Tick Tick – Episode 4 begins with a quick scene at Fulton, suggesting that some of the inmates are giving Conrad Hensley (Jon Michael Hill) a harder time than necessary.

Raymond Peepgrass (Tom Pelphrey) faces a similar misery when he wakes for his meeting with Herb Richman (Josh Pais) to discover that his car has been vandalized. Despite that, he assures himself that the day is going to be a good day and puts on his game face. When he does meet with Herb, he convinces him to listen to his pitch by bringing up his hatred for Charlie Croker (Jeff Daniels). Despite that, Herb claims he prides himself on being able to separate emotion from business.

Charlie and Serena Croker (Sarah Jones) share a few words about aging and being weak while he waits to be taken into surgery. Although he encourages her to go home, she expresses a genuine concern for his health.

After her impromptu meeting with Raymond at the gala, Martha Croker (Diane Lane) appears to have a newfound energy when she and Joyce Newman (Lucy Liu) attend another aerobics session with Mustafa (Brett Azar).

Things appear to be quickly spinning out of control at Wes Jordan’s (William Jackson Harper) campaign headquarters thanks to recently leaked slander ads online. This only leads to leaning on Roger White (Aml Ameen) even harder to track down the supposed woman Norman Bagovitch (John Lacy) allegedly assaulted years ago.

Jill Hensley (Chante Adams) spends a few minutes with Conrad at Fulton but what she hears about the overcrowding and his insistence to not take Charlie’s bail money doesn’t calm her any. Although it’s kind of left up in the air at the moment, it appears that she convinces him to take his help. Seconds later, a meeting between Roger and Stroock (Christian Clemenson) suggests that there might not be any help. Learning this doesn’t help calm Jill’s nerves anymore but Roger promises that he will get it sorted out.

While Conrad attracts the unwanted attention of one particularly menacing inmate, Bronx Rotto (Jackson Beals), Charlie learns that his surgery was a success. Dr. Kai Okubo (Kurt Yue) tells him that he will not only likely be discharged later that night, but thanks to the robotic knee, he can use an iPhone app to rehab while he sleeps, cutting overall recovery time in half. Although Charlie does leave the hospital later that night on crutches, it appears to be against the advice of the Orderly Joe (Evan Cleaver) and Serena.

Martha finds herself stunned by Raymond’s honesty and openness on their first date. He admits to being nervous, cursed with anxiety, and claims that asking her out could have a bit to do with his envy and admiration for Charlie. She appears to relate to him when he tells her that Charlie has a way of making people feel like they don’t matter. She’s even more pleased when he also admits that she is a very attractive woman.

Conrad’s time in Fulton only gets stranger when one of his cellmates, Mutt (Keith Brooks) asks him to describe his wife. Much to Conrad’s surprise, his other cellmate, Five-O (Atkins Estimond) is ever quick to encourage him not to do so, suggesting that Mutt will use the image to pleasure himself later that night. All Conrad offers is that Jill is an angel and he knew he loved her the moment he saw her.

The following morning after his knee surgery, Charlie unexpectedly shows up at the PlannersBanc offices to broker a deal with Raymond and Harry Zale (Bill Camp). Although Charlie is clearly sore over being having his plane seized in front of Herb, he manages to remain level-headed for the first part of the meeting. It isn’t until Harry says that it sounds like Charlie is taking his ‘trophy wife’s’ advice that he loses his cool. Charlie is sent over the edge and tries to physically attack Harry when he teases him about paying for the knee operation with their money. This doesn’t go too well for Charlie, seeing that he is still on a cane. Feeling like he’s out of moves, this eventually leads to him agreeing to meet with Wes.

Later that evening while Charlie discusses his fears of not recognizing when his time is over with Serena, Raymond and Martha choose miniature golf for their second date. Despite his awkwardness, he impresses her at the windmill hole. When the evening ends, she allows him to walk her to the door but wastes little time letting him know he won’t be invited in. He claims to be relieved by this. Much to his surprise, she ends the night by kissing him and insisting that he call her for another date.

The next morning, Roger discusses his strategy to help Conrad with Henrietta White (Jerrika Hinton). Rather than encourage or offer advice, she merely says that she expected him to be more focused on Charlie’s troubles.

Charlie meets with Wes proves to be extremely productive and provides a possible solution to his current financial woes. As it turns out the mayor curries a lot of favor at PlannersBanc because they serve as the state’s chief financier. After Wes clearly lays out his offer, Charlie tells him he will need some time to think about it. Wes reminds him to do so quickly because once Charlie loses public credibility, he’s no good to him.

Conrad doesn’t do himself any favors with the inmates (Marcus Anderson/Kyle Harris/Michael L White) at Fulton when he tries to medical attention for Sweet Boy (Joseluis Cortes) after discovering him stabbed.

Charlie’s meeting with Joyce does not go as planned. Even after he drops the name Veronica Sherman and claims to have heard some of the story from Norman himself, she claims she was never assaulted. It isn’t until after their meeting when she’s picking up her car from the valet that she appears startled.

Charlie meets with Roger later that evening to express his displeasure over his meeting with Wes. Besides claiming that they do honorable work and there are honorable people at Concourse, the meeting is uneventful.

The episode ends with Conrad grasping the reality of his intervening with Sweet Boy, while Joyce covertly meets with Norman in a dark parking garage.

 

A Man In Full Review

To start, I’d give the episode a 5.7 out of 10. Despite the ulterior political agenda and racial undertones in prison scenes, I would have to say episode 4 was one of the better episodes of the series. Despite that statement, I felt it was the prison content that made the episode more enjoyable. I was especially intrigued by the high-tech video conference as well as Charlie’s robotic knee. The whole knee concept and app recovery were intriguing.

I also appreciate how complex Raymond’s hatred/envy/admiration for Charlie is. Seeing Martha share a bit of that is also interesting and I’m incredibly invested in where the relationship might go. It’s also clear that it’s something that affects Charlie. I liked seeing Harry and Charlie’s feud taken to an even higher level of hate. Lastly, I am glad to see that Serena really is much more than just a trophy wife.

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