Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

Millie spirals into panic on hearing Vera’s announcement. This is the last thing she expected when she confided in Vera. The panic turns to despair when she learns that blond and gray-eyed Aimes was Xander’s girlfriend. Millie can see why Xander would prefer Aimes to her. As Vera questions Aimes about Xander’s address, Aimes replies he lived in an upmarket apartment building in the Haight-Ashbury. Millie mumbles that this wasn’t Thomas’s address. However, she doesn’t know where Thomas really lived.

Meanwhile, Oliver walks in with Emma, surprised to see the motley bunch at Vera’s place. Vera introduces Oliver as her nephew and Emma as her granddaughter. Seating Oliver next to Millie, Vera obviously tries to set them up, making Millie blush. When Milie insists it is time for her to leave, Oliver walks Millie out to the bus stop on Vera’s suggestion. Millie gets a threatening text message from Mother and Father and scrambles to hide it from Oliver. Oliver gives Millie his number as they part. On an impulse, Millie buys a burner phone and saves Oliver’s number on it. When she gets home, Mother and Father inundate her with questions about where she has been. Chillingly, they know Millie was at Vera’s tea shop.

During dinner, Vera reflects on the immense fun she is having during her investigation. She has learned how to act from her previous foray in crime-solving. This time, she did not accuse anyone outright of murder. Rather, she allowed her guests to be at ease and assessed them by “the Vera Wong Formula for Murderers” (97), which includes criteria such as whether the person has shifty eyes or has a deep connection with the victim.

When Vera gets up to make some rose tea, she hears Aimes and TJ discuss social media. By the time Vera is done, she realizes Aimes has recorded the tea-making process on her phone. Aimes tells Vera that the footage is very soothing and that there is a huge demand for comforting videos of food being prepared. Aimes shows Vera the channel of a middle-aged woman in China who gets millions of views on her videos where she makes delicious pork dishes from scratch. When Aimes tells Vera that a million views generate an income of $2,000, an idea forms in Vera’s head: She decides she can be on social media and solve the mystery of Xander’s death. Vera tells TJ she has decided to be a social media star. Robin, TJ’s 13-year-old daughter, delightedly grabs Aimes’s phone, announcing she’s going to show the older folks how to edit a video in under five minutes. Robin’s edits produce a stunning video. Vera only asks that Robin remove the background music, as she plans to add her own narration to the video.

Just then, Selena drops in. She is immediately suspicious that Vera is hosting a dinner for people whom she has recently questioned in a case. Selena asks Vera if she has been snooping around, but Vera dismisses her suspicions. Selena cautions Vera against meddling because it may bring danger to Vera and the others around her. Vera lets slip that since the case is a suicide—rather than a murder—danger is unlikely. Selena wants to know how Vera knows the case is a suicide, but Vera deflects her again. Finally, Vera sees off Selena with packages of food, promising her she will not go looking for trouble.

Back home, Aimes’s mind is a jumble. The truth is she and Xander never dated, but they shot and posted couple content to boost their channels. Yet, the world thinks of her as Xander’s girlfriend. Aimes’s apartment is also very different from how it appears in her videos. In reality, it is tiny and crammed with promotional stuff. Only select corners, where she shoots her content, are nice. Aimes feels that she hates the apartment, just like she hates herself.

Compulsively she checks her DMs. She is flooded with condolence messages about Xander. Aimes cannot understand how so many people know about Xander’s death until one of the links in the DMs leads her to a TikTok video. It is the video of Vera brewing the tea. Accompanying the soothing footage is Vera’s voiceover, in which she wonders what happened to social media star Xander Lin, who was recently found dead. Vera says she wants to ensure Xander gets justice. She asks people to join her in her videos as she investigates Xander’s death. The TikTok already has several views.

Aimes wishes she could stop Vera from making more videos, but she knows this is near impossible. Since the news of Xander’s death is out, Aimes needs to make a video addressing it. As she brainstorms what she can put in the video, the memory of her last conversation with Xander intrudes. She blocks the memory and makes a short, succinct video announcing Xander’s death and her own hiatus from social media while she grieves. Aimes wishes she could reveal the truth that she and Xander never dated. However, she thinks that so much of her life consists of lies. After college, struggling to find a path forward, she falsely claimed to her ex-classmates from Berkeley that she was working at the San Francisco Chronicle. As DMs of support now flood her channels, Aimes feels like more of an imposter than ever.

TJ is examining the latest data on his clients’ engagement, and the numbers don’t look good. As TJ once again worries about the future, Elsie announces Vera’s arrival. TJ tells Vera she cannot keep dropping in unannounced, but Vera tells him she’s not there for Xander. She is seeking representation for herself. When TJ tells Vera she is not an influencer, Vera shows him her video about Xander, which has garnered a million views already. Elsie, Kit, and Lomax join TJ and Vera, drawn by her video. They are excited and ask TJ to take on Vera as a client. However, TJ tells Vera that he cannot represent her as he already has too many clients.

Just then, TJ gets a call from Robin’s principal saying that Robin has been suspended and needs to be picked up immediately. Vera announces that she is coming along with TJ and gets in his car. At the school, Vera introduces herself to Mr. Burns, the principal, as Robin’s grandmother. Mr. Burns tells TJ that Robin is being suspended because of her non-adherence to the dress code since she refuses to wear a bra. Vera tells Burns that there is no need for a suspension, saying she will buy Robin a bra today. When Burns argues, Vera accuses him of bullying and body-shaming a 13-year-old girl. She says that if Robin’s breasts offend the principal, that is his problem, since breasts are nothing to be ashamed of. Then she asks Burns why he was looking at a young girl’s chest, which unnerves him. He agrees to remove the suspension. Vera then offers him a pork bun and leaves.

In TJ’s car, Robin tells Vera she is a “badass.” Vera replies that it is disrespectful for Robin to call her by her first name. She says that from now on, Robin must call her grandma, and Robin agrees. Brushing off TJ’s objections about Vera threatening Robin’s principal, Vera asks him to drive them to Julia’s address, where she is supposed to pick up Emma. Vera asks TJ to then drop off “the girls” at Macy’s so they can shop privately for bras for Robin. Later, Robin asks Vera how she could sense Robin was awkward buying a bra around her father. Vera tells her nobody wants to buy a bra with their father. Thankfully, now Robin has Vera for this kind of mission.

Vera, Robin, and Emma have a good time at the store as Robin tries on bras. Vera’s heart warms when she sees Robin play big sister to Emma. After shopping, they meet TJ, who softens when he sees Robin in a good mood. Out of Robin’s earshot, he tells Vera that he often doubts his abilities as a father. Robin’s mother—a woman with whom TJ had a one-night-stand—dropped her at his house when she was a newborn. Robin was a cranky baby, and TJ was out of his depth with her. TJ considered giving Robin up for adoption, but one day, she seemed to look at him in a way that left him sobbing. He connected with Robin and decided they belonged together. Since then, he tries to be a good dad but often feels he is not doing enough for Robin.

Vera tells TJ it is clear he is a good father because he loves and respects Robin. She says Robin just needs some grandmotherly affection, which Vera will supplement. She invites TJ and Robin for lunch. Afterward, Vera asks for Robin’s help in making her next “viral video.” Robin records Vera as she prepares drunken chicken. Robin’s shooting style is different from Aimes’s: She focuses more on Vera’s hands as she cooks the chicken and insists on ending the video with Vera taking a bite of her dish. Vera later adds a voiceover in which she discusses Xander. Vera says what drew her to Xander is the loneliness that shone from underneath the façade he presented in his videos. Vera says she can recognize loneliness as she, too, has suffered from it since her husband’s death. Robin tells Vera that she’s a natural at social media—she is authentic in the midst of so much curated content.

Qiang Wen feels uncomfortable about the lies he has told regarding Xander. However, guilt prevents him from sharing the truth with everyone. He reflects on Xander’s appearance in his life. Xander became a regular at his shop, even posting videos of him and Qiang Wen making dumplings together. Xander would refer to Qiang Wen as “Ah Gong,” an honorific for an elder in Cantonese, unlike his own grandchildren who called him “Gramps,” a term that seemed unfamiliar to Qiang Wen. Qinag Wen wonders if the time Xander spent with him was just to create content. For Qiang Wen, it had been a genuine filial connection.

Lost in his thoughts, Qiang Wen does not notice Vera enter his shop with TJ, Robin, and Emma. Vera orders dumplings to eat at the shop. Qiang Wen tries to tell her that he does only takeaways, given the small size of his store, but Vera sends Robin to bring out stools from the kitchen. Though Vera says she is there because Robin wanted Qiang Wen’s dumplings, Qiang Wen can see that TJ and Robin have been coaxed into the situation. Vera shows Qiang Wen her videos and promises him she will find out what happened to his grandson. Vera notices an invitation to a party for social media influencers in her DMs. The party is at a place Xander frequented. She tells everyone she will attend the party. Qiang Wen decides that he has been passive for too long and that he needs to take action to get closure about Xander. He tells Vera that he, too, will be going to the party.

Though Mother and Father will dislike Millie making the first move with a man, Millie texts Oliver Chen for a date. She dresses carefully, sure to apply Mother’s lessons on what makes a woman attractive, keeping her looking young and vulnerable. Certain men prefer women who look pale and helpless and those are the sort of men Mother and Father think Millie should target. Millie tells Mother and Father that she is headed for a date. They are satisfied that the date is with a successful writer—as Millie has described Oliver—but warn her to be back in time.

Millie is almost giddy with relief at being out of Mother and Father’s house. She meets Oliver at Alamo Square, next to the Painted Ladies (a historical landmark consisting of a row of picturesque pastel-hued houses). Millie and Oliver fall into an easy conversation, with Millie telling Oliver her 11-year-old sister would swoon with joy if she saw the pretty neighborhood. Millie says she loves her sister but feels a barrier with her. Oliver puts it down to the pre-teen phase of rebellion.

A few days later, Millie wonders why Oliver has not yet held her hand even though they have been out on a couple of dates. They have had a fabulous time, laughing so hard Millie’s cheeks hurt, yet Oliver has held himself back from Millie. She considers texting Oliver again when she sees a message from Vera asking her to come over and wear something nice. Millie has no idea what Vera wants from her, but she puts on a pretty top and skinny black pants. She texts Mother and Father that she is going out on another date and leaves the house.

At Vera’s tea shop, Millie finds Aimes there as well, looking gorgeous. As Millie stares at Aimes’s flawless clothes, Aimes explains that they are second-hand, bought from a vintage store. Vera announces that they are all going to an influencer party. Aimes must do Millie’s make-up, like she has done Vera’s, so Millie fits in. After Aimes is done, Millie is surprised at her own reflection. She looks like a beautiful, confident woman in her twenties, which is her real age, rather than a young, vulnerable girl. She, Aimes, and Vera arrive at the party holding containers of Vera’s food. The party is at a five-story mansion in Bernal Heights, and it is busier than any party Millie has been to in the US.