Trust: White Car In A Snowstorm

We start with Fletcher and Paul’s mom sitting in a white car in a snowstorm waiting for the exchange. Fletcher tries to break the tension by admitting that he has a son. He’s “about 12.” Clearly he hasn’t seen him in a long time and is ashamed about that.

Then we flashback.

In Italy, one eared Paul isn’t faring so well. He’s lost a lot of blood, and his heartbeat is faint. Yup, head wounds are no joke. They bleed like crazy. The only medical attention he is getting is from a veterinarian. The guy whose name I still don’t know. The main flunky in the whole kidnapping thing whose primary job seemed to be digging graves mailed the ear three weeks ago and they have heard nothing. The gravedigger claims he drove to Naples to mail the package. When the veterinarian hears that he says that Naples postal workers have been on strike. Hmm, how long before a detached ear starts to rot? 

The plan has changed. Primo and another guy go to the post office to retreive the ear. They are just going to give the ear and the demand letter to the Italian Press. Apparently, mothers can identify their kids ear in a photo. At least Paul’s mom can. Old Man Getty cannot. He says they should have sent a finger. Fingers have prints. Gail begs Old Man Paul to help her get her boy back. He says she needs to tell her ex-husband to come to his senses because he has done all he can do. Paul Jr. is still being a prick. He can’t let his father win. He can’t give him the kind of power over him that a seven-figure loan would put in place he also will not allow his father to profit off of his son’s kidnapping. Apparently, he’d rather let his kid die.

Bullimore goes out to see his “friend” the gardener. Sadly, he has made a run for it overnight taking all of his possessions with him. I guess he decided to go open the restaurant without Bullimore. If I don’t get a gay love happy ending for Bullimore out of this episode, it will ruin the entire season for me.

Gail goes to meet with her ambassador. He lost a son around the time he first met Old Man Getty. She is hoping she can get him to contact Richard Nixon. Nixon has the whole Watergate thing going on and is unlikely to have time to save a one-eared rich kid in Italy. But it is the only thing left for her to try. She tells him that she can feel Paul slipping away. He agrees to try to get a letter to Nixon from her. Maybe helping earless Paul would give him some good PR he so desperately needs. It’s not peace on the Korean peninsula but it is something.

Patrick, the pilot, and Penelope meet for a game of dominoes to discuss Old Man Getty’s refusal to help his grandson. Patrick says he has nothing to offer Penelope but his love. He wants her to leave him. This reminds me. He already knows about Patrick and has taken her out of his will, but for a single, insulting dollar. It is interesting that he has yet to throw her out into the street. Clearly, she is his favorite; however, I can’t see him living with her with the knowledge that she has a lover. Patrick wants to know when enough is enough for Penelope. Why can’t she just leave him now?

Bullimore wakes Old Man Getty up from a dead sleep to let him know that he has a phone call from the POTUS. First they discuss some problem Old Man Getty is having with some Indians in Wyoming getting in the way of his drilling. Because, priorities. Nixon points out that is an expensive problem. He has a possible solution. He wants to talk about his grandson in Italy as part of the solution.

In Italy, the gravedigger goes to take some water to Paul and finds him near death.

Old Man Getty goes to talk to Paul Jr. He says that he owes him an apology and says he was wrong. He offers to pay half the ransom himself and have Paul take out a loan for the other half from the trust. It will be interest-free. This can only mean one thing. He is going to get his payoff from Nixon and not from his son. Paul signs the papers and leaves. Penelope asks how many millions he will make with his Nixon deal. He replies, “Considerably more than I loaned my son.” Old Man Getty is disgusted that Paul Jr. made no attempt to negotiate at all. He says the boy has learned nothing. Penelope says that she has learned. She couldn’t leave until she knew young Paul was going to be alright. But now he is and she can say goodbye. She gives him one last smooch and bids him farewell. Old Man Getty is stunned and pissed. Perhaps HE should have tried to negotiate.

Gail is already in Italy. She goes to the movie theatre and leaves word that the money will arrive in two days. She leaves strict orders for the bastards to stop mutilating her son.

A real doctor is called in to check on Paul. It seems they have been giving him high doses of penicillin which he is having an allergic reaction to. The doctor gives him a fifty/fifty shot at survival. He says he will return the next day to the cave where young Paul is languishing.

Old Man Getty isn’t in much better shape than young Paul. He’s running low on women willing to tolerate him. Penelope is gone, and now the one who is pregnant is leaving him as well. Oh my. Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

Primo is already getting coked up with the money he doesn’t have yet. He’s in a strip club giving the nervous lawyer, who never wanted any part of this, a description of how the exchange will go down. The money must be in white suitcases. They must dress in all white. The idiot thinks he is writing a movie script. He says it is the final act, like at an opera. They must drive a white care. No marked bills, no invisible ink, no funny business. We cut to them counting the money. Gail is taking photos of all of the serial numbers.

An opera has been playing through the whole scene including Fletcher painting all of the suitcases white. I know this opera as does everyone else on the planet but I can’t for the life of me call up the name. The music crescendos with Fletcher in white, from cowboy hat to boot, walking with Gail to the white rental car. Primo’s last wild request was that it has to snow.

Leonardo goes to check on Paul and Paul convinces him to let him get some sunlight. Paul seems to be doing much better. Leonardo apologizes to Paul. He tells him that Francesco is his son. Paul lets Leonardo know that he begged him to cut off his ear. He knew it was the only chance he had to survive. He’s all good with both of them. Leonardo hugs him.

Gail and Fletcher are driving to the meet up in the mountains where there will be snow for Primo. Their car is very low on gas and the stations are either closed or out of gas. The eventually find people to siphon some of their gas for a few large stacks of cash. They manage to find the exchange point.

The problem is, the guys don’t have Paul. They want the money first. This seems like Fifty and another random masked dude trying to get the money first. I don’t think they have Paul. Fifty takes his mask of and tells her his real name. She says if they don’t get the boy alive she can go to the police and tell them. Oh hell to the no. The police don’t even bother to get involved in mafia matters.

But Gail tells them to take the money. Fifty tells her to go to a pay phone and they will call her there and tell her where Paul is. Next we see the grave-digger and Fifty arrive at the cave with the money. Really? They sent the two biggest fuckups to get the money? The opera continues and I remember now, it is from Turandot the last opera I saw. It’s been too long! It is indeed the final act. I saw it at the Cobb Energy Center several years ago. It was fantastic. I went by myself without a ticket Some guy got stood up and he gave me her ticket. He had great seats. I even got a really cool wooden fan and into the VIP area.  He left at intermission. That girl doesn’t know what she missed. Sorry back to the show.

And we are back to where we started. They were not waiting for the exchange. They were waiting for the phone call. Gail shares her own story with Fletcher Chace. Apparently, her family disowned her. They both have things they are not proud of. When they went luggage shopping for nonexistent white luggage, the saleswoman thought they were an engaged couple shopping for honeymoon luggage. They do seem to have a lot in common.

Primo want to know how the gravedigger managed to get the money without him there. At first he tries to brag about how scary and macho he is. Primo says the mom did not look afraid to him. Finally, he admits Fifty showed his face and gave his name. Primo has the evil look in his eye.

Fletcher tells Gail she has been the strongest person in all of this. Gail tells Chace he is kind of strange, but he is the kindest man she has ever met.

All hell is breaking lose in the cave, Leonardo and Fifty want to hurry up and get the kid to his mother so they can all go home. Salvadore wants to kill Paul. Paul gets up with his lantern and moves toward the group. He does another shadow puppet show about the goose who laid the golden egg. Primo stands up to Sal and says, even the boy knows you don’t kill the goose that laid the golden egg. If you do, no one will ever pay them another ransom. Primo tells them this can be a good fuck for one night, or the beginning of an empire.

The endless waiting continues for Gail and Fletcher. Gail fell asleep, but Fletcher didn’t The phone rings. Leonardo and Primo take Paul up the mountain. It’s time for him to get out of the car but he just sits there. Finally he gets out and trudges to the gas station. It’s Getty Oil. He kisses the sign post. There is no one there except the attendant who shuts down the security gate.By the time Gail and Fletcher get there the station is shut down and Paul is gone. They go looking for him on the road. And they find him.

At the end they showed real life photos of Paul and his mom right after the rescue. Next week it the finale. It’s called “Consequences.”  I just need Bullimore to figure out the that the list of flowers the gardener gave him are all high poisonous. Then I need him to make a tea for Old Man Getty and go find his boyfriend and work as the front of the house manager. Come on, FX, is that too much to ask?