The Franchise (2024) – Season 1 Episode 6 Recap & Review

Episode 6

Episode 6 of The Franchise revolves around Eric’s big fireball scene. Daniel is trying to up the crew’s morale as they shoot late into the night, after a series of long late-night shoots. Bryson tries to offer Jenga sets as compensation which, of course, does not take.

Daniel gets a phone call from his son who wants him to come home and meanwhile, Dag wants to go to a house party to hook up with an acquaintance. Peter comes up to Daniel and announces some new supplements have caused an erection that won’t go away and it’s Daniel’s problem now.  Adam follows this up with an idea for his band, Flight Mode, to play music for the crew which Daniel is sure will cause them to mutiny.

On one side of the set, Pat and Anita sit down for a behind-the-scenes interview where Pat practices how to say “Sparks will fly.” Adam also asks Daniel for advice on his “furtive running.” Daniel realises the script was probably meant to say frantic but can’t officially correct Adam yet.

While Eric sets up the scene, Dag notices that Daniel has written a dialogue on the script. However, Daniel says he’s just scribbling. Later, Eric is doing the behind-the-scenes interview when Steph notifies him that Christopher Nolan will be dropping by. This makes Eric wonder if his fireball is big enough.

As Daniel fields a phone call from his mother, he learns that Eric has shut himself inside his trailer. He heads inside where Eric is “mulling.” He wants a bigger fireball to impress Nolan, who he’s hoping will hire him for a future project. He’s also rewriting Peter’s monologue. Meanwhile, Dag is asked to go to Peter’s trailer, where she finds him trying to connect his phone with a vibrator that his wife is wearing. She helps him connect it.

The crew starts getting angry that Eric isn’t shooting and Daniel tries to pacify them with a lottery. He also stops Adam and his band from playing music by telling them that Eric isn’t allowing it. Having heard about the Nolan visit, Pat arrives to make sure things are going well, upping the pressure on Daniel. Meanwhile, Steph tells Dag that she has the hots for Mollusc Man even though she and he are both married.

Afterwards, Dag overhears Bryson talking to his mother on the phone. Apparently, it’s his birthday! Dag wishes him and then makes a comment about how they all are wasting their lives for an industry that will die in the next two years which leaves the birthday boy in tears.

To Daniel’s huge dismay, Pat wins the lottery that was meant to distract the crew. The result only infuriates them further and they are egged on by Adam, who is angry at Eric for not letting his band perform.

Suddenly, Eric sends across the pages of his new script and Daniel pushes the crew into action. However, the new script has a longer monologue for Peter, who begins to complain and cite his contract. Meanwhile, the wind speed is slowly rising so the crew handling the fireball tells Daniel that it is either now or never. All this while, Eric relays instructions to Daniel via walkie-talkie that would make the shot take much longer.  

Daniel takes a decision and switches off the walkie-talkie, pretending it’s a technical issue. He takes charge of the scene, ordering the fireball to be lit and giving Peter only one dialogue — the one Daniel had scribbled down earlier. Daniel orders everyone to action and the scene is completed within a few moments. From the look on his face, Daniel seems to enjoy it. It doesn’t hurt that even Pat praises how the scene was shot.

After the scene, Steph speaks to Mollusc Man and initiates a hug which turns into a small kiss. She awkwardly leaves to go home. Dan asks Dag about her party but she says her acquaintance went home with someone else.

Later, Daniel, Eric, Anita, and Pat are talking when they realise Nolan has arrived and is in deep conversation with Dag. They are soon joined by Tom Cruise! Dag calls Bryson forward to speak with them as well while the others look on. Pat tells Anita that if Shane asks, Pat tried approaching Nolan and was shot down. He says he doesn’t want a director with a brain at the end of The Franchise Episode 6.

The Episode Review

The Franchise Episode 6 has the film’s crew at its most exhausted. Considering the show’s focus is on important roles like ADs and producers and actors, it is refreshing to see these supporting characters given more weight if not specific roles. The general scathing take on how workers in the film industry have no time for their personal lives is executed quite well — Daniel’s family calling him, Dag missing her party, and Bryson’s birthday fit into this theme quite nicely.

At the same time, Daniel’s expression when he takes charge and quickly directs the scene, shows a lot about how he really feels about the film industry. Meanwhile, Dag’s comments, as usual, break the bubble that any of this is normal and help expose the cruel and exhausting reality of the situation in a funny, snarky way. It’s also incredibly fun to watch her get to speak to Nolan and Tom Cruise while the other higher-ups just watch.