Ringer, S1 Ep9 – Shut Up And Eat Your Bologna

At Martin-Charles, Andrew tells Olivia that he’s made up his mind that they’re not going to pursue Arbogast. It’s not the right time, and if that means they lose their chance forever, so be it. Okay, but is the decision entirely up to Andrew? Isn’t Olivia his partner? I’m not justifying what Olivia goes on to do, necessarily, but still. You’re awfully high and mighty, Andrew. Olivia wants to know what changed his mind, and he tells her that a month ago, he probably would have done it, “but now, I’ve other things to live for than our bottom line.” Olivia rolls her eyes and mutters, “Siobhan.” Andrew nods and says, “I guess I want to be the man she thinks I am.” Aw. So they’re bothlying to each other and themselves! How sweet. But in Andrew’s case, if he tries to change for long enough, it could actually work. After Andrew leaves, Olivia looks rather crushed. I’m guessing she still lives for the bottom line. She pulls out Henry’s file, and tears up the papers he just signed today. Devious!

"I guess it *was* a stupid idea to give that gun to the guy I barely know!"

At the apartment, Malcolm is filling Bridget in on John Delario. They discuss why John would have gone to so much trouble to gain Bridget’s trust. Bridget thinks maybe Siobhan wasn’t just being paranoid about someone following her, after all. But then, she continues, he’s had every opportunity to hurt her and hasn’t. Then she realizes he knew she had a gun, and now she doesn’t have it anymore. “I’ve gotta get that back,” she mutters. Malcolm suggests they find out more about the guy before they do anything, which is a sound plan. He plans to check out John’s other address, which he has from the mail he stole from the PO box. Mail theft’s a federal crime, Malcolm, just FYI.

Olivia is at the Butler house, lying to Henry that he missed a page when he signed all this stuff before. She asks after the kids, and as Henry pours himself and her a drink, he says they’re asleep for now. Henry sits back down and asks what Olivia’s story is. “What have you heard?” she asks with a smile. “That you’re a bitch,” Henry charmingly replies. Olivia just laughs, though, and says she has to be in her business. She adds that Andrew used to understand that, that they used to be on the same page about doing what had to be done. Then she remarks that Henry doesn’t need to hear this, but Henry leans closer and says, “This is the first adult conversation I’ve had in a week. Please, keep talking.” These two have some chemistry, I note. Olivia continues that Andrew has lost his killer instinct ever since he and Siobhan “decided to stop hating each other. It’s not just me, right? That was fast!” Henry just chuckles. When Olivia asks what changed between them, Henry says he has no idea. Olivia goes on with her tale of woe about how love has made Andrew a sap who’s blocking her at every turn. By which she means, Arbogast. I’m tired of typing that name now. Sigh. She whines that Andrew seems like he’ll be turning Martin-Charles into a soup kitchen next. Uh huh. Their “adult” conversation is then interrupted by the sounds of a child crying upstairs. Henry goes to check on the twins. Olivia takes this opportunity to snoop in Henry’s phone. Somewhat surprisingly, she doesn’t seem to write down Arbogast’s number. Instead, she looks at the photos on the phone, which include one rather sultry picture of Henry and Siobhan. Olivia looks positively gleeful as she emails that picture to herself.

Her necklace: yea or nay?

Bridget is meeting ‘Charlie’ in yet another cafe that evening, I think mostly to distract him while Malcolm searches his apartment. I’ll summarize their conversation: Bridget apologizes for tearing John away from whatever he was doing, John says he was actually looking into the Gemma investigation again, and then the sound fades out as he keeps talking, and we zoom in on John’s mouth for some reason. I know I’m not the only one who thought maybe they were focusing on his teeth because he was about to vamp out, or something. Then John brings Bridget out of her daze, and she says she’s just trying to figure out why ‘Charlie’ has been going so far above and beyond the call of duty for a sponsor these past weeks. Finally, you notice — now that his lies have been exposed for you! John says he’s just a good guy, and they trade insincere smiles. Also, I have to interject that I kind of like her weird bulky necklace in this scene. It’s like a trio of silver bows that you’d stick on a present, except on a chain.