A Man in Full – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

Episode 1 of A Man In Full kicks off with Charlie Crocker lying on the floor next to bed, pondering whether people would remember him if he were to kick the bucket. Flashback to 10 days earlier, it’s Charlie’s 60th birthday bash, held at his own hotel. In case you didn’t catch on, Charlie is a big shot in real estate, one of the richest men in the country.

Some even say he’s the guy who put Atlanta on the map.  As the night of the party rolls on, Raymond Peepgrass gets a call from Harry Zale, asking how wild the party is. It’s pretty clear from their conversation that Raymond hates Charlie and is thrilled to deliver some bad news to him the next morning.

The next morning, during a meeting, Charlie meets Harry Zale, the head of the asset management department, who wishes him a belated birthday and drops a bomb that Charlie is in deep trouble. It turns out Charlie owes the bank $800 million and hasn’t paid back a cent, not even the interest.

When Zale presses him, Charlie says that the bank owes its success to him. But no matter how much Charlie talks big, he’s in a sticky situation, owing money to not just one but six banks. After the meeting, Charlie talks to Roger White, his lawyer telling him how he was blindsided by Harry and Raymond Peepgrass and needs Roger to figure out a way to outsmart the bank.

Despite Roger being a top-notch lawyer, he knows it won’t be a walk in the park as the loan Charlie took was originally structured to benefit the bank, making it a tough nut to crack. It’s not just Charlie who’s in hot water; Peepgrass is also in a tight spot because he has gotten a woman, Sirija, pregnant, and she’s demanding $700,000, or she’ll go to the media and ruin Peepgrass’s career.

Raymond’s lawyer suggests he pay up, but Peepgrass makes it clear that he doesn’t have that kind of cash. Meanwhile, Jill, Charlie’s secretary, is also on edge as her husband, Conrad, has been arrested for assaulting a police officer. Jill turns to Charlie for help, and he assures her that he’ll take care of it.

We catch Martha Croker, Charlie’s ex-wife, at the gym, where she’s chatting with her friend Joyce Newman. Joyce slyly asks Martha if she’s feeling a pang of jealousy now that Charlie’s with a younger woman, but Martha sets the record straight that she was the one who left Charlie, not the other way around. Martha now lives with her son, Wally, who often gets suspended from school due to his rebellious streak.

Meanwhile, Roger pays a visit to Wes Jordan, the Mayor, who has a favor to ask. Wes wants Roger to dig up some dirt on Norman Bagovitch. Turns out, Norman sexually assaulted a woman years ago and bragged about it to Charlie Croker, his old friend. Wes wants Roger to get the name of the victim from Charlie so they can put Norman behind bars.

Later that same night, Charlie pays Raymond a visit to have a heated conversation about the mess that Raymond has created. Charlie wonders why Raymond didn’t clue him in about the bank’s plan to tighten the noose around him. Raymond, though he won’t admit it, blindsided Charlie because he hated being treated like a nobody.

Charlie asks Raymond to go to the bank and clear his name from the list of loan defaulters, but Raymond refuses, claiming he’s stuck and can’t back out even if he wants to. Disrespectfully, Raymond tells Charlie to get out of his apartment. 

The Episode Review

A Man in Full is off to a fantastic start, offering everything you’d expect from a top-notch show. This includes drama, a compelling plot, and well-developed characters. Not to mention, it boasts a stellar cast featuring Jeff Daniels, Diane Lane, and Lucy Liu, all heavyweights in the world of entertainment.

The plot revolves around Charlie Croker, played by Jeff Daniels, whose fortunes are on the brink of collapse. Despite his wealth and influence, Charlie finds himself in hot water after defaulting on a loan of nearly a billion dollars.

The bank is unwilling to let him off the hook easily, leaving Charlie with two options: either sell off assets to repay the debt or devise a cunning plan to turn the tables on the bank.