TV Recap: "Phony" Episode 4 — Ellen Crashes the Dead Body Party
The “Dead Body Party” at Bucket’s Pond turns out to be just what Sonny Cooke needs in Episode 4 of Hulu’s Phony: a chance to finally question Shovel about what he saw by the lake. But getting answers means getting past Shovel’s grudge against Ellen, a cruel prank in the water, and a police raid that brings his mom straight to the party. Meanwhile, a phone call from a mysterious man suggests Ellen has made some kind of deal, and a final flashback reveals that the body Shovel saw could be connected. Here’s everything that happens in “Vibes Are Rancid.”
Episode 4: “Vibes Are Rancid” - Written by Lacey Jeka
The “Dead Body Party” at Bucket’s Pond is in full swing, complete with a haphazardly made scarecrow as the titular body. Sonny (Sam Nivola) is paranoid as he scans his peers, feeling like they’re all gossiping about him. He even thinks he sees his mom watching from the trees. When Chloe (Mahaela Park) tries to offer him a seltzer, he says he’s not drinking tonight.
Mallory (Grace Brennan) and her cousin Weldon (Colter Lee) arrive at their first high school party. Weldon came prepared to canvass the woods, wearing a headlamp and spray to ward off predatory animals. Mallory is convinced that Shovel never saw a body and that Sonny is just paranoid about his mom.
Sonny finds Vogel (Maliq Johnson) and explains how he got out of the house. But Vogel is preoccupied with a girl he likes. Sonny then finds Weldon and asks if he’s seen Shovel. Weldon tells him Mallory is with him and uses his tracker to lead him to them.
Shovel (Nation Sage Henrikson) flirts with Mallory in the bed of a truck, asking about her home school experience and her religious beliefs. They bond over Ram Dass's philosophy when Sonny interrupts, upsetting Shovel by using his government name, Shaun. When Sonny asks about the body, Shovel says he thinks he was just tripping, and Mallory tells Sonny it was a joke. Shovel thinks Sonny was sent to spy on the party for his mom, harboring resentment over the time she called the cops on his father for drug dealing. “Even if I did see something, I would never tell you,” Shovel taunts. Sonny and Weldon walk away, and Mallory looks uncomfortable with the whole situation.
Fearing that he blew his chance to get answers, Sonny scoffs and gets confused by Chloe’s messages asking to leave. We see Chloe with some friends, seemingly high, making plans to leave the party and get pancakes.
Having struck out with the girl he likes, Vogel finds Sonny and asks him to be his wingman. Sonny introduces Sofia (Mellany Barros), whom he knew from a chimney-sweep role in a production of Mary Poppins, to his best friend Vogel. He calls Vogel “the best guy I know” and tells her he’s a sensitive soul. By the time Sonny walks away, things seem to be heading in the right direction for the pair.
Mallory finds Sonny reflecting by the beaver pond and apologizes for staying quiet when Shovel was rude to him. She sympathizes with him feeling like an outcast because of who his mother is, having had the same thing as the pastor’s daughter at her church. He asks her to talk to Shovel, and when she declines, he accuses her of having a crush on him. When she denies it, he begs her to help him get answers about what he saw.
Meanwhile, we see a van driving down the road near the pond, and we hear an unknown speaker calling someone. Ellen (Connie Britton) answers the phone as the deep male voice tells her about the party. “I’m holding up my end of the deal,” he says. “Just hope you’re keeping an eye on Sonny.”
Mallory gets Shovel to agree to show Sonny where he saw the body. As they walk through the woods towards the pond, Shovel apologizes. Weldon asks for gory details about the body, but all Shovel reveals is that it was bloated. They reach the pond's shore as Shovel recounts running from the cops, getting lost, and sensing something was off. “The vibes were like rancid,” he explains about the moments leading up to seeing the body. It’s no longer there, and Weldon suspects that somebody took it. Just then, Shovel’s friends rush up, freaking out as they point at something in the water. It looks like a dead woman with blonde hair. Sonny jumps in to pull her up, and it falls apart—a scarecrow in a wig. The boys laugh, and Mallory turns on Shovel, who scolds his friends and swears he knew nothing.
Cops break up the party, and Mallory takes off with Shovel and his friends. As Sonny approaches the blinding blue and red lights, Ellen is there, asking what he’s doing. “How did you know where I was?” he asks. “Because I’m your mother,” she snaps.
As they walk towards Ellen’s car, they pass Chloe with her friends. “I really expected more from you,” Ellen chides her son’s girlfriend. Ellen tells a cop that she’s taking Sonny home with her, and they seem to ask no further questions. But as they get to the Driver’s Ed car, Sonny refuses to get in, asking his mom why she smells like cigarettes. She pounds her fist on the hood and demands he get in. He points out that so many students are watching her, then walks back toward the cops and says he’s sleeping at Vogel’s tonight.
The last thing we see of the present is some bushes by the lake. As the cops clear the scene, Weldon emerges, headlamp back on, to continue his investigation.
Then we see a presumed flashback of the body the beaver saw get driven away in previous episodes. We see the back of a man digging a grave. As the camera backs away, the grave is near a cabin. We get a better view of the vehicle that took it there. It wasn’t an SUV, but a van. The same van the mysterious man called “Ellen” from.
Next episode: “House of Dog,” streaming Tuesday, November 10th, on Hulu.
Sonny skips school with Mallory. Ellen investigates Sonny’s suspicious behavior.
Songs Featured in This Episode:
- “All Out” by Culture Villains, Kham & MSCMKRS (feat. Big Yae & KJ Carter)
- “Big Dangerous” by Geisha
- “091” by Creed 091
- “Motion” by Julisa