The Blackout

**The Blackout** is the sixth episode of *The Savages'* second season and the fourteenth episode overall. It premiered on July 25, 2016.

Tensions come to a head between The Savages and The Glamouflage, while Trae and Joe get stuck in an elevator during a school blackout. Sydney bonds with Gabe despite uncertainties. Zachary becomes reliant on party drugs to relieve his anxiety, and Sena's secret affair with Mr. Baldwin may be in jeopardy.

## Plot

This episode is a Joe Bender-centric episode; in the first scene, Joe's life at home appears to be as troublesome as he is. Living in a household with an alcoholic father and submissive mother, and an innocent younger sister, he mainly keeps her protected from consistent domestic violence occasions from their parents.

When he allows his sister Hannah to sleep in his room to drown the loud fights, Joe watches a news update on Felix Winchester's murder, which reveals footage of him arriving at Seattle Medical Center an hour before his death, around the time Trae was hospitalized after the riot. Joe recognizes Felix's whereabouts; in a flashback, Joe attempted to visit Trae at the hospital after visiting hours. This was also around the same time Felix visited Trae to make a truce (as seen in *The Roman Holiday*). Felix and Joe both share a heated exchange with each other, and Felix drunkenly makes hints about Joe's "obsession" with Trae.

Around the same time Joe watches the news, The Savages are still at the diner where they reconciled, watching the same coverage on the television. This further encourages The Savages to come forth with the scarlet letters they received; when they realize that Trae received one, Alex and Gina try to convince Sydney that Trae should know about their involvement in Felix's murder. Sydney remains against it, believing that telling him would be a risk to their reputations. Instead, they continue with the scarlet letter mystery, by pinning Joe as the prime suspect.

That following Monday at James A. Masters High School, The Savages gather together in confusion when they realize Rose De Vil has returned back to school permanently as the cheerleading coach, thanks to Lily. Rose, meanwhile, revels in her return when she reunites with her fellow staff members Mr. Baldwin, Mrs. Jones, Mr. Lee, and Mrs. Ortiz, who are completely stunned with her return and equally affected by Principal Gordon.

Zachary, meanwhile, finds himself harboring a dangerous, secretive addiction to drug MDMA, buying from Moneybag Kyler Chase, who warns him about the fatal effects of overusing MDMA. However, Zachary has been overusing the drug to mask his anxiety disorder, amid his secrets he's keeping from his family and Trae alone. When Trae starts to catch on to Zachary's suspicious behavior and body language, he tries to figure out what's bothering him, and Zachary starts to know that things are catching up to him.

The Savages later reunite again in the gymnasium to discuss their separate stories encrypted in the scarlet letters. During the meeting, Trae reveals he was outed by his family, Alex cheated on his ex-girlfriend Marisol with Sena, and Gina revealed she was in an abusive relationship. However, not everyone comes clean when Joe decides to rally up The Glamouflage to confront The Savages for the first time. Joe and Trae's reunion comes with tension when Joe makes it known of his supergroup, and further sparks confrontation. Although The Savages advise Trae to avoid Joe and his antics, he is, ironically, forced to do a group project with him, and Trae warns Joe then and there.

Meanwhile, Sydney finds herself in a dilemma when Gabe asks her out on a date. Well aware of her instincts and her past relationship troubles, she seemingly denies until Gabe continues to persuade her. She gives in, but doesn't want to consider it a date. Meanwhile, back at Trae's home, he and Zachary are in the bedroom together discussing Joe and his class project with him; Trae, however, notices that Zachary is acting differently, appearing energetic and jumpy. When Zachary goes to the bathroom, Trae discovers the drugs Zachary is using and realizes that he is high. Knowing this, he decides to drive him home and forces him to drink water.

The next day, Nate calls the shots with The Glamouflage and assigns them to antagonize each of their former cliques. Vik pranks his football team by urinating on Brian's football jersey, Cass approaches The Moneybags and slaps Kyler in the face. Iesha, who is taken aback by the commotion, is caught off-guard when Claudia pulls her hair, and Alyssa hits Sena as well. Nate and Rufus attempt to confront Alex, Carl, Gina, and Lily in the hallways and they prepare a showdown at the Burger Shack after school without advising both Trae or Joe.

Zachary, meanwhile, struggles with his unbridled drug addiction during class time, but he discovers that he is the next target of the scarlet letters. He swiftly reads the paper and it sends cryptic messages hinting at his racist and homophobic father, the policeman who shot Trae. It questions whether he will tell Trae about him, and whether he'll tell his father about Trae. Overwhelmed, he goes to the bathroom to vomit and he considers telling Trae the truth. However, Trae becomes occupied with back-and-forth arguing with Joe as they attempt to go to the library during their free period.

However, when Trae and Joe eventually get stuck on the elevator, it causes a power surge in the school building, leaving Trae and Joe trapped and the entire school in the dark. Because of the liabilities, Principal Gordon ultimately decides to dismiss the students from school, further igniting the feud between The Savages and The Glamouflage. However, most of the Glamouflage members have second thoughts about fighting them, particularly Alyssa and they feel unsure of Joe's absence and Nate's intentions. The Savages struggle with getting a hold of Trae and Sydney, who ends up going to the Burger Shack with Gabe for their get-together.

After school, Kalleb (who becomes Sena's partner for the music class project) seems to stop Sena from going to Mr. Baldwin's classroom. When he reveals his knowledge of their affair, he also reveals leverage: photos and videos of her and Baldwin together in compromising positions. Baffled by the content, Kalleb confronts Sena for having an affair with a teacher and proving her privilege by school taboo. Sena demands Kalleb to delete the video, but Kalleb warns her to leave Mr. Baldwin alone or else the video will go to the authorities.

30 minutes in the elevator, Trae and Joe continue to express panic and tense dialogue with one another as Trae demands Joe not to speak to him. Trae, meanwhile, gets a FaceTime call from Alex with poor signal. Alex is oblivious that Trae is stuck on the elevator until he tells him, and Alex tells him that The Glamouflage and The Savages are planning to fight at any moment because of Nate's antics. Trae tries to stop The Savages from doing anything before they'd get expelled or suspended, but before he could try to stop them from doing anything, the call drops.

Frustrated, Trae and Joe then bicker at each other and Trae blames Joe for the situation; however, Joe claimed he didn't have anything to do with it. The argument continues between them as they finally hash out their vendettas against each other. After Trae accuses Joe of sending the scarlet letters to The Savages, while also pointing out that he joined the Savages to sabotage his reputation and ruin the dynamic. The argument leads to Joe confronting Trae about having a "hero" complex despite being the center of all of the school's social problems. He also accuses Trae of outcasting him when he had no one to look up to and that Trae used to be just like him: a loner.

The argument then revolves around privilege and the Glamouflage, and it leads Joe to have a nervous breakdown on the elevator, putting both of their lives at risk. At first, Trae tries to stop him from breaking down the elevator, but when Joe suffers from a panic attack, Trae has a change of heart. Similar to how he helped Zachary, he helped Joe calm down with breathing exercises. A few minutes after, Trae and Joe seem to bond with each other. They decide to call a truce for the sake of their cliques, while Trae also apologizes for outcasting Joe once The Savages first formed.

Outside of the school, Principal Gordon and Toni Haynes continue to sort out the elevator and power outage issues, while a maintenance main arrives and informs them that they need entry to the basement in order to free Trae and Joe. New to the school's building itineraries, Gordon is forced to rely on Rose for the combination to the basement. Rose teases Gordon before giving her the information.

Meanwhile, at the Burger Shack, Sydney gives in and decides to consider her time with Gabe a "date" once the two start to get to know each other better. Sydney and Gabe both discuss their JAM Council issues, as well as her attempted relationship with Kyler. The two continue to develop a closer bond, both unaware of the commotion between The Savages and The Glamouflage starting outside.

As Trae and Joe wait to be released from the elevator, they kill time by figuring out a goal for their music project and when they find two albums of their choice, they realize how much they both have in common. Coinciding with the fight between The Glamouflage and The Savages, the two sing *Takeover* while the cliques sing *Five to One* while fighting each other. Once Sydney witnesses the commotion, she attempts to keep herself from getting in trouble once the police arrive and everyone scurries away.

Trae and Joe are released from the elevator with a newfound respect for one another, while Trae bumps into Zachary and they go home together. When Joe returns home, he overhears his parents fighting upstairs and his sister in the living room watching TV. He takes her downstairs to his basement to help her with her homework. Meanwhile, Trae confronts Zachary at home for involving himself with The Savages and The Glamouflage's fight, and also taking drugs. Zachary defends himself, claiming that he takes it for his anxiety. Giving Zachary an ultimatum, Trae warns him to stop taking drugs because he knows what it does to people. Zachary abruptly leaves Trae's home and panics, and he takes another pill.

In the ending flashback, Alex and Gina celebrate their new relationship with Sydney at the Burger Shack, but Gina reveals that she doesn't want to publicize her relationship because of her mother's overprotection of her dating other boys (a plot that leads up to the events in *The Family That Preys*). In the same setting, Gina gets a phone call from Zachary, who hyperventilates and asks for help. He says, "Something bad happened," and he is seen outside behind the bleachers with Felix's dead body.

## Songs

### Background Songs

* **Untouched** by *The Veronicas.* Plays in Sydney's bedroom on her Bluetooth speaker.
* **Bitch Better Have My Money**by *Rihanna.* Plays as Trae's ringtone while in the elevator.
* **Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops)** by *Blu Cantrell.* Plays during a montage of Nate and The Glamouflage harassing The Savages.

## Trivia

* This episode includes the first group number to have more than 8 solo performers; *We Run This* includes 15 solo performers.
* This is the first episode where Joe and Trae directly interact with each other since the first-season finale.
* This episode marks the second time Alex and Trae perform in a quartet group number with two other characters. In the first season, they performed *Troubeaux* with Gina and Zachary, while in this season, they perform *Takeover (Five To One)* with Joe and Nate.
	+ It is also a season parallel for the sixth episode for both seasons.
* This episode includes Joe's second solo of the season and third in the series.
* This episode includes Gabe's first vocal performance of the season and in the series.

## Guest Cast

Special Guest Stars
* Rosie Perez as Ms. Felicia Ortiz

Guest Stars
* Taron Egerton as Mike Daugherty
* Jean-Luc Bilodeau as Gabe Weston
* Luke Bilyk as Rufus King
* Dave Franco as Viktor Nichols
* Chad James Buchanan as Mr. Shane Baldwin
* Elise Neal as Mrs. Angela Jones
* Hayley Kiyoko as Claudia Wu
* Jacob Latimore as Luke Chambers
* Brittany O'Grady as Maya Hastings
* Sasha Pieterse as Sis Davenport
* Addison Riecke as Alyssa Tanner
* Ryan Kelley as Kyler Chase
* Travis Slotemaker as Brian Gustin
* Rita Volk as Cass Everett
* with Patrick Warburton as Coach Radnor
* Ben Savage as Mr. Howard Lee
* and Michael Michele as Stacey Ventura