The Book of Rannells: Black Monday: Season 1, Episode 2 – “364” (2019)

Even though I liked the pilot of Black Monday quite a bit, episode 2 already takes things up a notch.  This could prove to be an excellent series, and I’m excited for more.

Blair’s first day working at Mo’s firm takes an unfortunate turn when someone tries out a trading-floor plank on him and it backfires in a very expensive way.  The traders frantically try to undo the mistake, but it becomes increasingly clear that Dawn is the only one who can fix this – and it just so happens that she quit that morning after a major blow-up with Mo.  Mo scrambles to smooth things over before the market closes, and the whole thing is made even trickier by the fact that he’s trying not to look bad in front of a “movieographer” who’s there taking notes on Mo and the firm for a prospective screenplay.

I know I said this last week, but it holds true here as well:  this episode is so sharply plotted.  All the characters (except for poor, naïve Blair) are incurable schemers, and there are games within games being run pretty much from the jump.  Mo and Dawn’s back-and-forth power plays are especially fun to watch; it’s only the second episode, but you can feel the shared history behind their interactions.  Don Cheadle and Regina Hall play splendidly off each other.

The humor and character work feels smoother than in the pilot. The one-liners come across more organically (even in instances when characters themselves are trying too hard to be quippy – it feels like a natural fail rather than a writer giving them a forced bad line,) and a better balance is struck with Mo.  He was dialed up just a bit too far in the pilot, but his brand of too-muchness is pitched perfectly here.

I like the hook of the observing movieographer.  It pulls in more fun ‘80s references (he’s gearing up to write Wall Street,) and Mo’s remarks warning the guy not to whitewash his character are unfortunately still timely.  Also, it increases the drama of an already-high-octane day of trading.  It’s pretty clear that Mo’s image means just about everything to him, and the prospect of losing $4 million almost means less to him than the prospect of losing face with this screenwriter.

As for Blair?  Andrew Rannells is again pretty fun.  Blair of course starts out all straitlaced and idealistic, even after he was screwed around with so much in the pilot.  He actually spouts lines like, “Don’t you remember what it was like to be uncorrupted?” with 100% sincerity, which makes him a great foil for all the self-serving game-playing going on around him.

But already, his choices aren’t so clear-cut.  He’s a long way off from his fellow traders, but he’s not a boy scout either.  He’s presented with a dilemma in this episode, and it’s interesting to see, not just what he does about it, but why.