“I’m totally douched here, aren’t I?” – Britt
I have dozens of things to be thankful for on this current Thanksgiving afternoon, but one minor thing is to continue to live in the Golden Age of Television. Only ten years ago, a show like Terriers wouldn’t be able to exist (partially because scripted cable programming was still going through growing pains, partially because it wouldn’t be given a chance anyway), and while I can’t honestly expect a second season, I have to at least give FX credit for putting it on the air in the first place. So thank you, FX.
And also allow me to thank you again next holiday season as Terriers is finishing up its second season. Please? Pretty please?
“Quid Pro Quo” acts as part one to an unofficial two-part finale and boy-howdy, what an episode. If is doomed to be the quintessential one-season wonder, then this episode will be the one that will cause future DVD (or more likely torrent) viewers to kick themselves for not watching the show while it was actually broadcast.
Laura Ross and Hank (Donal Logue) begin the episode at Hank’s house, piecing together what they know about Ben Zeitlin’s land grab. He has apparently bought up two large pieces o land on opposite sides of Ocean Beach and all signs point to the middle of the city being snagged next. The lead architect on a set-to-fail property smack dab in the middle of this area is Jason Adler, Gretchen’s new husband. Hank and Laura head off to meet with Jason, but not before finally bailing Britt (Michael Raymond-James) out of jail for his assault on Katie’s (Laura Allen) innocent classmate.
Hank is beat to the punch, though, as Zeitlin bailed Britt out in order to try and sway Britt to turn over the video broadcast from Zeitlin’s meeting with Laura at the hotel. Britt meets with Zeitlin sometime later and admits that the video was just a bluff (I hadn’t realized that it was until now) and he’d agree to help Zeitlin find a mole in his operation if Zeitlin would a.) help with his legal troubles and b.) leave Hank and Laura alone.
Zeitlin suspects his mole is a young lawyer in his firm named Ashley and has Britt cozy up to her in order to find out the truth. Britt becomes attached, but when he mentions his connection to her boss, she kicks him out of her apartment.
Unfortunately for Zeitlin, he doesn’t realize that Britt is actually still very much in cahoots with Hank (despite his anger over not being told about Katie’s affair) and is basically running a reconnaissance mission to learn more about Zeitlin’s operation from the inside.
Meanwhile, Hank and Laura meet with an Ocean Beach city councilman who offers to help Britt in exchange for getting real evidence about what Zeitlin is up to. There next stop is to speak with Jason and later, in private, Jason explains that his building site has been run up with problems that can easily be connected to Zeitlin. They come across some public blueprints and realize that Zeitlin is planning on leveling the entire city of Ocean Beach in order to construct an airport.
The councilman needs more hard evidence though, so Laura attempts to set up a meet with an anonymous source she has with Zeitlin (it doesn’t end up being Ashley, by the way). A miscommunication leads Britt and Hank to try and warn the source from not meeting at the original spot, but Laura calls and reassures them that everything is okay: they changed the meet to a liquor store. But when Hank and Britt arrive, they find the anonymous source and Jason shot dead and Laura nowhere to be found. They approach the councilman about getting help, but he ignores them. It becomes clear that he has been bought out by Zeitlin.
After seeing and consoling Gretchen (though not telling her the truth about what Jason was involved with), the episode ends with Hank purchasing guns from a black-market businessman whom we met earlier.
I probably didn’t do that plot recap justice as it made perfect sense during the airing. But that’s also a testament to how strong the writing is on Terriers. I had a brief Twitter exchange with Angela Kang, the writer of “Quid Pro Quo,” a couple weeks ago and she was extremely kind and quick to respond. Which makes it all the more impressive that someone so nice could write something so dark.
Lingering thoughts about “Quid Pro Quo”:
- “You two lead interesting lives.” – Laura
- “Yeah, his Prius runs on tofu.” – Hank
Some stats and info about Terriers, “Quid Pro Quo”
TV SHOW – Terriers
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 12
AIRED ON – November 24th, 2010
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FX
GENRE – Drama, Comedy, Crime Dramas
CREATED BY – Ted Griffin
CAST – Donal Logue, Michael Raymond-James, Laura Allen, Kimberly Quinn, Jamie Denbo, Rockmond Dunbar
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.