The episode begins in a small room where Sam, Charlie, Percy, and a lawyer are all present. Percy let Chantal come along for backup, although it wasn’t really necessary. The lawyer reads aloud Sue’s will, and Percy got The Tavern. Sam and Charlie are furious and march right out of the room. Percy is confused.
Flashback. It’s summer 2014, and Sam takes Percy on a run. When she fails miserably, she tells Sam that she wants to feel accomplished, and that this is the summer where she wants to prove to herself that she can do something. She seems quite jealous of Sam’s success as he’s starting a prestigious fellowship. Percy looks out at the dock and she feels in touch with the water. She decides that by the end of the summer, she is going to swim across the entire lake. Sam is on board and starts training her.
The big day comes. Percy’s parents and Sue are with Sam and Charlie before Percy dives into the water. Sam follows her in a canoe as she makes her big swim across the lake. Percy manages to cross the end of the lake! Everyone is so proud of her. She was able to prove to herself that she could do it. Percy’s feelings for Sam grew in that moment and she realized that Sam was the one who truly pushed her.
Matt Cornett, Sadie Soverall
While doing homework in Sam’s bed, Percy leans over and kisses him. The feeling is mutual. They are both happy with their relationship, and they continue to date over that summer. Towards the end of the summer, Sam sits Percy down and lets her know that it’s best if they pump the brakes on their relationship. They’re going to be on different paths. This crushes Percy. She gets her things and leaves with her parents soon after.
Back in the present, Percy can’t get her head around the fact that Sue left her The Tavern. While getting drinks with Chantal, the two run into Delilah, who is being unusually nice. Percy knows that something is up. Delilah comes clean and explains to Percy how she wants The Tavern, offering to buy it from her. Percy isn’t interested, afraid Delilah will modernize The Tavern, and Percy has too many memories in it. Delilah then informs Percy that her old house is being upgraded with a modern look. This upsets her and she makes Chantal and Delilah help her break into the abandoned house.
While in her old house, Percy goes through boxes and finds pieces of her writing that she hadn’t gone through in years. The three women sit in a circle in the abandoned house, and dump all of their thoughts to each other. Delilah revealed that she and her husband are in the process of splitting up. Chantal reveals that she feels more like Drew’s mother rather than her fiancee. Percy reveals that if Delilah didn’t walk in on them, a kiss would have happened between her and Sam. The cops then show up and the three women scramble. Delilah and Chantal get out in time, but Percy, trying to collect her writing samples, is caught by the cops.
Later, Percy steps out of the police station and learns that Sam bailed her out. She doesn’t want to speak to him and they just go their separate ways. Sam tells Charlie that Percy being there is bad for him. He and Charlie agree that they’re going to do everything they can to try to get The Tavern back. Percy calls her dad and explains her situation. She learns that her parents and Sue were very close, and that Sue believed in her talented writing. Her dad opens up her eyes and lets her know that there may be more to Barry’s Bay than just Charlie and Sam. This causes her to think about it more.
Sadie Soverall, Aurora Perrineau, Abigail Cowen
This episode really got the ball rolling. We finally get to see Sam and Percy kiss for the first time, which took 4 episodes . We also see how their relationship started and how their feelings developed in the early stages. Delilah was seen as an antagonist in the earlier episodes, but we learn that she and Percy were good friends after their early teen years. It’s nice to see her become a good character and not so much a bully. It will be interesting to see how Sam and Charlie will handle losing The Tavern to Percy and why it was given to her in the first place.
7/10