Plot: Michael starts off trying to track down the people who left the photographs in his loft based on cues from the photos. This unfortunately leads him to need information from his mother (now with shorter hair), who expects something in return. A friend of hers was scammed and left penniless, so Michael is off to scam the scammer. Too bad the two people he needs help from (Sam and Fi) have unpleasant past history. Something involving a Libyan arms dealer.
This leads to much sniping between those two, which means considerable frustration for Michael. Fiona also isn't making things easy, with the job or his mother. Oh, and Sam has temporarily moved into Michael's living space. Drinking in underpants ahoy! Quentin the con artist is eventually shut down, and Madeline even comes through for Michael with a mysterious phone number, which is answered by a mysterious male voice, who is typically unhelpful.
The Players: Laura (The Client), Quentin (The Con Artist), Greg & Bonnie (Apprentice Con Artists).
Quote of the Episode: Michael - 'My mother's understanding of my job changes with what she wants from me. One day, she can name everyone on the National Security Council, the next she thinks I'm working for the Post Office.'
Does Fiona blow anything up? Quentin's car, but she wasn't supposed to.
Sam Axe's Drink Count: 4 (9 overall). Beers this week.
Sam Getting Punched Count: 2 (3 overall). They were technically slaps, but Fiona really put some force into them.
Michael's Fake Laugh Count: 1 (5 overall).
Other: I'm very impressed with Michael's ability to text with proper spelling without looking. Michael's alias this week was Peter Jordan, former cellmate of one of Quentin's old cellmates.
The fact that Fi and Sam have bad past history is an interesting choice. Not really a necessary one at this stage in the series, though. It's a way of adding conflict to have Michael rely on two people who bicker almost constantly, but thus far, Fiona's been enough of a problem herself. Whereas Sam seems mostly eager to help, if only to make up for spying on Michael for the feds, Fi is almost constantly busting Michael's chops, going too far with the explosives, making things more difficult for him with his mother. Not that Michael doesn't have at least some of that static coming, but it makes me wonder if you need additional friction between Fi and Sam.
Later in the series the past history becomes less of an issue and Fi and Sam's issues are more of a personality thing. The best friend versus the girlfriend. Neither one really wants the other around Michael, and their perspectives on things are so frequently different it makes sense they clash. At this point in the proceedings, that hasn't really been set up yet.
Madeline's insistence on the importance of family is certainly irritating to Michael, maybe because she uses it to get what she wants. Or because she takes such a rose-colored glasses look at their family life. I didn't mention it last week, but the line Michael had about the last thing his father said to him was, 'I'll see you in hell, boy,' so he figured they'd had something planned was very funny.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment