Pilot
In 2006, Julian Kaye was questioned about the murder of a woman called Janet Holmes. His prints were all over the knife, and there were eyewitness accounts of him waving it around with blood over him. The police determined that he was not responsible for the crime, but they could not rule out that he may have been involved. In order to clear his name, Julian Kaye needed to provide evidence that he was not involved.
Detective Sunday can’t remember what happened, but of course that’s not going to fly in court – or with Julian – and he’s subsequently put behind bars.
It wasn’t always like this though, and there was a time when Julian had, seemingly, the perfect life. With ripped abs and a charming suave, Julian chooses his pick of women and is living the good life. This is in stark contrast to what’s happening to our protagonist right now, who – 15 years later – is in prison and serving time for murder.
Julian is one of the cooks at the prison. He takes his time getting to know every inmate and talks with them. One day, he’s approached by a kid called Drew who needs help. Drew is being sexually abused by an inmate, but Julian refuses to help him because he should do it willingly. This scene becomes important to Julian’s experiences later on. ..
Detective Sunday is very concerned about Kevin Finnegan. He’s a killer-for-hire and it seems that he has pancreatic cancer that’s spreading to his brain. Julian is called into the office to discuss the situation with Detective Sunday.
Finnegan said that he showed up to Julian’s home on his deathbed and decided to kill Janet Holmes anyway. He said that the tests showed that Julian was innocent, and Sunday personally released him. ..
Julian returns home to find that his mother lives in a rundown trailer. This area brings back conflicting memories for Julian though, given he was abused by his neighbour as a kid. Even worse, Julian was paid off by his mum, with a big “career” in Hollywood.
Julian has no say in any of this though, and is taken to a mansion by a woman called Olga, who also has numerous other kids there. Julian is forced to get dressed up, and to adopt this Julian name, given he used to be called Johnny.
Julian is being groomed to be a gigolo, and as we cut forward through time, this recontextualizes the earlier parts of this episode with Julian spending time with all those different women. There’s a really nice rhythm to this part of the episode too, which flits back and forth between the past and present.
Julian meets Lorenzo, a friend from his old days in the criminal underworld. Lorenzo admits he always had faith that Julian would return, and he has been taking care of J’s car and finances in the guy’s absence. Julian is definitely not going back to hustling, and Lorenzo offers to let him crash at his place for the time being.
Michelle Stratton is a woman who Julian meets by chance while in a bar with one of his clients. She has an effect on him that he can’t explain, and he starts to see himself in her more and more.
Julian has been trying to forget about the hurt he caused Janet by going back to his old ways. But the flashbacks keep coming back and he can’t shake them. He comes to Michelle’s place and admits that he didn’t hurt her. She tells him she forgive him and they kiss.
Michelle retorts back that she has a son, Colin. Now, Colin has actually run off with his teacher, which has caused all sorts of drama in the house. Richard Stratton doesn’t want to go to the police either, deciding to handle all of this quietly to save face.
Michelle’s exterior quickly cracks when she meets Julian, and the two hug for a long time until Michelle pushes him away. “Stay away. He’ll just do it again. He’ll do it again to all of us,” Michelle says quite ominously.
After this ominous meeting, Julian has another. This time, it’s with Detective Sunday. She’s been to see Finnegan on his death bed and tried to get answers. The only thing she’s managed to squeeze from him is the word “Keen”. Julian thinks it over before muttering Queen. He believes this could well be a reference to Olga, who was colloquially known as The Queen to those inside the mansion.
Julian returns to see Olga, using the guise of getting back to work. However, Olga is actually wheelchair-bound and scared. She whispers to him that “they will kill you” but Julian doesn’t take the warning and follows Isabelle upstairs. Is she the new queen?
Isabelle admits that she used to be in love with Julian and has him strip down to his pants. It’s uncomfortable, but eventually Julian concedes.
The Episode Review
What makes American Gigolo so interesting is how the power dynamics between men and women have been distorted into something wholly uncomfortable and disturbing. Jon Bernthal is an excellent actor - a personal favorite of this reviewer - and once again he demonstrates why he’s so talented here. The kaleidoscope of emotions this man goes through across this hour is so well portrayed - and realistic too. ..
The flashbacks are well-placed and add to the suspense of the episode. The exposition is enough to understand what’s happening but never too overbearing to slow the pacing down to a crawl.
The writing is strong and the plot is well-conceived, making for a well-paced and exciting read. The use of flashbacks and abuse makes for an interesting take on crime fiction, and the dark side of crime is well-done. The blend of romance, thriller and sinister drama elements are nicely woven around a dark side of crime that we don’t always see a whole lot of. The abuse that Julian went through as a kid is tough to watch but it’s woven seamlessly through those aforementioned flashbacks. There’s a real desire to try and squeeze as much as possible into this, with barely a scene wasted.
There’s some great character development here and tellingly, David Hollander has crafted a show that doesn’t hold your hand the entire time and spells out every detail – which is refreshing to watch. Ultimately, this could prove to be a real dark horse series this year but we’ll have to wait and see how the rest of the season pans out. Roll on next week’s episode!
