Rydell students are gathered for an assembly to learn what to do in the event of a nuclear bomb as Paramount+’s Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies episode five begins. Some seem to take the topic seriously, but Richie (Johnathan Nieves) is more interested in what’s happening that night. He and the T-Birds plan on setting off fireworks at the drive-in, while Jane (Marisa Davila) confesses she has a feeling of impending doom.
It’s Halloween and the momentum seems to be on Jane’s side. Olivia (Cheyenne Isabel Wells) is sure the election’s in the bag, but Jane knows it’s always calmest right before the storm. And that declaration leads into the episode’s first song. Jane sings about bombs dropping, the calm before chaos, and the need to live life to the fullest.
After the song ends, Richie and Jane make a date for 7pm. Richie says they need to talk, and given her mood, Jane’s worry level cranks up a notch or two.
Rehearsals are underway for Romeo and Juliet, and Buddy (Jason Schmidt) is surprisingly good. However, during the kissing scene, Cynthia (Ari Notartomaso) stumbles over her lines. Cynthia volunteers to step down, but Mr. Vaughan insists she just needs some one-on-one help and assigns Lydia (Niamh Wilson) the task of transforming Cynthia into a believable Juliet.
Lydia doesn’t want the job, and Cynthia’s just as reluctant to have her as a teacher.
Olivia’s busy working on an article for the paper when she overhears a conversation about Mr. Daniels (Chris McNally) buying a new house for his fiancée. (Her article’s on the lack of women authors in the school’s English curriculum.) She doesn’t act concerned and even flirts back when Gil (Nicholas McDonough) interrupts and offers to carry her books.
The Pink Ladies grab a booth at the Frosty Palace after school, and Jane’s certain that Richie’s breaking things off with her. Olivia can’t take Jane worrying and obsessing over what’s about to happen and spills the beans: Richie wants Jane to be his girlfriend!
Nancy (Tricia Fukuhara) volunteers to help Cynthia with her lines but gets bored immediately and gives up. Her parents rush up with the Halloween costumes that Nancy apparently slaved over all night. She made a Martian costume for Olivia because she’s exploring new worlds and a werewolf costume for Jane because she’s in the middle of a transformation. Cynthia’s costume is an ant trapped in an atomic experiment – just because that’s what Nancy wanted to make.
Unfortunately for Nancy, her friends aren’t really into their costumes. Jane doesn’t want to look scary, Olivia also has a date, and Cynthia can’t take part in the hotdog eating contest wearing an ant mask. Nancy’s stunned and insists Halloween’s about dressing up and having fun – not about boys!
Night arrives, and everyone’s at the drive-in making out, hanging out, and sort of watching the movie while also listening to the radio. Nancy’s shocked when she hears the DJ announce a special dedication was made in her honor from a secret admirer: “You are more special than you know.”
Nancy has no idea who her secret admirer is.
Richie and Jane have the car all to themselves when Richie confesses he likes her more than any other girl he’s met. He’s about to give her his jacket when the film’s interrupted by a campaign video.
The video declares it’s insane to vote for Jane. Horns start honking as the video invites everyone to a Halloween party on Sparrow Lane.
Buddy’s football bros and the cheerleaders seem to have won over more than a few voters. Even the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies desert the drive-in for the party.
It seems the T-Birds have come prepared, showing off dozens of eggs, toilet paper, and a water hose they brought along in case an opportunity arose to have a little fun. Jane suggests a more subtle approach since Buddy will kick them out. Thankfully, Nancy brought along their costumes so no one will even realize the Pink Ladies have infiltrated Buddy’s party.
Richie’s hurt when Jane suggests he and the T-Birds stay outside.
Susan (Madison Thompson) unknowingly walks the Pink Ladies through the haunted house, warning this terrifying future is what’s in store if they vote for Jane. The party’s packed and Buddy, dressed as an astronaut, tells Hazel (Shanel Bailey), in a solar system costume, that he’ll drive her home later since Halloween can get crazy.
Even though it’s party time, Wally (Maxwell Whittington-Cooper) breaks up with Rosemary (Charlotte Kavanagh). She’s absolutely stunned that he would dare drop her.
Jane spots a microphone on a long cord and comes up with a plan. She’ll head down to the basement where she’ll hang out with the mic, waiting for the band to take a break. Cynthia will stay upstairs by the laundry chute and signal Jane when it’s time since Jane can’t hear the band in the basement. (She needs to stay hidden so no one can stop her once she starts her speech.)
Potato (Alexis Sides), who has a massive crush on Nancy, teams up with the object of his affection to figure out who’s her secret admirer. Nancy seems to think it’s Wally and that he broke up with Rosemary for her, but Wally denies he’s into her. He’s about to reveal he’s sweet on Hazel when Nancy stops listening and heads off to find the next possible suspect.
Potato keeps trying to help Nancy out with guesses, but after questioning a few guys, she’s totally stumped.
Meanwhile, the T-Birds are bored hanging around outside the party, and Richie and Gil decide to head in, even though Jane told them not to.
Lydia finds Cynthia hanging out alone and acting sketchy, and Cynthia admits she needs her help with the play. Lydia gives in and they begin rehearsing the kissing scene – and once again, Cynthia stumbles through her part. Lydia figures out Cynthia’s nervous about the kiss and that’s why she’s flubbing her lines. Cynthia confesses she’s never kissed anyone before.
Lydia offers to kiss her now so that it’ll stop being a big deal. Cynthia agrees…and we get our second song of the episode as Cynthia sings about how amazing the kiss feels. It’s a gorgeous Broadway-style musical number, and the chemistry between Cynthia and Lydia is sizzling.
The song – and the kiss – end, and Cynthia asks if that was acting since it felt so real. Lydia claims it was, and Cynthia believes she gets the appeal now. “Wait! Does this mean I’m a thespian?!” asks a wide-eyed Cynthia.
On the way to the Sparrow Lane address, Olivia spotted the house that Mr. Daniels just bought. She sneaks off to check it out and is shocked to discover Mr. Daniels is inside when she pokes around. He’s painting and acts nervous as he admits his girlfriend didn’t like the turquoise walls. Olivia does, and so does Mr. Daniels. He offers to show her around his new place, and she accepts.
Jane gets impatient waiting and discovers that if she bangs the microphone on the table, it stops the band, causes feedback, and gets everyone’s attention. She starts her speech by warning everyone that the real Rydell, not this “RyHell” haunted house version, is ruled by the socs. She reminds them the socs ignore them except when they need something – like votes. That’s the only reason they’ve thrown this party. Otherwise, they ignore and torment the less popular.
The crowd turns against Buddy and his friends as Jane claims Buddy’s spineless and never stands up to his gang.
Buddy cuts off Jane’s speech after discovering her in the basement with the mic. Jane claims she’ll do whatever it takes to win, and Buddy wonders if she remembers when she thought it would be fun to run for student council.
Jane admits she doesn’t even feel like that person anymore. Neither does Buddy.
Richie’s still outside when he sees Jane and Buddy sitting alone in the basement, laughing. He storms off, returning to the car and telling his guys he’s ending the party. After all, that’s what Jane wanted.
Jane and Buddy head back to the main party, which is now all about Jane and not the socs. Jane spots Nancy and tells her she’s done. She just wants to go find Richie and forget about the “stupid” election.
Cynthia joins Nancy and Jane just as Susan tells them to leave, which they were getting ready to do anyway. Just as Cynthia calls the party a bomb, fireworks go off outside. No one realizes what’s going on and they all seem to have flashbacks to the nuclear bomb video and take cover.
Jane steps outside while the fireworks are going off and spots Richie. Apparently, the T-Birds lit them all off at once and the fireworks are wreaking havoc, including lighting a partygoer’s costume on fire. Jane had earned back some votes with her speech, but after the disastrous fireworks display, it seems everyone’s back on Buddy’s side.
Buddy asks Wally to see Hazel home while he takes care of the fireworks.
Jane informs Richie they all thought they were going to die, and Richie reveals he saw her snuggling up to Buddy. He thinks she’s all about politics now and can’t believe he was going to give her his jacket. Jane says she doesn’t want that since she has her own but adds that that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to be his girlfriend. She does, but now Richie’s done playing second fiddle to her obsession with winning the election.
“I know the real reason you don’t want to wear my jacket. Because being with a guy like me brings down your stock,” says Richie.
Election Day arrives, and Assistant Principal McGee greets the start of the school day with a song. McGee sings about democracy being fragile and that making your voice heard by voting is essential. She also speaks for pretty much everyone at Rydell when she admits she’s really glad the election’s almost over.
Teachers and other staff members are McGee’s backup dancers as she sings that the election is stupid, with all its dumb lies and he said/she said arguments.
Rehearsals are underway again for Romeo and Juliet, and this time Cynthia delivers her lines perfectly. However, she ends the scene before she and Buddy actually kiss. Mr. Vaughan’s filled with tears of joy that Cynthia’s finally nailed it. He compliments Lydia on helping Cynthia but wants them to continue practicing every single day.
The polling place opens and students line the hallways, ready to cast their votes. It looks like it’s going to be a close race, and when Principal Nicholson, Vice Principal McGee, a few other adults, and Olivia (as McGee’s assistant) count the votes twice, it turns out that Rydell has its first female president.
McGee and Olivia step out to type up an announcement, and one of the participants in the counting process signals to Buddy and Susan that he lost. Buddy’s disappointed but takes it well and heads home.
Once McGee and Buddy are gone, Nicholson’s forced to do another recount. They cheat and declare Buddy the winner.
Buddy doesn’t know what’s happening at school when he shows up at Jane with the news that she won the election. He wants to be the first to congratulate her, and Jane’s absolutely stunned.
Over at the Frosty Palace, Nancy sits down beside Potato and tells him she knows he’s her secret admirer. He admits it all adds up but insists he isn’t the one who called in the dedication. Nancy confesses she was hunting for her secret admirer because it would mean there’s a boy who likes her the way she is. She wouldn’t have to change.
After she walks away, Nancy’s parents confess to Potato that they dedicated the song to their daughter. They didn’t want her to feel left out since all her friends had dates. Potato suggests they just let her continue to think there’s a guy out there who has a crush on her. Nancy’s mom admits they weren’t going to say anything; they’re scared of her.
Jane and Buddy sit on her stairs and talk, and Jane thinks they can change the rules and both be winners. Buddy doesn’t think that’s necessary. “I was just running to win. You were running to change things,” he admits.
Buddy apologizes for everything she went through this year and is proud she kept going through it all. He thinks she inspires people and confesses she inspires him.
Jane cuts off his next sentence with a kiss!
- 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 6 “Sloppy Seconds Ain’t My Style” Recap
- Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies Episode 7 “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’ Recap
- Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies Episode 8 “Or at the High School Dance” Recap
- Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies Episode 9 “You’re Dropping Out of Rydell?” Recap
- Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies Episode 10 “Racing for Pinks” Finale Recap
