Mikes Film Talk

‘The Catch’ season one finale was all about control and dodging the bullet.  Two back to back episodes where Rhys and Margot’s mother sweeps in from England to put her house in order after the siblings let their competitiveness get out of hand. Sybil  is short round and ruthless. Played by Mancunian actress (Lesley Nicol) who combines a certain mumsy quality with stone cold murderer. 

While the big con revolves around “The Wedding” and the counterfeiter Leah Wells (Nia Vandals) and a $20 million payout, the underlying theme is control. The Kensington firm have control issues. Rhys was running it but then Sybil steps in and removes him and by the end of the last episode has herself been removed. 

Another crime family, also matriarchal in nature, has a  wedding to be planned and Sybil  pulls out all the stops to get what she wants.

There was a lot going on in the last two episodes of season one.  The courtship of the couple getting married, Reggie backing Benji and then turning and in the first of the episode Margot, who pretended to be a therapist,  was  found out by Alice.

A number of guns were waved about  and at one point Margot  had hers pointed at Alice, Val pointed hers at Margot, Rhys had his aimed at Vaughn and she, in turn, had her weapon pointed at Rhys’ family jewels.   As with the weapons, there was much to-ing and fro-ing with cons, counter-cons and twists galore.

Rhys (John Simm) manages to undergo a pretty impressive character arc as he initially went along with his mum’s plans.  He controls those boyish homicidal impulses of his and actually tries to get along with Alice. She then pulls a gun and Rhys lets her go, rather than lose his future erections…

It is clear that Rhys does adore Benji (Krause) as a friend and  this is why he treats Vaughn (Enos) so “gently.” Later in the doubled up episodes that made up the finale, Rhys returns to collaborate with Alice to save Benji (whom Sybil intends to kill as soon as the con is over) and the three are to leave together.

That plan is shot down in flames when Margot  calls the FBI with a tip about Alice’s stolen painting (the one Benji gave her from the museum earlier in the season) with the result that Vaughn is under arrest. Dao is also removed from the case he was working against the Kensington firm.

By the end of ‘The Catch’ finale Alice is in cuffs and Benji, who was about to leave when Margot calls to tell him that Vaughn will not be joining him, turns himself in as the real thief and demands that Alice be released.  Meanwhile Margot sips champagne with her mother’s former right-hand man and she now runs the firm.

There were some twists and turns in this “To Catch a Thief” series that must have gone over well as it is returning for a second season.  Like many other shows on offer, the cast were all pretty and talented.

Elvy Yost was allowed to show off her vocal talents again, this time without the ukulele and her character’s potential romance with Danny Yoon (Jay Hayden) moved forward when it was revealed that Yoon’s “competition” was gay. 

‘The Catch’ ended on  a splendid cliff-hanger. Alice ready to be carted off the jail and Ben offering himself up in exchange.  What he does not know is that the immunity deal is off the table and Dao is no longer in a position to offer support.

Interestingly, Rhys (with his homicidal tendencies laying so close to the surface) was not the real threat at all, it was his sister Margot. She managed to outsmart them all to take over mum’s firm and screw everyone else over. A woman scorned…

Things did not always gel well with this new offering. Krause and Enos still are not a brilliant fit but he is warming up which should help.  It will be interesting to see what the champagne and crime set get up to next.