Freeridge – Season 1 Episode 5 “Edward Claw Hands” Recap & Review

The House Party

Episode 5 of Freeridge starts with Gloria writing her to-do list in her bullet journal — find Mariluna and give her the box back (they even put up posters offering a reward to find her); keep Ines alive; take probiotics; sit on Rusty’s face.

Javier wakes up Gloria and tells her there’s no school as the teachers went on strike. He tells her to wake up Ines and the dutiful Gloria enters Ines’s room with a jug full of water only to find her awake. She’s watching old videos from Rusty’s show on her laptop. They talk about him and Ines says she’s over him now. When she returns the question, Gloria lies and says she and Rusty are just friends.

Javier calls the girls for a family meeting. Lucia arrives just as he tells the girls that the two of them are going on a weekend trip. As they’ve already noticed Lucia sneaking in and out of their house, they are okay with the weekend trip. Gloria and Ines are okay with it and enthusiastically motivate the couple to be as intimate as they’d like — it’s a double reverse psychology ploy. Now that the adults are out of the way, Ines and Gloria decide to throw a party in their house. Gloria decides she’s going to make it the best party of Ines’s life.

Meanwhile, Demi and Andre have been interviewing the teachers on strike. A message from Gloria alerts Demi about the party and she says she needs to go help. Andre says he has to pick an outfit for Cam. They discuss how Cam and Demi are still fighting.

While shopping for party essentials, Ines tells Gloria she definitely wants to bring someone to her room at the party. The top contenders are Eddie, Leo and Carter. At home, Tonio agrees to let them use his white claw when he hears that they’re throwing a party. He even tells Rusty to take the night off and come to the party.

As they do the house up, Gloria watches Rusty and Ines playing around. She confesses to Demi she has a thing for Rusty. Demi wonders if Ines should know that since she seems to have a crush on Rusty too but Gloria says Ines told her she doesn’t like him. Gloria even admits that she believes the box and its curse since the night she saw her mom. Demi admits that she and Cam have been into each other for a while now. But he’s still angry with her for not admitting she made a statement about not wanting to be with a guy who has been with another guy. Gloria says that Demi did indeed say that, Gloria was there too.

Andre and Cam arrive at the party, the latter having been convinced by the former. Demi tries to talk to Cam but he won’t listen. Andre says he has an idea.

Gloria worries that the party sucks. Rusty has an idea to liven up the place — a dance off! And she’s going to be his partner. Initially stunned, Gloria soon gets in the mood and she and Rusty take on other dancers.

Andre tapes a white claw can to each of Demi’s hands and pushes her inside a room with Cam, where his hands are in the same condition. Andre closes the door and tells them to sort things out before he comes to let them out. They argue about how to get the tape off.

Gloria and Rusty finish the dance off, having won against everybody. He asks if she wants to go somewhere else. Gloria sees Ines and suggests they go outside to the front of the house. She tells him to go ahead while she heads inside.

Demi gets tipsy on the white claw she managed to open. Gloria comes in and tells Demi and Cam about her dance with Rusty and how much chemistry they have while changing her underwear. They push her to go and be with him but she closes the door on the way out, trapping them inside.

On her way out, Gloria meets Ines who asks her to choose between two men she’s eyeing.

Gloria meets rusty outside where things are quieter and calmer. They talk about her mom being dead for ten years and how Rusty’s mom took his show money and left him alone with his grandma. When he apologises for the grim talk, she says she wanted to know more about him anyway. He asks if she thinks about him, to which she admits sometimes. He confesses he thinks about her too and they kiss. He asks if she wants to go somewhere private but she seems too shocked to answer and walks away wordlessly.

In Gloria’s room, Cam apologises for Demi getting her tongue cut while opening his white claw. She apologises for saying that thing when they were young. She truly doesn’t remember saying it but she remembers feeling that way. Cam forgives her, he only needed her to admit that it happened.

Gloria comes back into her room and rants to Demi and Cama bout what happened. They ask her why she isn’t with Rusty right now and push her to go back to him but once again she shuts the door behind her. Outside she spots Rusty and they smile at each other but when Gloria sees somebody throwing up in Javier’s room, she has to go clean it up.

Cam then admits that Andre is perfect but he doesn’t want perfect. He wants someone who hates fur except on old people and who bum-rushes strangers.

As Ines wonders which boy to choose, Andre gives her some friendly advice about not getting roofied.

After cleaning the mess in Javier’s room, Gloria finds a page with a  last will and testament written on it. Outside in the hall, she spots none other than the red-haired Mariluna herself. People crowd the woman since they’ve seen her on the posters and take pictures. In the chaos, she gets away before Gloria can reach her. She then sees Ines taking Rusty by the hand all the way to her room.

She had told Rusty there was a problem with her window to get him to follow her. Inside, Ines tries to make a move on Rusty but he makes it clear he likes Gloria. Ines gets angry and lashes out, saying that Gloria doesn’t like him. In fact, she thinks he’s pathetic and peaked at seven. Rusty walks out disappointed.

Demi tells Cam she wants him to say it. He says he’ll show her instead and they kiss. Andre happens to open the door at that exact time. He faints on seeing them kiss, then immediately gets up and accuses them of hurting him.

Javier and Lucia end up returning early and the party comes to a stop. While cleaning up, Gloria finds Ines crying in her room. She admits that she likes Rusty but he rejected her because of an old flame from his previous school, with whom he might be getting back together. Gloria, also hurt, tells her Rusty doesn’t deserve her anyway, while tearing up herself.

Outside the house, Gloria finds Mariluna’s scarf fallen on the ground. She says it’s time to reverse the curse.


The Episode Review

A lot of things are happening and the short, speedy episodes continue to remain compelling.

Rusty continues to be absolutely brilliant and as expected, he and Gloria share a lovely, kind of nerdy but super sweet dynamic. The entire scene with them ending up kissing was perfect. What’s not so perfect, is Ines. As much as I love the complexity of her character and her flaws, her antics this episode lean a bit too tropey for me.

I mean the heartbroken reject telling lies and sabotaging another’s relationship? Not so original. It normally wouldn’t be more than a caveat but with Freeridge otherwise being so unique and fresh, it feels like a particular flaw in the storytelling.

Demi and Cam are finally together and their primary conflict still didn’t strike as hard, but oh well, the rest of their scenes were too deliciously sparky to be mad about it. Unfortunately, Andre seems to be the collateral damage. Which is a shame because he actually seems fun and kind and his vibe with Demi was great too. I’m hoping the show keeps subverting expectations with his character since there is a lot of potential to do so.

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You can read our full season review for Freeridge season 1 here!

  • Episode Rating
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