The Company You Keep (Season 1), Episode 4 Recap & Ending Explained: After a week’s hiatus, ABC’s ‘The Company You Keep’ returned with an episode full of revelations. Since the beginning, it played around with the idea of Charlie and Emma knowing each other’s identities and being on the other side of the law.
The new episode goes a bit ahead in this exploration while following their respective narratives related to family and ambition. Charlie is still trying to pay back Daphne to get rid of her for good, and Emma is still working on getting more information on the Maguire empire. Let’s find out what exactly happens in their journeys. Spoilers ahead.
The Company You Keep (Season 1), Episode 4 Recap
Episode 4: All In
Who kidnaps Charlie in their van?
The last episode ended on a cliffhanger with Charlie (Milo Ventimiglia) getting kidnapped by a few men into their van. As it turns out, Emma (Catherine Haena Kim) and the CIA have brought him in for interrogation. Because they started dating, she had to file a relationship form. That’s where they found a red flag in Charlie’s records. He overstayed in Nicaragua even after his visa expired.
Charlie notes being with friends and being so drunk that he ended up hitting a military official. As punishment, he was in prison for a while. That’s why he could not leave the country by the time he was expected to. He is also asked whether he was aware that Emma was in the CIA. He says that he does now. While driving him back home, she gets worried he will take this treatment the wrong way. He lets her know that this won’t affect their relationship.
Back at the bar, Nicolettis were worried about where Charlie had disappeared all that time. He says that he was with Emma but does not reveal the truth. Back at Emma’s place, David (Tim Chiou) sees her bright smile and asks whom she is dating. She tells him Charlie’s name, and that’s when Joseph (James Saito) overhears it. So, they invite Charlie to an upcoming huge event. Claire Fox, who earlier called David to provide support for his elections, is also one of the invitees. Apparently, she helped out David gain momentum in the race.
Meanwhile, Connor Maguire (Barry Sloane) travels all the way from Ireland to take charge of his family business since he cannot handle a woman managing it. He does not want Daphne (Felisha Terrel) to have any say, even if she is his sister. Seeing Connor’s distrust in her, she panics and gets back to the Nicolettis’ bar to ask Charlie for money as early as possible. He senses her desperation and asks if he can return $10 million instead of the $14 million that they owe her (what they stole plus what she believes they owe her) in a single robbery within a week. She agrees to it.
The family is concerned about how they are going to make one giant score. They also think that it is risky. However, Charlie has a plan. He decides to steal money from Robert Renway (Daniel Sunjata), who is the owner of one of the private security firms. Robert claims legitimacy but hires mercenaries from only the biggest bidders. He holds a high-stakes poker game on his yacht once every month. The family plans to hijack it and steal $10 million from him.
Meanwhile, Emma learns that Connor is in the city. While tracking down his agenda, she also continues with her attempts to know the reason behind the Maguire empire’s recent exponential business growth. Returning to the siblings, Connor is angry since Daphne is selling their stock for lower prices. He does not have her to have the upper hand. She, however, has long-term goals in mind. She explains her plan of ‘lost leader strategy’ where they will get other distributors under their wing so that they cut the competition the way Amazon did to build their sole empire.
On the other hand, Charlie proceeds with his plan and poses as an arms dealer named Ernesto. Charlie and Leo (William Fichtner) understand that they must attract Robert’s attention to interest him. Charlie achieves it. Later, he goes to the big event that Emma invited him to. Over there, he gets to meet the Hill family members, and he is introduced as a bartender. Everything goes fairly well until he stumbles upon Robert at this party.
Robert sees Charlie as Ernesto and, after Emma’s intervention, considers it as him hiding his identity. However, Emma’s father, Joseph (James Saito), notices Charlie’s conversation with Robert and quickly picks up on his lying skills. He does not wish his daughter with a liar and considers his identity as a ‘bartender’ fake. He may also be aware of Robert’s other way of business, which makes him suspect Charlie hiding something.
Joseph confronts Charlie about it, and Charlie hits back against his disdain for wealthy politicians. He believes they also have to lie a lot to reach where they are. But Emma interrupts their conversation and gets angry with her father for disrespecting Charlie. She sees him seeing Charlie as just a bartender. Even Grace (Fred Foh Shen), who was charmed by Charlie by then, does not like how Joseph handles it. I guess there will be more of these ‘should we or should we not talk about race besides wealth and its relation to privilege’ discussions later on.
Anyhow, the event gives David an opportunity to finally meet Claire (Marin Hinkle) in person. She appoints one of her staff members to David’s campaign. He sees no other option but to accept the offer. On the other hand, Nicolettis get on Robert’s yacht poker game as a family. Leo joins Charlie as another bidder while Birdie and Fran (Polly Draper) play waitresses. Charlie purposefully loses his bets and puts on attention-seeking drama for his loss.
In the end, Leo ends up getting all the money, and Charlie gets outrageously loud. Robert intervenes and takes him away. That’s when he joins Birdie to steal the money with another disguise. They pack Robert’s money in their bags while Fran buys them some more time by stalling the security person. By the time Robert learns about it, Fran and Birdie take away all the cash through trash cans.
The Company You Keep (Season 1), Episode 4 Ending Explained
Does Emma learn about Charlie’s actual identity as a conman?
Charlie drives away with all the stolen money in a car. He plans to meet Daphne right away and get done with her nuisance from their lives. On the other hand, Emma’s friend from the FBI, Vikram Singh (Sachin Bhatt), informs her about Connor’s recent movement and invites her to surveil him. Connor, meanwhile, decides to catch Charlie in the middle of the road before reaching Daphne. Charlie puts on his mask, unsure who stopped him.
But Connor already knows about Charlie since his father got arrested because of him. He tells Charlie to get rid of the mask. Then, his men take away all the money. Charlie says that their deal with Daphne is done since he is taking it away. Sitting in a car with Emma, Vikram decides to arrest Connor and his men red-handed. Emma stops him, thinking of the long-term plan. An arrest just then would not help with much.
After the deal, Charlie learns that the feds are surveilling them. So he puts his mask back on and drives away. While he passes by Vikram’s car, Emma gets to see just his eyes. Whether she recognizes him or not is still not explicitly discussed. Charlie returns to the bar and tells them he got made. Despite having his mask on, he says that he has a ‘bad feeling’ about it.
Afterward, Emma comes to meet him. She tries to fish some details out of him, probably asking herself whether it was actually Charlie driving away from Connor. So the episode in itself does not clarify whether she learns about Charlie’s identity or not. However, it still hints at the seductive play of identities & secrets, where the show builds most of its intrigue.
<<Previous Episode
The Company You Keep (Season 1), Episode 4 Links – IMDb
The Company You Keep (Season 1), Episode 4 Cast – Milo Ventimiglia, Catherine Haena Kim, Polly Draper
Where to watch The Company You Keep
