By Jessica
Wow, I can't believe Kingpin is over already! This show was exponentially more entertaining than I thought it would be, and I've had a blast recapping it. Thanks to all the usual suspects, especially Wing Chun. ["No, thank you." -- Wing Chun]
We open at the Casa de Queso and with a fairly graphic -- for NBC, certainly -- sex scene. You know, I'd certainly enjoy all this naked, sweaty, heaving Miguel more if he didn't look like this guy I used to work for, who was a real pain in the ass. Anyway, Miguel and Marlene are really getting it on, although she keeps trying to get him to look at her, and he keeps staring at the wall. Romantic, no? I suspect he has something on his mind. There's this hilarious pseudo-porn saxophone music playing in the background as Miguel...er, finishes up and collapses on Marlene's neck. No rest for the Morally and Ethically Conflicted, however, and he promptly...um, disengages and rolls off her. He lies on his back and stares sadly at the ceiling. Marlene looks concerned and turns over to rub his bare chest. He shakes her off and sits up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Miguel makes a morose face and reaches for his sleeping pills. Marlene rolls her eyes and grabs the bottle away from him. "Mickey, you have to call him," she whispers. "You can't go to sleep without talking to him." There's no more appropriate topic for post-coital conversation than your husband's Crazy, Hot, Scofflaw Brother Who Has a History of Staring Lustfully at Family Members of Either Sex. "Call him?" Miguel repeats, somewhat icily. He tells Marlene that he doesn't even know where Chato is. "Find him. You need your brother," Marlene persists. "I don't need him if he won't listen to me," Miguel brats. Marlene shakes her head. "Chato is who he is," she says. "You still need him." Miguel presses his lips together into a peeved little line. "If Chato wants to act on his own, without thinking about the rest of us, he'll have to survive on his own, and answer for whatever he does. I'm not going to protect him. I'm not going to support him. I won't give him shelter," Miguel sniffs. Marlene just looks exhausted. Why do I think they've been through this little dance before, if not to this extent?
Meanwhile, in an appropriately dimly lit and very dirty warehouse across town, Chato is very, very busy torturing police chief Lazareno, who is chained to the ceiling by his arms. Lazareno is probably regretting ordering Chato's anal rape right about now. Chato strolls over to Lazareno, swinging a kerosene lamp semi-cheerfully. He takes a swig of tequila and spits the entire mouthful into Lazareno's eyes. The police chief screams. Chato smiles and goes across the room to investigate all of his implements of torture: pliers, pieces of rusty wire, a hatchet. You know, the usual. He picks up an enormous butcher knife and waves it toward Lazareno. "Can you see okay?" Chato asks before putting down the knife. He takes a cigarette from behind his ear, puts it in his mouth, and proceeds to light it...with a blowtorch! A blowtorch! Behind him, Lazareno squirms in his chains. Chato grins slowly and walks over to his victim, the blowtorch blazing all the way. He leans into Lazareno, waving the flame menacingly, and we go to the credits.