Loot – Season 2 Episode 3 “Vengeance Falls” Recap & Review

Vengeance Falls

In Loot Season 2 Episode 3, Molly is so excited to see Nicholas in his upcoming play, “Vengeance Falls,” that she invites his parents to attend as a surprise. This makes Nicholas flub his performance, embarrassed that his conservative parents are watching him in a play so focused on sex.

He tries to explain to Molly (after an awkward dinner between all of them) that his parents don’t support his acting endeavors, and she shouldn’t have invited them. Other than that, he has a great relationship with them.

Molly simply doesn’t believe such a relationship can be healthy. She says that if Nicholas puts in the work like she does, he could have a more open relationship with them.

He scoffs at this, holding that Molly has never had to put in the work for anything. She never even allows herself to be alone.

So, to prove to Nicholas that she can be alone, Molly gives him and the rest of the staff the day off. She’s going to have time to herself for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, Sofia tries to get Howard to finish a presentation for the “Space for Everyone” project. But Howard gets distracted when Sofia gets a notification at the same time he and Ainsley get notified of a Taylor Swift concert.

Howard tries to prove that Sofia is a Swiftie, but she denies it. He even makes a presentation (not for work, but to prove Sofia is a fan), showing that Sofia asked off work the same day as the concert. Yet she doubles down, claiming she has to be with her great aunt, who’s having heart surgery.

Howard feels bad, so he finishes the work presentation and shows up at Sofia’s house that night to apologize. But it’s there he discovers that Sofia hides Taylor Swift records in her collection.

Sofia admits she’s a Swiftie and that she made up her great aunt. She lied because she wanted to be taken seriously, and people often look to question her authority. Howard understands and promises not to tell anyone, and they proceed to fangirl together over theories about the music.

Back at Molly’s place, the billionaire is doing a pretty good job at being alone. That is, until she gets into bed and the smoke alarm starts beeping. After an intense battle with it, she fails to take out its batteries and decides to put it in the safe in her panic room. Unfortunately, the panic room locks behind her. She’s trapped inside, as she doesn’t remember the code to get out.

Nicholas, who gets alerts when the panic room locks, shows up to let her out. Molly is embarrassed about not being able to do anything by herself, but Nicholas encourages her. At least she’s trying.

She apologizes for trying to give him advice about his parents, but he admits she wasn’t entirely wrong. He and his parents aren’t great at talking about their feelings.

The episode ends with Nicholas showing up where his parents are staying. He asks them out to dinner before they leave and tells them about a commercial he booked. It’s not much, but it’s a start at building more healthy communication.

The Episode Review

“Vengeance Falls” pleasantly surprises as the most wittily written and delivered episode of Loot so far. Sure, it loses the plot of the show’s overarching narrative, but that mostly works to this episode’s advantage, as it allows it to function more simply as a fairly classic sitcom episode–with likable characters who go through funny escapades and learn some life lessons along the way.

Ron Funches is so endearing as Howard in his quest to prove Sofia an avid Swiftie. But truly the most entertaining storyline is in Maya Rudolph’s fight against her smoke detector, which is equal parts absurd and relatable.

And that ending between Nicholas and his parents? It was so sweet and goes to show that, while Molly’s expectations of building a healthy relationship may have been unreasonable, there are often still small steps that can be made to build bridges.