Excitement Park
Episode 4 of Loot Season 1 begins with a news report of an amusement park in the Philippines breaking down. It just so happens that the park is owned by Molly.
Until now, Molly didn’t know she received half of John’s companies through the divorce. Arthur helps her go through her assets, but he needs some more information on some of them, including an art gallery.
When they go to check on the gallery together, Arthur particularly admires a painting of a bird. When he’s in another room, Molly buys the painting.
Meanwhile, Howard finds out that Nicholas is an actor. He encourages him to audition for a play, but Nicholas insists that acting is in the past for him.
They rehearse the script together for fun, and Nicholas eventually decides to go for the part. At his audition, however, he gets insecure at the last minute and leaves. But when he gets an encouraging text from Howard, he decides to go back and give it another shot.
Molly and Arthur next go to Molly’s alpaca farm, where they exchange stories about post-divorce life.
Arthur gets a message from his ex-wife asking him to take their daughter to her soccer game. He and Molly are four hours away, but Molly offers up her helicopter so they can get there in time. At Arthur’s invitation, Molly stays for the game.
Sofia gives a presentation to the city council about a motion, and she’s nervous about how they will react to Molly’s recent bad publicity. She’s surprised to learn that they love Molly and find her situation sympathetic.
When Molly returns, Sofia tells her that the city council is putting Sofia’s motion to a vote because of her. They love Molly. Because of what John did to her, people are rooting for her–and Sofia says that so is she.
Sofia tells her she still needs to be careful as a public figure. People will be ready to tear her down for anything.
The same day, a gossip magazine posts pictures of Molly and Arthur together, claiming that Molly is moving on with a “mystery man.”
Molly apologizes to Arthur for putting him in the public eye, and she starts to act a bit more coldly toward him than usual, trying to keep some healthy distance.
When Arthur gets home, he finds a package on his doorstep. It’s the bird painting he liked, sent from Molly.
The Episode Review
Because this episode focuses more on chemistry and romantic development than trying to land mediocre jokes, it actually delivers quite a sweet and sad arc. Molly and Arthur may be an unlikely pair, but their interactions are adorable, regardless.
In addition to romantic chemistry, this episode furthers Howard’s and Nicholas’ budding friendship, which makes for some comical and wholesome content I can get behind.
If Loot shines in one aspect of its production, it’s with the sheer charisma and charm of its cast–and that’s on full display here.
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Episode Rating
(4.5)
Even though, not speaking the language, I wouldn’t have known about the actor mangling his Tagalog lines, I wholeheartedly agree with both Josh and Ana. For me, it’s when that happens with supposedly French characters that I also find it truly insulting.
In “Loot”, Jean-Pierre Voland is played by Olivier Martinez, whose last name had me a bit worried before I heard him speak. Turns out his father is Spanish-Moroccan, but his mother is French and he grew up in the suburbs of Paris. Voland’s French in “Loot” is faultless. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of certain French characters in other productions.
I remember how disappointed I was by the heavily accented speech of the mysterious French woman, Danielle Rousseau, in “Lost”. No wonder! For most of the series’ run, she was played by Mira Furlan, a Croatian actress who spoke French quite poorly. There were three episodes during the 5th season where Melissa Farman took over the role as a younger, pregnant Danielle. Farman, who was born in New York but raised in Paris, speaks French flawlessly. (As a side note, I’ve read that British actor Naveen Andrews, the son of Indian immigrants, who played a former officer in Irak’s Special Republican Guard named Sayid Jarrah, did not speak Arabic very well. Again, I wouldn’t know.)
My biggest dismay at hearing an allegedly French-speaking character talk was due to the miscasting of actor Clement von Franckenstein, of Austrian descent, as the fictional French President René-Jean D’Astier in “The American President” (1995). His faux French accent when he was speaking English sounded distinctly… other, and his delivery of his one, longish line in French was so atrocious that it was impossible to understand what he was saying. Fortunately, his was an extremely small role; unfortunately, the rest of the movie was ruined for me.
In short: Asian ≠ Filipino, European ≠ French.
I really hate it when western films and shows use the Philippines as a material and never try to get things right.
fucking hire a real fucking filipino who speaks real Tagalog. the fuck. the show was great, but that one episode was really insulting.
I can’t believe they used some other Asian to speak Tagalog for the Filipino in the roller coaster.
Seriously messed us cause when you hear him he sounds like Peter Sellers in Murder by Death’s portrayal as the Chinese guy. Would it have cost them so much more for a Filipino to do that 1 min role?