The Consultant – Season 1 Episode 6 “Glass” Recap & Review

Glass

Craig and Patti are at the church as episode 6 of The Consultant begins. During a mass with everyone in prayer, Regus slowly gets up and starts walking. Patti sees him going into the confession box and he reciprocates the eye contact with an inviting gaze. Patti thinks for a moment and finally gets up to go into the box. She breathes heavily and swiftly and draws the curtains open. There is a sense of deep temptation and expectedness in her eyes and she gets in.

Cut to, Patti and Craig are woken up by a noise of glass shattering in their house. Craig inspects but does not find an intruder. The next day, it is Patti’s chance to mysteriously call in sick at work. Craig is surprised but we can only see him as a blurred silhouette in the background. It is Patti taking the foreground, demonically tearing up and smiling at the same moment. Remember what Florez said to Craig? “Do not let him take her away from you.” What is happening here?

Elaine reports to her new cabin and she still cannot get over how she got there. She takes the report for the game, Upskirt Jungle. It is doing really well and they will have a satisfaction report by the end of the day to confirm its popularity. Craig learns this when he comes into the office. He also learns that there is a new rule in place: no shoes inside the office. The game is now branded as “Mr Sang’s Jungle Odyssey,” adding salt to the wounds. While looking at the numbers, Regus finds camera surveillance on her laptop. Craig is surprised to find Elaine sitting in her new office and confronts her about the game. She said the group brainstormed the idea for the name and worked around the clock to launch it. She also hints Craig is lying when she says the news has no coverage of a robbery in Pomona.

Craig recites a passage from Ezekiel 37 that might explain who Regus really is. We can’t say much at this point but keep it in mind. Regus can hear the conversations between Craig and Elaine through the surveillance camera. She comforts him by holding his hands and Regus is smart enough to take a screenshot. We know what he’ll do with it and how it will be perceived by the receiver, Patti. Elaine feels Craig should have told Patti the truth. When he calls Patti, she deliberately doesn’t pick up his phone. The report comes in and it is a mixed bag. People think it is controversial and it just might work on that basis, Elaine says. She volunteers to come in on a Saturday, probably due to her perceived elevated status in the office, to make sure the game is approved for marketing by Regus.

When Elaine lies, Regus confronts her. Elaine says things are difficult at home with Patti and Regus lies that he gauged the wedding may not happen when he conversed with Patti. He even suggests they need to spend time apart to analyse their situations. Elaine only realizes she left her computer with Patoff all day when he mentions it to her. There is fear in her eyes as he might have been able to access the cameras, which he did.

Craig goes to Father Stollen at the church and asks about exorcisms. He says that his boss, Patoff, is someone who is out to kill him. But there’s nothing Craig can do about it. The next morning he wakes up having a nightmare that he is in a game simulation in the office and shoots Patoff with a shotgun. In the wake of all this, Regus goes to meet Tokyo in the facility he’s staying at.

We see Tokyo drawing weird scenarios with demons and angels. Regus gives him the phone and asks him to play the new game. Elaine interacts with some people from the focus group. Tang, who played the game for seven hours straight, explains that she stopped playing the game after level 316. She runs for the golden egg, the elephant drops, and she dies: every single time. That is why she smashed her face into the patio window as we can see.

Elaine converses with Kyle, another player who stopped at 316 and punched his hand into the glass. We see that Craig has reached that level too and is facing the same problem. Regus sends Patti the image and she gasps. Dana brings in homemade shortbread for Regus at the office and Elaine discovers her son, Timmy, hurt his hand playing the same game.

She takes this disturbing pattern to Patoff but he refuses to believe it. This feels like a deliberate glitch on Patoff’s part because he wants people to get angry while playing the game. He says if the game doesn’t launch, CompWare will cease to exist. He gives the go-ahead for the launch. Patti communicates her anger at Craig to him. Just as Elaine leaves the office, Patti comes in. She goes up to Patoff’s office.

Craig wonders what he will do next. Regus stands up in anticipation waiting for her. Craig smashes the front window glass, which is perhaps something that might have happened last night as well.

The Episode Review

From what we can gauge – because that is all we are being forced into doing – Regus met with Tokyo before he shot Sang. And then somehow, put him in a trance to get Sang killed. The lack of any clarity how, or more importantly “if”, any of that happened is eating us up from the inside. How are we supposed to know nuances in the cinematic universe until we are told by the narrators?

Despite that, the episode had some observant underpinnings about corporate ruthlessness and its ugly side. The will to succeed at any cost is a ubiquitous pattern in the corporate world. The phenomenon of glass-breaking seemed a little over the top to exhibit the rising popularity of the game.

A special mention to Amy Carerro must be given. The Menu actress was simply sublime in controlling and manipulating her emotions in this episode. Patti has been a mystery as well and not as fully developed as we would have wanted to but Carerro elevated her arch. The series showed so much potential but all that excitement is fading away.