In the present, Charles “chats” with her on mobile. Lucy says Charles’ ex-wife is getting married – again – and that Lucy might come to visit him sometime soon. Charles starts the Brazos shooting in a jolly spirit that does not long. The director lets him know of certain changes the studio has made to his character in light of his delicate situation with law enforcement. For safety and promptly writing him out of the show if things go awry, they have made him a little “demented” and put him in a “wheelchair”. He storms back in his vanity van and notices Lucy there. Oliver’s son is having a hard time directing the school’s production of The Wizard of Oz. Oliver can barely help him, stuck with the case. On the elevator, he sees a familiar face – Teddy Dimas. Well, he isn’t pleased and promises to “get” (paraphrased) Oliver when he will never see it coming. Teddy and his son are awaiting trial and are going through a rough patch. Charles struggles with Lucy’s “Gen Z” lingo and asks Mabel for help, who finds herself coming up way short. It is Lucy who inadvertently discovers the murder weapon on Charles’ kitchen countertop. Oliver is actually its true owner, as he himself acknowledges. The trio has a quick run-in with Howard who stands directly under the knife embedded in the roof (hilarious turn of events) and also reveals that Nina has a certain violent streak and might have possibly murdered Bunny. Lucy shows the trio a secret passage in Charles’ bathroom. This is how the murderer is planting evidence in his house. Lucy discovered it while playing with her erstwhile neighbor, Anaya. Another passageway not in the blueprints. How many more secrets does the old Arconia have? Oliver separates to spy on the Dimas, while Mable and Charles focus on Nina. They learn that she, along with her boyfriend, is planning to renovate the building to generate more revenue and that’s why Bunny “had to go”. Oliver sees Theo and Teddy fight; a serious-minded sight that hits you hard. The “quartet” then move to Nina’s apartment to push her to accept her guilt. Instead, Nina’s water breaks and she goes into labor. Before the EMT arrives, Charles calms her down in a genuinely comforting way. Mable and Lucy have a moment of truth where the former asks the latter to reveal why she really came back to Charles. We discover that Lucy did not attend her mother’s wedding as she didn’t like the new husband. She confesses that she misses Charles and he is her favorite among all the “five”. Charles sends her back to Connecticut but not before Lucy sounds out a warning to him. “You have to be stronger, Charles. Get to them before they get to you”. It is then revealed that the footage from Lucy in the starting was from the night of the murder. She came on the day of her mother’s wedding to surprise Charles and rekindle their relationship but ran at the last moment. Lucy almost had an altercation with the murderer who used the passageway we see earlier in the episode. Lastly, Charles sees his call history and a host of missed calls from an “unknown”. He then visits Jan in jail, who is the “unknown”.
The Episode Review
This is one of the most quotable episodes in the entire two seasons of the show. I couldn’t find a single one-liner better than the other to put in here. They’re all great. ‘Here’s Looking at You’ is the perfect representation of the mix of drama and comedy that we expect. The balance is pristine. You laugh and tear up at different occasions in the same tenor of the storytelling. We also get important clues about the murderer in the form of Charles’ daughter, Lucy, from his ex-wife. She was present in the building that night and heard voices of the act taking place in the secret passage. First, the murderer is a man. And secondly, he is allergic to dust (it seems). It is also insinuated that it is somebody from the building and it is quite likely that assertion is true. So, this would eliminate a lot of people in one go. The ladies, I mean. The father-child trope was recurring throughout. It was refreshing to see some part of Charles’ past, probably the only protagonist whom the creators have kept a little secretive all this while. In Oliver’s wonderful creative flair, the “Arcatacombs” is a stunning revelation and discovery for the show. It really opens doors for endless possibilities and if used correctly, will keep us guessing until the very end. This episode should be front and center whenever one wants to test out the show as a whole. If anyone asks why, ‘Here’s Looking at You’ is the answer.
