This is a
good episode. It’s mostly stripped down,
focusing more on the main three. Some
strong humor and important character development.
Mo and
Dawn fly out to Los Angeles after receiving their very hush-hush “non”-invitation
to the Predators’ Ball. The
highly-exclusive event is equal parts raucous partying and financial
matchmaking, and Mo is desperate for a big score – that is, if his ego doesn’t
get in the way. Meanwhile, there’s news
of an SEC raid in the cards, so the other traders have been tasked with a
late-night “shredding party,” but Blair gets saddled with all the work.
All the Predators’
Ball stuff is really interesting. I like
the debauched secret-society vibe it gives off, with all the pointless dramatic
subterfuge, and it’s intriguing to see Mo and Dawn’s uneasy place in the
pecking order. Upon their arrival, their
(maybe) host declares them “our first Blacks” and Dawn “our first woman” (not
counting the prostitutes at the party.)
Mo and Dawn, as usual, are very capable of weaving magic when they work together
but struggle to put their personal issues aside long enough to actually do
it. Both of them here are making moves
and playing games with each other, in an unspoken game of interpersonal chicken
since the events of the last episode.
There’s
also an effective scene at the top of the episode featuring a sexual harassment
seminar from the firm’s lawyer.
Obviously, these traders have zero concept of not sexually harassing their coworkers, and Dawn is sure to give as
good as she gets, but even so, this lecture is just ridiculously lacking. In addition to the traders mercilessly
mocking it the whole time and asking clueless bad-faith questions like, “Does
it count if she’s really old?”, the lawyer’s advice is full-on nonsense. Offering such (paraphrased) gems as, “Well,
of course, you can still say anything
you’d like to a woman, but where physical
contact is concerned, it’s a little more complicated…”, it’s a comic nightmare
of wall-to-wall misogyny.
Blair is
mostly tucked away in his own plot here, but he’s still pretty fun. Being stuck at the office with the shredder,
which he inevitably screws up, leads to some good physical comedy, and it’s
just enjoyable to watch him poke distractedly through other people’s things and
field increasingly-incensed calls from Tiff about why he isn’t home yet. My vote for Best Andrew Rannells Line Reading
of the episode goes to, “He doesn’t bully me!
Although he did kind of take my lunch money.” Ha!
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