Inventing Anna episode 2 recap: Who are Talia, Chase, and Val?

On Inventing Anna episode 2, Vivian interviews a few of Anna’s former friends, including Talia and Val. Plus, we learn more about Anna’s tumultuous relationship with her boyfriend Chase. Read on to discover what happened in Inventing Anna episode 2, “The Devil Wore Anna.”

Inventing Anna episode 2 recap: Who is Val?

Vivian goes to talk to Val, a fashion stylist who was close to Anna, to find out what she was like when she was new in town. Val says Anna was the real deal, and her elegant and understated taste helped her feel like old money. She was cold and unapproachable, so Val desperately wanted to be friends with her.

Val, Val’s older friend Nora, Anna, and Anna’s boyfriend Chase — a tech guy who was working on something called Wake to cloud source dreams — all lived together in Nora’s house for a time before Anna and Chase went off to begin living in hotels. Anna admired that Chase was self-made and never made her pay for anything.

Inventing Anna episode 2: Who is Talia?

Vivian continues digging through Anna and her former circle’s Instagrams and sees that she hung out with Talia, the owner of a global empire brand. She goes to Talia’s enormous house, where she is entertaining some people and offers Vivian a kaftan to wear while they talk. She explains she was embarrassed by not being able to take care of herself and growing up with money so she eventually made her own to feel like she earned it.

Talia says she was drawn to Anna because she didn’t try to impress and had great taste in art. She became part of Talia’s circle for a while until Ibiza, when it all fell apart. Seeing a huge tech investor, Henrick, was on a yacht with Talia, Anna and Chase lie about also being in Ibiza so they can get invited to hang out and convince Henrick to invest in Wake.

Things don’t start out great, with Henrick thinking he hears Russian in Anna’s accent. Talia then thinks Chase is going too hard talking about business while they’re on vacation. Henrick says he doesn’t like the idea for Wake, but Anna cuts in, saying he’s ageist and dumb for not taking this opportunity. Her dad didn’t listen to her when she told him to invest in Facebook, and he lost out on millions of dollars. She says that, since he’s old, he probably thinks about death and that other people his age do, too. That information would be valuable to Big Pharma so they could sell anxiety meds, thus proving the value of Wake.

Surprisingly, Henrick is impressed by this speech and Anna in general, investing $100k on the spot. Unfortunately, this high doesn’t last long, as a few days later, Vivian discovers Anna and Chase have been staying on the boat days after everyone else left. This looks awful on Talia, as Anna was her guest, and they are running up the yacht owners’ tab immensely by employing the captain and crew for so long. Talia yells at Anna to get off the boat and never speak to her again.

Vivian is surprised to hear Anna would do this, but Talia is sure it was all Chase’s idea and she was so in love she went along with it. At this point, it’s late in the night, and Talia lets Vivian and her husband stay in her fancy guest cottage instead of going to the motel her company paid for.

Inventing Anna episode 2: What happened with Chase?

Val recalls that everything fell apart at Paris Fashion Week after Ibiza. Chase and Anna got into a huge fight, with Anna telling Chase she didn’t want to invest in Wake — she wanted to do her own thing. Chase broke up with her, and Val tried to comfort her, refusing to check her passport when Chase asks him to.

Things get strange when Anna’s credit cards all decline and the hotel holds their items until they pay. Val is especially panicked out, as he needs the pills in one of his bags. Val wants to call Nora or Chase, but Anna freaks out, humiliated. She breaks down, talking incoherently about how her father cut her off. Val muses he’s never seen someone so fierce become so fragile that quickly.

Eventually, Chase comes and pays. While getting his pills, Val does peek at Anna’s passport and discovers her last name is Sorokin — a Russian surname. Anna switches gears completely after this, now 100% committed to building Wake with Chase.

When Val and Chase get a moment alone, Val tells him about what he found regarding the passport. Concerned, he says that Anna is broken somehow and they need to help her. However, not even an hour later, it’s clear Chase has manipulated the situation, turning Anna against Val by saying he looked at her passport. Anna doesn’t listen to Val when he says Chase told him to and that he’s simply using her, going with Chase and breaking off their friendship. Even still, Val clearly still cares about Anna, asking Vivian what color jumpsuit she has on.

We then see a flashback of Chase yelling at Anna, questioning what she’s lying about in addition to her last name. Anna snaps, saying she doesn’t have time for this, as she’s building the pinnacle of the global art world in New York — a place she belongs. That will be who she is. Chase is mesmerized by her vision, and she says that if he wants her to realize it, he can’t question her background — and can’t let anyone else either. They agree to keep the passport and truth on the lowdown. Vivian wonders if Chase is the reason Anna is in trouble or Anna is the reason she can’t locate Chase anywhere.

Inventing Anna episode 2: Who is Rachel?

Neff wants to make a schedule with Rachel so one of them can visit Anna in jail every week, but Rachel refuses. Neff accuses her of being a user who’s turning her back on Anna because she won’t pay her way anymore, but Rachel says Neff let her time and herself be bought by Anna. Neff attempts to make the same schedule with Kacy, but Kacy is also staying away. She says the Anna they knew didn’t exist but promises she’ll always be there for Neff. Neff is discouraged but visits Anna anyway.

On the legal side of things, Todd refuses to work with Vivian. He also thinks Catherine is withholding evidence from him and demands to have everything she’s discovered by the end of the week. There ends up being an entire truckload worth of files.

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