with her dad while she attends. It’s expensive, but her parents are making it work, along with assistance from Joey’s grandparents. Joey feels bitter that she’s leaving because it feels like running away and it’s not fair that the guys can do whatever they want.

Joey’s mom assures her that there is nothing wrong with removing herself from the situation. It’s meant to be a short-term solution, she’ll be back, she says. But the possibility that this move is permanent hangs like a cloud over Joey and her sisters.

Grand Army Episode 7 recap: Jay gets inspired & Joey learns charges won’t be filed against George and Luke

Jay gets motivated by the owner of the record store and the BSU fundraiser/party. He tells Dom, John, Sonia and their friends that he wants to stage a sit-in at Owen’s suspension center to protest his unfair suspension.

Sid shows up at the fundraiser and meets up with Meera. He feels like everyone is watching him. He’s nervous and antsy when Orlov approaches him with a smug expression on his face. Sid starts to realize what must have happened and chases after Orlov. Sid shoves him and Bo delivers a killer right hook that ends with Sid having a serious bloody nose.

Thankfully, his nose isn’t broken, but he does need to keep icing it for a while. Sid’s dad shows up at the ER and wants to call the cops, thinking his son was the victim of a hate crime. The only way Sid can get his dad to calm down and not call the cops is to tell him the truth, so he does.

A fun family dinner with Joey, her sisters and her parents turns sour when her mom gets a call from the DA. They’ve decided not to move forward with the charges against Luke and George on the basis of not having enough evidence. Joey is distraught.

Grand Army Episode 7 recap: Dom finds out her mom and sister went behind her back

Dom gets a little tipsy at the fundraiser and walks home with John. While drunk, she starts to reveal some of her troubles at home, like trying to feed a family on $8 per person per meal or eviction laws. John is enamored with her, regardless of it all. He thinks she’s incredible and strong. It’s exactly what Dom needs to hear right now.

Despite telling her mom and sister she was uncomfortable with the proposition regarding the set-up and $10,000, her mom and sister go behind her back and invite the family anyway. It takes Dom by surprise when she walks in with John behind her and he awkwardly leaves.

Dom’s mother claims she invited Francine and her nephew for Dom to meet because she doesn’t want her to keep running herself ragged. The money could seriously help them. It sounds like it would be arranged marriage for money, which is all sorts of messed up.

It sucks that Dom is constantly made to suffer on this show. Yes, other characters go through their various challenges, but it seems like Dom takes hit after hit.

“You aren’t listening. So I’m going to make you listen,” reads the typed manifesto.

Let us know your thoughts and opinions on Grand Army Episode 7 in the comments below.

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