The Consultant – Season 1 Episode 2 “Mama” Recap & Review

Mama

Regus calls Elaine at 3am and asks her to come in immediately as The Consultant episode 2 begins. She is reluctant and responds by saying she can come in at 8 but Regus cuts the phone. He calls her again and repeats every word he said in the first instance and Elaine is forced into going to the office. She records a video message to tell her whereabouts in case something happens to her. She is also scared and confused about what to make of Regus.

When she comes into the office, Regus begins to read her personnel file and brands her an “average employee”. Dana, another worker, comes in hurriedly with breakfast for Regus. He informs Elaine that Ahn Si-woo, Sang’s mother, has departed from Seoul to come to LA and destroy everything that Sang created. Elaine is tasked with stopping Ahn as Elaine is a “natural problem solver”. The next morning, Craig comes to the office to see the entire development slate being erased. Craig is extremely angry as the entire work they did for the past few months was destroyed by Regus in a heartbeat with no plausible planning. He also swallowed up the Kerfuffle group, who are now unemployed.

Elaine tries to stop him and tells him that Ahn is coming in. Craig believes Ahn will storm in with an army of lawyers and Regus will be gone. But she comes in alone with a single suitcase. Regus gathers the employees and we learn he can speak Korean. He calls up Ahn to the top of the stairs and asks her to address them. Regus translates for Ahn.

She says her son Sang was taken by the devil but Regus translates it as “to honour his memory, work harder”. We hear shouting from the office. Elaine and Craig wonder why Ahn came alone. Craig is paranoid about what Regus might get Ahn to do. All Elaine cares about is six months of experience on her resume as a “Creative Liaison”. Craig feels they should give Ahn the video. We see her being escorted by Regus to the Penrith hotel.

Elaine goes into his office and tries to look for the physical personnel file Regus was reading out of in the morning. She consults Iain on this but he says there are no physical copies and that there is no record room either. Elaine goes into the designated store room but she doesn’t find anything. Craig takes the video file on an external device and Elaine agrees to give it to Ahn. At the hotel, she learns that Ahn hasn’t checked in yet. She phones Craig who reports Regus has come back into the office alone. Elaine indirectly asks Regus about Ahn’s whereabouts.

But he isn’t forthcoming and menacingly mentions swan pedal boats, hinting that he might have killed her and thrown her into the river. Elaine calls Dana to call every hotel in the vicinity and check for Ahn. She herself goes to the rocks to look for her and finds a single pedal boat floating in the pond. At the office, Regus green lights Craig’s idea for the glass-elephant game he is developing. Elaine has a breakdown on the phone with Craig, who is uncharacteristically blasé about what she just told him.

Elaine cools off in the Penrith suite booked for Ahn. We see Regus go into the store room and open a locked door but its contents are hidden from us. The camera slides back into the elevator as it began.

The Episode Review

We are no closer to the answer to who Regus really is but one thing we know for sure now: he is dangerous. Perhaps he has her hidden down in the store room? We will know in time. This episode gave us another peek into how bloated the employee roll in the office is and how Regus has to make the necessary layoffs to survive. It resembles the current inflationary situation in America and around the globe, where tech companies are forced into trimming the workforce.

Elaine comes across as a determined hustler not willing to part with her morality to get what she wants. She will be crucial in helping Craig learn more about Regus, whose intentions with the company seem sound. Episode 2 was a little slow in picking up the pace from the first episode. Hopefully, the story will take off from here.

The intrigue is there but without clear explanations, that will not be enough.