'I Love LA' Episode 6 Recap: Why Does Maia Crash Game Night? 

The second-hand embarrassment you get from watching a show like I Love LA needs to be studied. It’s a show that is exciting, sure, but it also makes you cringe, scream on the inside, and absolutely hide behind a wall for all the characters. This episode sees Maia take on the role of the completely unhinged, while the others take somewhat of a backseat. Landry’s death seemed so large in the last episode, but I feel like, because the episodes are so short, we don’t really get to enjoy enough of one thing before it immediately switches to another. Maia’s friends are great, but there are also plenty of them. But I quite liked what happened with Charlie and how long it took him to figure out how upset he really was with this whole situation. Ultimately, this is a show about amusing Gen Z in LA, so that’s exactly what we get. With 6 episodes done, I’m eager to find out how the season will end. But, without further ado, let’s jump into episode 6 of I Love LA.

Spoiler Alert

Episode 6 of I Love LA begins with Maia and Tallulah at a big studio setup because they’re going to be taking pictures for a Ritz commercial. Yes, Tallulah doesn’t really know what she’s doing in life, but hey, at least her best friend and manager is able to crack deals for her like nobody’s business. While squealing about the tech guy, Tallulah gets distracted by a call from Tessa, and one of the executives takes notice. She then promptly asks Maia if she’s talking to her boyfriend, but Maia doesn’t hesitate to say it’s actually her girlfriend. The second the words come out of her mouth, the executive is rushing to grab. She’s immediately asking if Tallulah’s out and calling her a lesbian and queer—typical corporate responsibility vibes. Obviously, they don’t actually care whether she’s gay or not. They just want to plaster her face on a wall with the words “we support queer people,” but with fancy pun language, and get cool with the queer kids. 

The next day, Tallulah only realizes what a disaster this whole thing really is when she, Alani, and Charlie are walking out of Landry’s funeral and see the wall just like that. She’s immediately repulsed and feels like she can’t ever get over this humiliation, but Alani tries to bring out the cool aspects of it in the most Alani way. I do really like her the best when she’s being the bestie we all need.  Later, when she’s at home and panicking, Tessa returns a little late, not knowing a thing about this graffiti. While Tessa is a regular person, she’s also a celebrity chef of sorts, so she does understand the implications of fame. To make things better for Tallulah, she shows her an old video of her doing a rap in the style of “Hamilton,” and the funniest thing is that Tallulah doesn’t know what “Hamilton” is. But the work is done, and she’s finally okay with the situation. The important thing to know is that she isn’t upset that they essentially came out for her, but that there’s just a very corporate vibe to the whole thing. Ultimately, Tallulah and Tessa end up throwing white paint on the wall, ruining the graffiti, but it obviously brings them closer together. 

On the other hand, at the funeral, Charlie meets an old fling named Andrew, who essentially broke his heart because they were unserious until Andrew decided he wanted something more and picked a dude with sideburns instead. The worst part is that, despite being the guy’s stylist, Charlie has to go to the second overflow, because there are fans all over the place trying to get into the funeral. The whole thing gets Charlie thinking because he was supposed to hate Andrew, but the dude’s being nice like Landry, and that’s just making him upset. 

Next thing you know, Charlie and Alani are off to find a sex tape the duo made together so that he can burn it and feel better about himself. Earlier, he’d told the girls to make sure nobody saw it if he ended up dead, but Alani encourages him to let go right now. The problem is, they don’t know which tape it is out of the two, so they go to a shop to find out if they have the device they can play it on. Fortunately for them, they do, and it turns out it’s a place where a lot of people show up to specifically look at sex tapes, so it’s got a fancy accordion door and dim lighting. But soon after Charlie starts watching the video, he needs some time alone. Not for reasons you think.

While Charlie was putting on a brave face, he finally admitted to himself that he genuinely misses Lukas and wishes he were here for him. I guess Lukas was like a sign of hope for him; he was somebody who genuinely accepted him for who he was, and their relationship was a heartfelt one with innocent intentions of growing together. Ultimately, Charlie breaks down after trying to send a text to Lukas. 

In the meantime, Maia has a whole rollercoaster of things happen to her. After the Tallulah fiasco, she goes to the Forbes shoot with Alyssa and even saves her stuttering self by talking about how great Alyssa really is. But at the same time, she gets an invite from her ex-boss Ben through a little messenger card that changes her entire demeanor. Ironic she was just talking about how Alyssa180 caught her eye specifically because of how women-centric it was, but she’s now eager to talk to her ex-boss, who is clearly playing a power game with her. Not only are they weirdly flirty while eating at a dingy place together, but they’re also ordering two bottles of wine, and Ben’s asking her if Alyssa’s scared of her yet. But somehow, Maia miraculously gets out of this meal, fully drunk but by herself, to learn that she’s going straight to games night at home that Dylan’s hosting with his school colleagues. 

You’d think this would be okay, and Maia might decide to head a different direction based on how drunk she is, but instead, she crashes the party hard. She’s super jealous of a woman named Clare, but it certainly feels like she’s projecting herself on Dylan, who would never as much as look at another woman. Maia makes a huge mess, ruining the games and asking Clare directly who she’d want to sleep with in the room (yikes). But to make matters worse, as soon as Dylan sends the gang home after a ruined night, she riles him up further by talking about how he finds Clare attractive. This makes Dylan mad, but that’s exactly what she wants, claiming he’s hot when he’s mad. Next thing you know, they’re doing the hanky-panky, only Maia’s seeing Ben’s face (yikes), saying “good girl.” Sure, it might be a drunken mistake, but is it just that plain? Who knows? 

Episode 6 of I Love LA ends with Maia telling Dylan, “That was great,” before texting Tallulah immediately. This leaves Dylan a little bit ashamed and confused by this situation. His expression clearly says he’s not sure what he’s gotten into and if he really wants to be with this version of Maia. Voice of reason, remember.