NOTE: This post contains spoilers for The Company You Keep episode 4, "All In."
"All In" wastes no time in revealing who kidnapped Charlie (Milo Ventimiglia) at the end of episode 3. It was the CIA.
After Emma (Catherine Haena Kim) disclosed to the government she was dating Charlie, they put his name through the system and he came back with a red-flag. Not because he is a career con-man who has stolen millions of dollars. Instead, the CIA interrogates Charlie because he previously overstayed his visa in Nicaragua for eight months and they want to know why.
Cooperating only after he's told Emma is a CIA officer, Charlie explains he was in prison for this period because he punched a military officer. Emma watches all of this unfold through a one-way mirror, which leaves her both embarrassed and terrified that her relationship with Charlie is now over.
After this ordeal, Emma tries to explain herself to Charlie. But he's not listening. Instead, he's focused on the fact that the woman he has begun to fall in love with is a federal agent. Emma is convinced this was the only secret Charlie is keeping from her and she stresses she doesn't want this to come between their burgeoning relationship. Charlie agrees, telling her he's not upset she works for the CIA and is just processing it.
When Charlie returns to the bar 12 hours later, Birdie (Sarah Wayne Callies), Fran (Polly Draper) and Leo (William Fichtner) can't hide their relief. They found his abandoned motorcycle and were concerned the Maguire crime family, who they still owe $14 million, had taken him. Speaking of, Daphne (Felisha Terrell) soon asks Charlie when she can expect her next installment.
After the revelation that Emma works for the CIA, Charlie knows he can't keep committing crimes under her nose and get away with it. So he proposes a deal to Daphne. Rather than sporadically paying her $14 million, he'll commit one big con that'll pay her $10 million by the end of the week. Daphne accepts.
The problem is, the con Charlie wants to commit is actually much more of a robbery. They want to steal $10 million from an underground card-game run by Robert Renway (Daniel Sunjata) with some of Washington D.C.'s dirtiest lobbyists, politicians and hedge fund managers. It also takes place on a yacht. Birdie and Charlie had previously put the plan to bed as they couldn't figure out a safe way to get the money back to shore.
Leo isn't pleased about Charlie proceeding with this risky job, especially since he didn't check with the family first. But he tells his dad he wants to go straight for Emma, and he can't do that with Daphne still hounding them for money. Leo says he's all in.
To get on-board the yacht, Charlie takes on the alter-ego of Ernesto. He attends one of Renway's lower stakes games, but wins big, doing so in a flamboyant fashion that draws Renway's attention. After a brief interaction, where he makes it known he wants to attend a more lucrative game, Renway invites Ernesto to the yacht.
That's not the only invitation that Charlie receives. David (Tim Chiou) lets their parents Joseph (James Saito) and Grace (Freda For Shen) know that Emma has a new boyfriend. They insist she bring Charlie to David's fundraiser. Charlie's worlds soon collide, though, when Renway also appears at the fundraiser. Charlie briefly pretends to be Ernesto and asks Renway to be discreet about how they know each other, as he's trying to schmooze with the politicians. Thankfully for Charlie, Renway obliges.
After spotting Charlie speaking with Renway, though, Joseph can't shake the feeling that he's not right for his daughter. He tells Charlie just that, too, saying he doesn't trust someone who always knows what to say and always has the right answer. Emma walks in on her dad berating Charlie. She defends and then apologizes to Charlie, but he accepts the abuse, then politely leaves.
Even after their interaction at the fundraiser, Renway is none the wiser about Charlie/Ernesto's plan to steal the $10 million from the yacht. Leo masquerades as the card dealer, Birdie is the bag-woman for the money, while Fran is a barmaid. After Birdie makes the security guard believe his pregnant wife is giving birth, Charlie, Birdie and Fran sneak into the now empty money room, put the $10 million into bags and use a speedboat and a blow-up doll as a distraction to make everyone think that it's leaving with their money.
They manage to sneak all $10 million off the boat and into the back of Charlie's car. He's on his way to deliver it to Daphne when he’s suddenly surrounded. Not by Renway, but by Conner Maguire (Barry Sloane), who has returned to America from Ireland to confront Daphne as she tries to take over the family business.
Daphne believed she had appeased her half-brother after explaining her plan to take over the drug smuggling ring across Baltimore and D.C. But rather than combining his managerial instincts and her business acumen, Conner follows Charlie and takes the $10 million for himself at gunpoint. Conner is even about to have Charlie shot and killed, but one of his henchmen stops the shooting when he spots that a police officer has followed them.
That officer is none-other than Emma. As all of the cars disperse, Charlie, with a mask over his face, drives past her car and they stare into each other's eyes. Charlie is certain Emma knows it was him. But when she arrives at his house that night, she celebrates making progress in the case and doesn't appear to have any idea that Charlie was there, too.
"All In" is another slick, stylish, and entertaining installment of The Company You Keep, even if the robbery of Renway's yacht had a myriad of holes in it, while the details of Daphne's plan to do for the drug trade what Jeff Bezos did for books is hard to decipher. It should be a rousing final half of the season.
New episodes of The Company You Keep air Sundays on ABC and then stream next-day on Hulu.
More on The Company You Keep
