Tiny Pretty Things Episode 5 recap: Who roofied Cassie the night of her fall?

In Tiny Pretty Things Episode 5, the school discovers that June roofied Cassie.

Tiny Pretty Things Episode 5, “Split Sole,” finally gives us the tiniest hint at what might have happened to Cassie that night on the roof. It’s not much, but it’s a step in the right direction for a series that desperately needed to be a few episodes shorter.

The episode opens with the teens goofing off in their dorms and a particularly spastic Caleb acting particularly out of character. Suddenly, he collapses to the ground and starts seizing. Not wanting to alert Madame DuBois, they tell the Resnik instead and Caleb is taken to the hospital. It’s discovered that Caleb was roofied. Selena tells Resnik this is the second time a student has been roofied. Cassie’s tox report — which was hidden from the police — also showed she had Rohypnol in her system.

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Nabil happens to be eavesdropping from around the corner and lets Caleb know what happened to him. It’s not so much because Nabil suddenly cares about Caleb, but whoever roofied Caleb is probably the same person who roofied Cassie. Except, Caleb says he wasn’t roofied. He had gone to take an Advil from June and what he thought was Advil was really Rohypnol. So now June is the new prime suspect for the person who sent Cassie plummeting over the edge.

Bette, Esmé and Paige bulldoze into June’s bedroom to find her secret stash. I guess her and June being best friends is meaningless now since Bette immediately turns on her when she finds out she has roofies hidden in her Advil bottle. The cops are informed of the discovery and Cruz immediately goes into overdrive to get a warrant for June’s arrest based on this new information. It would be nice if Cruz conducted her own investigation into things rather than relying on teenagers to do the work for her. She’d make fewer mistakes, but more on that soon.

Meanwhile, now officially cut off from her mother’s money, June needs to find a job and a way to make ends meet. She gets a tip from one of the other girls that Cassie’s old waitressing job is available, should she want it. June takes it and her first night there she meets a charming British guy (who is probably too old for her because this show is so weird with the inappropriate relationships). The two hit it off and June admits to him that she did roofie Cassie to throw her off her game during a major audition. She didn’t anticipate Cassie taking to the rooftop moments later.

But while scouring through the timeline from the night of Cassie’s fall, Caleb, Bette and Oren realize that the timing doesn’t add up. On the night Cassie fell, she drank wine coolers with June, Bette and Paige. There was a brief window between the time they were in their rooms drinking to the time when Cassie was on the roof. For a few minutes, June and Cassie were left alone. Bette thinks that is the moment June drugged her.

However, Caleb points out that it took him almost 30 minutes to feel the drug’s effect, so that wouldn’t be enough time for Cassie to be impacted. Therefore, even if June did intentionally roofie Cassie, that’s not what sent her over the edge.

Armed with this new information, Caleb rushes to Nabil in the hopes he’ll speak up on June’s behalf so she isn’t arrested. It’ll look better for her if a former suspect defends the newest one. Nabil, having just threatened June, isn’t keen on that but Caleb reminds him that non-white people will always be viewed with more suspicion by the cops. Ultimately, Nabil and Caleb stop Cruz before she can execute the warrant and get her to understand that someone else was ultimately responsible for Cassie’s tumble.

Tiny Pretty Things Episode 5: Bette tries to seduce Ramon into getting a better solo.

The new version of Ripper doesn’t allow for Bette to have the spotlight as she did in the previous version. Encouraged by her friends to ask Ramon for a longer solo, Bette prepares to take matters into her own hands — using Oren to do so. During a one-on-one practice with Ramon, he tells Bette to “beguile him” if she wants to get a longer solo. Bette asks Delia to set up a double date between her, Ramon, Bette and Oren.

There, she can try and charm Ramon into letting her have her time in the limelight. But instead of a quiet evening, Bette invites the whole class for a rowdy party at Ramon’s house. Once things die down, Delia leaves to take one of the girls home after she gets too drunk, leaving Bette, Oren and Ramon alone. Bette takes advantage of this one-on-one time to try and instigate a threesome between them, using the fact that she now knows about Oren’s fling with Shane to get him involved in an MMF hookup.

It’s an extremely uncomfortable scene, even worse because Ramon doesn’t seem opposed to any of it and kisses Bette back multiple times. This dude is a full-on predator. Oren is not willing to go through with it, though, and leaves. And Ramon doesn’t allow things to progress further than kissing with Bette, although that might only be because Delia could return at any moment. It’s a mess. This show is a mess.

Regardless, Bette winds up getting what she wants. Oren apologizes to her about the fling with Shane and promises that it’s all over now, and Ramon rewards Bette’s behavior with a more significant solo.

Tiny Pretty Things Episode 5: Neveah’s mother contacts her from prison ahead of her parole hearing.

In Tiny Pretty Things Episode 5, we finally find out what happened to Neveah’s mother. When Neveah and her brother Tyler were kids, their mom had an abusive boyfriend who would regularly hit her. One day, he struck Tyler, and McKayla Stroyer (Karen Robinson) took a baseball bat to him, killing him in the process. When the cops arrived, they took one look at Tyler and assumed he was the assailant, shooting him and leaving him confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. McKayla was sentenced to prison.

She reaches out to Neveah for the first time in a long time in Tiny Pretty Things Episode 5, claiming she wants to work on their relationship. Neveah doesn’t intend to meet with her, but Shane, who comes from a family of felons, encourages her to go and accompanies her to the prison. There, Neveah learns that the main reason her mom wanted to see her is because of her upcoming parole hearing. She’d hoped Neveah would make a statement on her behalf like her brother Tyler is doing on his visit. Neveah is upset, assuming that her mom only reached out to her to use her because of her recent publicity in the Archer Ballet article (“The Future of Ballet” piece).

However, ultimately, Neveah does decide to make a statement on her mother’s behalf. She gives a powerful speech about how that fateful day left four victims, including herself, who has had to live without a mother all of these years. While she can’t promise she would be a connection for her mom if she were to get out, it would lift a burden for her that she’s carried with her all of these years knowing her mother was in jail.

We don’t find out if parole is approved yet in this episode, but Neveah admits to Tyler that she’s glad she came. “Even if it doesn’t make a difference, it felt good to tell the truth today.” “I’m proud of you.”

What did you think of Tiny Pretty Things Episode 5?  Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!

All ten episodes of Tiny Pretty Things Season 1 are now available to stream on Netflix.