Episode 2 starts with Jill Hensley (Chante Adams) lurking outside Charlie Croker’s (Jeff Daniels) open office door, where he and Roger White (Aml Ameen) bicker about the rising company’s debt. Upon noticing her, Charlie assures her that they are going to take care of Conrad Hensley’s (Jon Michael Hill) defense and post his bail.

Raymond Peepgrass (Tom Pelphrey) arrives at the PlannersBanc offices to find Harry Zale (Bill Camp) in a spirited mood about Charlie’s requesting another meeting. Harry’s mood appears to be infectious but things turn slightly strange when Harry asks Ray if he thinks he could Charlie in the fight. Ray’s timid response,’ Is that important,’ leads Harry into a tirade about how part of being a man is about being able to kick another man’s butt.

Outside Charlie takes a similar approach to ready Roger and Stroock (Christian Clemenson) for the meeting. Once gathered in the boardroom, it doesn’t take long for Charlie and Harry to start going after each other. Although Charlie has laid out a plan to repay the loan, it’s not nearly fast enough for Harry. Much to everyone’s surprise, it is Roger who cleverly points out that Harry’s defaulting on the loan will saddle him with the ensuing debt that is currently posted as an asset for the bank. When Harry responds like he doesn’t have a care in the world, Roger and Charlie respond with the announcement of their lawsuit, claiming that Planners breached the lenders/borrowers contract. Harry responds by pointing out the lack of success other borrowers have had when trying to sue their lenders.

Charlie is fuming after the meeting, but his ranting with Roger and Stroock in the bank’s elevators gives him the idea of finding an investor to bail them out. Seconds later, he’s on the phone with Serena Croker (Sarah Jones), arranging a meeting with Herb Richman (Josh Pais). Being that Herb is a family man, Charlie also mentions bringing Wally Croker (Evan Roe) along. Serena agrees to attend the meeting but makes it known she doesn’t want to miss the gala.

Roger and Jill arrive at the courthouse for Conrad’s arraignment while Wes Jordan (William Jackson Harper) puts in face time with his constituents. Although the people receive him well, Wes is obviously stressed that Roger isn’t present. He only becomes more stressed when his assistant tells him that the choir scheduled for tomorrow’s rally is expected to be paid. At about the same time, Conrad’s bail hearing is getting underway. Despite Conrad’s employment, standing in the community, and clean record, Judge Taylor (Anthony Heald) sets bail at $250,000. Jill learns later that day that Conrad will likely have to spend 30 days locked up.

Although it was Stroock and Roger who suggested the white knight theory earlier, he doesn’t appear at all comfortable with Charlie reaching out to Herb. He is especially troubled with Charlie’s decision to entertain him at Turpmtine (Charlie’s 29,000-acre quail plantation/eco-lodge). Charlie practically tells him there is no other option.

Raymond meets with Sirja (Eline Powell) and her lawyer Milton Tennenbaum (Richard Topol) at his strip mall office, which doesn’t go any better for him than any of the previous meetings.

While waiting on the tarmac for their guests, Charlie and Serena spend a few minutes strategizing. Charlie expects a good dinner and a full day of nature the morning will be sufficient to bring the man over to their side. Their planning is cut short with the arrival of Wally and Martha Croker (Diane Lane). Wally doesn’t appear at all enthused about the trip, and although she’s not included in the festivities, Martha has a few kind words with Charlie before Herb and Marsha Richman (Andrea Frankle) show up as well.

Roger returns to meet with Conrad and brings Jill under the guise that she’s his assistant. Conrad isn’t at all worried about the 30 days in jail but is concerned with the conviction on his record. Unfortunately, Roger doesn’t see any way around it and says going to trial is even riskier and could end in a 6-month sentence.

Much to both of their surprise, Raymond and Sirja have a productive dinner meeting. Despite her joking about having a child that he doesn’t want, he agrees to take full responsibility and says it would be nice to have someone in his life to love, and if he can even get along with her that would be a bonus. She appears to take him seriously and asks if he could be anything/anyone he wanted who would he be? His answer is Charlie Croker but he can’t say why. This is when she suggests he forget about being Charlie and be himself. Once they agree on financial terms, she asks if he wants to have sex.

Charlie wastes little time showing his pride about Turpmtine as he and the Richman family ride into the lodge on 4×4 off-road vehicles. Upon their arrival at the house, they learn that there is a disturbance in the stables. It is soon revealed that a Diamondback Rattlesnake has gotten in with the horse and got them all stirred up. Much to the group’s surprise, Charlie wrangles up the snake with immense joy. Sometime later that night when Wally tells Martha about the event over the phone, it becomes clear that he’s concerned about his father’s rash behavior. Although Martha asks if Charlie staged the event, she promises to speak with Charlie.

After the call, Martha shares the news with Joyce Newman (Lucy Liu). Their discussion and Charlie’s need to show off for Herb leads to Joyce bringing up the interesting point that Martha still owns a stake in Concourse, meaning any debt accrued could later become her debt.

Harry is working late to wrap up the Croker case when he receives an unexpected visit from Arthur Longley (Grainger Hines). Although the meeting is fairly uneventful, Arthur does warn Harry that Charlie could still be dangerous and the public adores him. Harry’s response is that if he going to destroy Charlie, he is going to do it completely and utterly.

Later that night at the eco-lodge, Charlie visits what appears to be a specially built rattlesnake habitat, indicating that he did likely stage the earlier snake encounter. Wally’s concern for his father grows when he overhears him taunting and teasing the snakes. Wally’s brief ensuing conversation only raises those concerns.

The episode ends with Roger watching the body cam footage from Conrad’s case.

 

A Man In Full Review

Not a horrible episode at all. It was far from spectacular but it was enough to keep me interested. I thought the rattlesnake ploy was incredibly clever, as was the ‘white theory.’ I can also appreciate that it feels as if a lot of the technical financial and contract stuff has been ‘dumbed down’ for TV. This may not be the case or even attended, but I don’t feel like I have to research terms and look up clauses just to understand what’s going on.

Raymond is becoming somewhat of a more enjoyable character although he is still a complete pushover. Harry and Charlie are equal opposites and make excellent arch nemeses. The whole Conrad deal is abhorrent. Poor old Jon Hill hasn’t improved one bit from his Elementary day and I almost lost my lunch when Jill suggested PTSD defense. Now, I am not saying that the officer didn’t deserve to be hit, but that is unfortunately not the way society works. Just because someone deserves something, you can’t go around giving it to them. The thought that someone could be an entire defense by claiming they ‘may’ suffer PTSD because their long-ago relative was a holocaust survivor.

Other than that, the story is shaping up rather nicely. Daniels’s continues to get worse but looking over that and political agenda, this series isn’t half bad. Oh, I also feel that the Raymond/Sirja story could have been approached more eloquently or cleverly. Just because she’s Russian, she doesn’t have to be portrayed as a money-grubbing floozy. I’d give the episode a 4.7 out of 10.

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