As always, spoilers lie ahead...
Last week Monica lost Roscoe and proceeded to destroy all that was good and sober in her life, Marty put his feelings for Tamara on the table, and Doug and Clyde hugged it out. In this week's episode "All In," the Pod is splintering off into different directions, while Marty's personal life gets even more complicated.
We start things off with the Kahn men--Marty, Jeremiah, Malcolm and Roscoe--sitting around the table playing cards--with pretzels instead of money, probably since Roscoe's present, but also because Malcolm's broke. Speaking of Malcolm, he's in the middle of some righteous rant about the tyrannical nature of Walmart kicking out public housing residents to make room for a new store, and badgering Marty as to why he won't side with the little man instead of the city. Especially after the city was indirectly responsible for him catching a beatdown a few weeks back. Marty claims he's not taking a side, causing Malcolm to snap "not takin' a side is takin' a side," which Marty dismisses by calling his little bro a "bottomless pit of lame cliches."
As the game goes on Marty educates Roscoe in on Malcolm's strategy, which allows them to throw more subliminal shots at each other."It's what he does. He draws you all the way down the river and then he sucks you dry," Marty tells Roscoe about his uncle's tactics, both in cards and in life. Of course, he might need to take a look in the mirror with that statement, but more on that later.
Cut to the office, where Clyde is talking to Jeannie about Marty blowing him off for some game he had floor seats to. Jeannie mocks him for his "tween girl insecurity" before Doug comes in obsessing about Marty's whereabouts as well. Jeannie proves Marty's still breathing by calling him while he's one his way to "a thing" and hangs up. Doug tries to call seconds after but Marty's cell goes to voice mail faster than you can say catch me if you can.
Marty's thing turns out to be a secret sauna pow-wow with a guy named Eric who he's trying to lure away to Kahn and Associates. Eric, who by the way is a big fan of the steam room full frontal, is unsure at first, but Marty convinces him with a few bravado-laced quips ("Galweather's a sinking ship. I'm the fucking Coast Guard ") and Eric consummates it with a naked body-meets-toweled-lower body hug. Aww.
Jeannie's been summoned to Julianne's office for a little
Marty fills Jeannie in his meeting with "steambath Willie"; apparently Jeannie's making the jump to the new firm as well, which if anything, shows a belief in his abilities that Tamara lacks.Marty instructs her to make a list of names that would be willing to both join their new team and keep their mouths shut about it. Basically, it's Ari Gold's tsetse fly escape plan from Entourage season 2. Jeannie tells Marty about Julianne's offer, making him suspicious that she's having doubts about his start up and is hedging her bets (there go those card metaphors again).
Marty's suspicion seems to blind him to the fact that what appeals to Jeannie most about the idea of heading up her own Pod is the recognition of her talent and hard work. Things Marty is not acknowledging at the moment as he orders her to do his quarterly reports and snaps at her for Doug calling every two seconds. Which kinda makes her the Lloyd in this situation. Or the Peggy Olson to Marty's Don Draper, if the imminent sixth season premiere of Mad Men is all you can think about. But I digress.
Jeannie and Marty aren't the only ones doing business outside the Pod. Doug has been in talks with a software company that's looking for a possible expansion, and, like the good little subordinate he is, is rushing to Marty all about it, even though they asked to meet with him. Sarah points out that he did all the work and should therefore meet with them himself and reap the benefits. Marty comes in and asks Doug why he's been blowing up his phone, but Doug spouts some weak lie about Googling. Marty takes off in a huff, only to spot Monica reminiscing with Tamara about their Ecstasy-filled business school days. Well at least Monica is, as Tamara reads her for being a party girl who somehow managed to ace her exams. "I kinda fucking hated you," she says in her best "have a nice day" tone while Marty looks on with a "that's my girl" smirk.
Meanwhile, poor Clyde bops around the three of them like a lost puppy, boasting his top 25 under 30 status while they ignore him and stroll off to lunch. Clyde's never been the most sympathetic character--as is the case with most of the folks on this show who aren't Roscoe or Jeremiah--but his fear over being left in the dust by the rest of the Pod is palpable. In a way it's even more palpable than last week's reveal about his working-class background and inner turmoil over the P&G lawsuit. Clyde's identity and self-esteem is so wrapped up in his success at work; now that it looks like he's losing touch with Marty and Jeannie's getting a promotion (at least he thinks ahe is), his anxieties are bubbling up to the surface.
At lunch, Marty wastes now time in asking Monica what trickery she has up her sleeve. Monica gets a dig at Tamara about a change in her husband's Facebook status (A side note: seriously, I doubt someone Kevin's age would ever take the time to change their status to "It's complicated." But whatever.), but Tamara matches her tit for tat by slyly admitting Marty's hitting that. Marty calls her out for being jealous, and asks her how her detour into lesbian land is going. She plays tough and says it's done, but it's clear she's hurting more than she's letting on. She blew up her domestic life once Roscoe left, and as the saying goes, hurting people hurt people. "To Marty and Tamara. May both of you come out of this thing unscathed," she says, raising her glass "There's a first time for everything." Judging from the underlying menace in that toast, Monica's on a mission to spread her misery around.
Doug's trying to give himself a pep talk on the way to his meeting, when, like most folks on the edge of a meltdown, he freaks out a minute detail. The detail in question being the restaurant where the meeting is taking place has a health grade of B. Cut to Doug babbling to Sarah about not being cut out to be leader, though he does manage to make an awesome Prince and The Revolution reference. Sarah orders him to get in the car, and gives him a little foghorn relief to settle his nerves. Clyde better start updating his resume.
Back at home, Roscoe, who spent the day with Malcolm at a rally for the public housing residents, pushes Marty to donate something to the cause. Marty asks Roscoe to leave so he and Malcolm can talk. Marty gets on Malcolm for letting Roscoe and taking Jeremiah's money, though Malcolm justifies his actions by saying Roscoe can't stay sheltered forever and he didn't want to embarrass Jeremiah in front of Roscoe by not taking his money. Marty pulls out his checkbook and tells Malcolm to give him a number for a donation and for him to leave. Damn, where's a pack of Lucky Strikes and an old-fashioned when you need it? Marty offers him $5,000 first, then $10,000. Malcolm rightly points out that he's not the only brother who depends on Daddy, saying Jeremiah's "practically raising Roscoe by himself."
However, Marty has a point in that they're two sides of the same coin; one's a "sellout" and one's a "revolutionary," but they both want to get paid. Though the crushed look on Malcolm's face seems to say he does want to stick around, or that he hates the fact Marty is partially right. Clyde, trying to impress someone with his credentials, brings a co-ed to Galweather Stern for some office sex, but his mood sours when he spots Jeannie's Pod offer on the table. Clyde gives a pitiful look back to Jeannie as he leaves.
The next morning, Malcolm, along with Marty's check, is gone. Most of the wine is gone from the bottle the check sat under as well, suggesting Malcolm hasn't quite reached the level of cold ass bastardom his older has yet. Marty tells Jeremiah not to expect Malcolm. Jeremiah figures out Marty offered Malcolm money to bounce, and chews him out for being manipulative. Marty does have a point in that Malcolm could have chosen to stay, but chose to take the money. On on the other hand, Jeremiah's pretty spot on in saying Marty's been trying to shove Malcolm out the door the entire time he's been staying with him, so it wasn't as if Malcolm had an inkling things would be all peachy if he stuck around. I'm sure once Roscoe finds out, it'll be back to silent treatment, or worse yet, back to Monica's house.
Jeannie and Marty are trading exit strategy info, and Marty's changed his mind again and tells Jeannie to call her contacts. "Now you want me to call them?" Jeannie asks. "What do you want me to say?" Marty says, irritated. Jeannie's probably thinking "I want you say thank you for doing your workload and keeping your stuff together while you snap at me for questioning the plan you keep changing every two seconds." Just a guess. Anyway Julianne meets them in the hall and talks about Jeannie getting her own Pod. Marty says their Pod is the company's moneymaker and he needs Jeannie to do that. It's hard to tell if he truly means this or he's just saying it to keep Jeannie in the fold and Julianne in the dark. After all, if he's campaigning to keep his Pod, together, how could he possibly be planning to leave? Either way, Jeannie practically melts at hearing this and forgets all about how crappy he's been to her the past few days. Oh Jeannie Beanie.
The two commiserate about how scary Julianne is and just how much shit is going to hit the fan in the very near future. An awkward dap leads to a sweet, awkward silence and Marty tells her to start calling her contacts. Jeannie then mentions she has a date with Nate, a.k.a. the Dildo King. She offers to cancel it but Nate shows up to take her out. "We're on a good road right? This will work itself out?" she asks Marty before leaving. "Oh yeah. Just blue skies from here on out," Marty reassures her. They could be talking about leaving Galweather or their lingering feelings for each other--though I doubt a smooth, sunny ride is what's in store for them in either scenario.
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