Wild Cards – Season 1 Episode 5 “The Accountant of Monte Cristo” Recap & Review

The Accountant of Monte Cristo

Episode 5 of Wild Cards begins in Chief Li’s office at the station with a warning to our dazzling duo: play it by the book. Although the higher-ups are impressed by Ellis and Max’s recent spree of crime-solving, they aren’t happy with the means to those ends. While travelling and discussing this new “imposition,” Ellis gets a call from Rachel Cisco. She is in urgent need of help and Ellis rushes to her aid with Max. Rachel is a federal agent – and Ellis’ ex-fiance – who was supposed to protect a crucial witness against the mob.

Albert Ripley, aka The Accountant aka The Count, was all set to testify against the mob captains the next day in court. However, he is arrested the day before and now, Rachel must scamper to get him back. Since she doesn’t want it to become a grand embarrassment, she ropes in Ellis’ help. George, Max’s father, sends them to the way of Cassandra, aka The Fortune Teller. They shared romantic flares in the past before George chose Max’s birth mother, who is no longer alive.

Rachel is circumspect about Max’s involvement. But Ellis recognizes that even though she is a con woman, Max is an asset in these situations. Cassandra instantly recognizes Max, whose enquiries about the crew don’t sit well with Ilya, her bodyguard. However, Cass remarks that she would do anything to help George’s daughter. They go to the park where Bobby Za, one of the hired guns in the kidnapping, is playing chess. He tries to make a run for it when he sees the cops but Rachel nabs him.

In his bag full of money, they find a note which confirms that Albert staged his own kidnapping. Bobby tells them about the intersection where the crew dropped off Albert. Max remarks that men like Bobby have limited knowledge of such intricate operations. They notice a strangely secure florist shop in the vicinity and go inside. The florist is found dead in the back office, from where he operated his illicit passport-forging business. 

Max finds a note left by Albert for someone named Maya on the counter. It turns out that she works at the Westbrook Union, where the trio apprehend Albert. As they are leaving, Charles, his old bodyguard at the syndicate, tries to kill him, but they manage to leave, unscathed.

At Max’s safehouse, Albert explains Maya’s backstory. He met her ten years ago and fell head over heels in love with her. At the same time, he got attached to the syndicate. But after a while, he was too involved and couldn’t leave. He turned himself in a few months ago and broke up with Maya. He wanted to disappear from the country and wanted to see her one last time.

Outside, Rachel and Ellis discuss their prior relationship. Daniel’s death (Ellis’ brother) drove him into a shell that eventually ended the affair. Ellis remains affected by his death today. Rachel’s distrust of Max remains despite everything they went through together that day. While Ellis is gone helping Albert go to the washroom, the ladies have a frank discussion.

Max reminds Rachel that she isn’t the only one breaking the rules; Rachel isn’t playing by the book either. In a moment of passion, Ellis and Rachel kiss each other. Max sees them and turns to go back into Albert’s room. While the detectives are off enjoying each other’s company, Albert propositions Max. He tells her about a flash drive that has recordings of sensitive conversations. With that in her hands, Max could literally ask them to do whatever she wanted.

So, they make a ploy where Max lets Albert go under the guise of the mob attacking the house. To cover her tracks, Max places a tracking device underneath Ellis’ car. Charles takes him hostage and as he is about to execute Albert, Max calls him. She offers Charles the flash drive in exchange for Albert. But at the exchange, Charles tries to kill Albert after taking the drive, forcing him to jump off the bridge. A quick montage shows how everything was planned. Max then hand delivers tickets from Albert to Maya for starting a new chapter in Bali.

Rachel offers a fresh start to Ellis as well, who remains undecided. It turns out that Albert hid the flash drive for Max outside the bank as part of the bargain. The final scene sees Ellis inviting Max inside his boat and telling her about how Daniel came to acquire it. Ellis was distracted by so many other things that he couldn’t focus on the one thing that mattered the most. Daniel was plucked out of his life without notice, leaving him in tatters. Max and Ellis share a longing look, only to be interrupted by Marc as the episode draws to a close. 

The Episode Review

The storyline in Episode 5 is certainly more tactile than the prior episodes. It has the right ingredients but the all-too-familiar narrative beats really don’t allow it to take off. However, the writers seemed to have corrected one of their mistakes. The lack of continuity of events in these five episodes has finally been amended with some big developments in this one.

Starting every new episode in isolation just doesn’t make sense. This is why, the final scene between Max and Ellis is not impactful. In fact, I think it is the wrong move. Without any buildup to this conclusion, the ends don’t justify the means…if there are any at all. Honestly, the best bit about Episode 5 is the chemistry between Max and Rachel. We needed more moments like the one where she asked her to go to the backseat of the car. We can get comfortable with their catty repartee but it probably won’t come back in Episode 6.