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The Larágan Gamble is the fifth episode of season one and 5th overall episode of The Catch.

Short Summary[]

Alice and Valerie are shocked to discover their longtime political client is being blackmailed by compromising photos. Meanwhile, Margot and Ben’s benefactor grows dangerously impatient, sending them on a high-stakes jewelry heist to recoup their debt. And, Alice’s suspicion of Dao leads her to confide in Valerie.

Full Summary[]

Ben sends Alice a text, asking if he can see her.

Alice reads the text and types "Today?", but then decides against sending it. She walks into her dressing room, where she sees the painting. She turns it around so she doesn't have to look at it. Her phone rings. She answers. She can't believe Ben is calling her. He says she didn't answer his text. She didn't. She doesn't see the point of meeting, since she doubts that he'll tell her the truth. He says she'll have to meet him to find out. She tells him to meet her on the steps of Disney Hall at noon. He has one condition. No agent Dao. She agrees to that.

However, Dao is listening in from his car.

Both Ben and Alice are carefully picking their outfit for the day.

Margot enters the hotel room and tells Ben that Felicity has reminded her twice that they have 6 hours left. They still have to figure out a way to raise $10 million, so there's no leaving until they do.

At AVI, Valerie's holding a meeting with all the employees. She's going for maximum transparency. Alice keeps checking what time it is, but it's still 45 minutes before she has to meet Christopher.

Margot orders lunch for her and Ben. Ben says he's going out for some fresh air, but he promises to be back soon.

Alice tries to sneak out, but Valerie catches her at the elevator. Alice says she has this pro bono thing she forgot to tell Valerie about, but she promises to be back for their client at 2. Valerie offers to come, but Alice declines. Valerie seems to suspect something's going on.

Ben reads Alice's text, saying she's arrived. He checks himself in a car window, and then sees Dao in his car. Dao is taking photos of Alice, who's waiting for Ben. Ben hides behind a tree and calls Alice, saying she lied to him. He tells her about Dao. She promises she didn't tell him, but he's already hung up the phone. She walks off.

Alice approaches Sophie at the office and asks her if they can see if her phone's been hacked. She says Dao knows where she is all the time. Valerie asks Alice to come for their client, William Etheridge. Before following her, Alice gives her phone to Sophie.

In Valerie's office, William's showing photos of his wife Renée and a man in a restaurant, holding hands. A friend of his took the photos. Willam hasn't shown Renée because he wants to know the truth first. He wants to know everything. Alice and Valerie say they can't do that, because Renée is their client. They worked on her campaign. William asks if they really can't do that. Valerie says they'll talk about it and get back to him.

Sophie and Danny have joined Alice and Valerie. They say that Renée's never cheated before. She and William have been married for 11 years and they have 2 children. He's a superintendent at a school, she is the Los Angeles city attorney. She's the real deal. They did oppo research and vetted staffers for Renée when she ran. Technically, they still work for her. Sophie suggests she do some light surveillance, but Alice wants to talk to Renée. Valerie wonders what to tell her. Alice says she has a re-election campaign coming up, so they can set up a meeting to find out if they're still working for her.

Margot finishes a call with Felicity, promising her that they have the money. Ben suggests they do an old dine and dash to collect money.

Ben's in his room with a hotel staff member. He poses as if he forgot the code to his safe. The staffer uses the standard reset code and Ben watches him closely. He tips the staffer and thanks him.

Margot is sitting in the restaurant. She's on the phone with Ben and gives him room numbers of people who are leaving the hotel or enjoying their meal. Meanwhile, he breaks into their rooms and steals whatever's in the safes. They do a bunch of rooms, until Ben finds a bullet in one safe. He turns around and sees Felicity pointing a gun at him.

Alice asks Sophie if she's found anything on her phone, but Sophie confesses she lost her phone. She promises she'll find it. Valerie comes over, holding the phone.

Valerie's looking into Alice's phone, seeing all the calls and texts from Christopher. Alice says she was going to tell her. Valerie can't understand how Alice could possibly want to see that man again. Alice says she's working with agent Dao to catch him. She didn't tell Valerie because she knew that she'd try to talk her out of it and she can't have that. She says she needs to know why this happened to her. Danny comes in to say that Renée has arrived. Valerie gives Alice her phone back.

Felicity tells Ben and Margot that she's disappointed that they just wanted to flee town. If they'd come to her and confessed that they couldn't make the payment, she would've told them that their benefactor has forgiven them this month's payment. Margot asks why. Felicity says he has a job for them, a simple snatch and grab. He needs them to steal a bracelet. She shows them a picture.

Alice and Valerie are meeting with Renée. She hasn't had the time to think about her re-election campaign. Alice asks about William. Renée says they're both great. Things between them are better than ever, she says.

Valerie and Alice inform Sophie about their meeting with Renée. It was brief because she had a meeting at city hall. Danny says that's a lie. He cloned her phone and says she's not going there. Danny and Alice leave to find out where she's going. Sophie asks Valerie how she managed to take Alice's phone out of her pocket. Valerie replies she's that good.

Ben and Margot are researching the bracelet. It's worth $12 million and it's owned by Carla Velasquez, Prime Minister of Larágo, a Caribbean republic opening it's L.A. consulate this very week. It's gonna be challenging, because she wears it all the time and she and her husband are surrounded by guards. The consulate will be a fortress soon, but there's a dinner party for which they can get invitations. Once they're in, it'll be just a standard lift. Margot says they need a third man and they're missing Reggie, meaning Felicity will have to help.

Danny and Alice are following Renée. Wherever she's going, she won't stay long because she confirmed a staff meeting through e-mail. Danny asks if she wants to talk about what's going on between her and Valerie. Alice says it's complicated, but he says no. He wonders if Valerie will forgive her like he did. She asks for what. He replies for going after Christopher without them.

Renée enters a restaurant while Alice asks if Danny's known about Christopher and Dao all the time. He figured she'd tell him if she wanted him to know. They follow Renée inside and watch as Renée sits down with a man. While Danny takes some pics. Alice asks Danny if she was that obvious. He says no, but he was jealous when she started looking into Maria Kreyn forgeries with Sophie. The man caresses Renée's hand and slides her a folder. She takes it and stands up. Alice says it doesn't look like love. Renée stands up and walks past them to leave.

Sophie has found the man's identity. His name is Tony Ellis. He owns and operates the multinational Ellis Pacific. He also owns all the politicians to whose campaigns he contributed. Tony likes to stay out of the spotlight, but he's actually everywhere. He's developing properties all over L.A. because his contracts always get rubber-stamped by the city attorney's office. The weird thing is that Renée's never taken a penny from the guy. Valerie suggests they hack him to find out what he has on Renée, but Sophie wouldn't know where to begin. All his companies are shells of shells. Danny says they need to hack Tony himself. Alice suggests they try to convince him that he needs a new security company.

Margot gives Felicity and Ben their fake identities for the dinner party. Ben tells them that the consulate contracts with a private security firm. Margot hopes it's not Alice Vaughan's. Ben says no. There will be 10 officers. Felicity asks if they have guns, but the answer is no because there's a metal detector at the door. The only back-up they have is each other. Felicity says they would have guns hidden everywhere if they were back with the syndicate. Margot admits there were advantages. Ben says hard work builds character. He leaves to pick up his tuxedo. Felicity says this DIY process is sweaty. Margot asks what's wrong with that as she leans in.

Tony is meeting with Alice and Valerie. He's meeting with them because his security firm was hacked. He's here because he's looking for the individuals who did the hacking. He knows who's responsible. He can't prove it because the work was clean. The hackers didn't take anything, so it was as if they were just trying to get his attention. They have it now. He says that if there's any business, showing off or threatening his business, he simply buys it or makes it go away. He just wanted to put faces with the names. Perhaps, they will be doing business in the future. Alice hands him his phone before he walks out. She reveals she successfully placed the microdot on the phone.

Sophie says the microdot's in play. She's accessing Tony's phone. By tomorrow morning, they'll know everything there is to know.

Jules shows up at Alice's house with wine. He wanted to apologize for blaming her about Christopher's escape. He let his enthusiasm cloud his judgment. He can't blame her for mistrusting him. They clink glasses to the eventual capture of Christopher Hall. A phone goes off, but Dao sees it's not Alice's. She excuses herself and walks into her bedroom. There's a phone on her pillow with an incoming call from Mr. X. She answers the call and Ben asks if she likes her present. She looks up and sees the painting's hanging on her bedroom wall again.

Ben says there are two things she needs to know right now. That dress looks amazing on her. She closes the bedroom door after apologizing to Dao, and then tells Ben that Dao's there. He knows that. Dao's going through her mail as they speak. Ben tells her that Dao placed a bug in her house. He did a sweep. Dao knocks on the door and asks if everything's okay. She says she'll be right out. Ben tells her to act as if it's a work call. He tells her the bug's under the knob of her front door. She pretends to be talking to Sophie about photos that a messenger left somewhere. She ducks to look under the doormat and then sees the bug. She tells "Sophie" she'll call him back. Ben reminds her to use this phone to call him back. She hangs up and returns to Dao. He was hoping they can resume their partnership. He asks if she's heard from Christopher again. She says she did. She says they agreed to meet, but he didn't show. She says she didn't tell him because of what happened at Grand Park. She asks if there's anything he'd like to share now that they're honest. He says no, but he's glad they're being honest.

Alice has apology coffee for Valerie since it's too early for bourbon. Alice says this is something she really has to do. Sophie and Danny come on. They have found out what Tony has on Renée. He has stuff on William.

William and Renée are meeting with Valerie and Alice. On his first teaching job at age 21, William did stuff with a 17 year old student because they thought they were in love. Her parents paid to make it go away, and it did. Until Tony Ellis told her about it. He threatened to expose William if she didn't push his contracts through. William's a good man. William can't believe she didn't say anything. Alice says she did that because she knew he'd do the right thing and come forward. He'd lose his job for a mistake he made when he was 21. Valerie and Alice say they can use the blackmail to take Tony down without having her resign or exposing William. They need her to set up another meeting with Tony.

At a diner, William's surprised to see Alice instead of Renée. She tells him it looks like they'll be doing business after all. Alice admits her firm was responsible for pointing out the weaknesses in his security. She shows him the microdot on his cell. Since it gave them access to the camera, microphone, and his location, they know who he's seen and what he's said in the last 24 hours. They've recorded it all so he won't threaten William and Renée ever again. He says he's already thinking about what he's going to do to her and her firm to get even. She leaves.

Alice tells Valerie that they have a powerful new enemy. Valerie says that Renée is bringing all of Tony's contracts up for review. She hopes that Renée and William are okay now that everything's out in the open. Alice realizes she should've told her about Christopher. Valerie says yes, because she would've helped her. She wants to know what she can do for Alice. Alice says Dao bugged her house. He's using her to get to Christopher. Valerie has a plan to get rid of the bug.

Ben's putting on his tuxedo.

Alice uses her second phone to call him. She wants to meet with him without FBI. He asks when. She says tonight, but he says he can't. She figures he's pulling a job. He says he owes people money. Danny comes in to give her the CCTV footage of Disney Hall. Alice asks him about the job. She guesses around and figures that it's a jewelry heist by his reaction. He says there's a chance it goes South for him tonight, so he wants this conversation to be worth remembering. As she's saying he doesn't need to steal from people, Margot and Felicity come in. Ben hangs up the phone.

Alice starts reviewing the CCTV footage. She finds Ben and his car. She zooms in on the license plate and writes it down.

Dao's listening in on Alice and Valerie from his car as they're discussing whether or not Alice should go after Christopher by himself. Alcie asks Valerie for the address. Valerie says it and Dao writes it down. Valerie tells Alice not to do this by herself as it's dangerous.

Meanwhile, inside  the house, Valerie removes the bug from the door while she and Alice smilingly go on. Alice refuses Valerie's offer to come with her. Valerie leaves with the bug and Alice mouths "Thank you." Alice then picks up her phone and poses as a detective to report a stolen vehicle. She reads the license plate and asks to have the vehicle's location LoJacked.

Felicity, Ben, and Margot arrive at the dinner party. They spot the guard, Carla, her husband Diego, and the bracelet on her wrist.

Meanwhile, Alice has the address and Googles it. She finds out it's the address of the Larágo Consulate. Alice thanks the person and hangs up the phone.

Valerie's drinking at a bar. Dao walks in and Valerie sends Alice a text to inform her about that. Dao spots Valerie and she waves at him. He asks what brings her here. She replies work. She says she was supposed to meet a suspect, but the guy cancelled. She stayed anyway because she's not one to let a good bourbon go to waste. She asks if he's working, too. He says he's here for the Glann ar Mor, a French whiskey.

The three con artists shake hands with Carla. Margot spots the Shives and the Gullahorns. They're the competition. Felicity asks if they should go on with their plan. Margot's sure that the competition has a plane as well. Ben doubts they did their homework. He knows the song that Carla and Diego danced to on their wedding. He goes to pay the band to play that song. Diego and Carla get on the dancefloor and start dancing. Now it's Margot and Felicity's turn. While Ben goes to check if the competition has hidden guns, the two women get on the dancefloor as well. While they're dancing, the competition retrieves their hidden guns. They kiss in the middle of their dance. As Carla extends her arm while kissing her husband, Margot manages to snatch the bracelet off her wrist. Felicity then walks up to Ben, and while sensually letting her hand slide over his chest, she lets the bracelet slide into his pocket.

Ben's left the party with the bracelet, but he's soon stopped by Mickey Shive, who's holding Ben at gunpoint. Ben manages to knock him down and escape, but he's soon chased by the others and Mickey. He gets hit by a bullet in the shoulder, falls, and rolls onto the street. A car stops right in front of him. It's Alice. She yells at him to get in. He does so and she drives. Mickey memorizes her license plate.

At the bar, Dao asks Valerie how well she knows Alice. Valerie can't believe he's asking a beautiful woman about another woman. He compliments her looks, but she says it's too late for that now. Valerie says she knows Alice well enough to know that she and Dao have been investigating Christopher behind her back, and that he's been bugging her house, and that she'll have him deported if he ever comes near her again. She drops the bug in his glass, drinks her whiskey, and leaves. Dao watches her off with a smile on his face.

Alice and Ben are at her house. She's tending to his wound. It's just a flesh wound. She asks about the people shooting at them, reminding him he promised her to tell the truth. He says it were the Shives and the Cullahorns, the two biggest crime syndicats of the country. He works for neither. He and his partner work independently. He says he's worked with her for 15 years. She asks if the two of them were together when she and him were together. He says no. Alice asks how his partner felt about that. He admits she didn't like it, which is why he's trying to keep Alice away from all of it. Him being here doesn't help. He wants to leave, but she won't allow him to go until he's told her everything. She wants to know his real name. It matters to her. He won't say, so she starts slapping his shoulder. He throws her onto her bed and climbs on top of her. He tells her to play nice, but she headbutts him. She apologizes for that as he's in a lot of pain. He then says his name is Benjamin Jones. She smiles and repeats it. They kiss. They undress and proceed to have sex. Afterwards, they go to sleep.

The next morning, Alice is woken up by the phone. Ben's gone. She answers the phone and says he left early this morning. He asks her where it is. He doesn't have time for games. She says it's not a game. He doesn't get to disappear anymore. She looks at the bracelet on her wrist and tells him he's gonna have to play by her rules from now on if he wants the bracelet back. She hangs up and smiles.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Uncredited[]

  • Alice Rietveld as Party guest
  • Mehdi Merali as Party guest
  • Peter Jang as Party guest

Cons and Cases[]

Benjamin Jones[]

Ben agreed to meet up with Alice again, on the condition it would be without Dao. However, Dao used the microphones he'd hidden in Alice's home to get the details. When Ben noticed Dao there, he left without seeing Alice, telling her about Dao's presence over the phone. She then asked Sophie if there were a way to check if her phone was being tracked. When Alice went back to Sophie, Sophie admitted she'd lost Alice's phone. However, Valerie had it. To cover, she said she was working with Dao to catch Ben. Later, Ben told Alice her apartment had been bugged, which she verified. She and Valerie later used this to their advantage, feeding Dao fake information. Valerie met up with Dao at the location they sent him to in order to keep him there while Alice and Ben met up. Valerie then told Dao she knew he'd bugged Alice's house and told him to back off or she'd have him deported back to where he came from. During their meeting, Alice cleaned Ben's wound and he told her that Ben was his real name.

William Etheridge[]

William Etheridge came to AVI with pictures of his wife Renée, whom he believed was having an affair. He wanted to know everything, so he wouldn't go in without all the information. They were reluctant to take the case because Renée was one of their clients, but he asked them just to find out who the man was. They said they'd discuss it and get back to her. The team talked about it and then agreed to check with Renée to see if they still worked for her, if they were running her re-election campaign. Renée came in and said she hadn't had time to think about whether she was running for re-election, but she said her marriage was going well. They followed Renée and found her meeting with Tony Ellis, a moneyed city developer who had most of the politicians other than Renée in his pocket. In order to get him to take a meeting with them, they hacked his current security company. However, he showed up to the meeting and simply threatened them, implying he knew what they'd done. After he was gone, Alice confirmed that she'd put a microdot on his phone. They used that to figure out he had information on William, not Renée. At his first teaching job, William had had inappropriate contact with a student. Tony used that information to blackmail Renée. Because he'd blackmailed her, Alice met with Tony, who declared his intent to hit them back as revenge.

Hotel Guests[]

In order to raise money, Ben and Margot used a "dine and dash" rouse to get into people's hotel rooms and steal things from their hotel room safes.

Carla Velasquez[]

In exchange for forgiving their payment for the month, The Benefactor asked Ben and Margot to steal a bracelet for him. They got invitations to a party where they'd take it off her wrist. They decided they'd need Felicity's help to pull it off. Felicity was Lady Beatrice, Ben was Dr. Kenneth Jacboson , and Margot was Dorothy Parcell. Once they arrived at the party, they found that other crime syndicates were after the bracelet as well. Felicity and Margot danced along with Carla and her husband and Margot used their proximity to snag the bracelet and hand it over to Ben. However, as Ben left with the bracelet, he was stopped by Mickey Shive, who shot him. He managed to escape with the bracelet, but later, Alice took it from him, using it as leverage to get him to do what she wanted.

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"I Awake" Sarah Blasko
  • Alice ignores Ben's text, but he calls her to ask if they can meet up. She tells him to meet up at Disney Hall at noon.
  • Agent Dao listens in.
  • They get ready for work.
  • Margot is panicking over how they can make their payment.
  • Both Ben and Alice are anxiously waiting for it to be noon and make excuses to get out of work.
"This Is a Game" Nick Waterhouse
  • Margot and Ben pull the old "dine & dash".
"Run Back 2 Me" Andy Davis
  • Valerie spots Dao in the bar and texts Alice.
  • He sees Valerie and joins her for a drink.
"Augustina" Diana Frangi and Gustavo Ares
  • Margot, Ben, and Felicity greet the prime minister.
  • Margot spots their competition
"Bulna" Diana Frangi and Gustavo Ares
  • Ben pays the band to play Carla and Diego's wedding song, causing them to start dancing.
  • Margot and Felicity join them on the dance floor.
  • Ben looks around for hidden guns.
  • Margot manages to snatch the bracelet and gives it to Ben, who leaves with it.
"Faded" Clare Maguire
  • Valerie tells Dao that she knows he and Alice have been working together, that he bugged her house, and that she'll have him deported if he comes near Alice ever again.
  • She dumps the bug in his glass and walks off. He looks after her and smiles.
"Strange Enough" Verite
  • Ben and Alice have sex after he tells her his real name.
  • He's disappeared by the morning.
  • She's woken up by his call. She has stolen the bracelet to make sure he won't disappear again. 
  • She tells him they're gonna play by her rules now.

Notes and Trivia[]

The_Catch_1x05_Promo_"The_Larágan_Gambit"_(HD)

The Catch 1x05 Promo "The Larágan Gambit" (HD)

  • This episode scored 4.60 million viewers.

Gallery[]

Promotional Stills[]

Behind the Scenes[]

Quotes[]

Ben: She'll have to help.
Felicity: But I'm a killer, not a thief.
Margot: Well, nobody's perfect.

Ben: Alice, I don't have time for games.
Alice: It's not a game. You don't get to just disappear anymore. If you want your bracelet back, you're going to have to play by my rules from now on.

Alice: I brought apology coffee. But only because it's too early for bourbon.

Ben: My name is Ben.
Alice: Ben.
Ben: Benjamin Jones.
Alice: Benjamin Jones.

Alice: So, what's the job? Bank robbery?
Ben: Please. What do you take me for?
Alice: Another museum theft?
Ben: Well, that Maria Kreyn does look right at home on your bedroom wall.
Alice: Jewelry heist?
Ben: I should go.
Alice: Interesting. Jewelry heist. Who's the unlucky girl?

See Also[]

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.

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