overnights

The Catch Recap: Laying the Trap

The Catch

The Real Killer
Season 1 Episode 2
Editor’s Rating 4 stars
SONYA WALGER, ALIMI BALLARD

The Catch

The Real Killer
Season 1 Episode 2
Editor’s Rating 4 stars
Sonya Walger as Margot, Alimi Ballard as Reggie. Photo: John Fleenor/ABC

Hey boos! I officially like this show a lot! Not sure how other people feel or if the ratings are even that good, but that doesn’t matter to me. “The Real Killer” builds off the pilot episode, which ABC pretty much spoiled in promos leading up to the series premiere. This week, we get a glimpse of a show that might be onto something. The Catch is really laying the groundwork for a fun game of cat and mouse, plus it’s allowing the actors to act instead of making quips and wry smiles.

“The Real Killer” is an improvement on the pilot, which divided a lot of viewers. Don’t write the show off as just another Shonda Rhimes joint, though. This isn’t something from a factory. It’s good — underrated, even. So, please start watching because I want this thing to last more than one season. Enough about at my concerns. Let’s get to the actual episode, shall we?

We begin with Alice dreaming about her first date with Chris/Ben. The chemistry is hella high, and they hook up that night:

After Alice wakes up, Sophie comes over to look at the painting. She makes Soph promise to not break attorney-client privilege and tell anyone about the painting. Sophie suggests that Chris/Ben put it there to let Alice know that what they had was real. I’m inclined to agree. He seems to love the chase as much as he loves Alice. Only time will tell which wins out. Alice doesn’t buy it, though, and thinks he’s just setting her up. She wants to go to the police. Sophie says they have to go to a meeting with Jeffrey Bloom, who’s been acquitted of killing his wife Edith. Alice hates this guy and compares him to Chris. I think she needs to take the day off. She’s too blinded with rage. When she leaves her home, Jules is following her. She arrives at the museum … and the painting is still there?! Did Chris/Ben make a replica? Oh. Well, that’s kind of weak. #Unforgiven #AlsoTheNameOfAGoodClintEastwoodMovie

Speaking of Chris/Ben, he, Margot, and Reggie are stealing expensive jewelry to hock for cash since they’re broke. Margot tells Chris about a new con going down — the father of a grieving princess just died — and he’s being sent to Shanghai for a month since Alice is out looking for him. He doesn’t want to go. Mmhmm.

Alice is still unconvinced that Jeffrey is innocent, even though the rest of her team thinks he didn’t do it. Jeffrey and Rebecca, his new wife whom he met during a media interview, enter the office. They want Anderson/Vaughan to find the real killer. Val suggests that Alice to take time off and Alice is like, “No, I wanna keep working so I know that I’m good at my job, so we’re taking this case.” Girl, bye. You should be doing spoken-word poetry about how peen is evil and cutting your hair into a Kate Plus Eight bob. She is about to mess this case up royally. Sigh.

Anderson/Vaughan do some investigating on Jeff. He was a model and started dating Edith, an uber-rich fashion designer. Most people were cool with it, except her son Payton, who was grossed out — and rightfully so, since his soon-to-be stepdad was only a few years older than him. But Payton’s alibi checks out; he was hanging out at a bar The team wants to take a tour of Edith’s house with Jeffrey and Rebecca. She’s shady AF and my suspicion only grows when she presses Jeffrey to explain why Payton is out of the will. Allegedly, Payton started doing drugs and cutting class. Then Rebecca is like, “Payton and Edith had a fight the night she was killed and that he threatened to kill her.” Jeffrey defends Payton, but Rebecca keeps on talking. WHY IS SHE TALKING SO MUCH?! I don’t trust this broad as far as I can throw her and that’s not far because I have the upper body strength of a jellyfish from The Little Mermaid.

We catch up with Chris/Ben. Margot and Reggie give him his suitcase and a passport, then tells him to go to the airport. But then, we see his goofy self out on the street like two blocks away from Alice, looking at her as she goes back to the office. Okay, he’s going to get himself caught. He needs to get the hell out of Dodge! Just then, Reggie pulls up and says, “Get the eff in the car. I’m driving to the airport.” While they bicker, Chris/Ben notices that Alice and Jules are talking and we learn that Jules is the reason they came to L.A. because he was hot on their trail. Chris says he can’t go to the airport — Jules will have people posted there — so he has to stay in town. He doesn’t look sad about this at all. Man, oh man, when Margot finds out that he’s staying and that he has real feels for Alice, things will … get … awkward.

Then, we learn what Jules and Alice are talking about. He figured out that Chris was bae, and that in a jury’s eyes, it will look like she worked with him to steal $5 million dollars. She’s like, “What if I call your boss and tell him that you’ve been following me around all day?” That is your comeback? I mean, it’ll look like he’s following a suspicious person, so … why would Jules be intimidated by this trash threat? Alice is off her game here, folks! She then goes back to her office, looks at photos of her and Chris, and then we head to another flashback of them being cute AF and then serious AF. He tells her that his parents died of cancer and that his older brother died in a sailboat accident when he was a kid. Whoa. Is any of that true? He was tearing up, but he’s also a good con artist, so who the hell knows.

Reggie and Chris arrive back at the crib and Reggie wants to get their story straight. Chris/Ben doesn’t care about any of this because he’s in love with Alice and he says that Margot probably knows that he’s in love with someone else:

If she knew, I’m pretty sure she would order Reggie to kill him, especially because we learn Chris and Margot have been together for … 15 years?! Talk about an open relationship! Reggie is like, “Look, if you tell Margot your real feelings, Alice will be killed.” Whoa. They agree keep his feelings secret and just tell Margot about Dao. Margot is still working on the princess’ guardian, who is the actual mark because he’s the benefactor. The princess wants to leave L.A. as soon as possible, but since Margot, Chris, and Reggie know that Jules is on their tail, they can’t exactly follow her out of the state. So, Chris decides he’s going to try to charm her into staying. I am all here for watching Peter Krause charm the undies off a lady. While Reggie and Margot work on the guardian, Chris works on the princess.

She’s immediately into him when she sees him pull up in his dope car. She’s a gearhead and tells Chris that her dad had the exact same model. Since she’s not allowed to drive where she’s from, Chris offers to let her drive this car. Back at Anderson/Vaughan, as the team is looking at an iPad, Danny swipes through Edith’s house. Payton is at a summer beach house with the bartender, Tracy. Oh shit! Tracy was probably covering for Payton. Alice goes to see Payton, then tells him she knows he was dating Tracy. He refuses to answer any questions, gets into his car, and drives off.

Alice goes home and sees that Chris/Ben did steal the real painting; the one in the museum is a fake. If I were Alice, I would forgive Chris/Ben, give up the vajeen once again, and then run off to the Alps and get married like he wanted. Anyway, Alice tells Sophie that she wants to track down the guy who forged the painting in hopes that it will get her closer to ex-bae. Soph promises to not tell Val if she can help. But there are other matters to attend to, like Edith’s jewels, which Danny thinks are hidden at the beach house. They head over and she finds them in a first-aid kit. Damn, it must’ve been Payton! He’s now on the run and there’s an APB out for him.

We catch up with Chris/Ben and Zara. They’re going for a walk and she tells him that she learned how to drive on the low-low. Her dad taught her, but wouldn’t let her drive in public. The two bond and it looks like she might be staying in L.A. for a little while longer. That night, he and Margot are boo’d up. She’s shaving his face and starts talking about their relationship. UHHHH! I would have asked her to put that razor down, but he doesn’t. She keeps talking and reveals that she was jealous of his life with Alice. Oh dear, Margot is going to figure this out, if she hasn’t already.

Good news: Sophie found the forger and dug up more information about Chris/Ben. Ben took Chris’ name from an old dude who died. Great! But Alice is more concerned with tracking down Payton the murderer at the moment. She heads back to Edith’s mansion and starts rummaging through things. There’s a noise in the house, so Alice grabs a bat. Footsteps come closer. It’s just Jeffrey. Whew! But his voice is all weird, so who knows what his deal is. He offers to help her find Payton … and then she sees his shoes. They have the same black goop on them that her shoes did from the beach. Snap! It was Jeffrey the whole time!

Then, they have the typical sort of double-jeopardy conversation that these shows always have, so I went to my fridge and got a Yoplait yogurt. Rebecca walks in and Alice bounces. Hmm, I wonder if Rebecca heard anything. Alice goes outside and calls for the police — and that’s when she hears the couple screaming, followed by a thud. Alice goes back inside. Jeffrey is at the bottom of the stairs, blood oozing from his head. Rebecca is at the top of the stairs, holding a bloody baseball bat. WHOA! It’s understandable, but she’s an idiot for smashing a dude accused of killing his wife and then being shocked when she learns he did do it. Anyway, she has a breakdown, which is probably what Alice wishes she could do about her Chris/Ben situation. Not the most subtle thing in the world, but as much as I’m bothered that no one showed any emotion during last week’s episode, it’s nice that The Catch is giving us a little bit. It’s still slick and stylish, but the script is better and so are the actors. I’m much more emotionally invested.

Anyway, we end on Sophie and Alice, who have found a way to trap Chris/Ben. Turns out that he would steal identities by searching obituaries for the people who recently died and had no surviving family. The two ladies decide to plant an obit of a newly dead guy, Michael Thorne, to see if Chris will bite. Later than night, Jules comes by Alice’s to apologize for following her. He also tells her that she’s no longer a suspect in his investigation. Hmm. I don’t buy that. Jules is not giving up.

I was right! He plants a bug on her door, which allows him to hear her on the phone, planting the obit for Chris.

The next morning, Chris/Ben is at a restaurant, reading the obituaries when he sees Michael Thorne. Just then, Princess Zara walks up and they chat. She finally tells him her name and that she’s a princess. She asks him his name. He says Michael Thorne.

Alrighty, what are your thoughts on this episode? Are you also scared by Margot’s power? Do you think she already knows Chris/Ben is in love with Alice?

The Catch Recap: Laying the Trap