The Book of Rannells: Black Monday: Season 1, Episode 4 – “295” (2019)

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.