As Michael buttons his suit jacket on the way into "MIAMI ART COLLECTIVE," he VOs about the advantages of taking a job under a cover ID. "You can tailor your resume to the position and it gives you a lot of flexibility." And you don't have to wear a tie to the interview, apparently. "You just have to get used to the idea of lying to everyone you meet." With that, Michael presents himself at the receptionist's desk and announces, "I'm Miles Parker." "Hi, Miles Parker!" she smiles up at him. She's a natural. She's also played by Marla Sokoloff, who is one of those people I've vaguely heard of but have never seen in anything. Until now, obviously. The gallery owner, Scott Chandler, comes out to meet Michael and lead him to the back office, which he accesses by punching a number code into a door keypad. Once inside, Chandler seems impressed with Miles Parker's resume. Michael's not really feeling an accent this week; so he's just using his normal voice except a bit more closed off, with body language to match. He asks about Chandler's problem. Chandler has begun to notice odd things like computer files being moved and systems being logged into at odd times. And then he found a listening device in his phone. Michael impresses Chandler further by describing the bug before he even sees it, and Chandler pushes the tiny chip across the desk to him, saying he wants to know who planted it. As of now, he has no idea. Really, it could be anyone. You know how art dealers rack up enemies.
Chandler gives Michael a little tour of the gallery, saying it's under 24-hour video surveillance. We can even see the cameras hanging from the ceiling and swiveling around, so we know it's for real. And then there are the keypads controlling access to the back offices. "Nobody gets in here without me knowing it," Chandler boasts, which is kind of rich under the circumstances. Michael asks if anyone works late a lot, and Chandler says he's first in, last out every day. "Think you can find whoever's doing this?" he asks Michael. Well, the subtitles seem to think so; they say, "Chandler -- The client." Michael asks for a floor plan of the office and promises to get back to Chandler, just as his cell phone rings. "Alpha, it's Bravo," whispers Seymour excitedly. He tells Michael to come over -- he's got good news.
"Over here" turns out to be one of Miami's millions of sidewalk cafés, where Seymour shares what he's learned about Derek Poole: "He does demo for the city, but he moonlights for the Russian mob," a couple of shaven-headed members of which just happen to be sitting at a nearby table. Seymour doesn't know where Poole is now, but he does know that he has a girlfriend who he sees pretty regularly for "together time." He says it, and Michael reacts, like this is some kind of off-puttingly filthy expression. Seymour turns this into a tangent about Michael and Fi that grosses Michael out so much he has to tell Seymour, "We're not together," and reminds him, "Bomber's girlfriend. Stay focused." Seymour starts to point at a white car being driven into a parking space by a pretty blonde, and Michael grabs his hand, telling him not to do that. Then he covers it by clasping Seymour's hands together romantically over the table and smiling, which Seymour seems more than fine with. Seymour says her name is Bianca, and she just happens to work here at the Russian mob hangout. Michael congratulates Seymour on his nice work. The subtitles back Michael up by saying, "Bianca -- The bomber's girlfriend." Seymour adds that he's having Jackass put a tracker on her car. Irritated, Michael asks, "He's gonna put a tracking device under her car in front of the Russian mob?" Well, not the whole Russian mob. Michael thinks Jackass is going to screw up and tip the girlfriend off -- like, if you can't trust a guy named Jackass, who can you trust? -- so he gets up to go fix it.













Comments