The 5th Leaf: No Split Decisions

“The Outsider” Recap by Seth

Will traveled to Washington, D.C. with Spangler, but not before encountering a mysteriously sexy new neighbor. In DC, Spangler reveals himself to be a rather idiosyncratic, eccentric man. However, we also see that he is rather brilliant remarking on ties, the nature of intelligence, and proper handbag choice. Their mission on this trip is to secure unrestricted funding from the government. Spangler’s eloquence wins them the day as he gives the aforementioned tie speech (doesn’t sound exciting, but it was!). We also see that Spangler has taken a shine to Will as he purchases him a new briefcase coming full circle on his earlier diatribe regarding Will’s subpar handbag choice. Also in Washington, Will meets with a buddy from the CIA to get info on the 7 names he and Bancroft found last week. The pal seemed upset about helping Will, but did it nonetheless and we come away with a new name, Donald Bloom and an era and location where all 7 worked: Mid-80′s in the Mid-east. What we really get from this trip though is a window into Spangler’s psyche, the first real shot at him, and what we see is confusing: a melange of brilliance and potentially crippling eccentricity. He’s managed to reach near the top of his field. His 3 set pieces/monologues this week to me were the star of the episode, breaking from his quirky ways to show us how he got where he is and exactly how strong a manipulator he might be.

Back in NY, Will’s team is tasked by Kale to backburner their hunt for the money launder/terrorist to focus on an Indonesian terrorist named Kateb (Qateb? I have no idea). Kale tells them that there can be no split decisions on “irreversibles.” Tanya questions what that means and Grant all too plainly replies “people you can’t un-kill.” In a storyline reminiscent of the classic 12 Angry Men, we see Miles, Tanya, and Grant debate Kateb’s fate. They go back and forth, they switch sides, and mostly we get to see the group’s dynamic and what it’s like to be an intelligence analyst. More on this from Pete later as it bore some really interesting tidbits.

The third prong of the story we’re beginning to see emerge, is Katherine’s personal investigation of Thom’s death. The Rhumors may not have shared all of their secrets, but it’s clear that they loved each other. In a heartbreaking scene, Katherine receives a package containing all of the evidence from her husband’s investigation (is this really what they do? TERRIBLE IDEA!) and as she goes through his belongings: blood soaked fabrics, wedding ring, and finally his phone where she discovers two messages. One of them is from her, the other from Wheeler who says “Tom, if you keep this up, you know what’s going to happen.” Katherine replays the message several times and her recognition grows with each listen. She returns to the townhouse to look around and finds a take-out menu from a Chinese place. She heads there and converses with the cashier who eventually reveals that delivery was taken to the townhouse and was paid for by James Wheeler. So she finds out what we did last week: Wheeler is a scumbag.

The Widow Detective (Craig Blankenhorn/AMC)

When our hero returns to the office and his colleagues, we see that he tasked Miles to run a check on the aforementioned Donald Bloom, who as it turns out recently flew into New York…

Discussion by Pete

In this week’s episode, what do we learn about the possible conspiracy shadowing David’s death? Nothing! How much closer do we get to a sense of the conspiracy behind Rhumor’s suicide? Not much! Do these two parallel racks come any closer to crossing? No! And yet, this week’s was a very good episode, in some ways perhaps the best, in establishing both the capabilities of the show and revealing yet more about the place of work its characters have chosen.

With Will and Spangler in D.C., the rest of the team is left behind to do their best chasing an Indonesian terrorist and we see whole worlds revealed concerning API’s central function, and why the lives of everyone on Will’s team are in shambles. And so, here we are. This is what they do. This is why–at least in part–Miles fights with his wife over custody of their children and feels nostalgia and guilt at the sight of suspected terrorists with their families. It is why Tanya is such a nervous, pill popping wreck. It is why Grant is such a huge dick. This is what they do–building the cases for the assassination of terrorists halfway around the world, on incomplete intelligence (all intelligence is incomplete, as Kale will remind them), bending and contorting their logic, looking for meaning and rationalization in abstract numbers and figures, and selectively blind themselves to pieces of information (usually having to do with children and the other necessary collateral damages of a clandestine bombing) that muddy up their best attempts to justify what they’ll be reading about in tomorrow’s paper.

What have we learned, aside from why these three are the walking dead (AMC CROSS PROMOTION!)? Well, for one, they can carry their part of the show and contribute meaningfully to it even when separated from the investigations of the mysteries surrounding the two deaths that have shadowed Rubicon from its beginning. This is important–without losing sense of the greater tasks facing its characters, the team shows that the show does just fine as well as a procedural, thank you very much. Their ultimate recommendation to kill Kateb may not be heard from next week, but its cumulative effects will be felt–they agonize over it before learning to live with it, before becoming numb to it, before they are so deadened to it that Will can walk in at the episode’s end, declare the strike a success, and not give it a second thought. There’s a kind of poetry in it, Will finding himself in this line of work, going on nine years after his family was killed by Islamic terrorists. It also may offer a clue to David’s death. Remember, from a couple of weeks past, Hal’s finding that the only time such a coordinated intelligence clue was spotted across several crosswords–as detected by Will–preceded a massive terrorist attack on a U.S. army base in Beirut, killing nearly 300 soldiers and personnel. What is on the way now, that is so threatening that David is killed even for having an inkling that it exists?

The Walking Dead (Credit: Craig Blankenhorn/AMC)

Now that the team has taken us for a spin and shown us what they can do, a couple questions for the gallery:

When is Katherine going to look into the business her husband left her?
Pete: Just saying, if I found out I was the new owner of a business with a completely non-descript front-sounding name, and a townhouse—even an Upper East Side mansion straight from the real estate porn section of the Sunday paper—I might first want to know what that business is in the business of doing. Especially if, you know, my spouse has died under suspicious circumstances, and his best friend is leaving ominous messages on his cell phone just before his death, not to mention ordering Chinese food from the house he denied knowing the existence of. Just saying.
Seth: Couldn’t agree more. Although it seems like she is in a bit of a haze regarding her husband’s death and I can’t really get a grasp on how much time is passing on this show. I won’t contend to know how to react in a position like that because I’ve never been through losing my beloved and then finding out he had a whole other life. Might be a little jarring and investigating all of this new life would certainly be intriguing, but working through your grief might take precedence.
Who is the woman across the way from Will?
Pete: This, I feel, is the sister question to Where the hell was Senator Clay Davis this week? For certain, she is new to the picture, otherwise Will wouldn’t give her such a curious look when seeing her, he would just say “oh hey, mysterious painter chick is there again” to himself while brewing his Turkish coffee. All signs, to me, point to her being involved with his surveillance. Remember: last week Davis’s partner got made by Will. We won’t see him again, and they’re going to have to be a lot more sly this time around with him wise to the fact that he’s being followed. We will see her again. (otherwise I don’t know why Law & Order’s Annie Parisse would take a role with 30 seconds of screen time and no dialogue). Also, Will might want to start sweeping his place for bugs. Like, now. (Also, your suit looks like the one a senior wears to his first job interview. Maybe Spangler will treat you to a new one next week? You already got him to go in the briefcase, after all.)
Seth: I think she’s obviously going to be part of the story, but how cool would it be if she wasn’t? Given that this show is supposed to tap into our collective paranoia, how great would it be to throw in red herrings like that to make the viewer really get squirmy. Again, I think she’ll be integral to this story, but I almost wish she wasn’t.
What of the names?
Pete: By this I mean the seven names Will wanted information on at the end of last week’s episode. We get a few tidbits, courtesy of Will’s friend, who—given that this is D.C.—does the whole Deep Throat thing by meeting him in a parking garage at night to give him information. What we get isn’t much, other than the unifying factor that they were all intelligence officers stationed in the Middle East in the 1980s. Only one stands out—a man named Donald Bloom, who may have just gotten to New York. We’ll see him again, though remember there was still one name on Will’s list that turns up nothing.
Seth: I think the missing name is really interesting, OF COURSE. That’s what it’s supposed to do. But I think that might be a season 2 situation. I think we’ll get to know Donald Bloom over the course of this season and how he might play into the 4th Leaf and the old boys club. Or perhaps we’ll meet them both this year and end up knowing everything! That seems likely.