'Bel-Air' Season 2 Episode 8 Recap

BEL-AIR -- "Pursuit of Happiness" Episode 208 images

Source: Courtesy / Peacock

In last week’s episode of Peacock’s Bel-Air, Aunt Viv (Cassandra Freeman) finally spoke up and told the world that she was the artist who created the mystery ‘Living In Silence’ piece. Along with the reveal, Vivian also made it very clear how she felt about her fellowship and the direction it’s going. This week’s episode, which was titled ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ picks up right there. Viv is running an apology that she plans to give by Will (Jabari Banks), Ashley (Akira Akbar) and Geoffrey (Jimmy Akingbola) as Uncle Phil (Adrian Holmes) enters the kitchen. As soon as he steps foot in the room, Will abruptly tries to leave. Phil stops him and decides to make amends with his nephew. Phil promises Will to ease up and only help him when he asks for it. It obviously was too much to ask for there to be two reconciliations at breakfast. Although Will and Phil got their relationship back on track, the same can’t be said for him and Carlton. Will didn’t waste any time leaving when Carlton (Olly Sholotan) finally came downstairs. The tension between the two is still very evident. Phil suggests that Carlton apologize to Will and Carlton feels like his father is taking Will’s side, yet again. Before Carlton leaves, his noise unexplainably starts bleeding (We know what it’s from). His parents are a bit alarmed, but don’t read too much into as Carlton hurries out and claims it’s a nose bleed stemming from the air. Meanwhile, while Will was practicing for his first Zenith Hype game, Jackie (Jazlyn Martin) shows up. She apologizes to Will for her actions the night she was drunk. The two plan a date and Jackie promises to tell Will more about her life. Will also asks her about why his teammate Bryan isn’t on the team anymore. Jackie says that she will talk to him about that too on their date.

After breaking up with Jazz (Jordan L. Jones), Hilary (Coco Jones) is going through it. She had been stuck in the house miserable for a few days. This changed when her influencer housemates came to speak some words of encouragement to her. They mentioned how hard breakups are but emphasized that they only got as far as they have because of her. Once they explained that they felt like they should continue their momentum but they needed their leader, Hilary found the strength to get out the bed. She heads over to LaMarcus’ crib and the two start to talk business. Hilary created a business strategy that she wanted him to look over and pitch to his marketing people. Before even looking at the proposal, LaMarcus (Justin Cornwell) makes the call, showing that he believed in Hilary and whatever she thought would work. Later on in the episode, LaMarcus surprised Hilary with her own billboard on Sunset (Hilary told him that Ivy kept mentioning getting one earlier in the episode). He then expresses that he misses Hilary and he wants her back. He adamantly states that he’s not going to lose her again. Although she doesn’t say too much, Hilary is obviously happy. Will Hilary forget about everything her and Jazz had built? Is this the second beginning for her and LaMarcus?

Vivian meets with some of the higher ups that are over her fellowship. As she’s in the midst of apologizing to them for her previously made comments, they interrupt her with some surprising news. They reveal that her Instagram presence has opened up a wider and younger audience for them. They express how they see her as the future. Instead of being stripped of her fellowship like she thought she would be, Viv was offered the executive director position that Janice currently holds. Vivian has mixed feelings about taking the gig. As she discusses it with one of her friends, she mentions that Janice isn’t necessarily a friend but she feels like she would be stabbing a sister in the back. The two put that subject on the back burner and start to talk about Erika (Diandra Lyle). Despite what her friend has to say, Viv chooses to take the high road. Her friend encourages her to stop being so busy putting everyone else’s feelings first that she forgets about her own. While Viv was dealing with mixed emotions, Phil was at the firm. He, James (Reno Wilson) and the rest of the employees celebrate Derek (the third member who started the firm with them). After the tribute, James confronts Phil about the meeting he took with Erika’s firm. He tells Phil that he doesn’t really care about their firm and he did a good job making everyone believe he did. After thinking about what he said, Phil alerts James that he won’t be leaving the firm. Phil promises to always do what’s right for their firm. He tells James that they’ll look over the terms of the merger and figure it out together. Ironically enough, while Phil had already made up his mind, we get another Phil back story. As Viv and Erika meet to have a coming to Jesus moment, we find out the two women were once best friends. Erika slept with Phil while he and Viv were taking a break. The conversation ends with Erika giving Viv her word that she her intentions with Phil are strictly professional. Will Viv take the position she was offered? Is Phil making the right decision by not taking Erika up on her offer? Will he change his mind about staying with his own firm?

Contrary to what we thought might happen, Carlton decided to stay in the Founder’s Award race, largely in part to Lisa (Simone Joy Jones). She encouraged him to speak his truth and fortunately for him, everybody ricked with it. Carlton shows his appreciation for her by buying her a new charm. He gives her a kiss on the cheek before he leaves. It’s written all over her face that she doesn’t feel all the way comfortable with it. Shortly after Carlton gives Lisa the gift, Will sees Lisa walking the halls with Drew (Nicholas Duvernay). Will chooses to go to Carlton with the information. He first tells his cousin that Drew is the one who leaked the video. Then, he hips Carlton that Lisa gave Drew another chance, which further infuriates Carlton. When he sees Lisa and Drew kissing, Carlton approaches Lisa. He tells her that Drew is the one who leaked the video. She thinks what he’s saying is preposterous. Lisa apologizes to Carlton for possibly leading him on by accepting his gift earlier. He responds by apologizing himself. Instead of him apologizing for his actions, he apologizes that Lisa is so desperate to get over Will that she’ll deal with anybody. Lisa responds by cursing him out and storming off. Feeling sad and defeated, Carlton surprisingly looks to Connor (Tyler Barnhardt) for help. He asks him if he had more drugs and Connor tells him to follow him. The two pull up to a crib where some of Connor’s new friends live. Carlton and Connor begin to rage! They literally smoked, drank, snorted drugs and everything else in between. They get so smacked that Carlton eventually falls asleep. When he wakes up, he doesn’t necessarily remember where he is. To make matters worse, he goes outside and he can’t find his car. Carlton gets in contact with Aunt Viv who comes to pick him up from a bus stop in the pouring rain. When his mother asks him what happened, Carlton makes up a lie. He tells her that he and Connor were drinking a couple of beers. He continues by telling her that as he was driving home, he started to feel nauseous and disoriented. He tells Viv that he got out and started walking to the point where he didn’t;t even know where he was anymore. Carlton ends his tale by blaming everything that happened on his meds. Back at the house, Geoffrey notices that Carlton isn’t okay. In a conversation with his Viv, Uncle Phil doesn’t buy anything Carlton is saying. Carlton tries to gloss over the situation but Phil emphasizes that they’ll be keeping a closer eye out on him. The next day, Geoffrey comes to tell Carlton that he found his car, keys and phone. As Geoffrey pokes holes in his story, Carlton continues to act like he doesn’t remember what happened on the night in question. Geoffrey warns him that one day his truth will have to come out. How long will it take for the truth to come out about Carlton’s escapades? Can we expect him to keep spiraling? Will Drew get exposed for leaking the video?

Will’s first game with Zenith Hype is a huge success. They end up winning by 6 as Will shined brightly as the team’s new featured player. After the game, Geoffrey and Phil just oversaw Doc (Brooklyn McLinn) being confronted loudly in the parking lot by a mysterious man. It just so happens that this same man was watching the game and more specifically Doc very intensely. As they stood there confused, Geoffrey assures Phil that he’ll look into it. After school, Will was supposed to pick Jackie up and go on their date. Instead, he sees Lisa outside in the parking lot and her dad’s car won’t start. Will offers to take her time a couple times but Lisa stubbornly declines his offer. She tells Will that she’s actually going to the hospital because her stepmother is basically in labor. Will finally convinces her to let him take her to the hospital. The tide once again seems to be turning for Will and Lisa’s relationship. While Will continues to stall Jackie out, he and Lisa have a conversation about the importance of family, even if they don’t look like the family you’re used to. Will’s wise words helped Lisa feel better about her situation with her father and stepmother. Before Will leaves the hospital, Fred (Joe Holt) thanks Will for all he did for Lisa that day. Will spent so much time at the hospital that he forgot about Jackie. When he finally pulls up to pick Jackie up, he’s told that she already left for the night. Will’s timing couldn’t have been better though. He ended up running into Brian before he peeled out. Brian informs Will that Doc isn’t who he says he is. The information Will got shook him so much that he decided to go talk to Phil about it. Will tells his uncle that Doc has been taking bribes to steer players to colleges and agents. Phil, already having got the information from Geoffrey already knew where the conversation was going. He put two and two together and figured out that someone now is threatening to blow the whistle on Doc and the whole team. What will be Will and Uncle Phil’s course of action in regards to Doc? Are Will and Lisa about to go down the same path they were on before? How will Jackie feel about Will standing her up? Let us know what you thought about the eighth episode of season two and what your predictions for next week’s episode are in the comments!