The Playboy Club Episode 1.02 The Scarlett Bunny

While members settle into their seats, Carol-Lynne performs an upbeat tune on stage. The two city workers who found Bruno Bianchi's key near the Chicago River wait in line hoping to get in that night. Backstage, Maureen announces that Hef wants a Chicago Bunny to be on the cover of Playboy Magazine. All but Alice and Janie are excited about the competition. Carol-Lynne steps up her performance when she sees that Nick Dalton has arrived.

Nick talks to Billy while he watches Carol-Lynne perform. The pain of being dumped by her still stings; he knows her charges of infidelity were unfounded. Nick tells Billy he wants her back, but Billy knows Carol-Lynne and reconciliation won't come easy. Billy tells him the word on the street is that Bruno Bianchi is gone, and Nick pretends not to believe it. They notice John Bianchi at a table across the club; Nick walks over to pay his respects.

The two city workers get into the club with the key that belongs to Clyde Hill (aka Bruno Bianchi). Maureen notices the name "Clyde Hill" on the member's board and worriedly heads for Nick's table. Nick's in conversation with Bruno's son John, who tells Nick that he needs help finding Bruno. Nick says that he cannot help because he is running for State's Attorney. Maureen offers them cigarettes and pulls Nick aside to talk. Among other problems, they know that if John or any of his goons spot Clyde Hill's nameplate on the signboard of members currently in the club, their secret could unravel quickly.

Maureen heads to the city workers' table and asks to see their key. She whispers that she knows they're trespassers, and they should leave before anything happens. They do. Nick's plan to remove the nameplate is thwarted when he stops to talk to Carol-Lynne. Maureen notices that Nick is distracted and decides to remove the name herself. While Nick tries to win Carol-Lynne back, Maureen sneakily pulls the name from the wall. John sneaks up behind her and asks if she knows anything about Bruno. She plays dumb.

Alice arrives at home to find her husband sitting at the dining room table. He tells her that his parents are coming in a couple of days; he needs her to be home to make dinner that night. Alice tells him that she has work, but he convinces her that if they want to play the part of a heterosexual couple, then she has to be at dinner.

In the mansion, Maureen stands in a bathroom toying with Bruno Bianchi's club key. She flashes back to what happened the night she killed him. She jumps when Brenda pops her head in and asks her why she has a key. Maureen makes up a quick story about how she's using the key in the pictures for the Playboy cover contest. Brenda is not happy that Maureen is entering.

Carol-Lynne greets the girls with Bunny Manuals the next morning. She reminds Maureen that she is going to need extra practice. Carol-Lynne finds a bunny costume - the same one Maureen was wearing the night she murdered Bianchi - hiding under the bed. Over Maureen's protests, Carol-Lynne decides to take it to the Club to be cleaned.

At City Hall, Nick sweet talks the mayor's assistant, Midge, into letting him see Mayor Daley for a few minutes. She reluctantly agrees. Nick tells Daley that he wants to run for State's Attorney and asks for his blessing. The mayor will give his blessing, but it's going to cost Nick. The mayor's wife wants a new car.

Carol-Lynne leads a Bunny training session at the Club. She asks the Bunnies a few questions, all of which Maureen answers correctly. Carol-Lynne quickly reminds them about the upcoming photo contest and then dismisses them. Janie heads straight for her boyfriend, Max, who tells her that she should compete. Later, as Carol-Lynne attends to some paperwork in her office, seamstress Pearl approaches and announces that the stain will not come out of Maureen's costume.

Carol-Lynne asks Maureen about the blood on her costume. Maureen concocts a story about being attacked in an alleyway. She was struck in the nose, causing blood to run over her costume, she tells Carol-Lynne. Maureen claims that she then went home with Nick to clean up the mess and swears to Carol-Lynne that nothing happened between them at his apartment.

Nick enters a car shop and stops before a red Jaguar. He greets John Bianchi in the back, questions him about his finances and asks for news about Bruno. When John has no news to tell, Nick tells John that he's willing to help look for Bruno. In return, Nick says that John should donate a car to his campaign. John gives him the keys to the red car.

In the Bunny dressing room, Carol-Lynne meets with her seamstress and confidante, Pearl. They wonder about Maureen's story. Pearl doesn't believe that so much blood could have come from a bloody nose, but she also doesn't believe that Maureen and Nick slept together. She tells Carol-Lynne to give Nick another chance.

Nick brings Mayor Daley's aide Midge two boxes of chocolate. One of them is filled with dark chocolate for her, the other is for Mayor Daley. But there's no chocolate in the mayor's box. Inside instead, he finds a shiny set of car keys.

Maureen gets ready in the club dressing room. Carol-Lynne surprises her. She tells Maureen that Chicago is a great city, but she needs to watch her back and cover her tracks if she's going to survive here.

The house band performs "Walk Like a Man" by the Four Seasons. Maureen comes down the stairs looking fierce in a red costume. Maureen walks straight over to Alice and asks her to conduct Maureen's photo shoot for the contest. Alice agrees nervously. From a balcony above, Billy watches Maureen and reminds Nick how hot she is. They discuss his campaign.

Alice is uncomfortable as she takes pictures of Maureen. Carol-Lynne finds flowers waiting for her in her office. They're from Nick. Nick surprises her in the office and apologizes, and they make up.

Alice asks Carol-Lynne if she can have the night off to have dinner with her parents. Carol-Lynne announces the top five - Mildred, Kate, Brenda, Maureen and Janie. Janie is shocked because she never entered herself in the contest. It turns out that her boyfriend, Max, did it without telling her. They top five move on to interviews and tell Hef why they wanted to be Bunnies. Maureen tells the founder that she had a bad home life, and she's happy to be in a place she belongs.

Back at the mansion, Brenda questions Maureen about what she said in her interview. Brenda tells Maureen that she really wants to make the cover, that the cash award will really help her with her goal of investing in real estate. Maureen's impressed.

Nick walks through the dressing room looking for Carol-Lynne. He finds Maureen alone reading the paper. Maureen is worried about Bianchi; but Nick confesses that he was once the Bianchis' fixer, so they have nothing to worry about. Carol-Lynne notices them talking and interrupts. Nick wanders off, and Carol-Lynne reminds Maureen to stay away from him.

Alice and Sean host a dinner for his parents. At Sean's father's urging, they make a plan after dinner to go check out the new Playboy Club. Alice is terrified. At the club, the Bunnies are getting ready backstage. Bunny Mother Carol-Lynne addresses the staff. She calls attention to Maureen's new costume; she dubs her "The Scarlett Bunny." She then announces that Janie is the winner of the contest. Upset, Janie hurries to tell Max that he messed up. She confesses that she is still married to a crazy man, who will hunt her down if he sees her on the cover. Max storms off.

Patrons pour into the Playboy Club, including Alice and her family. The Bunnies pretend not to know her. John talks to Nick about Bruno. A Bunny takes a picture of Nick and John shaking hands. Watching from a nearby table, Sean jumps up and decides to hand deliver the photo to Nick. Sean tells Nick that shaking hands with a mob leader the night he's announced for State's Attorney might be a bad idea. Sean's got political savvy and wants to be a part of Nick's campaign. John continues to investigate Maureen's connection to Bruno on the fateful night.

Carol-Lynne tells Maureen that Janie's backed out and that now she's going to be on the cover of the magazine. Back at the mansion, Maureen tells Janie that she feels bad about taking her spot. But Janie is not upset. Maureen tells Janie that she wants her dad to see her on the cover so that he knows she's become something in her life. Maureen also tells her how nervous she is about Carol-Lynne, but Janie reassures her that Carol-Lynne is not going to fire her. Before she goes to bed, Maureen takes some of her own earnings and adds them to Brenda's real estate fund.

Carol-Lynne and Nick leave the Club to go celebrate the formal opening of his campaign for State's Attorney. Back at the mansion, Maureen stands in the bathroom holding the purloined club key once again; this time, she hides it in a tin of vanishing cream.