Recap: “The Company You Keep” Season 1, Episode 10 “The Truth Hurts”

It’s now or never. Emma’s being watched by the CIA, so she, Charlie and Daphne take matters into their own hands. But they only have a short window of time to take down the Maguires and they have to stay under the radar.

Please note this recap contains spoilers for season 1, episode 10 “The Truth Hurts”

The Nicolettis are setting up the bar for another business day and Birdie (Sarah Wayne Callies) asks if her parents are really thinking about selling the place. They haven’t ruled it out and it could be a big payday. Leo (William Fichtner) turns on the TV and local news is reporting on the car bomb. David is severely injured and Jen is in critical condition. Charlie heads to the hospital.

David (Tim Chiou) is awake and on crutches. He and Emma (Catherine Haena Kim) are outside Jen’s room and she says she’ll make the Maguires pay for what they did to him and Jen. Emma gets paged and meets her former boss, Cas in the stairwell. He tells her he’s got a CIA tail and they wonder if this has anything to do with Dalton Bridges. Cas says Bridges doesn’t have the authority to change his clearance; but en encourages Emma to stay safe.

Charlie (Milo Ventimiglia) gets to the hospital just as Emma is leaving. He runs up to her and gives her a big hug. He confirms the Maguires were responsible for the bomb. She tells him he doesn’t have to worry about it, she knows he wants his life back and that’s why she made the deal with Daphne (Felisha Terrell). He tells her “that was before they tried to kill you.” He asks if he can help not because he has to but because he wants to. She pulls him into a hug and says she’s being tailed by the CIA, and they'd rather protect the Maguires than their own. He asks if the CIA still thinks they’re dating? She says she can take a few days off with her boyfriend and takedown the Maguire syndicate at the same time. She kisses him for show.

Patrick Magurie (Timothy V. Murphy) is pissed about the car bomb. He tells Connor he better hope the Senator lives because if his deal is ruined David won’t be the only one in the hospital. Daphne pretends she’s confused. “Your deal? What happened on the train?” Maguire says they made some changes and they’re now paying Wilford in crypto.

At the CIA Mason (Courtney Taylor) asks the new boss if Emma is ok. She’s never taken a personal day. He dismisses her concern and says he wants to recruit Patrick Magurire, but Mason isn’t having it. She thinks it’s all BS. He quickly shuts her down.

Charlie and Emma make a show of getting to his apartment where Daphne is already waiting. Looks like it’s the three of them against the Maguires. “Let’s get to work,” Emma says. They only have 48 hours to take down the Maguires…while the CIA watches their every move. They need Maguire to implicate himself in the weapons exchange and they need to have the FBI on alert. Emma says she burned that bridge, but Charlie thinks Vik Singh (Sachin Bhatt) will come through. She meets with him and says he’s her only hope. As for getting Maguire to the exchange, they’ll have Daphne play on his fears by expressing distrust of Connor (Barry Sloane).

Mason follows Daphne and snaps photos of the crime boss…who she sees meet up with Charlie with Emma. She calls Emma and says she’s at the Collar Bar and Emma comes to meet her. Emma tells her colleague the truth and says that whatever she stumbled upon with Dalton Bridges goes higher than they think. Mason asks if Emma trusts Charlie. She does. That’s all the confirmation she needs. Mason will keep looking into Bridges while she’s still on the inside.

A group of voters come to the hospital to cheer for David. He apologizes to Joe (James Saito) and Grace (Freda Foh Shen) about walking out at the debate, but they’re proud of his honesty and say he has nothing to be sorry for.

Daphne tells Charlie she likes their plan, but not the fact that Maguire will be caught with $20 million. Seems like a waste to let it go to the Feds…. She gets serious and asks how Charlie stole their crypto wallet. He says the trick is easy, it’s about confidence in making the other person believe it, just like he did with the FBI raid.

Frankie Musso (Tony Shaloub) comes to the bar and can’t believe Leo caved and is considering selling the bar. Fran’s (Polly Draper) says not to rub it in and please just keep up his end of the bargain. Frankie swears he’s all about community revitalization. Across the room Birdie tells Simon (Geoff Stults) she doesn't want to sell, this is her home, but she knows her parents aren't getting younger and her dad isn’t getting better. Ollie (Shaylee Mansfield) interrupts her mom and shows them a brochure of the high end development plans for the neighborhood. Frankie is planning to raze the block and turn Collar Bar into a swanky place. The family quickly rallies and discusses how to get back at Frankie. Charlie says the thing he’s working on could tie in and they can kill two birds with one stone. Leo shakes Frankie’s hand and tells him to sell their bar.

Charlie comes back to the apartment where Emma is practicing sleight of hand with cards, and getting pretty good at it. She offers to take sleep on the couch, but he tells her it’s fine. She playfully calls him a liar. “Not with you,” he clarifies, "I only ever wanted to tell you the truth.” She says he’s a good man. And just like that, no one is sleeping on the couch tonight.

The next morning Charlie and Emma enjoy a few moments of quiet and plan their day as if they didn’t have a crime syndicate to take down. They snap back to reality and head out the car, in plain view of their CIA tail. A delivery truck pulls up and blocks the CIA car. When it finally moves, “Charlie and Emma” are in the vehicle except now it’s Birdie and Simon. As they drive away, the CIA follows. Charlie and Emma pull out of the alley on his motorcycle.

At the bar, Leo signs paperwork to sell the bar to the ritzy group of NYC investors. Fran and Leo want to celebrate the deal and take the group out to a dockside restaurant but Fankie is hesitant. Fran finally convinces him.

Birdie and Simon meet up with Emma and the FBI. Vik’s team is in position and everyone watches what’s happening at the Warehouse. Maguire surprises the group and tells Daphne it's her deal, she can close it. Charlie goes to tag along, but Maguire says no. Instead, Magurie has Charlie call “Brad Wilford” (in reality, Simon) and tell him the location has changed. Daphne’s been set up and is about to meet with Connor.

Now it’s time for Charlie and Maguire to meet with real Willford. Charlie tells Maguire things are about to get confusing, but “I’m only going to tell you the truth from here on out.” Charlie admits to the con on the Metro with “The Two Jeffs.” Maguire demands to know where his guns are and Charlie pulls up the real drone footage. Magurie sees two of the same coming out of a tunnel, and assumes there was a change. Charlie assures him the weapons truck is pulling into the dock now. They go check it out and a confused Willford tags along.

Daphne realizes she’s alone and it looks like Connor is framing her for the car bomb. He comes into the room and points a gun at her, but she holds her ground. She tells him the painful truth that Connor isn’t the heir apparent. “It wasn’t going to be me, it’s not going to be you, it was only ever going to be him.” He cocks the gun but Emma appears and he drops his weapon. She shoots his arm and he falls down stairs right on top of a shipment of fish. Daphne and Emma follow his bloody trail out to the water.

Leo and Fran are with the buyers at the dockside restaurant still waiting for crab cakes. One of the buyers sees a syringe on the group (placed there by Fran) and Fran plays it off saying it’s probably insulin. Frankie is spooked and wants to leave.

Maguire gets to his crate and Charlie says not to open it, the Feds are watching. Maguire is fed up and is sure the crate is empty. But it’s not! Charlie said there was no swap, just a random truck in the tunnel. The FBI shows up and now Maguire is certain it’s another false raid. He shoots as the FBI while Willford runs and Charlie disappears between the crates. Emma drives up and joins the search for Maguire, but he finds her first. Charlie watches as it happens and goes after them. He gets Magiures attention and the crime boss shoots Charlie in the chest. Emma breaks away while a sniper takes down Maguire. Daphne shows up in time to hear the FBI announce Maguire is down and dead.

The TV in Jen’s hospital room shows that David is polling well and is likely going to win. Jen (Andrea Cortés) wakes up and sees the election results. She wants to know why he’s not there. He says he’s where he needs to be and tells Jen he’s not cut out for BS. She says he could be the first politician with nothing to lose.

The Nicolettis gather at the bar and Emma thanks Charlie and his bullet proof vest for being there. Birdie tells him she doesn’t like when he does the hero stuff. Frankie bursts into the bar and wants to know why they spooked the investors. Leo lays down the hard truth, reminding Frankie that he’s actually just like them. He’ll never be a fancy NYC guy no matter how hard he tries.

Emma gets more info and pictures about Dalton Bridges. It turns out he’s getting kickbacks from and sitting on the board of a shell company. Charlie recognizes one of Bridges’ associates as a money launderer. Emma doesn’t want them to end, but Charlie points out that the people his family steals from play dirty, so he does too. Neither of them can pretend to be someone they are not. They admit they love each other but it's not enough. She liked it better when he was a yoga instructor and she was a rocket scientist. He agrees.

David accepts the election results and tells the press he’s going to be a one-term Senator so that he’s only beholden to the voters. He’s not interested in being a career politician and playing games.

Emma’s new boss isn’t happy that she took her personal days to work for another agency. She points out that she did what she thought her job was supposed to be about, she removed hundreds of drugs and guns off their streets. He tells her she’s too naive to understand, but she cuts him off. She’s too naive to work there. Mason watches her walk out.

David is sleeping at the hospital in Jen’s room when she gets a call from Mom. The woman asks if David is there and Jen answers in a different language. “He’s sleeping, I’m listening.” Her mom says she handled him perfectly and now the real work begins.

Cas and Mason meet up with Emma. They’re going to have their own covert operation within the CIA, spying on spies! Cas says everything has to be off the books and Emma says she’s got their funding covered. Turns out she swiped the crypto wallet from Maguire after he was shot. She’s also got the asset she never reported…

Now that their business with Daphne is over and done with, Birdie asks Charlie if they should set their sights higher. It's not about the money. What about leveling the playing field? He likes that idea.

Charlie meets Emma at a bar and gives her a flash drive with info about one of Bridges’ people. They aren’t working together, but she doesn’t see why a yoga instructor and rocket scientist can have a drink from time to time. He agrees then spots his mark. Emma says she’s cute. Charlie gets up to leave, “she’s not my type.” Emma smiles.

Thoughts/Predictions:

Well, this has been a ton of fun and much more enjoyable than I’d thought it would be! I’m grateful that we have a satisfying finale without many loose threads or even a cliffhanger. And since ABC hasn’t canceled this yet, there’s plenty of places to go with a second season should it be so lucky as to get renewed. However, Hollywood is now in the middle of a Writers’ Strike and I’m guessing it’s unlikely to reach a resolution in a short period of time. In my review I predicted that The Company You Keep wouldn’t make it past season one, and now I’m bummed that might actually be the case.

---

The Company You Keep aired on ABC Sundays at 10pm ET/PT. All 10 episodes are now streaming on Hulu.