Bam Smack Pow
Fansided

Katy Keene season 1, episode 5 review: Song for a Winter’s Night

By Catherine Palmer

Katy Keene -- "Chapter Five: Song for a Winter's Night" -- Image Number: KK105a_0259bc.jpg -- Pictured (L-R): Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy, Julia Chan as Pepper Smith, Jonny Beauchamp as Jorge Lopez and Lucy Hale as Katy Keene -- Photo: David Giesbrecht/The CW -- © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Katy Keene -- "Chapter Five: Song for a Winter's Night" -- Image Number: KK105a_0259bc.jpg -- Pictured (L-R): Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy, Julia Chan as Pepper Smith, Jonny Beauchamp as Jorge Lopez and Lucy Hale as Katy Keene -- Photo: David Giesbrecht/The CW -- © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved. /
facebooktwitterreddit

In Katy Keene’s best episode to date, the gang gets stuck in the apartment during a polar vortex, causing tempers to flare and secrets to be exposed.

As Katy works on her application for the Parsons School of Design, she decides to ask Gloria for a letter of recommendation. Gloria agrees to consider writing one if Katy makes her a an outfit… in less than 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Jorge debates whether to tell his mom about Ginger after he accidentally runs into Luisa in the hall while dressed as Ginger. Plus, when Alex and Xandra’s past relationship is exposed in a tabloid, Josie assumes Pepper is the leak, leading to an awkward stand-off between the two.

Here’s a look at the surprisingly poignant and nuanced “Song for a Winter’s Night.”

Katy Keene — “Chapter Five: Song for a Winter’s Night” — Image Number: KK105a_0259bc.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy, Julia Chan as Pepper Smith, Jonny Beauchamp as Jorge Lopez and Lucy Hale as Katy Keene — Photo: David Giesbrecht/The CW — © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Katy Keene — “Chapter Five: Song for a Winter’s Night” — Image Number: KK105a_0259bc.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy, Julia Chan as Pepper Smith, Jonny Beauchamp as Jorge Lopez and Lucy Hale as Katy Keene — Photo: David Giesbrecht/The CW — © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved. /

The Sewing Machine

With Katy stressing about what to make for Gloria, the last thing she needs is Jorge getting on her case about finishing a dress for his upcoming performance at Molly’s Crisis. Katy puts her foot down and says she will work on afterwards, but Jorge refuses to give up.

Taking matter into his own hands, he uses Katy’s sewing machine (breaking her “one rule”); and naturally, he ends up also breaking the sewing machine, which originally belonged to Katy’s late mother. Jorge feels bad and apologizes but also tries to downplay it, infuriating Katy, who rightly calls him out for being selfish.

Once they’ve had time to cool off, Katy and Jorge have a heart-to-heart with Katy encouraging him to open up to Luisa about Ginger, and Jorge encourages Katy to go through a box of her mom’s possessions that she hasn’t been able to bring herself to open.

Inside, Katy discovers fabric her mom had wanted to make something with before she got sick. Katy uses it for Gloria’s dress (sewn entirely by hand with her friends’ help) and succeeds in getting the rec letter.

More from TV

Meanwhile, Jorge officially introduces Luisa to Ginger. Luisa says she reminds her of when she was young, and Jorge says Luisa was his inspiration. Luisa also admits she did recognize Ginger in the hallway and, while she’s accepting, she tells Jorge to keep his father in the dark since it would be “too much” for him.

Jorge also runs a special errand with his mom up to get his abuelita’s sewing machine for Katy. Speaking of sewing machines, it turns out Katy’s mom’s doesn’t just have sentimental value. It also holds secrets. When Katy asks François to inspect, he says nothing can be done to fix it but reveals it looks exactly like the machines that Lacy’s used to give to staff seamstresses. Plus, Katy later finds an engraving on the bottom revealing the machine was gifted to her mom by someone named “L.L.”

Josie vs. Pepper

After both Josie and Pepper calling each out for lying — Josie finds out Pepper is in major debt and homeless after calling the hotel, and Jorge shows off Josie’s $20,000 check for her EP to everyone after finding it in the hall closet — their drawn-out feud finally begins to resolve when Pepper discovers who leaked the Cabot news.

As I suspected, it was Xandra in her latest attempt to stir up some trouble. With that news out in the open, Pepper and Josie clear the air. Pepper says that her dad in Hong Kong doesn’t approve of her life in New York and froze her bank accounts. Josie tells Pepper about her EP and what she has to do in exchange. When Josie admits that she does have feelings for Alex, Pepper suggests that dating him might not be such a bad arrangement.

Josie takes her advice and tells Alex about the EP (minus the secret deal) and kisses him. This feels like a big risk, especially since Alex is obviously going to find out about the secret deal, but okay.  Josie will at least have finally had her big break, hopefully.

dark. Next. 25 most heartbreaking Arrowverse deaths of all-time

Katy Keene returns to The CW next Thursday, March 12, at 8:00 p.m. ET. Did you enjoy this week’s episode? Let us know in the comments below!

Home/TV