Bette and Tina talk with Simon, with Dana interrupting and sharing her closeted concerns about the “geeky straight people” followed by a “no offense” to Simon, who appears genuinely confused as to why such a term would be offensive to him.  Bette and Tina also out Dana, as well as Harrison in front of Simon without realizing it.  The couple is too focused on getting Simon to be the donor to realize this.  Simon winds up turning them down.  Meanwhile, Kerry and Lori appear to have disappeared, probably arguing elsewhere.

The moment that changes everything forever as Alice talks with Jenny, only to be joined by a very intrigued Marina.  Also, in the background are Harrison and Simon talking together.  Keep in mind, this is after Dana and Harrison had been accidentally outed by Bette and Tina in front of him.  Marina is announced by Alice as the owner of The Planet.  Alice mentions The Planet as being on Santa Monica, placing it right down from Bette and Tina’s and also Tim and Jenny’s house.  Jenny acknowledges having walked by it, “the other day,” which would be back on Wednesday.  Alice writes for LA Magazine.  Jenny won a literary prize for Thus Spoke Sarah Shuster which will be in the next edition of The Best American Short Stories.  Alice also writes Best Of pieces.

The Best American Short Stories is published annually by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and has been around since 1915.  The annual collection involves 20 different stories and usually from as many authors.  The 2003 edition had just been released on October 10th while the 2004 edition would be a year later (the series is published every October).  Given how the timeline seems to go from Season 1 to Season 2, a decent possibility remains that Thus Spoke Sarah Shuster somehow didn’t make the cut for 2003, but was considered too good to pass up and was guaranteed its spot for next year’s edition, giving Jenny something to look forward to a year from now.  It could be that Jenny’s story would be part of the 2003 edition, but the publication date doesn’t mesh well with the mention of midterms taking place at CU.

Marina brings up Amy Bloom and her story, Silver Water which was part of the 1992 edition of The Best American Short Stories with Jenny bringing up Amy’s Come To Me collection of short stories, which also includes Silver Water and was published in 1993.

An excerpt from Publishers Weekly concerning Silver Water in their review of Come To Me.

“Bloom’s remarkably consistent first collection of stories includes her award-winning ‘Silver Water,’ a sad remembrance of a mentally ill sister and the family that loves yet cannot help her.”

Jenny of course would turn out to have quite a bit of psychological trauma that she would never fully recover from and Marina will suffer her own crisis in between Seasons 1 and 2.

Alice brings up the Cosmo Romance Compatibility Quiz, likely a reference to something from Cosmopolitan magazine.

Alice soon realizes she is in the way of a Marina conquest, despite being introduced to both Jenny and Tim earlier and departs.  This preemptive abandonment will help sink the world in the long run, but in the short run, it’s about Jenny and Marina connecting on their appreciation of another author, Anne Carson who wrote Eros The Bittersweet.  No word on which book Jenny and Marina both consider to be their life altering book, but apparently it is either the same or a close enough answer for Alice to leave.  From here, Marina and Jenny take an interest in one another.  In the commentary, Ilene decides to leave it up to the viewer to decide what Jenny and Marina’s answers were.

Outside, near the swimming pool, Bette and Tina are turned down by Robin Bookman, who runs an art gallery despite not being an artist himself.  This means that Bette has gone from wanting to an artist to settling for someone at least related to art, which means had Tim been able to stick around long enough, he likely would have been asked.  That will never happen thanks to what is about to happen between Marina and Jenny.

In the DVD commentary, Ilene and Jennifer discuss a deleted moment where someone named Adam had at some point offered to be the donor, but Bette turned him down due to not meeting Bette’s standards (apparently not artistic enough).  This may explain why Harrison is never asked (and perhaps why Tim wasn’t, come to think of it).  Adam was a screenwriter whom Tina had worked with while she was a development executive.  Adam could be the other male movie type hanging out with Jeremy and the still unnamed female movie type at the party.

The officer drops Kit off at Bette and Tina’s which is revealed to be 231 North Genesee Avenue, next door to Tim and Jenny’s which will be revealed (Episode 201) to be 15151 North Genesee Avenue.

Jenny heads for the bathroom and our next significant bathroom moment, but not before getting a look from Bette and Tina, possibly out of concern as Marina looms behind them and toward Jenny.  Still not sure which one of these extras could be Annie, but one would think she would be there amongst the crowd.

The Kiss That Changes Everything, leaving Jenny confused.

Tim talks with a couple of guys and a silent woman who are listed in the credits as Movie Types.  One of them actually has a name which will be mentioned momentarily.  For now, he talks with Tim about a project involving competitive swimming, but not before Tim mentions being on the Olympic Swim Team, presumably for the United States.  If so, he would have likely been a member of the 2000 team as it was the most recent and could work as a segue to his assistant coaching gigs at Chicago and CU.  Tim reveals that he was also part of the U of C swim team (home of the Maroon) and is about to go into something dramatic involving one of his teammates, but is interrupted by Jenny who, perhaps weirded out by what has happened with Marina and the longterm effects it is about to have, is ready to go home now.

Tim’s background at this point is that he attended U of C, was a star of the men’s swimming team, got a spot on the Olympic roster, moved on to an assistant coaching gig back at U of C where he met Jenny (who was a student) and then took the job at CU, likely for more money.  For what it’s worth, the Chicago Maroon compete in NCAA’s Division III for swimming and diving.  CU is portrayed as being NCAA Division I, the top Division for athletics where the major schools compete.

During this conversation, Marcy, Marnie, and Marti are talking among themselves in the background.

Bette and Tina spot Kit at the party who has taken over the music player, going into DJ mode.

Tim and Jenny’s return home with the party still being heard next door and Jenny going down on Tim in an effort to get Marina out of her mind.

Back at the party, the man Tim was talking with now makes his way over to Bette and Kit with it being revealed that they are half-sisters.  The movie type working on the swimming and diving project is named Jeremy Bullock.  The other movie types are in the background, being largely irrelevant, though if the male one is Adam then that might explain why he’s now keeping his distance from Bette, given the off-screen rejection.  Jeremy mentions seeing Kit perform at the Hollywood Roosevelt 2 years prior, which would be 2001.  The Hollywood Roosevelt is located on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles and is a hotel that according to Google reviews are known for pool parties and having a bowling alley.  Aside from the project Jeremy mentioned to Tim, he is also working on a soundtrack for a production of his which would involve a collection of “jazz and blues ladies” which references Kit’s time as a music star some time earlier in life.  Kit heads off with Jeremy and the other movie types for a place called LeDoux (spelling possibly incorrect).

Next door, Tim and Jenny have sex.

The party wraps up at Bette & Tina’s with Bette, Tina, Alice, Dana, Harrison (who apparently is never asked for a sperm donation), Shane and Red, who may or may not be Annie.  Bette notes that they had 3 turndowns.  Simon and Robin B were 2 of them.  Shane gives her New Male speech which leads to Alice referring to Shane as “Yoda” which is a Star Wars reference.  Tomorrow, Sonya (though it sounds like Bette is saying “Sunny”) is arriving to clean up the party’s mess.