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Margot Bishop is a con artist and current head of the Kensington Firm.

History[]

Early Life[]

Margot grew up in a crime family that was led by her father. After her father's death, her brother Rhys was appointed as the leader, despite her father intending Margot for that role. This led Margot to strike out on her own along with Benjamin Jones and Reginald Lennox III.

Margot has been all over Europe. She resided in Paris from February to May 2013, then moved to Milan until November. From December 2013 to April 2014, she lived in Berlin, then in Warsaw until September. In October 2014, she moved to Athens, where she continued to live until November 2015, when she moved to Zurich. Finally, she left Europe near the end of February 2015 and has resided in Los Angeles since March 2015.[6]

Conning Alice Vaughan[]

Margot and Ben decided to con Alice Vaughan, with Ben posing as Christopher Hall to date Alice and get access to information about her and her business. After Ben got Alice to write him a check for her life savings, Margot decided it was time for him to end the con and break up with Alice. He was reluctant, but she gave him no choice.[7]

Being Conned[]

After Alice figured out she'd been conned and that Christopher Hall wasn't real, she started to work to figure out who he really was and what he was doing. She used what she knew about him to figure out his next move, then planted a program for him to steal that allowed Sophie to hack into their system and drain all their accounts, leaving them unable to pay their benefactor.[8]

Marking Qasim Halabi and Zara Al-Salim[]

Wanting to move on to the next con to make more money, Margot and Reggie targeted Zara Al-Salim, a Kuroqi princess who had come to Los Angeles to shop after the death of her father. Reggie posed as Joseph Riley, a broker for Brandeis Property and Margot as Stella Winters, an angel investor. They tried to send Ben to Shanghai to get him out of the way because Alice and her team knew his face. Reggie insisted that Ben needed to leave, but when they spotted Dao talking to Alice, they believed she was working with him to catch them. They went back to Margot and explained what they'd seen. Margot and Reggie then more fully explained the con to Ben. The mark was actually Qasim Halabi, the princess's guardian and de facto controller for the royal family's business empire. Ben suggested that he approach the princess and get her to stay in Los Angeles, after she'd been planning to leave for New York. Margot and Reggie approached Qasim and pitched their investment to him. While he was distracted, Ben caught the attention of Zara. After sweet talking her, he got Zara to leave with him. After a drive, they talked and Ben convinced Zara to stay in Los Angeles. They met in the hotel lobby the next morning and he introduced himself at Michael Thorne.[9]

Ben continued to get to know Zara, who encouraged him to try to repair things with his mystery woman. At the same time, Reggie posed as a real estate photographer and seduced the broker, Sasha Nolan, in order to get her ID badge.

Qasim became suspicious of "Michael Thorne" and threatened him in an attempt to keep him away from Zara. However, she continued to spend time with Ben, who pretended he was also a potential investor in Runyon Towers. They went together to the pitch, where they manipulated Qasim into doubling his investment. Shortly afterward, Ben found out Qasim had lied to Zara about the size of the holding fee and was pocketing the extra money. Margot, as Stella Winters, the other investor, told Zara about the difference in cost, letting her know Qasim was stealing from her. She confronted Qasim and fired him, saying he'd be sent back to Kuroq for her brothers to deal with him. Qasim angrily confronted Ben at a restaurant where he was eating with Zara and Margot shot him to stop him from hurting Ben. Reggie traveled as Qasim to Mexico, to make Zara's family think Qasim had just left the country with the money.[10]

When Zara asked Ben to help her gather money and flee so she could stay in the US, Margot asked him how much money he'd stolen from her. When he said he hadn't stolen any, she said their payment was past due, meaning once someone was sent, they could pay up or die. They found Felicity waiting for them and Ben made a deal to give them 48 more hours to get the money. Margot then thought of a con to start a foundation for women in Zara's name. Zara found a foundation she wanted to donate the money to, and Ben was shocked to find that Alice, as Paige Baker, was the head of the charity.

Before the con was completed, Zara's brother came to the US to take her home. Zara decided to sell many of her personal possessions in order to raise the $15 million. She gave Ben the check, but he told Margot Zara's brother had frozen the account. Margot then took the necklace Zara had given Ben to give to Alice and said they could try giving it to Felicity to buy them some more time.[11]

Stealing the Bracelet[]

With just six hours left until their payment deadline, Margot said that she and Ben wouldn't be leaving the hotel room until they figured out a way to raise the $10 million they needed. They used a "dine and dash" con to get cash and jewelry out of hotel visitors' room safes. While pulling the con, Felicity confronted Ben with a gun. She told them that the benefactor had agreed to have them do a job for him, in exchange for that month's payment. Ben agreed, despite Margot's reluctance. They planned how to get the bracelet at a gala with Felicity's help. Ben bribed the band to play the song Carla and Diego Velasquez had danced to at their wedding. Felicity and Margot danced alongside them and Margot slipped the bracelet off Carla's wrist and handed it off to Felicity, who passed it to Ben. As Ben left, he was confronted by Mickey Shive, who shot at him. He was grazed by a bullet, but was rescued when Alice came by in her car and told him to get in. She took care of him and stole the bracelet to use as a bargaining chip.[12]

Margot's brother, Rhys, the benefactor, came to town to collect the bracelet. Ben stalled by saying he'd hidden it and Rhys said he was there because his and Margot's mother had been pestering him to go make peace with Margot. When the bracelet was taken by the Shive family, Ben, with the help of Alice and Dao, made a plan to get the bracelet back. Felicity informed Margot that the bracelet was special because the diamonds came from India. Rhys's real plan was to give it back in order to expand into India, Africa, and the Middle East. Once Margot knew this, she renegotiated with Rhys, offering him the bracelet only in exchange for forgiving the rest of their debt to him. The bracelet was retrieved and given to Rhys.[13]

Poker Game[]

Rhys came to Ben and told him about another job with a big payday. Teddy Seavers came to down and was addicted to gambling. Ben convinced Rhys to let Margot run the con her way. They set up a poker game in the hotel and enticed Teddy to play. When he tried to back out due to his girlfriend's interference, they brought in the newly back in town Reggie to pose as a famous poker player and draw Teddy back in. Using cameras and plants, Margot manipulated the game from her hotel room. They'd nearly finished when an apparently drunk Rhys screwed up and folded instead of calling and spilled his drink, shorting out the cameras. They continued the con after sending Rhys to sober up, playing very slowly to put Teddy on edge. The game lasted until early the next morning, when they decided to end it with a high card draw. Ben won using an ace from his sleeve and they completed the con. However, they soon learned that Rhys had only been pretending to be drunk and had used them to distract Teddy, making him miss his breakfast meeting. Rhys then took the meeting with the owner of the hotel and used it to expand his territory into the US.[14]

Posing as Alice's Therapist[]

After Rhys learned about Alice Vaughan, Margot explained their past con to him. She then explained that she wanted to learn more about Alice and was posing as her therapist to do so.[15] In their sessions, Alice told Margot the whole story of her relationship with Ben.[16] When Alice found out Margot was working with Ben, she started saying negative things about Margot to her face and planted a bug on Margot to track her movement. When Margot told Leah Wells, Leah figured out she'd been made and they quickly relocated to avoid being caught.[17]

Taking Leah Wells[]

After learning that Ben and Reggie were going to start working with the Kensington Firm again, Margot was upset. She pretended to be helping Rhys with a con, but gave him information that let to his downfall and her stealing a counterfeiter he was trying to get to work with the Firm, Leah Wells. Rhys, as retaliation, said he was going to tell their mother.[18]

Sybil in Town and Arrest[]

Margot and Rhys's mother, Sybil, came to town and had a dinner with Margot, Rhys, and Ben. She told Margot she knew Margot had stolen Leah Wells from her. Sybil asked Margot what she wanted and Margot said she wanted what her father had promised her, to be the head of the Kensington Firm. After being nearly caught making counterfeit money, they left. Margot believed they needed to burn the money, but Leah and Reggie didn't want to do that, because they'd worked hard on it. They sold the money, but when Margot went to drop it off, Alice's team was there waiting for her. Reggie warned her and she got out, but Valerie and Alice were able to apprehend her. They took her in to be interrogated. Dao send Ben in to negotiate with her. Before negotiation could be completed, Sybil had Margot broken out of custody. Sybil and Margot confronted Ben and Sybil said she'd need him to do his part and attend the wedding, using Alice as collateral to make sure he went through with it.[19]

Taking Over[]

Margot reluctantly started to work with her mother again. Sybil had planned to have Leah and Reggie make $20 million in fake money to replace the real money in Virginia Foster's vault, which she would then try to spend, ruining her reputation and leaving the door open for the Firm to expand into her territory. Margot posed as the wedding planner and they started to put things in place for the money to be swapped. However, Margot got Sybil's assassin, Jamison, on her side and the two of them stole the money and ran away with it while Sybil was arrested. She also called the FBI to report the stolen painting in Alice's apartment.[20]

After establishing herself as the new leader, Margot brought several of the Firm's lieutenants to the US to start their US takeover. During the first meeting, she noticed three of the missing and later learned they'd missed their payments as well. She also saw Alfie and Felix McCall talking. She interrupted them and asked Felix if he had something to say. Just as he was about to talk, Ivor's phone rang and as he got up to answer it, Margot shot him dead. That silenced the chatter so she could speak.

She later learned that several of their assets had disappeared or been destroyed, including a hotel in Bilbao. Margot believed Sybil was behind it, so she posed as Sybil's lawyer and went to see her in prison. Sybil said it wasn't her and the Bilbao hotel was their insurance policy. Margot's father had hidden money in the floors and walls. He'd only told her because he knew he was going to die. She said it was up to Margot to figure out who had done it. Later, while she and Jamison were having sex, Jamison was shot to death through the window. Margot then went to Alice and Valerie and asked to retain their services.[21]

She offered Valerie and Alice $500,000 in order to find the person who was trying to kill her, with the same amount when the found the person. After talking it over, they decided to take her on, because they needed the money to keep AVI running and Alice wanted to keep an eye on Margot. They investigated the bullet that had been used to kill Jamison and found that there were no markings. Margot told them it was The Hammer, an assassin who is paid and hired anonymously, so no one knew who he was. In order to draw him out so they could catch him, Alice, Valerie, Sophie, and Margot all went out dressed alike and holding identical umbrellas. They walked around the plaza, confusing The Hammer. He eventually took shots at Sophie and Valerie, trying to figure out which was Margot. But Danny had figured out where The Hammer was stationed and Alice went to him. She physical fought with him and finally restrained him. They took him to Margot's hotel room, where she wanted to kill him. Since their job was done, the AVI associates left Margot alone with the Hammer. Once they were gone, she said she wasn't going to kill him. She wanted to hire him.[22]

When Margot said she had a new lead and offered them another $500,000, Valerie sent Danny and Sophie to check it out. They were shocked to learn that Margot was paying The Hammer, who agreed to cooperate with them to figure out who hired him. Sophie used the information he provided to track the payment to a bank. Margot and Danny went into the bank together with the idea that Danny would hack into the CCTV to allow them to see who made the deposit for the second half of the money once The Hammer provided proof of death. However, Margot instead gave Danny a briefcase with a smoke bomb, creating a distraction while she hacked the camera feed herself. Danny then reviewed the footage and found a picture of the woman who had hired The Hammer, whom Margot said she didn't recognize.[23]

They looked at the photo of the woman from the bank and Valerie saw that the outfit she was wearing and bag she was carrying was stolen. Sophie and The Hammer took the photo around and found the hotel where the woman was staying. They got into her room and found that she had a wall dedicated to tracking Margot's life and all her associates. When she came back to her room, she fled. Valerie chased her, but she got away on a motorcycle. They re-created her wall at AVI and found a picture of a church. Danny remembered overhearing Margot and Ben talk about a church and Margot admitted it was their safe house. They stored weapons and money there, all the assets they'd acquired in Los Angeles. They set a trap to catch the woman breaking in. They waiting in the vault and when she arrived, Margot asked who she was. The woman surprised them by calling Margot "mummy."[24]

They took her back to AVI, where they learned she was named Tessa Riley and was just fifteen years old. She'd been bought by the Riley family shortly after birth. Unbelieving, Margot pulled out a few of her hairs to have them tested and went to Sybil after talking to Tessa in order to confirm details of what happened with Margot's baby and all the details matched up with Tessa's story. Sybil also told Margot she was being extradited to stand trial in England for her crimes.

The Rileys said they didn't want Tessa back. She'd been expelled from school after threatening to blow it up and then ran away. When the phone they took off Tessa chimed with a text message about phase two, they realized Tessa was working with someone. They used the phone to figure out it was Felix McCall, an explosives expert. They found his apartment door rigged with explosives. When they found Felix had been near Sybil's law firm, they realized she was in danger as well. Danny and Margot went to where she was being moved and confronted Felix. While Danny subdued him, Margot drove the prison van away with Sybil in it. She then set Sybil up to leave the country, but at the last minute, asked her to stick around for a bit. Margot then admitted that Tessa was hers and after speaking to her, introduced her to Ben, her father.[25]

Saving Rhys's Life[]

When Ben needed to get $3 million to save Rhys's life, he and Alice went to Margot. She gave them the money, but then she stole diamonds from the shipment they were moving, which she said re-paid their debt in full.[26]

Sybil's Coup[]

With Sybil around, Margot had difficulty keeping command, because Sybil kept injecting her opinion. When they learned they had pirates in the gulf stealing their shipments, Sybil suggested that Margot go to handle it personally. However, Margot decided to send an enforcer who was already nearby instead. Shortly after, she received a photo of his severed head, so she decided to go to Mexico to handle it herself. However, she secretly, along with Tessa, set Sybil up to admit that there were never any pirates and she'd faked the picture of Fernando. Margot told Sybil it was time for her to leave.[27]

Taking Over the Mangels Crew[]

After Carl and Galinda Mangels were arrested, Raymond Taggart took over their crew. They were dissatisfied with his leadership and Margot hope to sway their loyalty to the Firm. She sent Tessa to Raymond's daughter's birthday party. Tessa chatted with everyone at the party and secretly placed microphones around the property so Margot could gather information. Ben, upset that Margot had involved Tessa, went to the party to take her home. Before he could get her out, they were confronted by Raymond, who had caught Tessa planting a microphone in his office. He demanded $10 million from Margot to return them. She sent over a car for Raymond's daughter and said the money was in the trunk. However, she was actually hidden in the trunk. She rescued Ben and Tessa and then they used the information Margot had gathered to poison Raymond's team against him and get them to associate with the Firm. He tried to stop them leaving and promised his revenge, but Ben broke his wrist and warned him against coming after Tessa.[28]

Felicity's Return[]

At the end of the night, as she was heading to bed, Margot heard a knock at the door. She was shocked to find Felicity, whom she believed to be in India. Felicity said she was there to cause some trouble and asked if Margot was up for it. Then they kissed.[29]

Stealing Scotch[]

Margot showed Felicity Matthew Keegan, who had people Margot could sell her wares to. He runs 12 clubs and restaurants. He had a supplier, but was looking for someone new and Margot got exclusive word of that. She planned to steal a bottle of rare scotch from an illegal gambling establishment to charm him to get him to use the Firm. They went to the Wolf's Den and cheated at Roulette, the only game that wasn't rigged. They earned quite a bit of money and then Margot took some of the money to go buy a shot of the scotch to get it out of the locked box. Felicity created a distraction while Margot exchanged the real scotch for a fake bottle.

Margot had a meeting with Matthew and he said her offer was generous, but he'd already made a deal with someone else. He hadn't told anyone else he was looking, but the guy knew, a guy called Mockingbird. Margot realized Felicity had betrayed her and believed she was working with Rhys.[30]

Finding The Mockingbird[]

Margot confronted Rhys, who had no idea Felicity was alive. Now aware that Rhys wasn't behind it, Margot went to AVI to find out who had saved Felicity while she worked on drawing out the Mockingbird. Margot tried to make things with Felicity seem normal, but when Rhys confronted her, she learned that they were onto her, so she fled. With Rhys's help, AVI found out that the night he shot Felicity, Rhys called The Cleaner, but by the time he arrived, there was no body. While they were working on that, Margot took Tessa and Danny to steal a drug shipment meant for The Mockingbird in order to get a meeting with him. She left her card and told his lackeys to have him call to get his drugs back. She set up a meeting and left Sophie checking the hotel security cameras to see who had come and gone the night Felicity was shot while she went to the meeting. Unbeknownst to her, Felicity came back and shot both guards and Sophie and took Tessa while Margot met The Mockingbird: Thomas Vaughan.[31]

At the meeting, Tommy told her that most of her crew had been swayed over to him. He offered her the chance to work for him instead of killing her at the request of the other crime families. He told her to think about it any he'd call her in 24 hours to hear her decision.[32]

Tessa's Kidnapping and Escape[]

When Margot learned Tessa had been kidnapped, she was angry at Alice for letting it happen. Felicity called and demanded their presence at a dam. Rhys, Margot, and Ben agreed to let Ben figure out a plan to get Tessa back. When they went to the meeting, they learned Tessa was working for Felicity all along and they were taken as well. She planned to make it look like he and Margot shot each other and Ben was caught in the crossfire. When she learned Mockingbird had taken over The Firm, she took a call to negotiate a deal with him. Then she went to shoot Rhys first, but found her gun empty. Tessa had betrayed her. Margot then tased her and when Ben warned them that the FBI was on their way, Margot and Tessa escaped while Rhys and Ben waited to be "rescued" by the FBI.

Margot called Danny from Alice's house, where they'd gone to, and asked him to get her a plane to escape. Ben later tipped her off that Justine was coming to the house and they left just as they arrived, taking Ben with them.

Ben, Margot, and Tessa met at a plane to take them away. It was Ethan's plane and airport. Margot asked Danny to go along, but after Alice told Ben to go with Margot and Tessa, Danny decided to stay behind to take care of Alice.[33]

Relationships[]

Romantic[]

Benjamin Jones[]

She was romantically involved with Benjamin Jones. Occasionally, their cons required them to be with other people, but they always respected that. However, Margot admitted to Ben that she was jealous of Alice.[34]

She later told Ben that she wanted him to disappear and to get the time she'd spent on him back.[35]

She and Ben met when Rhys stranded them on a stolen yacht while he went on a three-day opium bender with a prostitute.[36]

Felicity[]

In order to buy them some more time to put together the money they needed, Margot slept with Felicity, the assassin sent to collect their payment or kill them.[37]

Margot was later shocked when Felicity appeared at her hotel room one evening, saying that she though Felicity was in India. They shared a kiss after Felicity told Margot she was there to cause some trouble.[38]

They quickly resumed their sexual relationship. However, after they worked together to steal some scotch, Margot's new distributor was stolen from under her, leading her to believe Felicity had betrayed her for her brother.[39]

Jamison[]

Margot started a relationship with Jamison in order to get him to betray Sybil and start working for her.[40]

Danny Yoon[]

After Danny got Margot a picture of the woman who wanted to kill her, he came to her hotel to see if she knew who it was. Margot said she didn't. She tried to dismiss Danny, but Danny, frustrated, came back into her room and the two had sex, agreeing that it didn't mean anything.[41]

They continued their sexual relationship while AVI continued to work on Margot's case.[42]

After Sophie warned Margot not to get Danny killed, Margot was more protective of Danny, trying to keep him out of the line of fire. After they were nearly killed while stealing a drug shipment, she fired him, but she said it was good because if he wasn't working for her, they didn't have to tell HR he was dating his boss.[43]

When Margot, Tessa, and Ben fled together, Danny decided to stay behind to take care of Alice, ending things with Margot.[44]

Familial[]

She's part of the Griffiths crime family, which runs the Kensington Firm. When her father died, he intended for her to take over, but her mother instead gave control to Rhys, causing a rift in the family.

After Margot took over the firm, it left her estranged from a bitter Rhys. However, Margot was willing to pay a ransom when she learned Rhys' life was in danger. Margot later learned she had a daughter named Tessa Riley, who was trying kill her.

Twice, Margot showed maternal instincts towards Tessa. The first was when she found out that Tessa as not only working with, but sleeping with Felix McCall, who was more than twice Tessa's age. Margot said she would castrate Felix and then kill him. The second time was when Margot held a gun to Tessa's head, and threatened to shot her if she did not divulge her and Felix's plan, but she couldn't pull the trigger on her own daughter.

Margot later broke Sybil out of prison, as she was being extradited, because Felix was trying to kill her. Margot planned for Sybil to leave town, but after Margot showed an interest in getting to know Tessa, Margot asked her to stay and help out.

Career[]

Margot used to be a successful con artist, with her territory being North America. After her mother got arrested, Margot became the head of the Kensington firm.[45]

Notes and Trivia[]

  • She can't stand compliments from people on payroll.[46]
  • She has an IQ of 145.[47]
  • She speaks Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese,[48] and Italian[49]
  • She was known as Zoe Taylor in development. According to Sonya Walger, the character was much more of a "supportive wife" back then. Sonya advocated for Margot to be more than that.
  • She was played by Bethany Joy Lenz in the original pilot.
  • ABC Bio: MARGOT BISHOP is the formidable, no-nonsense British power player who is the chief architect of Ben and Reggie's criminal assignments. She's the brains of the operation – the Dame Judi Dench to Ben's Daniel Craig - but she, too, has no problem going undercover on their criminal cons and adventures when necessary.
  • She doesn't have fingerprints.[50]

Gallery[]

A more complete gallery with pictures of Margot Bishop can be found here.

Appearances[]



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