‘Black Rabbit’ Episode 4 Recap: A Destabilizing Turn as the Private World Unravels

Black Rabbit Episode 4 accelerates the series’ collision of wealth, sex, and secrecy, propelling the private-playhouse restaurant toward a destabilizing turn that fans have begun to anticipate and dread. The episode threads together fallout from the overdose story that has haunted the Rabbit’s publicity cycle, turning glossy profiles into questions about who knew what and when. In a moment that frames the episode’s central tension, a Page Six-style take on the restaurant’s glossy image collides with a reporter’s growing curiosity about Anna and her experiences at the Rabbit, revealing how quickly the public narrative can flip from opportunity to liability.

On screen, Jules’s fixer moves to blunt the blowback while Morgan Spector’s Campbell — a classic “fix-it” operator for the powerful — stands outside Anna’s meeting with the reporter, a reminder that the private playhouse thrives on deniability as much as money. Jake Friedkin remains focused on expansion, even as Mel’s recovery from an overdose underscores the restaurant’s dangerous environment. The two men, and their sister project, the Pool Room, become a tangled web of ambition and risk: Jake’s drive for a larger brand collides with the visible fragility of those around him. The pair renew their private romancing in a quiet corner of the Pool Room, only to be interrupted by Campbell, who delivers threats on Jules’s behalf. The moment cuts to the core of Jake’s character: his tendency to justify harmful behavior in service of growth, and his willingness to bend or break rules to preserve the image he wants.

"Fuck, what a mess." is spoken aloud in the room as the Friedken brothers’ friction surfaces. Jake asks whether Anna’s experience will be treated as a matter of public image or personal accountability, and the exchange hints at a broader pattern: Jake’s claims to control and to a clean brand are undermined by his own complicity in a culture that tolerates, and even rewards, toxic behavior. The tension over whether the Rabbit’s operations skim profits or obscure abuses is crystallized as Vince pushes back against Jake’s management style, accusing him of skimming cash from the till while continuing to prize the restaurant as a personal emblem. The brothers’ argument shifts from fiduciary anxiety to a raw, family-tinged assessment of who really holds power at the Rabbit, and what they are willing to lose to keep it.

[Image: Black Rabbit Episode 4 recap]

Outside the private rooms, Roxie’s arc takes a sharp turn. After spray-painting the provocative message “VILE PIG” on Jules’s gallery, she retreats to the home of her former kitchen boss and romantic partner, Kathryn Erbe’s character, for shelter and healing. The kitchen memories revive her resolve: she wants the Rabbit, but not as it is operated by Jake and now Vince. Erbe’s presence offers a stark counterpoint to the Rabbit’s glamour, delivering a perspective that food can be both nourishing and a catalyst for truth-telling about the power structures surrounding the restaurant. Roxie’s reckoning is a reminder that the show treats cuisine as much as a cultural signal as a business engine, and that personal loyalty can be turned or broken by the machine built around the Rabbit.

Meanwhile, Junior and Babbitt escalate their pressure for repayment at an apartment belonging to Jake, mocking his ostentatious displays of wealth. The scene—frames of broken bottles and a torn Ryan McGinley photograph—plays as a ritual of intimidation, a reminder that the Friedken brothers’ plan to consolidate control is inseparable from debt, threats, and a willingness to cross lines. In a crucial moment, Vince mentions Anna by name, hinting at the danger that a former employee with a story to tell could pose to the Rabbit’s fragile balance. The episode confirms that Anna’s trajectory is no longer just a personal tragedy but a potential lever of leverage or liability for Mancuso’s installment agreement with the Friedkens.

Jake’s surveillance of the situation appears to fracture when he learns of Jules’s manipulation in Anna’s case. The episode spots a turning point when Anna publicly confronts Jake about his sexual behavior in a Rabbit context, telling him, in effect, that he is not her friend and recounting various instances of coercion. Jake’s defenses—"we were drunk" and "you were smiling"—underscore a pattern of minimizing harm and avoiding accountability. The moment deepens the show’s examination of complicity, showing how even a brotherly relationship can become a vector for harm when financial risk and sexual dynamics intersect without safeguards. Campbell’s intervention then complicates matters: outside Anna’s apartment, he offers her a ticket to a new life in Tulum, a tempting escape from a city where elite privilege often means impunity.

The scene shifts again as Anna accepts the plan, only to be interrupted at the last moment by Junior and Babbitt. Campbell heads back inside to continue the charade, and the episode’s most brutal turn arrives quickly: Anna is found dead in her bathroom. Campbell cleans up the evidence, erases prints from her passport, and walks away with the plane ticket and cash. The act marks the first fatal consequence of the Bunny’s unraveling, a reminder that the costs of this world are not symbolic but tragically real.

The episode’s broader texture is reinforced by a DJ booth sequence that ties the episode to a larger cultural moment. The show drops in a few needle drops—Amyl and the Sniffers’ “U Should Not Be Doing That,” Nirvana B-side “Marigold,” and Pixies’ “Stormy Weather”—as Gen, a Zillennial member of Vince’s orbit, dwells on music culture and the era-bending street life in the East Village. Gen’s critique of Vince’s retro-rock instincts and the sartorial quotes—like the Nick Cave suits—underscore the tension between image and reality that runs through the Friedkens’ world. The continued friction between Jake and Vince, and their differing responses to the Rabbit’s mounting pressure, suggests the family’s dysfunction will persist as a weather system that inevitably circles back to the same dangerous core: who benefits from the Rabbit, and at what cost to those who work there or who become entangled in its orbit.

As Episode 4 closes, Anna’s death crystallizes the show’s signal: the Rabbit is no longer a glamorous platform but a destabilizing force that exposes everyone involved to risk. The path forward will test who is willing to break free from the machine or who will double down in a culture that normalizes exploitation as a business tactic. The result is a dramatic pivot for the series: a narrative that has repeatedly promised glamour and opportunity now confronting the lethal consequences of unchecked ambition and a system that protects those at the top while leaving others to pay the price.