Katy Keene Review: Chapter Seven: Kiss of the Spider Woman (Season 1 Episode 7)
It’s not a standing ovation, but it’s worthy of a hearty round of applause.
Katy Keene Season 1 Episode 7, “Chapter Seven: Kiss of the Spider Woman,” takes a Broadway deep cut, and uses it to shine a light on one of the show’s most underutilized characters: Jorge Lopez.
Musical episodes are almost never satisfying, and “Kiss of the Spider Woman” is definitely not a flawless landing. For starters, the musical itself is fairly unknown — so unknown, it begs the question as to why Katy Keene doesn’t just commit to their own original songs.
It’s not as if the audience is going to recognize what they’re singing, anyway.
Weaving in pre-existing musicals only works when it’s used as an aid to move the plot forward. When the songs aren’t being used to drive the major narrative they end up muddled, leaving viewers wondering why, exactly, they have to watch their favorite characters break into random song and dance.
Katy Keene both succeeds and fails in its attempts. In the case of Jorge, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” is the perfect broadway choice to catapult his arc forward, and provide an opportunity to delve deeper into his character.
Jorge’s attempt to play both Spider-Woman and Molina falls perfectly in line with the person we’ve come to know — someone who lives balancing two identities; fluid in nature, even if self-indulgent at the most inopportune times.
His desire to portray Spider-Woman triumphing over his instincts to play things safe is a seamless entryway into the longstanding conflict with his father.
While Katy Keene is careful never to get too deep, it still executes powerful moments of heartbreak as it plays with the dynamics of father and son. Johnny Beauchamp’s nuanced performance only helps matters as he desperately careens between a man living his truth and a boy needing his father’s approval.
And how about those performances. Wow.
“Kiss of the Spider Woman” adds layers to Jorge that have previously only been glimpsed at; ending itself with a cliffhanger that only promises to push further into his complexities. His run-in with bat-wielding homophobes will bring his inner conflict to a painstaking climax, and most likely through an inevitable face to face confrontation with his worried father.
Jorge can now join Josie on the list of characters whose stories are messy, complicated, and worthy of watching week after week.
Even seven episodes into the season, Keene’s title character is still struggling with this feat. Not only do Katy’s conflicts not gel into “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” they are barely conflicts, to begin with.
It might not be so jarring if all four of Katy Keene‘s leads dealt purely with frivolous musings.
Instead, one character has an addict boyfriend/manager and is scrambling to make ends meet in the morally grey music industry. Another is grappling with their identity in relation to both family and the world at large.
The show’s protagonist, however, is choosing between creating a career-changing wedding dress, and a clingy prince who just won’t leave her alone — gosh darn it!
It’s outrageous to think a prince would want to marry someone after knowing them for all of two seconds. But Katy Keene isn’t everyone, and it’s apparently impossible not to fall in love with her instantly.
Even her ex-boyfriend remains faithful, all while Katy deals with royalty begging to date her, and major designers dropping everything to assist her out of a pinch.
It’s all just way, way too much.
Katy’s tie to the musical being some strange dominatrix mirror version of herself doesn’t help matters. The figure appears in a purple cloud at random moments, planting various doubts in her mind before vanishing into thin air.
Nothing about this is explained further at any point in the episode.
That “sinister” side of Katy doesn’t matter anyway, though, since she never actually waivers on her morality. Her friends are portrayed as soulless snakes who whisper devilish thoughts of betrayal in her ear, but Katy Keene? She would never think of doing such bad things!
Which is why it’s not surprising when everything works out for Katy — again. She sleeps with an engaged prince, lies to her boss, rips up her client’s wedding dress, and still somehow manages to come out totally unscathed — and with a new internship to boot.
It’s all just very boring. There are no outside stakes that leave Katy feeling defeated, and no moral quandaries that leave her with genuine inner conflict. It’s not dissimilar to Pepper, who continuously lies her way to success, never once paying the price for any wrongdoings.
What city is this? Because it sure isn’t New York. At least not the same New York Josie and Jorge are living in. It’s not even the same universe.
Katy Keene needs to figure out what it wants to be, pick a direction, and commit to where it’s going. The cast is talented enough for the show to make bold moves, and there’s still an abundance of magic that comes with telling stories people can hold onto.
Here’s to hoping it gets there.
What did you think of this episode of Katy Keene? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Katy Keene airs Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Kat Pettibone
Kat Pettibone is an aspiring TV writer, artist, and poet. As a Pacey Witter Fan Club lifer who never missed a TGIF, she has dreams of becoming your generations small screen Nora Ephron. She's also an avid lover of coffee, dogs and all things spooky.