We start off by getting a quick recap of the main stuff that happened last week. The only new information is that Juliet and Jeremy are definitely twins, which was advanced as a theory on the boards, but I don't think was confirmed in the pilot. After the recap, we start with a back-and-forth comparing the starts of Tripp's and Nick's days that tells us that Tripp is richer than Nick. I do believe there were some hints to that being the case in the pilot. Nick is pretty sure someone murdered his dad, and has been after the airplane mechanic, Norman Exley, who hasn't yet called him back. Also, he's had Daisy working on trying to get his dad's briefcase open. Meanwhile, the Darling family is participating in a photo shoot for the launch of Patrick's Senate campaign. Karen wants to include Freddy in the shoot, but Letitia nixes that idea, which may be a moot point anyway, since when we first see Patrick, he's telling Carmelita that he's not running, and also promising to tell his wife about the affair. Jeremy is visiting Juliet at what looks like a hotel overlooking the park (she's still in New York? She had enough luggage to move to, like, South Africa) and trying to get her to come home, but she's not interested, and has adopted a little dog to boot. She's bummed that she didn't get the penthouse suite, and asks Jeremy to look into who's staying there.
Brian's bastard son is super-cute, calling Brian "Daddy" and saying he wants to live with him, but Brian at first has a heart of stone about the whole thing. Tripp has Nick in to discuss the photo session, the purpose of which, he says, is to "rebrand the family as fresh, hip, for Patrick's campaign." He goes on that since the bulk of the family lives at Tripp Manor, they're doing it there, and he'd like Nick to make sure everyone gets there. In addition, he hands over a wad of cash, as he figures it will come in handy on a day-to-day basis for Nick's job. When Nick gets into his office (now he's back to the poor-guy space), he hears that Juliet doesn't want to come to the shoot, and also, Brian dropped his son off for Nick to deal with. Exley calls Nick, and when Nick goes to see him, we learn that the hundred grand Brian paid him was blackmail money, as Exley had heard Dutch talking to Brian about the illegitimate son. Also, Exley lets it be known that a lot of times, Dutch brought Letitia to the airfield with him. Jeremy bribes his way up to the penthouse and finds a hot brunette he knows and apparently has hooked up with in the past, and the girl seems to make him very jumpy, but that doesn't stop him from, um, renewing their friendship.
Patrick does, in fact, tell Tripp that he doesn't want to run for Senate; in fact, he wants to get out of politics, and he's canned the photo shoot. Tripp makes it clear that he knows about Patrick's proclivities, and works his magic spell on Patrick to reverse his decision. Letitia takes exception to this, though, and says Tripp is trying to make up for what happened to Tripp's newly-mentioned brother "Kenneth," and they have a fairly bitter fight about it. Letitia comes in to see Nick, and they talk about the affair and the police's suspicions; Letitia is shocked to consider that Tripp might be responsible, and isn't sure if Tripp even knew about the affair, as in forty years, he never let on that he might suspect it. She tells Nick, however, that Tripp faithfully keeps a journal, and if he knew, it would be in there. Nick manages to grab the journal and finds that the only suspicious entry is one from the day Dutch died, but it's crossed out.
Andrea skips town for Brazil, and Brian won't take his son, so Nick is stuck with him for the moment, but he brings the kid to the photo shoot. In the confusion of the photo shoot, Nick confesses that he took the journal and blurts that he suspects Tripp of killing Dutch. Tripp is upset, but still doesn't give any indication he knew about the affair, instead offering some consoling words to Letitia that seem to have a profound effect on her. Nick convinces Brian to see his son, and Brian does his best to connect with him while taking him home, although he's still pretending the kid is a Swedish orphan. Baby steps. Jeremy tries to sneak up to see the hot brunette, but Juliet sees him in the hallway and realizes he was going to see "Natalie Kimton," and she's pissed, because she and Natalie used to be friends but had a big falling out. Jeremy is hilarious as usual here, and ends up bagging Natalie anyway.
Carmelita asks Patrick what he really wants to do. When he's not sure, she encourages him to run and kick ass, which she thinks will one day afford him the freedom to get out from under his dad's thumb, and he follows her advice. Nick returns the journal to Tripp, who gives a guess for the briefcase code -- Letitia's birthday. That works, and Tripp looks quietly devastated, and confesses that he indeed knew about the affair. In the briefcase, there's a lot of hush-hush information about "Simon Elder," a billionaire. Tripp says that if he were trying to find out who killed Dutch, that's the guy he'd start with. I would too, but that could be because he's played by Blair Underwood.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Couple things: The song I thought was one of Led Zeppelin's was actually Rage Against The Machine. Considering that I went to one of their shows when I was twenty-four, my lack of recognition is making me feel old indeed. Also, Brian's wife was speaking Chinese, not Japanese, just so we're clear about in what language Brian's fakely fluent.
Had a couple minor problems with this one, I have to say, starting right at the beginning: it's a quick back-and-forth comparing Tripp's morning with Nick's, set to "Money." Tripp wakes up and rolls over to find Letitia gone. Nick rolls over to find Kiki (either it's a different actress or her hair is a different color) and Lisa in bed with him. Tripp has a servant shaving his face with a straight-edged razor; Nick cuts himself with a disposable one. Servant helps Tripp get dressed; Nick finds out that Lisa forgot to pick up his blue suit and has to change his outfit. Tripp orders a fancy breakfast from the maid Maria while giving her instructions to pass on to the cook about the broccoli preparation; Nick burns himself getting a Pop-Tart out of the toaster, for which Lisa giggles at him. Tripp writes in a journal; he notes that Letitia wasn't around that morning, and also that "cook still did not do the broccoli right" and "John nicked me." Hee. I do love attention to detail. Unfortunately, that also means I have to point out that Tripp spelled that vegetable "brocolli." He must have been really steamed to make that mistake.
Meanwhile, Nick can't find his wallet or keys, and Lisa suggests that maybe he doesn't want to go to work. Honey, I work at home, and I still forget my keys all the time. Unless I actually want to lock myself out for that very reason. Thanks for the unwitting therapy, Lisa! She goes on about Dutch wasting his life with the Darlings, and Nick tells her that they've been over this before, like, NO KIDDING. Nick says that he gets a lot of money to do a lot of good for people, and thanks, Nick, for giving me a segue into my main issue with this episode: yes, Nick is getting a lot of money to give away, but he is also getting a PREPOSTEROUS amount of money for himself, and it seems like this episode, in this opening back and forth and in many other ways, is trying to make us forget that -- to paint Nick as this pauper. It's simply not the case. You tell me Nick is giving away most of his salary, then I'll start to be impressed. If he's just too cheap to buy a decent breakfast or take a cab to work, that is not my problem. I'm worried that the show is trying to deify Nick here, when the better a person it makes him, the less interesting I'm going to find him. He can be nice and still take a cab every now and again. Anyway, Nick says he's trying to find out the truth about what happened to his dad. Lisa asks whether Norman Exley, the airplane mechanic, has called back yet, but the answer is negative. Also, Nick lets us know that he left Dutch's briefcase with Daisy so that she can try to figure out the combination, and is hoping that there are some answers in it. And I don't mean to take the air out of the later scene with Tripp, because it's great, but...there are three numbers in the combination. After all the grunt work I'm betting Daisy's done for Robin Hood here over the years, I'd think running through the thousand possiblities would be a piece of cake.
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