We’re
getting into the thick of things now when it comes to the characters and their
interpersonal relationships – the webs they’re weaving are starting to get
tangled up, and I imagine it’s only going to get thornier as we move ahead.
Mo enlists
Dawn to help him resolve an issue between Blair and his fiancée. Dawn’s idea involves talking about love and
appealing to Blair’s emotions, whereas Mo’s, naturally, involves deception and
literal sitcom-level trickery – guess whose plan they go with? Meanwhile, the firm gets in hot water with
the Yakuza (who Mo borrowed money from in the pilot) when one of their traders runs
off with the money for their payment and puts it all on a high-risk venture.
I’ll
start with the B-plot, since Andrew Rannells isn’t in that part. While I came out of the episode still
slightly confused about the specifics of the “LaGuardia spread” trading gambit,
the basic idea is clear enough, and it’s a solid, high-stakes situation for the
supporting characters to be running around in.
Even better is the fact that, even though it’s this other trader, Wayne,
who screws things up with the Yakuza, it’s Mo who has to deal with their
displeasure, and there are some terrific scenes of him desperately trying to
talk his way out some very heavy stuff.
Mo, Dawn,
and Blair are a huge amount of fun together in this episode. Right from the start, I love it that Dawn is
poking holes in Mo’s scheme and very rightly asking why he’s trying to employ
sitcom-logic to real life, but when Mo bring Blair in, he just says, “Oh, like Hogan’s Heroes?” and goes with it. The machinations here lead to a lot of verbal
sparring between Mo and Dawn, which dredges up some things from their past that
aren’t quite as resolved as either of them would like to think.
It also
gives us plenty of scenes between Blair and Dawn, which is great. Those two really haven’t had scene together
since the pilot, but they bring it here.
Rannells’s comedic chemistry with Regina Hall is really enjoyable. The two have easy back-and-forth that’s fun
to watch. I also really love bringing
Dawn up close and personal with Tiff – Dawn is often positioned as the adult in
any room, and Tiff’s particular brand of crazy makes for a good combination
with Dawn’s usual levelheadedness.
As
always, Rannells is really fun. In
addition to the overall coolness of having lots of scenes with Hall and
Cheadle, he also gets some great lines.
I’ve said it before, but he really has a talent for carrying off absurd
lines and making them feel natural in a hilarious way. Here, I love the nonchalance with which he
tosses off this line (about Hogan’s
Heroes): “Of course I had questions,
it’s a sitcom set in a Nazi concentration camp.” Ha!
And just
generally, I like how Blair’s role within the show is shaping up. Mo fancies himself such a mastermind and has
so many plans going on, and Blair has a knack for very earnestly, very
unwittingly, throwing giant wrenches in them all with an unsuspecting smile on
his face. We’ll see how the show moves
with it as things progress, but for now, I find it very amusing.
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