Spoilers for Season 2, Episode 4 below.

If there were any doubts that All’s Fair has fully embraced its soap opera identity, the fourth episode of its second season puts them to rest. “Thanksgiving Part Two” has hostages, women throwing themselves in front of a gun, a bodyguard who takes forever to do his job, a daughter given up for adoption, and an inheritance that immediately attracts attention. All of this unfolds between insults, emotional speeches, and a succession of absurd conveniences that turn suspense into comedy. I’m still watching my soap, but there are moments when even the gunman seems to lose patience with the script.

The episode picks up the Thanksgiving dinner exactly where we left it, with Marcus Weller threatening Allura Grant. He blames the lawyer for the outcome of his divorce: he lost his wife, his children live in another country, and he has no visitation rights. In his mind, Allura destroyed his life, and now she must die. Nothing she says seems capable of changing his decision.

But the others keep entering the room without realizing what is happening, giving Marcus the opportunity to expand his group of hostages. He confiscates their phones and holds everyone at gunpoint as the women try to reason with him, intervene, and find a way out. It is a terrible situation that the staging manages to make progressively less threatening, because everything takes too long and unfolds with almost comical convenience.

A Bodyguard Who Needs Help

While Allura is under threat, Raul, the bodyguard played by Cauã Reymond, remains in the bathroom, suffering the consequences of Carr’s cooking. His stomach trouble might justify a brief absence, but the episode prolongs his stay as though it needs to give Marcus all the time necessary to commit the crime.

When Raul finally starts reacting, there is still room for him to pose with his gun. The intention seems to be to build toward a heroic entrance, but by this point, the delay has become part of the joke. If this man keeps his job after dinner, Allura will need to reconsider her hiring criteria. His job was to protect her, and she spends an eternity facing an attacker while he is busy elsewhere in the office.

Carr takes charge, using her specialty: identifying someone’s vulnerabilities and pushing every button until they reach their breaking point. She humiliates Marcus, provokes him, and persists, a reckless strategy that perfectly suits a woman incapable of giving up the last word.

Carr is shot when she steps in front of Allura to protect her. Even that does not stop her from provoking him. There is courage in her gesture, but also an almost suicidal inability to stop escalating the confrontation. The situation repeats itself when Dina tries to prevent Carr from taking another bullet and is shot as well. As she falls, she also hits her head on the table, adding a second injury to a wound that already looks extremely serious.

Marcus himself complains about the interruptions, asking everyone to stop throwing themselves in the way so he can kill Allura. It is difficult not to laugh, because the man is practically commenting on the structure of the scene. Everyone finds time to talk, provoke him, and cross his path, while the bodyguard continues taking his time to accomplish anything.

With help from Brody, Dina’s boyfriend, and Allura, who finally takes action, Raul manages to subdue the attacker. But the damage is done. Despite her own injury, Carr tries to help Dina, and both women are taken to the hospital. Brody accompanies his girlfriend, while Liberty stays with Carr.

The Daughter Dina Never Searched For

After the attack, Allura, Liberty, and Emerald try to understand what happened. Liberty is impressed by Carr’s courage and Dina’s actions. Knowing her rival, Allura already anticipates having to spend the rest of her life paying for being saved.

Emerald, however, is thinking about something else: Dina crying before Marcus entered. This brings us back to the phone call and mysterious conversation from the previous episode, whose meaning we finally begin to understand.

Although she promised to keep it secret, Emerald reveals something Dina confided in her. As a young woman, she had to work as a waitress to help her mother, had an affair with a customer, and became pregnant. Her baby girl was given up for adoption, but Dina never searched for her daughter.

Since the incident on the plane, coming so close to death had changed her resolve. She wanted to find this woman and apologize for giving her up. The regret that had remained unaddressed for so many years became urgent when she faced the possibility of never having another opportunity.

I confess that, for a moment, I feared the series was preparing to reveal a family connection between Dina and Brody, turning their romance into a story of incest with her own grandson. But All’s Fair had another revelation waiting: Dina’s daughter is Carr.

After everything these two have done to each other, we discover they are mother and daughter. The news also changes the meaning of the second shooting, because Dina had already discovered their relationship when she stepped in front of the gun to protect Carr.

A Revelation Delivered Without Ceremony

At the hospital, Carr receives Allura, Liberty, and Emerald with her usual willingness to insult them. Being shot has not made her any kinder, and the conversation preserves their familiar barbs. As Allura predicted, Carr announces that she will collect on saving her life and takes the opportunity to suggest that it is about time she became a partner at the firm.

It is during this visit that the three decide to tell her Dina is her mother. They do not wait for Dina to be able to speak to her daughter or preserve her chance to lead the reunion she wanted so much. They deliver the news collectively while Carr is recovering from a gunshot wound. Among the episode’s many absurdities, this rush to get through the revelation is particularly difficult to swallow.

Carr initially laughs in disbelief. After the incredulity and denial, she wants to know whether Dina already knew. Once she understands that the discovery was recent, she also realizes why Dina stepped into the line of fire to prevent her from taking a second bullet.

The provocations give way to tears and concern. Carr wants to see her, but Dina has undergone surgery, is in a medically induced coma, and may not survive. Finding her mother comes with the possibility of losing her before they can talk.

Sarah Paulson Gets Every Emotion

Carr goes to Dina’s room and brings her daughter, who speaks emotionally to her grandmother and tells her how much she has always admired her. When mother and daughter are left alone, however, Carr encounters a difficulty she cannot resolve with an insult or a provocation.

She was advised to tell Dina she loved her. She cannot, and that resistance makes sense. Discovering a biological connection does not erase their history or create immediate intimacy. There is too much between them for a declaration to resolve everything.

Carr eventually finds more honest words. She asks Dina to stay, to live, because she wants the opportunity to know her as a mother and build that relationship. Dina then squeezes her hand.

Once again, All’s Fair seems to arrange every scene so it can culminate in a Sarah Paulson monologue. Carr moves through cruelty, courage, disbelief, and vulnerability, and the actress gives weight to each of those emotions. After an almost comical confrontation and a revelation delivered without ceremony, she still finds room to move us.

For a few minutes, it seems the episode will end with this reunion. But Carr still has some calculations to make.

The Inheritance Comes Before Reconciliation

The doctor explains that Dina is in very serious condition, needs another operation, and could die. The series places Carr, as her daughter, in charge of deciding what should happen if her mother goes into cardiac arrest. Her instruction is that Dina should not be resuscitated.

Allura, Emerald, and Liberty are appalled. Carr then explains that, now that she has discovered she is the sole heir, she has an interest in Dina’s 25 percent stake in the firm, along with the rest of her estate. She asserts her authority, repeats her instructions, and leaves the hospital looking pleased.

It is a twist as cruel as it is shameless. Moments earlier, Carr was asking her mother to survive so they could have a chance to know each other. Now she is calculating what she stands to gain from her death. The emotion of that conversation was there, but it did not stop her from immediately seeing an advantage in the tragedy.

Dina ends the episode in danger, while Raul’s disastrous performance remains without consequences. Carr, meanwhile, manages to turn the same dinner into an argument for a partnership, discover her origins, and claim an inheritance. Sarah Paulson gets every emotion in the episode and still walks away with the final provocation. For a woman who began the evening trying to push an armed man over the edge, things have worked out surprisingly well for her.