Other Side of the Door

"Other Side of the Door"
Season 1, Episode 4
Air date	January 31, 2012
Written by	Martin Gero Karen Hill
Directed by	Stefan Brogren
Episode guide
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"Other Side of the Door" is the fourth episode of The L.A. Complex. It aired on Tuesday, January 31, 2012.

Synopsis

A flashback showing Connor as a young boy appears. It shows a young Connor watching his dad on the couch, who is passed out from drinking. His mother is leaving with his older brother and younger sister, and they promise to come back for Connor. Unfortunately, that promise was never fulfilled.

In the morning, Connor is working out and running lines in his trailer. Paul, the acting coach, shows up but his intention to talk is not about acting. Connor is worried that the producers of the show made a mistake is hiring him but Paul assured him that he was chosen out of hundreds of other actors. Later, Connor overhears Paul talking to the director of the show, telling him never to yell at Connor again and only encourage him. It seems to work as Connor nails his lines on set. That night, Connor shows up at Paul's house to thank him more and asks him if they could work together again, but Paul explains that it was a one shot deal and he's a busy professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Connor is devastated that he couldn't have Paul there to help him again.

Meanwhile, Abby and Nick are still sharing apartments and as Abby gets ready to leave for an audition, Nick encourages her and wishes her luck. After Abby leaves, Nick gets down to work and opens his laptop only to find Alicia and Rick's sex tape on his screen. Confused and horrified, he calls her over and while he's disapproving of her being naked on the internet, she's horrified that the video's a bad angle. Alicia explains to Nick that she accepted to be in this tape because she's fine with being naked, her being a stripper and all.

Alicia is convinced that the story Rick and Gavin (his agent) told her about getting her career off by doing the tape is true, until her favourite choreographer cuts her from an audition. He explains that he can't have a person who's been shown naked online and filmed a sex tape in Willow Smith's tween video. Realizing that she can't get money anymore from dance gigs, she goes over to Gavin's to ask how the video's doing. Unfortunately, he explains that they can't sell the video because Rick got into Rehab. Devastated, Alicia visit Rick at his apartment who admits that there isn't going to be ay money from the tape because of his drug addiction.

That didn't change how Alicia felt about him and he still loves her. At an attempt to calm down, Alicia is doing some laps in the pool at The Lux. She gets a call from Gavin who says that he's got her an offer from Vivid Entertainment, a pornography production company.

Kaldrick and Tariq finally get a day off and Kal invites Tariq to his 'low down', which is an abandoned house with a couch and a PlayStation. Kal explains to the unimpressed Tariq that they can only be together if they know that no one will recognize them, so Tariq takes Kal to a bed and breakfast 5 hours outside of LA. Kal agrees to go, but they find out the the owners of the house will be home for the weekend, so the two give them the fake names Carl and Steve Winslow and pretend they are brothers. Kal and Tariq are invited into dinner by the couple, who find out that the two men are gay and are in a relationship. They reveal that their daughter married her partner a year before gay marriage was legalized in New York. After spending that night together and returning to LA, Tariq promises Kal that he'll lie to his co-workers and say that he spent the weekend with friends in Fresno.

Raquel has introduced Cam and Kevin to Gary. He's impressed with their script and offers them a couple hundred thousand dollars to fund the film. While Raquel is at Gary's house, she meets Jennifer, Gary's ex-wife, who warns he to be careful with promises Gary makes her. During that night at dinner, Gary introduces Raquel to this agent from an acting agency, who wants to represent Raquel. After dinner, Gary gives Raquel a necklace after finding out it was her birthday on her IMDb page. She kisses him goodnight and he stops her from going any further, explaining that he can't date until he's 12 months sober.

Raquel visits Connor and the two get crazy and hook up. After they were finished breaking practically everything that was on Connor's counter, he asks her if she could spend the night with him every night. She is outraged that he thinks she'll move in with him and stomps out of his house, after saying that she can't live with someone who hasn't eve bothered to remember her birthday. Connor grabs a bottle of tequila and eyes the kettle he used before for self-harm.

After finding out that Alicia is not only in a sex tape, but a stripper too, Nick decides to pick up Abby from her audition. She's still broke and he decides to teach her how to live in LA with no money. First, they go to a nice neighbourhood and collect bottles to sell. With the money they got, the two go to the market to buy fish. After driving to the pier, Nick and Abby use the fish as bait to catch more fish... Nick gives Abby a pep talk after she realizes that she's down on not getting any acting gigs. They end up kissing each other on the beach that night while cooking the fish they caught over a campfire. Back at The Lux, the two continue their business in Nick's room, only to be interrupted by Alicia. Abby decides to stop what they were doing and tells Nick to get out of the apartment and talk to Abby.

Outside, Alicia tells Nick that she's been offered $100,000 to do a movie with Vivid Entertainment. He doesn't support her decision, but he promises to Alicia that he'll always be friends and offers to go to the meeting with Vivid. The next day, while sitting at the office of Vivid Entertainment, Nick notices Alicia shaking and holds her hand.

After attempting to tell Alicia something, the door opens and Alicia heads inside to sign the contract and make the deal with Vivid.

Appearances

• Rob Stewart as Gary
• Kristopher Turner as Cam
• Jordan Johnson-Hinds as Kevin
• Helene Joy as Jennifer
• Paulino Nunes as Paul
• Brendan Gall as Gavin