The Sex Lives of College Girls – Season 3 Episode 9 “Pics” Recap & Review

Pics

In The Sex Lives of College Girls Season 3 Episode 9, Whitney has decided she’s ready to take care of her mental health. She orders a weighted blanket, and apparently, she broke up with Isaiah and decided to start going to therapy (which both happened off-screen?).

Her therapist encourages her to take more personal days for herself. But when she tells her soccer coach she needs a day off, he refuses to give it to her, causing her to quit soccer.

She has a panic attack afterward, just as she runs into Canaan. Knowing her weighted blanket would help, she tells him to lay on top of her while she splays out on the grass. Canaan is confused but complies anyway.

Kacey has Cooper over in her plan to lose her virginity to him. She decks out her room just as she imagined for her first time–in pink, with Disney music playing in the background. The spectacle of it ends up freaking Cooper out, and they don’t have sex after all.

Kacey wants to avoid him, but they have to see each other for rehearsal. There, they learn that the lead has dropped out, so Kacey volunteers to fill the part. Cooper immediately backs her up, and the professor begrudgingly agrees to let her try.

Later, they talk about that night, and Cooper admits he maybe wasn’t ready to be her first. This is a relief to Kacey, who thought she needed to be ready for his sake. They decide they’re ready now though, and it seems they both truly mean it this time.

Meanwhile, Brian asks Kimberly to send him a nude, and Kimberly happily complies. But when Bela points she accidentally sent a live photo showing her face, she panics. She spent so much energy trying to keep her record clean, and she doesn’t want a nude getting out and destroying her hard work.

She goes to Brian to ask him to delete the pic, but he immediately gets defensive, accusing her of not trusting him. Still, she has him delete the photo off his phone in front of her.

Later, Lila points out that Brian could still have copies of the picture elsewhere, so she accompanies Kimberly to ask him to delete any more copies he has. 

It seems it was a good idea, as it’s pretty obvious that Brian has shown the picture to his roommate. But Brian is still up in arms about the request and refuses to comply–until Kimberly and Lila team up and threaten to call his mom. By the end of it, Kimberly is assured that the picture has been deleted, and she’s done with Brian.

Bela discovers she won’t be Taylor’s FAF anymore, as she’s moving out to live with Ash, whom she’s now dating. Bela thinks this is moving really fast at a time when Taylor is in recovery and should be making more careful decisions. But Taylor doesn’t want to hear it.

Later, Arvind apologizes to Bela for his reaction to hearing her body count but makes the assumption that she hasn’t been tested and could have STIs. When Bela recounts what happened to her friends, she makes them laugh in the telling, and they encourage her to get back into comedy at a show that students put on at Sips.

When Bela tells Arvind she wants to make jokes about her past sex life on stage, he bristles, saying he doesn’t want her to bring up those private details in front of people. Bela realizes she doesn’t need to be dating someone who doesn’t support her aspirations, and they break up.

When Bela shows her set to Hailey, the student host of the Sips show, she’s super encouraging. During their interaction, Bela ignores a call from Taylor, who has just learned that her mom is getting married tomorrow.

The episode ends with Taylor buying a bottle of vodka, about to relapse.


The Episode Review

I enjoyed the examples of both toxicity and of healthy communication in the girls’ respective relationships. Cooper is a sweetheart and a gem, apparently. And thank God Kimberly learned who Brian really is before they went any further.

Now, Bela and Arvind breaking up like that was so unexpected, but I love the confidence and self-love apparent in her decision to do so. I’m also so glad she’s going back to comedy. She’s grown a lot in becoming a more selfless person, but she shouldn’t have to give up who she is entirely. If Arvind can’t accept that, she shouldn’t be with him.

But what is with Whitney’s breaking up with Isaiah just… having happened off-screen? And her sudden desire to go to therapy? It seems we rushed over quite a lot of character development.

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Expect a full season review when all episodes conclude

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