To be up front about things, I'm not a huge fan of shows about private investigators unless they are vampires (Angel) or perky blondes with adorable and well-meaning cop dads (Veronica Mars), and I really am not a particular fan of cop show unless they are really well done or a little violent (Southland, The Shield, early episodes of NYPD Blue). So I was skeptical about this FX show, but it won me over, even more so on a second viewing. It's got the darkly comedic undertone and a lot of similar qualities to Veronica Mars (there are a lot of class wars, a disgraced detective, a noirish vibe, fast and furious banter, it takes place in Southern California and there is a really cute dog) and to top it all off, it is produced by Shawn Ryan, who made The Shield. I actually warmed up to this show, thanks to the seemingly dopey, but quite smart Donal Logue and his investigative partner Michael Raymond-James (who is most recently known as the serial killer Rene from True Blood). They make a great, and easily watchable team, which bodes well for this show becoming the latest quality series in FX's stable. Now, on with the detailed recap of the pilot.
We open on a shot of Donal Logue flipping through a catalog and asking his sleepy friend to loan him a thousand bucks so that he can buy some new towels. Suffice it to say that neither of the gents look like they can afford thousand dollar bath towels of any kind. They look like collectively they might have spent a thousand bucks on their wardrobes and the truck that they are sitting in, but this "loan me money for a preposterous item" seems to be some sort of in joke with the two of them. Hank (Logue) is striving to be a dryer person in general, which I applaud. He also had a strange evening the night before, which finally rouses Britt (Michael Raymond-James) from his slumber. Though he's disappointed to find out that Hank simply woke up, went to the fridge and found an empty milk carton. Clearly, he was expecting more. Thankfully, Hank's phone alarm rings before he can go into a downward spiral about his potential senility concerns.
Their mark has arrived, and Hank is upset to discover that the man in question is not what you'd call small. Instead, he's built like a ton of bricks. Hank wants to know how much they are getting paid for this job. Britt shrugs him off. As they step out of the junky truck, we see a hand-written looking sign that says Gomez Bros Pool Service. It is highly professional looking. Hank's moved on from his concern about the beefy guy whose pool they are cleaning (?) and now wants Britt's help in identifying the song that he has stuck in his head. Britt doesn't want him to start humming because then he'll have the tune in his head too. Hank proceeds anyway and starts bum-bumming the "why do birds suddenly appear" part of the "Close to You" song by the Carpenters... which I now have stuck in my head. Thanks, Hank.
They head off towards the front door of the beefy guy in a wifebeater, we see the dude inside with his bulldog Winston, opening the door to greet Hank. Hank starts a whole schpiel about how he's the pool cleaner, and make sure to check the address when he gets a perplexed look from the muscle-bound homeowner. Problem being, the house in question doesn't even have a pool. Hank asks if he can borrow a phone to call his home office to figure out what the problem is, and the guy is quite amenable. Nice change of pace, I was predicting he'd slam the door in his face, as it looks quite early in the morning. Meanwhile, we see Britt sticking his head through the dog door in the back trying to woo Winston. Homeowner guy is telling Hank a chummy story about his ex-wife who wants her furniture, but he told her he had to come steal it. Hank laughs along, but the best part of this whole exchange is that when the homeowner asks Hank if he's married, he dryly replies, "Not that I know of." OK, Hank has redeemed himself from getting that Carpenters song in my head... "just like me, they long to be... close to you..." Damn it. Not quite. Stupid Burt Bacharach and his catchy tunes. At least it isn't Turkey Lurkey time.
Britt's having trouble getting the dog to follow him, so he sneaks in through the back. Hank stalls for time by calling a fake phone number and pretending that there was just a simple mix up in addresses as instead of Casa Del Mar, it is Casa Del Madre. Meanwhile, a woman just keeps yelling, "no habla Ingles" at the telephone during the entire call. We see Britt grabbing Winston in the background, while the homeowner is none the wiser. Hank heads out of the house to the truck, while Britt comes running with the dog. Before he can put the pup in the cab of the truck, Hank locks the door and asks how much they are getting paid. Only unlimited free dry cleaning for two weeks, as the dog belongs presumably to the ex wife who works at a dry cleaner. Britt points out that it isn't like they have any thing else to do, while the home/dog owner comes out of the house yelling. In goes the dog, Britt hops in the back and they drive off with the muscle-bound guy yelling after them that he's going to get them. This does not bode well for these charming, if slacker-seeming guys.
At a diner, we see Winston sitting outside in the truck while the boys sit down for food. Britt's idea of washing his hands involves an ice cube at the table. Highly sanitary. Britt breaks the news that "their client" can't have pets at work, so they've got to keep the dog until 7 PM. Now their job is apparently dogsitting. Not like they seemingly have much else to do. A second later Gretchen's name pops up on Hank's cell. Hank says he's paid alimony and advises Britt to ignore the call... which of course he doesn't. Loving Britt, he seems like trouble. He asks Gretchen what she's wearing, and the says that Hank isn't there. Of course she's right outside the window and can see Hank wildly gesturing for Britt to hang up.
Hank heads outside to face the music ("why do stars fall down from the sky... every time... you walk by") and Gretchen informs him that he looks terrible. He blames it on his Pilates instructor dying. OK, Hank is slowly becoming my hero, even with his schlubby plaid shirt and his scruffy hair. He may appear down on his luck, but he hasn't lost his sense of humor. He wants to know how she found him, but he's quite the creature of habit. He starts apologizing for writing the wrong month on his alimony check, and she sweetly smiles that she was flattered that he got the year right. She doesn't really care about the cash (red flag!) she's there because his old pal Mickey called from the police station. He was hoping that Hank had friends on the force that could help him out and Gretchen, being the kindhearted soul that she clearly is, didn't have the heart to set the poor guy (who was drunk and disorderly and arrested with a gun) straight, but she would really like it if Hank would maybe send out a mass email or something to his booze-loving pals so that they'd stop calling her all the time, since they haven't lived together in a year. Just as Hank's about to run off to help Mickey, Gretchen drops the bombshell that she's putting the house up for sale. She thinks it is time and she needs a change, and she waited until the day of the first open house to let Hank know. Given how he's clearly still in denial about the demise of this relationship, that was probably a wise move on her part.
They drive around San Diego and Britt tries to console his buddy (while petting their cute canine charge) by saying that Gretchen looks good and that divorce becomes her. Hank says that later they can talk about something really painful that happened to him and that still hurts to think about. See, told you that Hank was in denial about the divorce. At the police station, Britt wants to know how Hank knows Mickey... they trained for triathlons together. He's quick with the comebacks, that Hank. I like his deflection tactics, but Britt puts together that Hank got clean and Mickey didn't. He also surmises that Hank was probably more fun as a drunk and wishes that he knew him back them. Me too! Britt, we're going to get along famously.
Mickey stumbles out in a Hawaiian shirt and immediately makes the boys hit the liquor store before explaining how he ended up in the slammer. Apparently, Mick's daughter Eleanor called him the day prior out of the blue and said that she was in trouble (but not the pregnant kind) and needed money. She also wanted the .38 he had. He was on his way to help her when he got picked up by the cops. He begs Hank to find his little girl (according to Mickey, that's what Hank does) and to give her the money and to explain that he tried. Mickey breaks down crying and hopes his girl is safe.
As they approach her apartment, Britt wants to know if Hank remembers the girl, and there is a discussion about maybe once while there was a drunken encounter. Before Britt can knock, Hank stops him to hum "Close to You" again. "Waaaaahhhhhh, close to you." They knock and a young girl in short-shorts and a very revealing top answers the door. She's not Eleanor (it's never that easy on these types of shows) but she's her roommate. She hasn't showed up in a few weeks and the roomie is pissed that she got stuck paying the rent. She'll tell them where she thinks Ellie might be, if they do her a favor. It involves them moving her stove up against the back door because the lock was broken by a burglar and her landlord wants to charge a fortune to fix it. Oh, and she doesn't know where Ellie is, she just wanted the free manual labor. She does say that they met on Craig's List. Fortunately by picking through her room, Hank finds a clue that might lead to her whereabouts. It's a parking ticket from a very high-end part of town, one where all the houses have gates.
Britt grabs Winston, pushes him through a gap in one of the gates, and then uses the dog as a ruse to get into the estate. Look at Winston pulling his weight. Meanwhile, Britt jumps the fence. They stunning property has a beachfront view. They see the owner playing golf, and they approach him to ask if they've seen their dog that slipped through their gate. Hank sees Robert Lindus, a local entrepreneur, and says that he's looking forward to some big resort that he's working on. He also asks if Robert has seen Eleanor. Robert has his son keep working on his golf swing, even though his trainer Tony is MIA. Hank uses their real names when introducing himself and even says they are PIs; Robert says he didn't take them for a gay couple. When Robert asks for a license, Hank says that they don't have one so they don't have to worry about losing them. Solid plan there, Hank. He tells Robert that Eleanor's dad is worried about her, so they are on a quest. Robert hasn't seen her in a week, but he knows her dad is a deadbeat, and says that she's worked for him for about a year. He gives them her cell phone number, with the hopes that they can reach her. He does have a special request. She has something valuable to him and he wants it back, so much so that he's willing to pay their daily rate for them to find it. Hank says their rate is five grand, and Britt pipes in that it is a two-day minimum retainer. Man, these guys are fast on their feet. Regardless, Robert doesn't flinch and doubles the amount to find Eleanor and to bring back the item. Robert is happy to pay whatever she wants for it, so yeah, that confirms that it is a sex tape. He also says that the guys will get a second 20,000 check upon their work being completed.
Outside the gate the duo celebrate their good fortune, and discuss if it is a sex tape. Britt agrees that he must have been sleeping with her. They then decide how they'll spend their share of the cash. Hank's plan: Buy a new polo pony. Practical! But while Britt wonders if Eleanor is blackmailing Robert, Hank directs him to their destination; his old house. The open house is underway and Britt admires the new floors while Hank shows the realtor their 20 thousand dollar check and asks how long it will take to get the strangers out the door.
Back in the car Britt is pouting that the check was half his, and Hank can barely afford lunch, so either way, buying a house was a dumb move. Hank says the deposit on the house is half his, and Britt wonders if he's supposed to live with him, and complains that his girlfriend Katie is not going to be happy. Hank ignores him and pretends to be someone named detective Reynolds to triangulate a cell phone number (even has a stolen code for just this occasion).
The location is down by the beach, and the boys hop out of the car, leaving Winston behind as Hank paraphrases, "leave the dog; take the cannoli" and Britt looks baffled by the Godfather reference, and says that he hopes that he won't buy a beachfront property . Eleanor's phone is in the area and is still on, so Hank just ignores Britt and heads to a lifeguard hut as they discuss why Ellie would have needed the gun, and who might have broken into her house/threatened her. In the tower, they find a dead body... of a guy with some seagulls picking at it. Hank advises not to touch him, and also to check for ID, Britt freaks at the conflicting instructions. On the body, they find Eleanor's cell phone. Once they realize that, they run out of the place, with her phone, as fast as they can. Too bad their truck is being towed away for being parked in a permit only zone. With poor Winston inside it.
It's dark as Britt rings the bell of a home where a cute blonde lives. He says that he's collecting books for "Tomes for Tots" to help "white privileged children" not miss out on any advantage. Katie (Laura Allen) quickly sums up that he lost his keys, and says that she cooked for three people so to tell Hank to come in. Not sure how they got from the beach to her apartment. Katie has a big test the day on equine dentistry, and rambles off facts. Britt's are more interesting though, "did you guys know that bears, since the very beginning of their existence, shit in the woods?" Much more fascinating than horse gum disease issues. After his joke, Katie finally addresses the elephant in the room and asks the boys if they actually did anything with their day. Hank says he saw Gretchen, and that she's selling their old house. He starts to tell her that he bought the house... but Britt stops him. Katie takes offense to keeping secrets and says they should take it out back to their treehouse. Britt's worried about someone recognizing them from the lifeguard station and worries about getting arrested or charged with a crime or something practical like that. Hank's distracted by pictures of Eleanor and her co-ed friends on her cell phone.
Katie apologizes to Hank for making pasta again, but she can't burn it. Hank says that when he worked as a cop, they'd offer to beat up the husbands in spousal abuse cases for a mere 50 bucks. He'll give Katie the good friend discount of 40 bucks. Hank says he can tell something is going on between Britt and Katie and he lends a friendly ear. Katie wants to have a baby... sooner rather than later. Britt says he's "not ready to pull the goalie." She is worried that he'll never grow up. Hank says that by the time he is 90 he'll pull his head out of his ass. Hank tells Katie she'd make a great mom and they head off to the garage to get Britt's motorcycle.
They get Winston from the impound, and Hank gets a call from Gretchen who is pissed off that he took her house off the market. He assures her that the check won't bounce, and while he's doing that, and paying for his car, a man name Mark Gustafson (Rockmond Dunbar) walks in, so he hangs up on Gretchen. She's not exactly what you would call pleased. Mark has a cigarette holder clenched between his teeth; it is his stop smoking solution. Hank plays dumb, as Mark asks them to go somewhere out in public, which turns out to be the impound lot where cops are swarming their truck. Mark wants to know if either of them know a Tony Bianco (aka Robert's missing golf pro), who turned up in a lifeguard station without a face. Hank says they were only there to take the dog to pee, which doesn't exactly jive with the fact that the dog was in the truck. Quick thinking Hank says that Britt had to go too, because Winston and Britt are on the same cycle. Mark assures Hank that he's not the suspect, Eleanor is. He wants to know if he was looking for her, using Det. Reynolds' ID to trace a cell phone. Hank stands his ground with the full bladder story.
They take Winston to the cleaners where his owner is mighty happy to see him, just as Hank discovers the porn video of Eleanor having sex with Robert on her cell phone. Britt happily watches the whole thing (apparently Robbie's got quite a bit of stamina) but Hank's had a rough day with the dognapping and lying to his former partner and can't deal with his friend's daughter getting boned by the town's "favorite son."
At his apartment, Hank sees a stack of past due bills and goes to turn the phone off, but hits play to see Eleanor go to take a shower while Robert makes a business call. As he steps into his bedroom, Eleanor pulls a gun on him. Then eats his peanut butter, badgers him about screwing up with his nice sounding ex-wife and calls him out for being a drunk like her dad. She talks real fast, he thinks she's on speed. He steals the gun, and accuses her of killing Tony. She claims she didn't, that she found him that way after she left to meet up with her dad. She stupidly forgot to grab her phone. She wonders if he watched, and he says only for a few seconds. He likes his porn with a bit of a story. He's all class, that Hank. She explains that the end is when it gets really good.
The AM, Hank and Britt meet up at Hank's and he fills Britt in on how the video really shows that Lindus is a total crook, making a shady business deal. The big development he's working on isn't even really happening. Eleanor changes in front of both of them, as Britt informs them both that Lindus has goons out in front of their place. Hank hides Ellie in the truck and takes off, as she freaks that they are getting paid by Lindus to find her. Hank explains the difference between working for him and getting paid by him, as Britt follows their tail on his motorcycle.
At Hank's very pregnant lawyer's office, she watches the video and informs them that their best bet is to dump the cell phone and for Eleanor to head south of the border, because this case is way too big for them and Eleanor has definitely been framed. On the plus side, she does offer the boys some work spying on a cheating husband, and she tells Eleanor that she photographs well, so she's not all doom and gloom.
In the parking lot, the trio get jumped by some guys and set off a lot of car alarms in the process. Somehow they manage to overtake the guys with guns with the help of some scrappy street fighting and using their car and a fire extinguisher as a weapon (I give these guys a lot of credit. They are very resourceful). They head to the train station, where they help Eleanor take off to Catalina and Hank advises her to talk to a friend of his and get in a rehab program. They promise her they'll straighten things out for her down here and then she can come back. She asks for the gun, they tell her she's an idiot because it is a murder weapon. Then she asks if they want to come because their lives seem to suck, which is actually quite astute. After she gets on the train, Britt wonders who is going to rescue them.
At the diner Hank meets Gretchen, explaining his wounds as the result of a scuffle with some Little Leaguers. She says she's not pissed about the house anymore, but he apologizes anyway. He says he wanted to change his life and he got carried away and he will retract the bid if she wants. She says it is fine so long as he isn't trying to buy it for her in hopes they'll get back together... because she's getting married again. This summer. To an architect that she's been dating for six months. He keeps it together and congratulates her as she jokes that he won't have to pay alimony any longer. He looks absolutely heartbroken. It's sad, really.
While Hank is getting socked in the stomach by his ex's announcement, Katie and Britt are sitting around discussing her midterm. He asks her on a proper date, that he'll pay for and everything. They head to a fancy restaurant, and once he assures her that they can afford it, he says that he wants them to get a dog together. To her credit, she looks happy instead of ticked off. He wants a bulldog, and continues that they could go to the pound and pick it out together, and he knows it isn't a baby, but it is a gateway to responsibility. She's pleased and wonders what came over him during the course of one day. He thanks her, just for everything.
Hank is at a liquor store staring at the wall of booze, like only a recovering alcoholic can, then orders a box of Johnny Walker blue label and some cigarette holders, which he brings to his old partner and says that he brought him gifts, basically to cushion the fact that he sent Eleanor on a train out of town. He explains that Eleanor is the victim, and that Robert Lindus is the person behind the homicide, and that Robert is rotten. Mark won't raid his house without probable cause and he preferred when Hank was just a slug. A cop comes out and says that Hank's old pal Mickey has just turned up dead.
As Katie and Britt leave the restaurant, he takes their old linens -- he's doing laundry for a week in trade for food. Clever boy, that Britt, and Hank says that he's not a thinker.
Mickey's death was an OD from heroin. Hank knows that Mickey might be a drunk, but he'd never OD this way, and that it had to be someone killing Mickey as retaliation for Eleanor up and leaving. Mark says he knows it is one of his pals, but that doesn't mean that Mickey's death was a homicide.
Hank and Britt decided to head to the site of Lindus's development, where the goons from the garage are standing guard and Robert apologizes for the "mix-up" with his guys this afternoon and says he hopes no one was injured. Asshole. Britt produces the cell phone, with the "sensitive item" that he wanted. Britt says that they "lost" Eleanor and that she was probably south of the border. Robert shrugs it off, gives them their 20 grand and 10 more as a retainer so that a copy of the video doesn't turn up. Hank sits sullenly and Robert inquires as to why. Hank says that Eleanor's dad turned up dead and Robert says he's sorry. Hank doesn't buy it and says that he thinks the goons standing guard are responsible for the heroin OD. He then continues on that he is going to destroy Lindus, when before the murder he would have just let it go, so now it is personal. Lindus doesn't even flinch. Britt says that he's still taking his money.
Once back in their truck, Britt says he hopes that Hank has a plan. A smiling Hank pulls the murder weapon out of the glove box and says simply, "Cheat." Britt sneaks into Robert's house, places the weapon and the morning the cops show up with a warrant to search the house for a cell phone that was taken from a murder scene that Lindus purchased the night before.
Outside in the truck Hank asks Britt for a thousand dollars because he's tired of the drapes in his living room. When Britt informs Hank he doesn't have a living room in his dumpy apartment, Hank says that the window treatments are for his new place. This is juxtaposed by Mark finding the murder weapon in Lindus's desk drawer. Robert wants his lawyer, and Mark says he can call him from the precinct and makes the other officers cuff Lindus. As Lindus is being driven off in a cop car, the two discuss back waxing and how Lindus is going to come after them with all the power that someone of his stature in the community can wield. Hank just smirks. And with that, we have the setup for what looks to be an engaging, well-crafted, fast-paced, smartly written and often amusing show. Even if it means that I have strains of Burt Bacharach still running through my head.
Want to immediately access TWoP content no matter where you are online? Download the free TWoP toolbar for your web browser. Already have a customized toolbar? Then just add our free toolbar app to get updated on our content as soon it's published.