"Reality Shock" is the third episode of the first season of Elsbeth.
Lavish Ladies is a The Real Housewives-esque reality show following wealthy women in New York and their various adventures, produced by Skip Mason (Jesse Tyler Ferguson). When Wendy Wexler (Nadia Dajani), one of the Ladies, attempts to blackmail Skip with knowledge of an incident involving someone named Katricia, he appears to agree to give her more creative control and royalties, only to murder her by dropping a blender in her bathtub while she's having a soak. Elsbeth enlists Kaya's help for her investigation, since Kaya is a huge fan of Lavish Ladies and knows all the ins and outs of the series.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: There are alliterative names, but the embarrassing incident is also called the Montauk Meltdown.
- Alliterative Name: Wendy Wexler, who as a bonus, stars on Lavish Ladies.
- Apology Gift: Wendy promised to give Katricia one for supplying the meds Skip used to drug her, but when questioned by Kaya, it hasn't arrived yet. By the end Katricia finally got it...a discount coupon for one of Wendy's blenders.
- Audible Sharpness: Used when Skip pulls the knife out while he's chopping vegetables in the middle.
- Bait-and-Switch: The events immediately leading up to Wendy's murder sets up multiple methods Skip might use but subverts them — he pulls out a knife (only to slice some limes), spikes the margaritas with pills (but Wendy sees and says he should add more so she can feel buzzednote ) — only for him to impulsively decide to electrocute her with a running blender.
- Big Bad: Skip Mason.
- Blackmail Backfire: Skip kills Wendy for trying to blackmail him.
- Broken Pedestal: Played for Laughs. Kaya is a huge fan of Lavish Ladies but becomes disillusioned to learn that the reality show is heavily staged and finally renounces her fandom when Elsbeth proves that the show's creator is a murderer.Kaya: I need to find a new show.
- Conviction by Contradiction: Elsbeth can prove Skip is guilty because Tracy sent a text on her way to meet him, proving that she was much later than he claimed.
- Double-Meaning Title: "Reality Shock" usually means a new employee, typically a registered nurse, finding workplace expectations different than expected, but here it refers to a reality show star dying by electrocution.
- Engineered Public Confession: The crew of Lavish Ladies, alongside Katricia, who was unjustly fired from the show, all jump at the chance to help Elsbeth set one of these up, secretly keeping the mics on while Katricia and Skip have a "private" discussion. Skip runs off his mouth about Katricia not wanting to end up like Wendy... only for it to be revealed that the sound tech whipped up a hidden mic for the occasion and their conversation has been played for everyone to hear.
- Fake Alibi: Skip's alibi seems airtight; he left a voice message on Wendy's phone, and in the background you can hear Tracy's voice announcing that she's only a few minutes late for their designated meeting time. However, it falls apart when Elsbeth and Kaya realize he reused an old clip of Tracy from the show.
- Glitter Litter: Wendy loves sparkles, which gets under Skip's fingernails after he kills her, and also gets stuck on the glasses that Wendy and Skip used in the bathroom.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: It's one of the blenders Wendy shills that winds up ending her life.
- Immoral Reality Show: Lavish Ladies is an Expy of The Real Housewives that has Katricia strip down on TV while ranting. It's revealed Skip drugged her to get the reaction he wanted, which caused Katricia to lose custody of her kids.
- Insistent Terminology: Wendy's housekeeper Valencia would prefer it if people referred to her as the "paid intern".
- Lady Drunk: The cast members of Lavish Ladies drink so much alcohol that they need to spike their drinks just to feel buzzed.
- Manipulative Editing: Lavish Ladies is very manipulatively-edited, which Skip and Wendy used to cause Katricia to have a reaction.
- Naked Freak-Out: In an infamous episode of Lavish Ladies, Katricia strips down while yelling at the other Ladies, which Skip caused by drugging her.
- Never Gets Drunk: Katricia, a former Lavish Lady, downs a dozen shots in front of Elsbeth to show she simply cannot get drunk. That's why she was fired—unlike the other ladies, Skip couldn't manipulate her into acting up for better drama. He actually resorted to drugging her to get the reaction and drama he wanted.
- Painting the Medium: Elsbeth excitedly asks if she can say "cut" immediately before the episode cuts to the credits.
- The Perfect Crime: Subverted—unlike most crimes on this show, Skip didn't plan his murder of Wendy in advance at all, and did it spur-of-the-moment. It shows.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: The way Skip talks about and treats the "silly women" on his show reveals a pretty intense misogynistic streak.
- Product Placement: In-universe. Wendy's been trying to push her "Wendy's Blendies" line of blenders on Lavish Ladies, to Skip's displeasure.
- Quote Mine: Skip uses old footage of Tracy speaking in part of his "voicemail" to Wendy.
- Recorded Spliced Conversation: Skip uses old footage of Tracy speaking as part of his "voicemail" to Wendy in order to avoid implicating him in her murder.
- Saying Too Much: When the show's paid intern Valencia is questioned by detective Donnelly, she says she had a good thing going working for Wendy, since she'd been stealing money from her, so she had no motive to kill her... understandably, this doesn't help her case.