Marvyn Korn watches one of his players go through their own public downfall while making himself vulnerable in “This is Our House.” The fifth episode of the David E. Kelley hit Disney+ original series Big Shot gives viewers a better look at the Gruzinsky family as their lives change forever. Here’s a play-by-play of the latest episode.
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Emma has Lucas over at the house, who made her dinner. They sit on the couch flirtatiously joking about what they like least about each other, about to share a kiss when they hear Marvyn at the door fumbling with his keys. Lucas freaks out and runs to the closet to hide as Emma tells her father, “I thought you weren’t coming home until later.” It doesn’t take long for him to find Lucas and kick him out of the house. Emma tells her dad that she’s 16 and old enough to be dating, asking Marvyn to stay out of her dating life and start thinking about his own. “You know, mom’s dating,” she tells her dad, forcing him to realize that he’s been divorced for 4 years and hasn’t dated yet.
At Westbrook, Olive records a new Instagram post thanking her followers for the positive response to her previous post where she came clean about the life she really lives. The rest of the Sirens are excited because a local newspaper wrote about how well the team is doing. As they stand outside talking, they see Holly get out of her car with Felix, who the girls refer to as “Hot teacher.” They see them hugging, making the girls think Holly might be in a relationship with a younger man.
At their lockers, Mouse and Harper appear to be flirting while talking about studying for a big test in Coach Barrett’s class (Holly). Louise confesses that she didn’t get to study and didn’t sleep well because her parents were having a big fight all night. Olive tells Louise she has her back. In class, Olive texts Louise a picture of her completed exam for Louise to copy. After class, Kelsey, the same redhead who bullied Emma about her uniform on her first day, tells Coach Barret that she saw Olive and Louise cheating and suggests that their exams might be identical.
Marvyn is in his weekly meeting with George Pappas, his phone on the desk keeping track of the time to ensure he doesn’t stay longer than he has to. The guidance counselor tells him to name 5 people he’s close to, pointing out that he didn’t list anybody he’s intimate with. “Don’t you find it odd that a highly successful, arguably handsome man like yourself, has completely shut himself off from the love of another?,” George asks.
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Olive and Louise have been pulled into Holly’s classroom. “Do you need to see proof or do you both want to admit it?,” she asks them. Olive says she wants proof but Louise confesses, trying to explain her situation before Coach Barrett cuts her off. “There is no excuse for cheating and you’re both going to get the same punishment,” she tells them, saying they both earned a zero on the test and will have lunchtime and after school detention, in addition to her telling Principal Sheralyn Thomas. Olive tells Holly that her parents will pull her out of Westbrook for real this time if they find out. “Well maybe you should’ve thought of that before.”
In Sheralyn’s office, Holly is joined by George Pappas, who thinks Olive and Louise should be expelled for cheating, which is the school’s policy. Holly argues that they’re both A students and Sheralyn asks George to leave. Holly promises the principal that they won’t cheat again and Sheralyn asks if she thinks Coach Korn is having a bad influence on the girls. Holly says no, but Sheralyn questions if the assistant coach has feelings for Marvyn.
The Sirens are still glowing from the article about them when Marvyn tells them to forget it. “It’s all noise, tone it out.” Destiny tells him that the article called him “Brilliant,” which makes him pause for a moment. While the girls run drills, Coach Korn asks Coach Barrett if she’s serious about giving Louise and Olive detention. He’s upset because they have to miss practice and in his frustration, he accuses Holly of having a split focus between her teaching and coaching duties. “That’s one of the reasons you don’t have a team of her own.” She gets mad and says “Fine, then I’ll leave you to focus on your team,” leaving practice early.
In play practice with Ms. Goodwin, the drama teacher is being a control freak while Emma talks with Lucas, hearing about the fight his parents had all night. Ms. Goodwin is mad at them for talking during rehearsal and tells them to go memorize their line. Emma recites her 1 line to show that she’s already done it and she gets mad. “Are you being fresh with me? I doubt your father would tolerate this attitude from the girls on his team. I bet one strong stare from those periwinkle eyes of his would render them speechless.” Behind her back, Emma and Lucas snicker, realizing that the drama teacher has a crush on Emma’s father.
Olive goes to Principal Thomas after detention to apologize. Sheralyn asks Olive what her future plans are after high school, learning that Olive isn’t planning to make a career out of basketball. She commends Olive on her social media savvy and suggests that she document her journey to Division 2 with her team. She tells her it could impress colleges since she will likely need a scholarship.
Louise arrives home after practice to find police cars blocking the driveway as officers load boxes and bags of items from the home. Her mom tells her that their bank accounts have been frozen and her dad is being charged with embezzlement. “You can’t tell this to anyone, this is a family matter,” Louise’s mom tells her and Lucas. She argues that all the neighbors can see what’s happening and word will get out fast. “Not a word,” she asks her kids. “Promise me.”
In the teacher’s lounge, Marvyn and Holly find themselves alone briefly and he apologizes for losing his temper with her. “You’re wrong you know,” Holly tells him. “You can be both, be a teacher and a coach.” As Holly leaves, Ms. Goodwin comes in, introducing herself as Margaret to Marvyn, but adding that her friends call her Maggie. She tells him that Emma is distracted in rehearsals by Lucas. “I gave them a pretty tough talking to yesterday, I hope you don’t mind,” she tells him and Marvyn says he appreciates that. She brings up the color of his eyes to his face and he is taken aback. “I would love to pick your brain over a couple of dirty martinis and hear all about those coaching tactics of yours,” she flirts, adding that she will meet him at an Italian restaurant called Angelini's at 7:00.
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A lot is going on in the outdoor cafeteria. Kelsey looks at the Sirens with envy, upset that Olive and Louise weren’t expelled for teaching. The basketball team looks at Holly and Felix, who are having lunch together, talking about how they’re sure they’re in a relationship. At Holly’s table, she finds out from Felix that he overheard Margaret asking out Coach Korn, telling her that they’re going on a date. Meanwhile, Emma is having lunch with her dad in his office, telling him that she’s heard that Holly is dating Felix and asking about his date with Margaret. He tells her it’s not a date, saying that he’s gone out for drinks with Holly and it wasn’t a date. Emma tells him that she’s sure that Ms. Goodwin has a crush on him.
Preparing for the basketball game, Louise has headphones in, unable to not think about her family’s situation. She looks in the stands at the spot where her dad usually sits and he’s not there. Destiny tells her that her aunt is stuck in bad traffick and her dad probably is, too. In the team meeting before the game, Olive records Coach Korn’s pep talk and he asks her to stop. “I don’t want you to let the cheers go to your brain or the boos go to your heart. Put all that stuff out, this is our house. Nobody waltzes in here and pushes us around in our house,” he tells the Sirens. Marvyn notices that something looks off with Louise. Out on the court, a player from the other team makes a score that Louise usually would’ve blocked and she takes her frustration by pushing that player down, getting fouled by the referee. Holly goes to the locker room to talk with her and Louise accuses Coach Barrett of not having her back both in the classroom and on the court. She’s mad that Louise told Principal Thomas about her cheating and Holly tells her she was protecting her, telling Louise that she has a great life compared to many. She leaves Louise alone.
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While the game is still going on, Louise walks out and Dylan is waiting for her to take her home. “I don’t want to go home,” she tells him. They go to a park and he can tell there’s something she’s not talking about. He gets her to finally break her silence.“My dad was arrested. It’s about money stuff and it’s serious and I don’t know what’s going to happen.” She talks about how she’s worried about what everyone will think of her family and he tells her she shouldn’t care what other people think.
The Sirens win their game by 3 points and afterwards, Marvyn talks to Holly about Louise. She tells him that Louise needed a break and after their tense conversation, she needed one, too. “Why don’t you go have a drink with your new boyfriend?,” he asks her, telling her he’s heard that she’s dating Felix. “Not that it’s any of your business or any of the girls, but Felix and I aren’t a thing. I mean, not like you and Goodwin,” she responds. He tells her his plans to meet Maggie for drinks isn’t a date. “That’s not what I heard,” Holly teases.
At Angelini’s, Maggie boasts about the school paper’s review of her last gender-bent show, “Josephine and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” She wants to know more about him, but stops him when he starts to list off his career highlights. “I’m not interested in your text, thrill me with your subtext,” she says, loosening him up by pretending to read his palm and pointing out a line that says he’s capable of having fun. When the waiter arrives, she orders in Italian and doesn’t let Marvyn pick what he wants. “You like to take control, don’t you?,” Maggie smiles at him as he realizes what just happened. “This is a date, isn’t it?,” he asks his bossy tablemate. “Of course it is,” she smiles victoriously. Cut to later in the evening and they’re laughing, sitting closer together at the table as Marvyn recalls a story where he almost hit a gold ball into an old woman’s temple, missing her by an inch. “One inch can make all the difference,” he concludes, making Maggie laugh at the double entendre. “I didn’t mean it like that!,” he blushes. “Who would have thought the fearless Marvyn Korn could get embarrassed?” Marvyn tells Maggie that he likes her laugh.
Arriving home with a tinfoil swan of leftovers, Emma gets her dad to admit that it was a date.“Oh no, you had fun, didn’t you?,” she asks disappointedly. She tells him she signed up for the play so she could do something where she wasn’t just Marvyn Korn’s daughter, adding that now Ms. Goodwin will only see her that way. “The play was supposed to be my thing,” she concludes as Marvyn tells her he won’t see Maggie again if she doesn’t want him to.
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In the Gruzinsky living room, Lucas asks Louise about the fight at the game when she gets a video call from her dad. Lucas tells her not to answer it but she does, finding Larry calling from a hotel room having been released on bail, saying their mom didn’t want him to come home so he can focus on his defense. He asks Louise about the game, telling her he promises to be at the next one. Larry gets a call on the other line from his lawyer and says he needs to take the call, but that everything will be fine. “You didn’t do this, right? The things that they say you did?,” Louise asks. Larry pauses before answering, “Of course not.”
Samantha, Mouse and Destiny get called to Principal Thomas’ office, waiting in the atrium with her receptionist, who tells them they’re in trouble when they ask. Entering the office, they see Holly and Felix seated with Sheralyn, who thanks the girls for making everyone aware that the two teachers were in an “Inappropriate relationship,” which violates school policy. Destiny asks how she found out and Sheralyn tells them they’ve been talking too loudly. Holly tells the girls how much she loved coaching them and that she will miss them. “Well we didn’t know for sure,” Destiny pleads. “Oh, so you just spread rumors?,” the principal asks. Holly lets the act drop, telling the girls that Felix is her godson, his mom is her best friend. Carol, Sheralyn’s receptionist, interrupts the meeting to tell her there’s an important email she’s not going to like. Asking everyone to clear out, she sits at her computer and says “Oh no!”
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Outside of school, Samantha excitedly tells Olive that “Hot teacher” is still single as their phones start to ding. Kelsey walks by gloating about how Larry Gruzinsky has been arrested and Mouse almost attacks her. Looking at her phone, Olive tells the girls that the news is everywhere.
Emma goes to her dad’s office and finds that he just saw the news as well, looking out on the court and seeing Louise practicing alone. Marvyn walks out to talk to her, asking how long she’s known. She tells him it’s been a few days and that she knows that everyone is talking about it. “Yes, they’ll be talking about it, but you don’t have to listen. It’s all just noise, Louise.” She tells him everything is ruined and tells him he can’t understand what she’s going through.“Really?,” he asks and she realizes that Marvyn can probably relate more than anybody, asking how he got through it. “I haven’t, he tells her. “It changes you, I’ll say that. It changes you. Sometimes change isn’t a bad thing. The silver lining is you find out who your friends are, and you’re surprised at how few there are. But I’m talking about your real friends that stand by you and protect you. If you need anything, I’m here.” She says “Thank you coach.”
Holly arrives at her house with a bag full of take out when Louise approaches her door and apologizes, telling her she didn’t deserve to be talked to the way she did. Holly invites Louise inside to join her for dinner.
That night, Marvyn answers the door to find Lucas, asking if he can talk to Emma. “Just talk,” Marvin sternly says, giving the Gruzinsky boy a pat on the back as he enters the house. Later, we see Marvyn on the patio drinking a glass or red wine, Emma and Lucas talking on the couch through the glass double doors. He looks out at the Pacific Ocean and we see text messages appear on the screen from people talking about Larry Gruzinsky. One of them says “Daughter of a criminal being coached by a criminal” and the episode ends with Marvyn exhaling a deep, emotional breath.
The next episode of Big Shot premieres Friday, May 21st on Disney+. Here’s the official episode description of “Carlsbad Crazies:”
Marvyn regresses back to his old ways while defending Louise from an opposing team’s harassment. Holly gets a shot at the limelight.