Lies, Leverage & Legalities: ‘Bel-Air’ Season 2 Episode 9 Recap

Last week, we saw several storylines develop that will impact our character’s futures. Will (Jabari Banks) found out some information about Doc (Brooklyn McLinn) that will force him to make a tough decision. Carlton (Olly Sholotan) went back to his old reliable coping mechanism. Aunt Viv (Cassandra Freeman) and Uncle Phil were both offered new opportunities in their careers. After her breakup with Jazz (Jordan L. Jones), LaMarcus (Justin Cornwell) is fully focused on getting Hilary (Coco Jones) back. On the final episode before the season two finale entitled ‘Just Like Old Times,’ things get a little bit more complicated for each of the aforementioned Banks family members.

Apparently one of the ideas Hilary pitched to Lamarcus was a football game/party. LaMarcus lets Hilary use his house to throw the event and it has a very good turnout. Ivy (Karreuche Tran) and the other influencers show Hilary love on the collaboration and joke that they need to get themselves a football star boyfriend. Hilary quickly corrects them by telling them that her and LaMarcus are just friends. They might’ve believed her if Lamarcus didn’t plant a kiss on her cheek a few moments after. Despite having fun at the event, Hilary is sidetracked when she gets a reminder on her phone about Jazz’s first meet and greet event at his store. Ivy tells Hilary that she needs to stop worrying about Jazz and enjoy her own big day. Hilary expresses to LaMarcus that she doesn’t want him to think she’s using him. He responds by telling her that he doesn’t look at it that way and he’ll do anything he has to in order to get her back. After their conversation, Hilary contemplates texting Jazz good luck but ultimately decides against it. Later on, the influencer house (and Ashley) took on LaMarcus and four of his friends in a 5-on-5 football game. While cameras roll, Hilary and LaMarcus vibe during the game and are noticeably touchy. Afterwards, Hilary is on IG live watching Jazz’s story as he broadcasts his party. Ashley (Akira Akbar), who has been serving as a PA for the day, notices that something has her sister’s attention. She tells Hilary that Jazz never posted on social media before her so him doing it must be a bat signal. Hilary thanks her younger sister for the advice then offers her some. She tells Ashley to not get so caught up in trying to save the world that she forgets to have some fun. After the event is over, LaMarcus wants Hilary to stay with him and continue the night. She chooses to take a rain check and instead heads to Jazz’s party. Ironically enough, Jazz had been waiting for her to show up all day. He even made sure to mention how the whole party was Hilary’s idea and how thankful he was when he spoke to Will earlier in the day. Unfortunately for the both of them, when Hilary arrived at the party she seen Jazz dancing with two girls. She assumed the worst and abruptly left. Displeased with what she just saw, Hilary heads back over to LaMarcus’ house and takes him up on his offer. Does this mean that Hilary and LaMarcus are officially together again? Or is there still hope for Jazz?

Speaking of old relationships, another one might be on the way to being mended. After their interaction on the last episode, Erika Baker (Diandra Lyle) comes to the Banks residence. With flowers in hand, she apologizes to Vivian for everything that happened between them in the past. Vivian takes Erika on a tour of their home as the two eventually catch up on different aspects of their lives including marriage, family and careers. While they’re having their reunion, Phil is at the office trying to keep things from sinking. He isn’t pleased with the terms of the acquisition which would cause their firm to have to fire a multitude of employees. As he argues with James (Reno Wilson) in front of some other higher ups, Phil adamantly exclaims that there has to be another way and they can’t just accept any deal. When Phil returns home, he’s surprised to see Erika and Vivian enjoying each other’s company. After Erika leaves, Vivian and Phil discuss their next moves. Viv admits that Erika gave her some really sound advice. She continues by applauding how good of a business woman Erika was and suggests that Phil consider the offer further. After assuring him that she’ll be fine with him being around Erika (because she’s going to be keeping an eye out on her), she encourages him to make the best decision for him. Phil went on to agree to join Erika’s firm but with a catch…they had to give the Garrison account back to his firm. As genuine as she seemed, it’s obvious that Erika only went to make amends with Viv so that she could get on the couple’s good side and get Phil to make a clear-minded decision. Even if she had ulterior motives, Vivian took Erika’s career advice and accepted the executive director position. After the negotiations with Erika, Phil met with James to update him. James was happy to hear that Phil got the Garrison account back. In doing so, the firm that was acquiring theirs would have no choice but to listen to their demands. When Phil told James that the only catch was that he would be working for Erika’s firm, James was not for it. Phil convinced James that while he was gone, he was the one who kept the company afloat and he’ll be the one that carries them across the finish line. How will Phil and Vivian’s new positions impact their family lives? Can Erika be trusted? Our her intentions strictly professional with Phil?

No one has seen Connor (Tyler Barnhardt) since him and Carlton had their wild night. One of Connor’s friends approaches Carlton asking him has he seen him. At first, Carlton shrugs it off and acts as if he doesn’t care but then changes his tune and says he’s sure that Connor is okay. As this is happening, Carlton peeps Lisa (Simone Joy Jones) and Drew (Nicholas Duvernay) walking together. As they’re passing, Drew tells Lisa that he seen Carlton and Connor kicking it together. This worries Lisa and urges her to talk to Will about it. Will confirms that he suspects Drew is the one who leaked the video. Although he isn’t seeing eye to eye with Carlton, he vows to take his cousin’s word over Drew’s if it comes down to it. Carlton becomes a bit worried himself and tries texting and calling Connor but to no avail. When Carlton returns home, he is surprised to see Connor and his mother there. Apparently Geoffrey (Jimmy Akingbola) thought it would be a good idea to have all four of them sit down after the events that took place. Connor’s mom mentions how she hasn’t been able to get a straight up answer from him. She goes on to add that Connor can’t explain how he lost his father’s watch. Connor claims that the boys were robbed. Carlton refutes his story and reiterates what he had been saying previously. Realizing the trouble Carlton could be in, Connor eventually comes out and says that he was lying and what Carlton said was the truth. Although Carlton slithered out of the situation, you can tell that Vivian knew something was up. As Connor and his mother left, Will was entering the crib and seen them. This pushed him to confront his cousin. Will begins to badger Carlton about hanging with Connor again and possibly being back on drugs (as he ransacks Carlton’s room looking for them). Carlton admits to Will that he lied about hanging out with Connor but says he is not on drugs. He continues by bringing up that Will said his apology didn’t mean anything to him and mentions how Connor was at least there for him. Carlton ends the conversation with Will by telling his cousin that just because he can’t trust Doc or Jackie (Jazlyn Martin), it doesn’t mean that he can’t trust him. Will responds by telling Carlton that he can continue to BS but it will only hurt him. Later on, Carlton tells Viv that he’s going for a walk. In reality, he went to meet up with Connor. Carlton thanks Connor for not ratting him out earlier. He then gets the details on what happened the night they got wasted. The guys took Carlton’s car on a burger run then to the beach but left it there after they ran out of gas. Carlton then warns Connor that now that everyone was keeping a close eye on him, they’d have to be more careful than ever. The interaction ends with Connor giving Carlton more drugs. When will the truth come about Carlton and Connor’s wild night? Will Drew get exposed for leaking the video? What part will Lisa play in everything?

Carlton bringing up Doc and Jackie hit Will kind of tough. The episode began with him talking to Uncle Phil, Aunt Viv and Geoffrey about Doc making money off of Zenith Hype players. It’s revealed by Geoffrey that Doc used to work with a business partner named Lorenzo, who wants to expose him after they fell out. Will tells them that he’ll go talk to Doc alone. Phil tells him if it comes to more than words, he’ll have to step in. Will goes to check the temperature of his teammates later that day. As he tries to plead his case to them, they alert him that Doc has done everything he promised them he would do and he’s all they have. After missing practice, Will is finally able to talk to Doc one on one. Doc expresses that he’s doing the same thing every other college and agent in the country are doing. Will explains how he’s disappointed because he invested so much into someone he thought was relatable and honest when that wasn’t the truth. Later in the episode, Will pulls up to Jazz’s party and gets the key to his house so that he can take Jackie over there. Will doesn’t waste any time and immediately asks Jackie what she knows about the Zenith Hype situation. Jackie decides to switch the subject and mentions how they’re alone and talking is the last thing she’d think Will would want to be doing. The young couple end up having sex for the first time. Afterwards, Jackie can tell that something is still bothering Will. She assures him that she will tell him whatever he wants to know. He asks the same question that he did before. This time, Jackie tells the truth. She shares that she knew that Doc wanted Uncle Phil’s help but claims that she didn’t know any details of the plan. After Will realizes that he’s been somewhat used and Jackie sees the pain that she’s caused, she leaves. Will obviously told Phil and Geoffrey because the two of them visited Doc soon after. Phil tells Doc that whatever plans he had are over. Doc responded by telling him it isn’t that easy. He goes on to explain that Lorenzo was his old business partner that he started Zenith Hype with. He says that Lorenzo wanted to do the same thing he was doing but in the streets. When Doc wasn’t with the idea, he says that he tried to but Lorenzo out. He claimed that Lorenzo would rather see the whole thing shut down than being shut out. Phil doesn’t understand where he fits into the situation. Doc goes deeper and explains that Lorenzo is going to have an investigation launched where all his secrets will be aired. If it goes Lorenzo’s way, none of the Zenith Hype players will be eligible to play college sports. Doc then pulls out his big joker card. He brings up the fact that he knows what Phil did to get Will out of his situation in Philadelphia. He tells Phil that he needs him to perform some of the same kind of magic for him. The episode ends with Will in his room angrily hearing the voices of all the men in his life (Phil, his father, Doc) who have ever disappointed in any type of way. How will Phil help Doc prevail in his fight against Lorenzo? How can Will remain focused on the Founder’s Award and the things going on in his personal life? Is there any way that Will and Jackie can still figure things out or is it a wrap? Let us know what you thought about the ninth episode of season two and what your predictions for the season finale are in the comments below!