The Real World D.C.: The Morning After, Pt. 12
It's almost over -- only two episodes of The Real World D(upont) C(ircle) left! For all the history and complex character development, check out our archive of detailed re-caps; for this week's excitement, see our patented bullet points below.
- Andrew is no longer happy being just a guy a step away from a registered sex offender, so he starts making calls around town to see if he can put his cartooning skills to work.
- He calls the Post and manages to get a sit-down with Tom Toles, the paper's Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.
- Andrew and Toles meet at the WaPo building, and Andrew shows him some of his cartoons. (If you want a taste, the City Paper got a few samples.)
- Toles gives Andrew some props: "Visually, it's nice," he says.
- Andrew asks Toles how he can get involved, especially with the Post. "It's a long-shot at the Post," says Toles, clearly fearing for his own job security.
- Andrew leaves the Post with a "new sense of purpose."
- Back at the house, Erika is talking to Ian, her boyfriend, on the phone. He's coming to visit in a few days!
- Erika wants him to come right now, cause she's horny. Is there an emoticon for humping? ;-)
- Ian's gonna be bringing his friend Evan along, and Erika wants to hook Callie up with him. "Callie can use a little male lovin'," says Erika.
- Back to Andrew, he gets an interview as the Washington Times with Joe Scopin, an editor for multimedia, to be a cartoonist for the conservative daily.
- OK, it just needs to be said: Callie got a gig being a photographer with the Washington Blade, and it recently ceased to exist. Now Andrew is getting a shot with the Washington Times, which is now a mere shell of what it used to be. Coincidence?
- Andrew is assigned to work with Joe Curl, a Times White House correspondent.
- "What are you doing here?" asks Curl, clearly wondering aloud who he pissed off to merit this glorified babysitting job.
- Curl tells Andrew that they'll be heading to the White House to "catch Obama" the next day. Andrew is excited. No, not in the aroused, wants to hump a door-frame sort of way that we've come to expect, but merely excited.
- Andrew tells Mike about his new gig. Mike clearly has no idea that a Washington Times existed.
- "I can't fathom that Andrew is the first of all the roommates to go to the White House," says Mike. Accept it, Mike, and accept that Andrew paved the way for other notable White House guests like the Salahis and Carlos Allen.
- OMG Ian is coming today! :-)
- Ian and crew walk up the stairs to the house. Josh introduces himself and gives Ian a hug. A wicked hug. WICKED LIQUID 4EVR!
- Coincidentally, Callie just got out of the shower, is walking around in nothing more than a towel.
- Ian and Erika have a happy reunion, Evan walks in and is introduced to Callie, who is still standing around in a towel.
- Callie gives Evan a side-hug.
- "Evan seems like a nice guy...someone I could easily be friends with," she says, throwing water on any possibility of romance. Nicely done, Callie. Steer clear of dudes who wear knit hats and tight jeans in the middle of a D.C. summer.
- Andrew and Joe Curl head to the White House, and hang out in the press briefing room.
- Andrew stands at the podium, pretending to field questions from the press.
- As much as I'd like to mock that, pretty much anyone who's been in the press briefing room has done the same. I know I have. (Like how I threw in that I've been in the White House press briefing room? Impressed? No? Damn.)
- Marine One arrives, and Andrew and Curl head out to the South Lawn to watch it land.
- "It's like the coolest entrance," says Andrew of the landing. "How do you compete with that?" I'll tell you how -- lasers, smoke machines and screaming guitars. That's a freaking entrance right there.
- They sit through a press briefing with Robert Gibbs. Andrew is caught on camera yawning. "I feel like an impostor, really," says Andrew.
- Back at the house, Andrew tells Mike about the experience. "I'm very happy, but I want to punch you," says Mike.
- The roommates head out for a night at Public Bar. Erika and Ian get stuck waiting in line to get in the club, and then she gets stuck in line to pee. She's angry. >:-(
- "I hate D.C.," she says. "I hate my life right now," she adds as they get into a cab to go home. "I'm so tired of this," she concludes as part of her nightly pity parade.
- Back at home, Erika and Ashley fight. "I wanna go home...I wanna hang out with my friends," says Erika.
- For those of you not keeping track, this would the third time so far this season that Erika has talked about going home.
- Callie gets offended that Erika wants to leave again. Erika is annoyed because Callie had the self-respect to know that dudes with knit hats are not worth your time.
- Erika continues the "I wanna go home" tirade. She's a step away from clicking her heels together and repeating "There's no place like home" three times.
- "I don't want to go backwards. I want to go forward," she says. By going back home. Make sense of that. I got down to my office today by taking the up elevator. I'd like to go out soon, so I went yesterday.
- As this drama is unfolding, Ian and Evan are awkwardly sitting in the middle of it. They're totally eying the closest exits, but the MTV producers have blocked 'em off with flaming tires and rabid dogs. You're not getting out of this one that easily, boys.
- The next morning, Joe Scopin from the Times is on the phone telling Andrew he needs something by the following morning. Pressure's on!
- Andrew tells Andrea, his girlfriend, that he's nervous. "This is a big-time paper. It's the Washington Times. It's everywhere," he says.
- Shots of him sitting at a desk staring at blank pieces of paper.
- Erika talks to Ian about leaving. "We can flip a coin if you want," proposes Ian. She actually takes him up on it.
- They get a quarter, and she flips it without calling what side means what for her future at the house.
- It hits the ground. Ian asks what it means. Erika says that the coin says she should go.
- Ian, we'll be the first ones to warn you -- maybe you shouldn't be hitching your wagon to a girl whose idea of making a tough decision involves flipping a coin, especially when both sides of the coin will produce the same result.
- "I want to leave on good terms. I want to not regret this experience," says Erika.
- The roommates debate whether Erika will actually leave this time. Andrew doesn't think so, and Emily calls her a Debbie Downer.
- Joe Scopin from the Times calls Andrew to see where he is with the cartoon. It's already a day late.
- "He thinks I'm a total screw-up...that I can't do deadlines," says Andrew. Well, you are a day late, so he's pretty much dead-on with that one.
- Andrew gets inspired, produces a cartoon.
- Scopin likes it, says it's more than he expected. Now will it run? Flip a coin!
- Erika packs her bags. "My heart is not in D.C.," she says. "D.C. isn't where you go to start a music career," she points out. But Erika, have you not heard of local musical powerhouse Wicked Liquid?
- Callie and Ashley are angry. Erika starts crying. "There's no way I can go out in a positive way," she says.
- Erika and Ian talk. "Why go?" asks Ian. "I'm starting to get confused," says Erika. But the coin, Erika, the coin!
- Erika goes to talk to the roommates, who are hanging out in the hot tub.
- She says she's going to stay. "I'm going to put my own happiness aside and be here to experience this with you," she says. Normal-speak translation: "You people make me more miserable than I usually am, but I'll put up with it until my next emotional breakdown. By the way, have you seen my quarter?"
- The roommates get pissed at her, and Erika changes her mind again. She's leaving. "It's final," she says.
- Erika gets ready to go. Mike thinks she'll regret it, Ashley hopes the best for her but assumes the worst. "I love all you guys," says Erika.
- As the seven remaining roommates walk down the street laughing and having a great time, Mike and Emily say, "And then there were seven." They go to Lauriol Plaza, where they hug, make up and laugh.
- All the while, Erika is playing one last sad song on the piano in the house.
- She walks out, and closes the door.
- She's really gone. To Cleveland. Let that sink in, D.C. We got beat out -- by Cleveland.
Contact the author of this article or email tips@dcist.com with further questions, comments or tips.