NOTE: This post contains spoilers for The Company You Keep episode 8, "The Art Of The Steel."
Things open up with Emma (Catherine Haena Kim) giving an update on how the Maguire crime family has grown under Daphne (Felisha Terrell). After taking over the distribution of the Taiwanese drug cartels, she used these extra funds to buy illegal weapons and exporting them to gangs across the world. This vicious cycle means they have two revenue streams, and the more drugs they sell the more guns they’re able to shift.
Emma insists Daphne was only able to get her hands on these weapons because of her connections to high ranking people inside the US defense system. Emma's boss congratulates her progress, also giving credit to her new insider, Charlie (Milo Ventimiglia).
Daphne now has her sights set on getting her father out of prison. She tries to bribe the judge overseeing the case, but he rejects her. Emma actually wants to help Daphne get Patrick out of prison, though, so she can catch the both and put the pair away for a much longer time.
While Charlie might be Emma's insider, Birdie (Sarah Wayne Callies) has also been offering her assistance on surveillance. Their plan is to keep an eye on the judge and wait for him to take a bribe — something he only does from respected criminals. At that point, Daphne, who is keeping track of his bank accounts, will obviously approach him again and, instead of bribing him, will blackmail the judge to release her father.
Unfortunately for Emma, the judge takes too long to take a bribe. So she pretends to be a more "legitimate" defendant and offers him one, which he accepts. This gives Daphne an opportunity and subsequently allows Patrick to be released from prison.
Daphne isn't there to meet him, though. Instead, his son Connor (Barry Sloane), having returned from Mexico, greets their father. But Patrick knows that it was Daphne who masterminded his release. Rather than scolding his son, he says they're going to keep Daphne around as long as she’s useful. They then head to her new apartment, where the three of them sit down for dinner. Patrick asks Daphne to teach them how she's increased the Maguire crime family revenue.
Meanwhile, Charlie has been taking Leo (William Fichtner) to his neurology appointment. This might seem like an easy task, but when Charlie arrives to do so, Leo is nowhere to be found. Luckily Birdie is able to track his location, and it turns out he's at a very fancy golf course in Virginia. He’s there trying to swindle David Slocombe (Matthew Glave), the man who lost his pension, worth around $208,000. Leo suddenly feels the need to do this after the death of one of his former colleagues from the steelworks.
With Charlie as his caddie, Leo challenges David to a bet. The winner of each hole pockets $10,000. After losing five holes in a row, Leo goes double or nothing. Charlie worries that Leo's fragility has finally caught up to him and that he’s too emotionally invested in taking David's money. But he's able to win the hole. Then he makes another bet, this time for $200,000, that he can make the same impossible shot again. David accepts, Leo makes it, and he finally has his pension back.
But Charlie is still furious with his father. Now that they're working for the CIA, they can no longer commit these sorts of cons. Leo is upset Charlie has them working for the CIA in the first place, while Charlie reminds him he was the one who forced him into a life as a conman anyway.
Leo admits he never gave his family a chance at an honest life. He also apologizes for making Charlie think it was the world against the Nicolettis, before revealing he didn't miss the neurologist appointment. It was a week earlier, where he was told his memory loss is getting even worse.
This just makes Leo more intent on stealing even more money from David. Not just for him, but for the other former steelworkers who lost their pensions. So Leo approaches David again. He rips up the check for $200,000 and asks him to donate to the charity hospital that he's supposedly helping to build instead. Little does David know that the former steelworkers have commandeered a building site. David looks set to donate $10 million, only for one of the steelworkers to slip up and say his name even though he didn't introduce himself.
Making things worse, Leo has pick-pocketed David's expensive watch. Police officers arrest Leo. This causes mass panic with the rest of the Nicolettis. But Emma, who overheard Charlie tell Birdie Leo was arrested, gets the charges dropped, telling the local officers he's an undercover agent for the CIA. Charlie thanks her for saving his father, which is the nicest the pair have been to each other in several episodes.
When it comes to the rest of the Hill family, David (Tim Chiou) and his consultant Jennifer West (Andrea Cortes) became a couple, much to the chagrin of his father Joseph (James Saito) and mother Grace (Freda Foh Shen). Jennifer was hired to work for David by Claire Fox (Marin Hinkle), who previously had an affair with Joseph, then had photos taken of them that she used for blackmail.
Even after learning this, David refuses to split up with Jennifer. Later, when he talks to Jennifer about how them being in a relationship could complicate his senate campaign, she resigns and they kiss.
Overall, "The Art of the Steel" was a bit underwhelming. But with the Maguire family back together and Charle and Emma starting to trust each other again, the plots are now in place to make sure that The Company You Keep's next few episodes deliver.
New episodes of The Company You Keep at Sundays on ABC, then are available to stream on-demand on Hulu.
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