Season 2, Episode 01:
Hour of the Devil
Having allied himself with media tycoon Adam Brock to take over Rush Media, Gil is pleasantly surprised at work when Linda Rush calls and tells him that he can count on her support and significant share of the company to take down her husband. Gil relays the good news to Adam, who decides to set up a meeting with Allan the next day.
Rachel and Carrie are discussing Stephanie's recent departure from the magazine when Adam, Gil and a group of lawyers arrive for a meeting with Allan. During the ensuing negotiations, Allan ensures that his company is not for sale, but Adam reveals Linda's support for the takeover. Allan agrees to give up Communique to Adam in order to hold off the takeover attempt.
The bemused Allan makes the announcement to the shock of the staff, then smugly walks out of the building. Carrie runs after him and asks what's happening, and he tells her that she'll finally have to work for a living.
When he gets back home, Allan confronts Linda over her support of Brock's takeover attempt and tells her he blocked it by selling Communique. He asks why she's going after him, and she tells him that it's because of his affairs over the years. She finishes by saying that it's too late to make amends.
The next day, Adam holds a meeting with the rest of the Communique staff. He assures them that they'll be fine in the short haul and encourages everyone to resume business as normal before leaving. He also deals with Rachel and Carrie attempting to make power-plays for his attention and to keep their respective positions. Carrie offers to throw a party for his takeover, and he reluctantly agrees to attend.
Adam goes to a restaurant later on and meets with Linda, whom he apologizes to for roping her into the takeover attempt. She rebuffs his attempts at sympathy and lays out his rationale for buying the magazine in the first place, before telling him what a lousy person he is. Adam is amused by her charm and compliments her, causing her to get flustered and storm off.
Peter and Robin are having dinner at the Zinc Bar that night. When Robin goes to the washroom, Alex sneaks in and sits at the table, begging Peter to marry her and threatens to leak that he got her pregnant to the press if he doesn't acquiesce to her demands before storming off.
Adam goes back to the office and finds Rachel brow-beating a number of staffers. Having heard from Gil that she's a motivated and driven woman, he invites her to ride horses with him to judge her leadership potential. He humiliates her by riding through mud puddles but surprises her by telling her he'll promote her to full-time editor if she gets her act together. She reluctantly agrees to do it.
Linda is surprised and flattered when a bouquet of flowers is dropped off at her house after she takes a walk to discuss current matters with Carrie. She agrees to go to the party for him that night and meets him there, where he once again tries to charm her, but she once again refuses to reciprocate and walks off.
Peter is also at the party with Robin when Alex intrudes once again and reveals to her that she's pregnant. Robin storms off despite Peter's attempts to have her stay. The next day, Peter does some soul-searching and agrees to marry her on the condition that they do a prenuptual agreement and he files for a divorce after the child is born.
Carrie is incensed by Rachel's promotion to editor-in-chief and calls Allan for a meeting after being thrown out of her office. That night, she agrees to help him do whatever he can to get back Communique, and he says he'll think about it...
Tropes:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Carrie is initially pleased with Adam taking over Communique, but eventually gets so fed up with him that she tells people that she wishes Stephanie was back running the magazine.
- Best Served Cold: It's revealed that Adam is attempting to take over Communique in part because Allan poisoned one of his prize-winning race horses years earlier, and he intends to exact revenge by taking over Allan's company.
- Fake Guest Star: Gerald McRaney, who (despite being billed as a guest star) arguably becomes the main character (and chief motivator of the plot) for the rest of the show's run.
- Hotter and Sexier: Inverted. Due to the Retool, the characters' clothing styles become more conservative, the plot moved from the sex-fueled stories that marked earlier episodes (which were described as "as seen by Gen X'ers") to something that can be characterized as "Dynasty in New York", and the stories moved to being predominately focused on the older characters.
- Humiliation Conga: As a result of Alex's machinations, Peter learns that she's pregnant, is embarrassed at the party for Adam when she arrives and rails at him for being with Robin, loses Robin, and is forced to propose to Alex in front of the staff at the Globe newspaper.
- My Girl Is Not a Slut: Discussed by Peter and Gil about Alex.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: Having realized that Allan is no longer in control of Communique, Carrie immediately begins sucking up to Adam in order to keep her cushy job and high salary. Subverted later on, as Adam humiliates Rachel while telling her that he hates people who do that.
- Retool: Aside from a new opening sequence and theme song (musical director Tim Truman left between seasons), the premise of the show changes significantly. Brock becomes the owner of Communique and starts instituting changes, Gil decides to leave his job and work for Brock as a broker, and Rachel becomes the full-time editor of the magazine.
- Sanity Slippage: Alex begins to lose it as a result of initiating her "fake pregnancy" scheme.
- Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Mark (Tom Verica) is still included in the main credits, despite not appearing in the episode and having gone back to Seattle with Stephanie at the end of the previous season's finale.
- Slut-Shaming: Alex screams at Peter on the phone and accuses him of being with the "slutty" Robin, who he started dating after breaking up with her.
- Spoiler Opening: The opening credits spoil the fact that Mark returns from Seattle and confronts Carrie, who had previously had him arrested in the previous episode.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Rachel gets this reaction after Adam forces her to ride a horse with him in order to judge her leadership potential.
- Viewers Are Goldfish: Interestingly, the episode gets viewers up to speed on Peter and Alex's storylines by replaying whole scenes from the previous season finale (the scenes with Alex blackmailing the fertility doctor).
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: Carrie gets so fed up with Adam's reign over Communique that she loudly wishes that Stephanie would come back, and later reluctantly joins forces with Allan to help him get back into power.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Robin calls out Peter for getting Alex pregnant and not revealing it to her after the fact.
