TV Recap: "All’s Fair" Episode 7 — “Letting Go” Forces the Women to Confront What They’re Afraid to Lose
For a show built on sharpened instincts and weaponized confidence, Episode 7 of All’s Fair strips away the armor. Dina sinks into the rawest form of denial, Emerald braces herself against the pressure she refuses to name, and Carr — prickly, unstable, relentless Carr — finds a strange, surprising clarity in the shadow of death. The result is one of the season’s most emotionally disarmed chapters, a story about the women who keep the machine running even as their private lives fracture.
Episode 7: “Letting Go” - Written by Lyn Greene & Richard Levine
Dina Standish (Glenn Close) sits at her vanity, applying face cream with the same precision she brings to her work. But her world has stopped: Dougie (Ed O’Neill) lies dead in their bed behind her. She slips under the covers beside him, touches his hands, muses that he needs a manicure, flicks off the light, and goes to sleep next to the man she’s not ready to release.
At the firm, Emerald Greene (Niecy Nash-Betts) runs through cases, but Liberty Ronson (Naomi Watts) can’t focus. She keeps checking her phone, worried about leaving Dina alone. Allura Grant (Kim Kardashian) and Emerald insist this is what Dina wants, but Liberty is hurt — particularly because Dina’s maid refused her calls while allowing Allura and Emerald to speak with her. Feeling left out of what she calls their “American sisterhood,” Liberty lashes out, even accusing Allura of scheduling her own mediation to overlap with Liberty’s. Allura clarifies: that was Carrington Lane, who refused to reschedule. Still, Liberty’s insecurity simmers.
Unable to sit back, Liberty drives to Dina’s house — and finds Carr (Sarah Paulson) arriving with her own dish in hand. Carr claims Dina was her mentor before Liberty emigrated, and immediately needles Liberty until the two are sniping at each other. Esperanza (Adlih Alvarado), the maid, tries to hold the line, insisting Dina doesn’t want visitors, but Liberty and Carr push their way inside with Shepherd’s Pie and baked ziti.
In the kitchen, they find Dina whisking eggs. She’s making a perfect omelet — something Dougie taught her — and tells them calmly, “I’m not alone. I’m with him. He’s upstairs.” Both women freeze. Dina invites them up.
Dina sits beside Dougie’s body, eating her omelette as if keeping him company for breakfast. Liberty insists this isn’t healthy and urges her to start the grieving process. Dina pushes back, insisting this is a wake — a Scotch-Irish tradition — and she will keep him with her until she’s ready.
Carr unexpectedly becomes the comforting voice, sharing a childhood memory about refusing to let go of her dead cat. Dina appreciates the empathy. Liberty urges Dina to let them leave; Carr chooses to stay. Dina welcomes the company.
At a bar, Allura meets Chase Munroe (Matthew Noszka), a planned meeting. Bartender Mike (Amitai Porat) brings Allura a mocktail. She tells Chase she wanted to sign the divorce papers in person — after seeing what regret looks like in Dina’s life, she refuses to carry any of her own. Chase, buoyed by the moment, begins to hope for a reconciliation. Allura cuts through it: they’ll move forward only through the work, including the ninth step for any addiction recovery. She hands him Emerald’s carefully compiled list of women he’s wronged.
A montage follows: Chase delivering apologies, getting bouquets thrown at him, cursed out, rejected. Finally, he invites Maria Coulatis (Hari Nef) over for dinner. She reminds him their arrangement was transactional, but she forgives him — not for him, but because he’s clearly not getting what he’s looking for from this ritual. They clink wine glasses as the moment fizzles into clarity.
Liberty tries to bring Dina a bouquet of flowers, but Carr answers the door and refuses to let her in. Instead, she invites Liberty to a small gathering tomorrow for anyone wishing to pay their respects. After Liberty walks away, we hear Dina ask Carr who was at the door. “No one,” Carr tells her.
Chase returns to the office, telling Allura he has one person left to apologise to — Milan. Allura agrees to help, but warns him that if he’s doing this to try to make amends with her, it isn’t going to work. “I’m not going to take you back,” she vows. Chase insists nothing is written in stone; she replies that this time, it is.
Emerald arrives at the wake with a tiered funeral gift. Carr, in hosting mode, has decorated with tartan accents and catering displays. She tells Emerald that Dina won’t come downstairs — she’s still with Dougie. Emerald asks to see her anyway. Carr hesitates but allows it, touched when Emerald praises her efforts: “I don’t hear that a lot.”
Dina sits in her bedroom, flipping through photo albums. Emerald gently asks her to step into a sitting room, away from the body. She explains that people have gathered downstairs to pay respects, and though they’ve given her time, they need to make arrangements. Dina refuses. She plans to stay beside her husband until she decides it’s time. When Emerald suggests medical support to help her think clearly, Dina snaps — she has always been in control, and if she chooses to be out of control now, she has earned that right. She breaks down, and Emerald holds her. Just then, the sound of bagpipes drift upstairs.
Liberty arrives with the pipers in full tartan. Carr storms over, furious. When Dina comes downstairs with Emerald, Liberty announces a formal farewell for Dougie — but Dina whispers to Emerald that Doug had such a distaste for plaid that he didn’t even like Burberry. Liberty wilts as Carr smirks in triumph.
Allura calls Milan (Teyana Taylor), who isn’t eager to meet with Chase. Allura tells her she can avoid a lengthy legal battle later by talking things over now. She agrees to meet that evening.
Milan arrives at Allura’s office that evening to face Chase. His apology is quickly overrun by panic, desperation, and excuses. Milan finally hurls her phone at his groin, then swings on him. Allura breaks up the fight just as Chase vows to take Milan to court — with Carr as his attorney. Allura kicks him out, frustrated with him.
After Dina kicked all of the guests out, Emerald mediates between Liberty and Carr, who are still fighting over who’s “enabling” whom. Allura arrives late, confused because the invite said the wake went until 7 — but everyone’s been dismissed. Dina still refuses to let the coroner take Dougie’s body. Emerald rallies the group, reminding them they need to stay united. Together, they go upstairs to Dina.
They find Dina going through photo albums. Liberty apologizes for the music choice. Dina shows them a newspaper clipping of Dougie’s first Oscar win — how young and radiant they were. Carr notes how envious everyone was of their life together. Liberty calls their love a rare anomaly.
Emerald shares something her son Elijah said about energy never being destroyed, only changing form: the body in the bed isn’t Dougie anymore — the energy that made him who he was has moved on. It finally breaks through. Dina agrees it’s time.
The girls drink wine together while Dina says goodbye to Doug. Liberty considers whether she should avoid marriage after all. Allura has had the opposite takeaway, thinking she’s making a mistake ending her marriage with Chase. Liberty and Emerald both say that Allura’s case is different.
Dina comes downstairs dressed in black and thanks the women. “Tell them to come get Doug.” Upstairs, she kisses Dougie’s lips one last time before the body bag is zipped.
Chase answers a knock at his door. It’s Allura. Fresh from the wake, grief still in the air, they fall into each other. They kiss, they make love, and Chase tells her he loves her, over and over again. She doesn’t say it back.
Chase makes breakfast as Allura emerges wearing his shirt. He asks what changed her mind. She tells him he behaved like a four-year-old during his tantrum in her office — but maybe she’s “a sucker for a man who sticks up for their kids.”
When he asks if they can try again, Allura hesitates, staring out at the view as morning light fills the room. The answer to his question will have to wait.
Songs Featured in This Episode:
- “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter
- “Diamond Veins” by French 79 feat. Sarah Rebecca
Next week: Double-Episode Season Finale - Streaming Tuesday, December 9th, on Hulu.
- Episode 8: “Oh, Jesus!” - The firm considers a new addition. Carr takes a partner of her own.
- Episode 9: “Interior Law Offices” - Carr makes a to-do list. Liberty discovers marriage can be messier than divorce.