Episode six of Paramount+’s Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies finds Jane (Marisa Davila) not quite sure what to do after kissing Buddy. Buddy (Jason Schmidt), on the other hand, can’t stop thinking about that kiss.
Jane suggests they keep their relationship a secret for now and admits she’s confused. They have a lot to sort out, including her recent breakup with Richie. Buddy’s super supportive and agrees, even offering to help show her the ropes as class president.
Meanwhile, Cynthia (Ari Notartomaso) and Lydia (Niamh Wilson) are enjoying rehearsing Romeo and Juliet, in particular the kissing scene! Rehearsal is really just a ruse to kiss. Finally, they don’t even bother with the lines and just kiss. (We stan Cynthia and Lydia!)
Uh oh… Cynthia just realized there are only two more days of rehearsal. Lydia, a stage veteran, explains rehearsals end, the play’s performed, and then it’s all over. Everyone moves on. It’s obvious Cynthia doesn’t want what’s going on between them to just be an acting thing.
Buddy’s also rehearsing his lines from his bedroom window, with Hazel (Shanel Bailey) checking out the night sky while helping him out. Buddy stumbles but Hazel has every line memorized. Buddy knows Hazel should be in the play – not just working props.
Hazel’s mom also believes it’s her daughter’s time to shine. Hazel claims she’s fine the way she is, dressed in dreary plaids and not hogging the spotlight.
The school day kicks off with Olivia (Cheyenne Isabel Wells) buzzing about a secret she knows about one of them. She can’t contain herself and busts out with the news that Jane won the election. Jane acts surprised as Olivia proudly declares they did it!
The attention turns to Cynthia and the play, and when Olivia asks if she’s ready for her debut, Cynthia is too distracted to reply. She marches off after glancing at Lydia.
Richie (Johnathan Nieves) and the T-Birds roll up in the parking lot, and Olivia reveals Richie’s been down since he and Jane broke up. But she refuses to get involved in their business. (And that’s all we’ll see of the T-Birds in this episode.)
Jane and the Pink Ladies are in gym class when Assistant Principal McGee (Jackie Hoffman) announces the election results. She congratulates Buddy for winning, and Olivia’s absolutely stunned. So is Buddy. Olivia confirms to the girls that she was there when the votes were tallied, and Jane was the winner.
Cynthia says goodbye to the Pink Ladies, assuming they only became friends to get Jane elected. Now that they failed, that’s it – they’ll go their separate ways. Olivia and Jane insist that’s not true; the Pink Ladies will live on.
Cynthia believes she’s proven her point when Jane rushes off to talk to Buddy.
Olivia and Jane meet up after Jane’s talk with Buddy, and Jane confesses Buddy asked her to help him out. She agreed since she also asked him the same thing. Jane thinks being in Buddy’s ear is now the only way to accomplish anything they set out to do.
Olivia isn’t about to give up so easily. She tells Mr. Daniels (Chris McNally) she was present when the PTA counted the votes, and she knows Jane won. Olivia asks for his help in getting to the bottom of what happened…strictly as a student coming to a teacher for help. She’ll try and gather proof for an article in the newspaper.
Elsewhere, Wally (Maxwell Whittington-Cooper) is flirting with Hazel backstage as the drama club preps for the play. However, Hazel’s not picking up on what he’s throwing down and just assumes he’s there to support Buddy.
Cynthia’s a disaster during rehearsals, and Mr. Vaughan orders Lydia to double their rehearsals. But Cynthia’s performance is just one of the major problems with the play. Mr. Vaughan (Marc Senior) discovers Nancy (Tricia Fukuhara) has only finished one costume which means they can’t have a dress rehearsal. The play’s just a day away, but only Romeo’s costume’s ready.
Buddy invites Jane over to his house to discuss the student council but then puts on mood music and lowers the lights. Before they can get down to business, Susan (Madison Thompson) barges in without knocking. Susan’s shocked to be left out since she guided Buddy’s winning campaign. Neither Susan nor Jane wants to work together, and Buddy’s forced to choose between them.
Buddy immediately chooses Jane and Susan exits, screaming. Literally. Screaming.
Mr. Vaughan orders the actors and Hazel to help Nancy out. Nancy’s insulted by the offer and doesn’t want any assistance, even after Hazel gently offers to pitch in. Nancy imitates Hazel being a wallflower and Hazel fights back, imitating Nancy and pushing everyone out of the way.
Nancy won’t give in and Hazel leaves, feelings hurt, followed by all the actors. It’s once again Nancy alone with 12 costumes to make.
Cynthia and Lydia rehearse, again, and Cynthia’s heart isn’t in it now that she knows it’ll all be over in just 24 hours. Lydia tries to explain those 90 minutes on stage are something special, but it’s obvious Cynthia wants more out of this relationship, yet Lydia’s unwilling to say how she feels. Lydia sticks to business even after Cynthia ends the rehearsal shortly after it begins and gives her an opening to express her feelings.
Another school day arrives, and Susan’s sitting alone, miserable, and watching Jane and Buddy walk and chat. She’s surprised when her mom shows up for a PTA meeting and snatches the sandwich out of her hand. Susan’s mom insists she’ll get Buddy back – and that she doesn’t need to eat. She shares her pills with Susan, promising they’ll put a pep in her step. (Can’t believe I actually feel sorry for Susan after watching this exchange.)
Olivia shows Mr. Daniels the vote tally. 213 students signed in to vote, but only 181 votes were counted. That’s a huge margin, and Mr. Daniels promises not to shut down Olivia’s investigation.
They’re busy looking for homeroom attendance records when Asst. Principal McGee arrives. They pretend they’re working on something else, and then Mr. Daniels whispers to Olivia to sneak the records into his office. They’ll go over them there that night while the play’s going on.
After Mr. Daniels leaves, Olivia asks Ms. McGee what happened with the vote. They both witnessed the vote tally and know that Jane won. McGee confirms she didn’t witness the recount but checked their work later and also came up with Buddy as the winner.
Olivia realizes Ms. McGee also believes there’s cheating involved. She also realizes Ms. McGee is not going to do anything about it.
The school day continues and unfortunately for the driver’s ed teacher, Susan and Jane are his next students. Jane drives them to the teacher’s dry cleaner and while he’s out of the car, they fight over Buddy.
Susan takes over driving and she’s just as bad as Jane.
And now, nearly 25 minutes into the episode, we’re finally treated to our first musical number. Susan sings about never being allowed to decide for herself who she wanted to be. “I want to be big. I want to be bold. But I’m doing as I’m told,” sings Susan.
Susan reveals she’s kept what she wants hidden deep inside. And by the end of the song, Susan’s emerged from her carefully constructed cocoon into a young woman demanding to be seen and heard.
Back in the real world, Susan refuses to slow down and smashes through a sign, wrecking the car. Fortunately, no one’s hurt.
Olivia shamed McGee into at least asking questions and she confronts Principal Nicholson (Danny Mac) about the election results. Nicholson admits Jane won, but he gave it to Buddy because Buddy needs it on his record to impress colleges. Nicholson’s a male chauvinist pig who believes Jane won’t make anything of herself, even if she attends college, but Buddy will be somebody.
Nicholson (who didn’t go to college) promises McGee (who graduated) he’ll name her as his replacement when he runs for superintendent if she keeps the real results of the vote a secret.
Nancy finishes Juliet’s costume and realizes Hazel was right. She needs help. She apologizes and asks Hazel for her assistance and Hazel agrees to pitch in. Hazel realizes Nancy’s made patterns for all the other costumes out of muslin and suggests they use those. Everyone will look the same – except Romeo and Juliet. Nancy agrees that conceptually that works.
“It more than works. It’s art that you made,” says Hazel.
“But the vision is bold – and that’s you,” replies Nancy.
Back at the crash scene, Susan retrieves the pills that spilled during the accident and then she and Jane take a seat on the grass. Susan believes Jane’s truly a good person which is why Buddy will always choose her. Jane reminds her that she lost the election and doesn’t have a voice, but Susan points out Jane underestimates the power of the Pink Ladies. Susan says the students are gaga over the gang and they listen to what Jane says.
They share a laugh over being stereotypically bad female drivers.
The teacher returns with news that the tow truck isn’t coming and they have to walk three miles back to school. He also delivers the news that they both flunked.
Susan leaves the bottle of pills behind on purpose and follows Jane and the teacher.
It’s 15 minutes before the curtain goes up, and Cynthia and Lydia have a quiet moment together. Cynthia admits she’s scared but then realizes Lydia’s also scared. They kiss and this time Cynthia’s certain it’s not acting. They laugh shyly as they pull apart, and then Cynthia rushes off.
It’s almost time for the play to start when Nancy and Hazel hurry to the dressing room to try and locate their Juliet. Cynthia’s written “sorry” on her mirror and is nowhere to be found.
Nancy tells Hazel to get into Juliet’s costume, insisting she should have been Juliet the whole time anyway. The show must go on and Hazel’s the perfect replacement for Cynthia.
Olivia’s about to step into Mr. Daniels’ office with the attendance records when Jane makes it back to school. Jane reveals Susan helped her realize the Pink Ladies have power and she doesn’t want to play second fiddle to Buddy.
Olivia shows her the vote counts which don’t match the attendance records. Olivia doesn’t have enough evidence to prove it, but Jane believes it doesn’t matter. She and the Pink Ladies can make a difference even without being president.
Jane confesses she kissed Buddy after breaking up with Richie. Olivia realizes relationships are complicated and confesses she was about to meet with Mr. Daniels – which is also complicated. But now she doesn’t want to be second place either and isn’t going to meet with him.
Nancy runs up and says they have to leave now. They need to check on Cynthia!
Hazel steps onto the stage and everyone’s shocked. Her parents look incredibly proud.
Hazel sings about shaking off shadows and finding her light. She’s leaving the safety of being invisible behind and is ready to be seen.
Buddy joins her onstage and they kiss. An audible gasp is heard in the crowd.
The Pink Ladies arrive at Cynthia’s door and Cynthia doesn’t want to talk about what happened. They all agree not to talk about it; they’re exhausted from talking about schemes, plans, and elections. Instead, they plop down on the couch to watch television and just chill.
Back at school, the play ends with a round of thunderous applause. The actors soak up the adulation and Buddy reminds Hazel that he told her she’d be great. He then walks off the stage before the clapping ends, looking a bit confused.
Hazel steps forward and receives a standing ovation.
Episode six ends with an homage to Grease. The Pink Ladies sing the Ipana toothpaste jingle and giggle. Jane adds a fart at the end and the girls can’t stop laughing.
- Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies Episode 1 Recap and Review
- Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies Episode 2 “Too Pure to Be Pink” Recap
- Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies Episode 3 “So This is Rydell?” Recap
- Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies Episode 4 “If You Can’t Be an Athlete, Be an Athletic Supporter” Recap
- Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies Episode 5 “You Can’t Just Walk Out of a Drive-In” Recap
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