Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Every Part & Aspect
By Jacob Clifton | Season 1 | Episode 3 | Aired on 02.12.2012
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Twitch still shows interest in buying the horse he lost last week to the Cowboy, so the Four Horsemen send Jerry to talk to the Cowboy about it. Eventually he works out a deal, forging a frigid relationship with Escalante for the four of them. They have a Magical Horse Moment, and then -- happy to have Mon Gateau back in his stable -- Escalante goes home to make up with Jill Hennessey, whom he's pissed off by... Essentially by being Escalante.
Meanwhile, Ronnie falls off The Old Man's horse (Gettin' Up Morning), breaking his collarbone and sending him down a well of crushed-up pills and mistreated liquor store employees. Lonnie, the guy who was assaulted last week, now has a friendly detective on the case. Jerry, in parallel with Ronnie's drinking and Jo's makeup with Escalante, heads back into the casino underworld to spend all his money. Walter spends most of the episode flipping out about whether or not he should call Rosie the Irish Lass back from Portland, which stresses Porky Pig out because he doesn't want Ronnie feeling any more threatened and drug-susceptible than he already does.
And things are not going well for Porky overall, as his entire human stable seems to be drifting in the wind. Leon, still stressing out about that one horse And How They Killed Her, takes a deadly looking header outside a sauna. He survives, nakedly enough, but one wonders exactly how badly he's been mistreating himself.
On the Ace and Gus side of things, the two old guys pass out adorably at the end of the episode, babbling sleepily about the cute young upstart, Nathan Israel, they'll be sending as their go-between with Dumbledore, as well as the cute philanthropist (Joan Allen) Ace'll probably end up dating. Basically the whole episode is one long mind game with Nathan Israel in which he's abused and awarded so haphazardly and arbitrarily by Ace and Gus that he ends up pretty much with just X's for eyes, but it looks like he'll be pretty awesome moving forward.
Next week: Rosie returns, there's an earthquake, Nathan Israel takes the first step toward his presumably grisly murder, and the Boys enjoy owning a horse for a hot minute.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!HOTEL GYM
Ace's PO is surprised to see that they've cleared the place for him to do his daily constitutional on the treadmill; Ace is surprised in turn that the guy lets him do his urine test in relative private rather than watching, like last time. They make cute conversation, and this little bit of kindness or connection seems to have a good effect on him. Or else it strengthens him for today's evil!
CLAIMS & REGISTRATION DESK
What I think is happening is that Walter Smith, our Old Man, is saying that his horse -- which is named Gettin' Up Morning -- is ready to race. He signs all the paperwork and is super sweet with the lady, and names Drunk Ronnie as the rider. I think his passive gravitas in this case signals a certain jubilation? I mean, you can't go by what he's saying since you can't understand a damn thing he's saying. Dealing with him is like watching a giant blue whale swim by: There's more to him than you can look at, and the eye always seems like it's smiling.
THE TRACK
Escalante sits with Gus, watching them exercise his horse and saying whatever things Escalante deems important enough to say but are hard to understand. When a horse gets loose on the track apparently what it does at that point is run in whatever direction it feels like running. So it is that an alarm starts going off, and Gus and Escalante run onto the track, all worried. The rogue horse runs -- for some reason -- directly at Gus's horse, but Gus's horse is pretty chill about it. Escalante says that this is a sign that Gus's horse has "a good mind," and you know that's going in the vault of lovely things for Gus to think about, as he slowly falls in love with his horse. There is so much people falling in love with horses on this show, but this episode there is even more than usual.
HOSPITAL
Wheels: "Let's all talk really stylized. I'll go first."
Twitch: "I am so worried about my friend that got beat up by those surprising old harpy women with their hard fake boobs."
Jerry: "I'm not really that worried because I am the biggest addict of all, but hey guys! I just dropped by to say that I will be visiting the Cowboy later today about buying back the horse he won in the shake last week. And then go see Escalante about training him. I'm the only one of the group that looks even vaguely like a person, and I am blessed with mobility, so I'm happy to do it. As long as at the end of the day I can go do my favorite drug, called Poker."
Twitch: "We're buying a horse!"