Dylan apologizes for the date by blaming Nicole. Emilie kisses the guy two of her friends called dibs on. Jemma kisses someone who is not Dylan, which is progress.
Episode 5 is the one where everyone’s carefully maintained narrative starts to crack. Dylan spends the episode managing his image and accidentally revealing exactly who he is in the process. Suede spends it defending him to the people who know better. Nicole spends it getting thrown under the bus by the person she just defended. And Emilie — who has spent four episodes positioning herself as the calm, mature one who is simply too evolved for high school drama — kisses the guy two of her friends already called dibs on, in front of both of them, at a rooftop party.
Nobody is who they said they were. Some of them are starting to figure that out.
Suede & Nicole’s Smoothies
Suede arrives at Nicole’s apartment and the debrief begins over smoothies Nicole made. The verdict on the date is swift: Dylan blew it. He was doing small jabs from the moment she sat down — constantly circling back to why she would not text him back, like a 12-year-old boy who has never talked to a woman in his life. Nicole says that is the only Dylan she has ever known. Suede says she has never been on such a bad date in her life.
Nicole tells the cameras that Suede has never told her something hurt her before. She always laughs it off. The fact that Dylan got to her blew her mind.
Suede says the door isn’t closed, but he needs to apologize. Then Suede tells her what happened at pickleball — Emma said Nicole was untrustworthy and boring, and Suede shut it down immediately and defended her.
What was actually shown at pickleball was Emma and Suede bonding over not trusting Nicole. There was no defense. The gap between what Suede is telling Nicole and what the cameras showed is notable — and the show puts both versions on screen without comment, which is its way of asking the viewer to do the math.
Nicole tells the cameras that Emma was the bully of Calabasas High. Every single girl had a problem with her — the attitude, the sass, the way she talked to people. She was popular and she used it. Nicole has been careful about saying this out loud until now.
Emma & Emilie at PWR GRLS
Emma tells Emilie that Ben Favaedi and their friend Nolan are coming to the party the next night. She and Ben talked on the phone recently, there was banter, it was cute. She plans to flirt with him at the party.
Then Emilie drops the Hercy news: she got the ick. He was sending her videos of himself mogging the camera. She says he is nice, funny, smart, great goals, great family — on paper, he is perfect. She just can’t do it. She tells the cameras she is looking for a man who can build her a nightstand when she asks, not someone posting OOTDs. The show immediately cuts to a montage of Hercy’s OOTD posts.
The Driving Range
Dylan, Hercy, Preston, and Sterling are at a driving range. Dylan tells them about the date — specifically, that he was not expecting Suede to be so locked in at the beach, and then she went quiet for days before the date, and he went in confused and came off pushy. He feels bad. He says it was electric when they were on. He likes her a lot.
Then he tells the cameras something more honest than anything he has said to the group: “I think the date was a good example of what fear can do. I think I let fear win the battle of my ego. I wasn’t able to put the wall down. And I think that unfortunately it maybe pushed Suede away. I know what I’ve been able to do to somebody. And doing that again scares the shit out of me.”
It is the most self-aware Dylan has been all season. It is also the version of the story he tells the boys — and notably, not the version he tells Suede when he sees her next.
Jemma’s Family
Jemma sits down with her parents, Brett and Athene, and the scene is a quiet counterweight to everything happening in the group. Her dad tells her they are going back to South Africa in December and encourages her to come — her grandmother is getting older. He jokes about Jemma moving out and then admits that hearing her giggling at the TV from the other room makes him happy. He would miss it.
Jemma announces she got a promotion. She is now the marketing manager. Her dad asks what she does with her money. She says she puts $50 a month in savings. They joke about her South African accent — specifically her Os, which she worries people mistake for a speech impediment.
Then Jemma tells the cameras something that reframes her whole season. When her family moved from South Africa, they struggled. They lived in a two-bedroom apartment, a family of five. She slept on the floor on a mattress in her parents’ room for two years. Her dad drove a minivan delivering newspapers. She was six and had no idea. But she knows now that her family’s American dream was not handed to them — and that she can build her own.
It is the context the show has been withholding until now, and it lands. The girl who came back to Calabasas and is constantly being framed as reactive and emotional is also the girl who grew up sleeping on a mattress on the floor while her dad delivered newspapers in the dark.
Dylan & Suede Make Up — Sort Of
They go to lunch. Dylan apologizes for the date — says he came off uninterested and closed off when that was not how he felt. Suede says she walked in with open arms, let her guard down, and felt like he wanted nothing to do with her the minute she showed up. She was embarrassed. He explains the communication gap again. She says noted, it will not happen again. They find their footing.
Then Dylan tells her that Preston mentioned Nicole went around and told all the girls how the date went down. He just thought she should know. Suede: “Thank you. Weird. Thank you.”
This is the move. Dylan just handed Suede a target and wrapped it in concern. He knows exactly what he is doing — he even acknowledges at the driving range that he brought it up at the end of the date, after they had already resolved things. Instead of leaving the apology as the last thing said, he adds one more thing. Suede, who has spent the episode saying Dylan blew it and needs to apologize, is now asking whether Nicole has a group chat she is not in.
She FaceTimes Nicole on the spot.
Nicole answers, hears what is happening, and responds with one of the episode’s best lines: “Oh, babe, it wasn’t me. Dylan was the one who told everybody about this. But if you want, Dylan, I’ll take the fall.” Dylan insists he did not spread it. Nicole asks him directly: “You didn’t tell Preston nothing?” Dylan: “Nicole, I don’t give two fucks whether they know or not.” Nicole: “You’re so smart, Dylan.”
When pushed, Nicole admits that what she said was not new information — everyone already knew. The call ends. Dylan immediately turns to Suede: “Do you think Nicole did it?” Suede: “A hundred percent.” Dylan: “All right, well, you got the rat.”
He just spent four episodes watching Jemma get labeled paranoid for describing this exact behavior.
Sterling’s Shoot
Brief but important: Sterling is doing a photo test shoot when Alexie and then Preston join. Preston gets a text mid-shoot — Dylan has told Suede that Preston was the one who spread the date story. Preston is furious. He has spent his whole life dodging “he said, she said,” and he doesn’t want his name used like that in the group. He tells the cameras he is going to Miami for a week. He needs to be away from everyone for a minute.
Nicole & Jemma Tour a House
Nicole is touring a mansion — a house her social media income is making possible. She tells the cameras she can’t believe that something she thought was a joke when she started would be able to do all of this for her. She tells her friends to always post, even if they think it is cringe. She wouldn’t be here without it.
She fills Jemma in on the FaceTime ambush. Jemma listens, then cuts to it: Nicole needs to stand up to Suede. Jemma says she has no problem telling Suede to get off her high horse, but it will mean more coming from Nicole. Nicole says every time she sees Suede in person she goes soft. Jemma makes her point clean: Suede didn’t go soft for Nicole when Dylan riled her up. Nicole says she thought she said her piece at the beach. Jemma: “Maybe say it a little more loudly and with more cuss words.”
The Rooftop Party
Ben Favaedi and Nolan arrive. Ben is charming, easy in the group, and immediately the most talked-about man at the party. Emma has been looking forward to this. Alexie, who bonded with Ben earlier in the evening over both moving to New York, is into him. Emilie has said he is the hottest man she has seen in a hot minute.
Three women. One Ben. The night has a direction.
The Dylan Confrontation
Dylan and Suede arrive together, Dylan with a new haircut. The Nicole situation has to be addressed, and Nicole is the one who calls it. She pulls Dylan and Suede over with Jemma. Preston confirms, when asked directly, that he heard about the date from Dylan. Nicole makes her point: Dylan threw her under the bus, which seems to be in his nature. Dylan says he didn’t know Preston would spread it. Jemma tells him that sounds like talking out of his ass to save himself.
Dylan tries to wrap up with an apology. Jemma says something from the side, and he shushes her. She tells him not to shush her. He tells her she is hanging on to something from high school. She tells him she saw him last year. He says that was one time. She cuts him off: “Don’t f—king get into it with me. This is more than a five-minute apology. This is years’ worth of apology. Shut it. Save it.” He says he has to start somewhere. Kimora asks him to be more respectful to the girls going forward. He agrees.
Afterward, Dylan tells Suede she could have had his back a little more. She agrees and says she will work on it. Nicole watches from across the roof and tells the cameras his manipulation of Suede is so complete that Suede’s brain is clouded and she doesn’t know how to navigate something she has probably never been in before.
The Ben Situation
Meanwhile, Ben has walked Emilie to the edge of the rooftop. He tells her he was nervous to talk to her and that her smile is infectious. They kiss. In front of Alexie and Emma. Alexie clocks it immediately. Emma clocks it.
Alexie tells the cameras “Of course it’s Emilie. Of course it is. My high school friends always said, ‘Why are you friends with Emilie again?’ And I’m like, ‘Guys, it’s fine. This time she’s different, she’s matured.’ And every single one of them — I mean, they’re all her old best friends too. Old for a reason.”
Jemma & Nolan
On the other side of the roof, Jemma and Nolan are at the bar. They have always had sexual tension, she tells the cameras, but never did anything about it. This rooftop, she says, is a beautiful place to explore connections.
They kiss.
What Episode 5 Is Actually About
Episode 5 is about the gap between what people say about themselves and what they actually do.
Dylan tells the cameras at the driving range that the date was fear winning the battle of his ego — one of the most self-aware things he has said all season. Then he sits down with Suede, accepts her apology, and spends the back half of lunch redirecting her anger toward Nicole.
Emilie has positioned herself all season as the mature one who is above the drama. Then she kisses the guy two of her friends already flagged, in front of both of them, without a word.
Suede has spent four episodes being the most unbothered person in the room. She is now defending the man she called a prick to the friend who believed her when she said it.
Jemma kissed someone who is not Dylan. It’s a small thing. It’s also the first small thing that has been entirely hers all season.
Calabasas Confidential Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.
Read next:
- ‘Calabasas Confidential’ Episode 1 Recap: Everyone Gets Hungry at Midnight
- ‘Calabasas Confidential’ Episode 2: The Biggest Carnival In Alaska
- ‘Calabasas Confidential’ Episode 3: He Needs Five More Years to Cook
- ‘Calabasas Confidential’ Episode 4: I Believe In Action
For more “Calabasas Confidential,” check out our Calabasas Confidential Guide here.
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