The series begins with Charlie Croker (Jess Daniels) splayed out on his bedroom floor, philosophizing about the importance of what people say about you when you are gone. After suspecting that there won’t be too many kind things said about him, the story picks up 10 days before this event.

Charlie attends his 60th birthday party which is hosted in downtown Atlanta in his immense skyscraper of an office. Being that Shania Twain is on center stage, it appears that no expense was spared. Charlie is first greeted by Raymond Peepgrass (Tom Pelphrey) before stopping to have a few words with Joyce Newman (Lucy Liu).

Elsewhere, Roger White’s (Aml Ameen) arrival is held up by an entirely different type of party. He spends several seconds admiring a young girl dancing carelessly in a Moorehouse sweatshirt before roughhousing his vehicle through the crowd. He arrives just as someone is giving a speech in Charlie’s honor but is further delayed by Herb Richman (Josh Pais) who attempts to poach him from Charlie.

Charlie is later driven to his luxurious house by Gerald (L Warren Young) where he has sex with his beautiful wife, Serena Croker (Sarah Jones). Across town, Ray goes about his nightly routine in his stuffy little apartment. He soon receives a call from Harry Zale (Bill Camp) that reveals the two are working some kind of scheme against Charlie. Harry appears to be concerned about Ray flip-flopping on him at tomorrow’s meeting but Ray assures him that will not be the case.

The following morning, Charlie arrives for a big boardroom meeting with Stroock (Christian Clemenson) and Serena at his side. Raymond introduces Harry who immediately attempts to embarrass Charlie by asking him if he knows why the meeting was called. Harry doesn’t really give Charlie a chance to respond and eventually points out that there is a problem and asks if Charlie knows what it is. Charlie responds by saying he can’t speak as to what Harry’s problems are but he’s here to address their situation with a business plan. When Harry says the problem is the $800 million that Charlie’s company owes his bank, Charlie turns the floor over to Stroock who launches into a diatribe of financial facts and figures. Harry soon brings this to an end and further insults Charlie by giving him a very basic, brief explanation of what a loan is and how it’s supposed to be paid back. The two spend several minutes going back and forth and Raymond can’t hide his amusement. The little dispute is finally brought to an end when Harry pretty much tells Charlie the party is over and calls a rest to the meeting.

Outside, Stroock immediately attempts to offer solutions to begin paying back the loans, but Charlie has no interest in hearing them and orders Gerald to take him to the airport. Charlie stays silent for the majority of the trip and even turns down Serena’s offers to return home so she can take his mind off the problem. Charlie says his mind needs to be on the problem and becomes even more upset when Stroock proposes selling off assets. When Gerald interrupts with the news that both jets are in repair, Charlie changes their destination to the office and orders Stroock to call Roger White.

Roger is enjoying his morning with Cara White (Melody Davis) when Henrietta White (Jerrika Hinton) insists on Cara getting ready for school. With Cara out of the room, Roger attempts to discuss his feelings about his career. Although he makes a million dollars a year, does exciting work, and even has fun at work, his heart just isn’t into it. Cara’s return brings the debate to an end.

After his shift at the Croker Warehouse, Conrad Hensley (Jon Michael Hill) receives a call from Jill Hensley (Chante Adams) at Croker Headquarters, with the news that she’ll be working late. As Conrad makes plans to stop by the market, Roger arrives at Croker Headquarters to only deliver more bad news to Charlie about the loan not being structured in their favor.

After an intense workout session with Mustafa (Brett Azar), Joyce attempts to discuss Martha Crocker’s (Diane Lane) feelings about being left out of the spotlight now that she is no longer with Charlie. Martha is quick to point out that it was her who ended the marriage and she has no desire to be in the spotlight. Joyce not only doesn’t believe her but she practically tells her that she’s taking her to Atlanta’s next ballet arts gala, which Joyce has already purchased a table. Later that day, Martha also learns that Wally Croker (Evan Roe) has once again been suspended for encouraging students to not attend college.

Raymond and his lawyer meet with his ex-wife Sirja (Eline Powell) and her lawyer who propose a one-time payment of $700,000 to forgo future child support payments and responsibility. Raymond immediately becomes outraged at the high cost and claims blackmail. Sirja then basically tells him the option is for them to take the case to court where she’ll run his name through the mud. Raymond’s lawyer later encourages him to make the payment but he claims to not have the money.

Conrad has finished his errand at the market when he learns that his car is being towed for parking over the curb. It doesn’t take him long to realize that the truck behind him pushed his car over the curb, but the tow attendant Molly (Zele Avradopoulos) has no interest in hearing him out. As Conrad’s protests become more vocal and he jumps behind the wheel, Molly calls for police backup. It’s not long after Officer Smith (Scott Daniel Johnson) that things turn physical. Minutes later, Jill races into Charlie’s office without even thinking after learning of Conrad’s situation. Much to her surprise, he not only promises to get Conrad a lawyer, but he also gives her the remainder of the night off.

Roger’s meeting with Mayor Wes Jordan (William Jackson Harper) suggests that the two are old Morehouse classmates. Despite this, it becomes clear that Roger has little time or patience for Wes’s attempts at reminiscing. After demanding to know why he was called into Wes’s office, Roger learns about Norman Bagovitch’s (John Lacy) recent rise in the polls as well as his friendship with Charlie. According to Wes, Norman is also a rapist who can’t stop bragging about some woman he accosted years ago. In short, Wes wants Roger to use his connection with Charlie to discover the identity of that woman. Roger attempts to take the high ground but Wes practically tells him if he wants to make a difference and play with the big boys, he’ll have to get his hands dirty.

Raymond’s night goes from bad to worse while trying to juggle making dinner and receiving more bad news from his divorce lawyer over the phone. After scalding his hand on a hot plate and a few choice words, his attention is drawn to someone knocking on his door. Much to his surprise, it is Charlie, who wants to discuss Raymond’s sitting him up. After inviting himself in, Charlie spends several minutes belittling Ray before insisting on Ray fixing the business with the bank. Ray not only claims he can’t but wouldn’t even if he could. Before Charlie leaves and the episode ends, he raises an interesting point by pointing out that when Harry has finished coming after his company, he’s going to go after the bank that facilitated the loans.

 

A Man In Full Review

To be completely honest, it would be hard to ask more from a series premiere. There is plenty of suspense, an intriguing story, complex characters, and fairly straight-to-the-point content. Some scenes are useless or filled with fluff but I felt the series did an incredible job at staying on point. Despite all the racism and political correctness and Jeff’s horrible accent, the episode wasn’t all that bad. I’m certainly interested in seeing where things go from here and for that, I’d have to give the opening episode a 5.6 out of 10.

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A Man In Full Cast

Jeff Daniels – Charlie Croker
Diane Lane – Charlie’s ex-wife, Martha Croker
Sarah Jones – Charlie’s current young trophy wife, Serena Croker
Evan Roe – a troubled yet brilliant Wally Croker
Christian Clemenson – Stroock, Charlie’s financial wizard
L Warren Young – Charlie’s driver
Bill Camp – bank CEO, Harry Zale, who defaults on Charlie’s loans
Tom Pelphrey – Raymond Pepgrass, the chief loan officer who blindly signed off on Charlie’s loans
Aml Ameen – Charlie’s righteous fixer, Roger White
Jerrika Hinton – Roger’s doting wife Henrietta White
Melody Davis – the couple’s impressionable daughter, Cara White