The Path “Two of Swords” brings things to a head (no pun intended) when Charlie’s ability to see the immediate future results in the Nadine scam being uncovered. Although this does not happen until the whole Fonzo/White Tony feud ends with the police searching the leader’s residence.
Since the cops are not “Roma” everything they touch becomes contaminated, aka Marime. Fonzo is furious and takes Tony to a tribunal with the elders. Tony asks for four of Fonzo’s parlors and gets two. Fonzo asks for revenge and ends up losing his eldest daughter.
The girl will be forced to marry White Tony’s son. This move is to bring the two houses closer together. Fonzo is distraught and his daughter is furious with him and the Roma customs. Later, the unhappy father lays down next to his younger daughter, who is sleeping in a tent in the back garden.
She reaches out to her father and touches his shoulder, Fonzo reacts and places his hand over hers. It is a poignant moment that reveals the saccharine inner-core of a violent and unlikeable character. It also makes the man more human and we can feel his pain.
Emma’s body is found and Nick believes that Nadine may have been able to help find who killed her. The cops know that the girl overdosed on the South American drug that Gina left with Linda. Charlie explains that the unhappy client knows nothing.
Charlie finalizes the scam on Nadine, burning the fake money and putting the $1.7 million in a trash bag. As he continues the con, he has a very real vision of the woman killing herself.
He sees Nadine come out of the house with a weight and jumprope. She steps off the pool’s diving board and sinks to the bottom of the pool. In real life, Charlie leaps in and finds Nadine dead, floating lifeless as he watches.
The next thing he sees in Nadine coming out of the house and yelling at him as he floats in the water. Charlie then sees that the weight and the rope have been tied to him.
He climbs out of the pool and Nadine wraps a towel around him. She sees the real money, it has fallen out of the trash bag, and asks Charlie about it. She learns about the scam and he explains that he is not her friend and that she should stay away from people like him.
Charlie finishes by telling the unhappy woman to seek out a therapist. He then returns home. Linda, who is sipping a glass of pre-celebratory champagne, reacts badly to the news that her husband blew the con.
This was a touching episode. Even the despicable Fonzo manages to come across as a sympathetic character. His pain, at losing his daughter, is real and practically tear inducing.
Haverford’s very real distress, and anxiety, at being forced to be the good guy is also touching. He rages at Dr. White for her “saints and sinners” theory and then, like Judas, denies his fate.
Linda, once again, proves to be the Haverford with ice-water in her veins. She does not care that the con would have killed Nadine. Meeting with Gina, Linda declares that she can still get the money. It appears that she has now chosen her “bit on the side” over Charlie.
Kudos to Angus Sampson who actually became a character who could be empathized with mainly due to the storyline and his subtle acting. Mad props also got to Donovan.
As his character starts to break apart, all tears and massive amounts of guilt, it was “lump in the throat time.” Show creator Leslie Bohem and episode scribe (Tom Pabst) knocked this one right out of the park.
Shut Eye is streaming on Hulu and all 10 episode are available to watch at once.
Cast:
- Jeffrey Donovan – Charlie Haverford
- KaDee Strickland – Linda Haverford
- Angus Sampson – Fonzo
- Isabella Rossellini – Rita
- Emmanuelle Chriqui – Gina
- David Zayas – Eduardo Bernal
- Mel Harris – Nadine Davies
- Leah Gibson – Sylvia Haverford
- Susan Misner – Dr. Nora White
- Dylan Schmid – Nick Haverford
