Theo Tuesday – Golden Boy Episode Recap

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Last week you may have seen us tweet out a poll, asking what you guys wanted to see from future Theo Tuesday posts. The joint winners were episode recaps of Theo’s shows and quizzes… so while I work on what to challenge you with I figured I would kick off this week by recapping the first episode of Theo’s brilliant show, Golden Boy.

Gun shots, screaming and a very young looking Theo in uniform – well now, that’s one way to open a series.

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Attending a robbery at a check cashing store, Walter Clark’s partner is shot by the getaway driver, Walt is hit too (in the bulletproof vest thankfully) but not before he takes out the driver. The robber appears with a hostage and causes panic among the bystanders, but Walt keeps his cool and shoots him, freeing the hostage and then goes to save his partner. So… hot, badass and a hero… I like this guy already.

What follows is a crazy high-speed montage which ends on a shot of the US flag and a title on screen

Seven Years From Now

That heroic street cop is now, at the age of 34, the police commissioner, working behind Teddy Roosevelt’s desk – that’s one hell of a rise in such a short time.

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A reporter questions him about his career path and Walt asks if he knows the parable of the two dogs – one good, one evil – which one wins? The reporter answers – the one you feed the most and Walt tells him he heard that in his first week as a detective.

Crazy high-speed rewind and we are back with Walt trying to save his partner after the shooting. Walt is watching the news footage from his hospital room. The deputy commissioner is there, talking to Walt about the press conference he is about to have with the Commissioner, and we get to meet Walt’s little sister briefly. Apparently at the press conference Walt will get promoted, the Commissioner has offered him his choice of assignment and he wants to be on the homicide task force. The deputy Commissioner is reluctant as Walt is young, he doesn’t think it’s the right choice since he hasn’t earned it. Walt disagrees and we get a little background – he and his sister were living on the streets, Walt looked after her, stealing so they could eat and working two jobs to get through the academy. He argues he has earned his choice.

Obviously he gets his wish because the next thing we see is a sharp suited Walt walking into a police squad room. He is directed to his desk and told his partner will be along shortly. Another detective enters, on the phone and Walt seems excited, like he knows him. He hurries over to met him, this is Detective Arroyo (played by Kevin Alejandro) and he seems to be kind of a dick. Walt hopes that he is going to be his partner but he isn’t, that honour goes to Don Owen (Chi McBride), a veteran who seems prepared to deal with the cocky rookie he has been assigned. the cocky rookie who walks off to try and get reassigned. Not cool Walt, don’t be a brat on your first day!

Their lieutenant assigns them a homicide case and they walk out of the precinct straight into a battalion of reporters who all want to talk to the pretty boy hero cop (not gonna lie – I totally would too, I mean come on, have you seen him?).

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Owen holds the car door open as Walt approaches and then slams it shut before he gets in, seems like Owen is already over the kid and it’s time for Walt to learn he isn’t special.

They arrive at the scene and Walt meets the remaining members of the task force – Joe Diaco (Holt McCallany) who says he has seen Walt’s face so much he is already sick of it.

And Deb McKenzie (Bonnie Sommerville) who has a brother Walt once worked with, a brother who says Walt was a, and I quote, “a cocky little snot”. Seems like none of this teem are prepared to deal with the jumped up kid they’ve been lumbered with.

Wanting to make an impression on his elders, Walt tells Arroyo something that he noticed about the body, something Arroyo had already noticed. Owen is pissed since he told Walt to keep his mouth shut and learn on his first case.

McKenzie and Arroyo talk to the victim’s parents and Walt is watching, listening, until Owen drops a case file on his desk and tells him to start working on it. Walt ignores the file and instead goes and promises the victim’s parents that they will catch his killer – yet another strike it seems as this pisses Arroyo off to no end.

Walt and Owen have a minor moment of bonding over their families, seems Agnes, the little sister, is having troubles with a dodgy boyfriend. Speak of the devil, Agnes arrives at the precinct, she needs money and Walt coughs up (what a great big brother) while Owen watches the entire exchange through the window, learning more about his partner.

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After a round up of possible suspects turns up a weapon McKenzie and Arroyo are interrogating a suspect while Walt watches. Walt notices a tattoo on the guy’s neck and it obviously means something to him so when the suspect is placed under arrest Walt volunteers to transport him to booking.

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Arroyo and Owen face off for a moment – there’s clearly something going on in this precinct, although given the apparent size of Arroyo’s ego that’s not that big a surprise. In the car Walt reveals that he knows the suspect is part of a burglary gang, the tattoo is their gang symbol (hmmm, seems that street life background may prove useful for our Detective Clark) and that’s why he couldn’t provide an alibi for the murder. Walt offers him a deal for information and the guy clearly takes it. Back at the precinct Walt barges into the Lieutenant’s office and tells them what the suspect supposedly “volunteered”. The Deputy Commissioner happens to be there and suggest that since Walt is being watched by the Commissioner himself maybe he should be in charge of the case. Arroyo invites him along to the next interviews, at the organisation the victim worked at and Walt accepts but Owen bitches him out for hopping on to this case instead of working the cold case they had been assigned. Walt denies working the press to improve his image but Owen knows he is lying.

Walt and Owen interview a girl who was in a relationship with the victim and she admits to Walt that she thinks his death could be her fault. She told some guy who was hitting on her that she didn’t date people she worked with and he found out about her relationship with the victim and made some threats.

Arroyo compliments Walt on the break in the case and then tells him why he and Owen don’t get on, can it be that Arroyo is warming up to the new kid? Maybe it’s just that cocky snots need to team up.

Arroyo and McKenzie interrogate the new suspect, Oliver Esten, and manage to catch him in a lie about his whereabouts but then he lawyers up. They do already have a lead on a possible associate of his and Arroyo offers Walt the chance to lead when they go to arrest him. Walt says he can handle it but when they get there he has a flashback to the shooting and starts shaking.

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He nearly gets his head blown off when he freezes but then he chases the suspect down the fire escape. There’s a tussle and Walt knocks the guy out, he looks up to see Arroyo watching from the fire escape – anyone else starting to feel like Arroyo set Walt up to fail?

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The new suspect, Benito Gaez, admits to helping Esten when he realises that the rich kid has used him and screwed him over. McKenzie compliments Walt, is she coming round too? She reveals the source of the discontent between Owen and Arroyo – Arroyo accidentally revealed the identity of Owen’s CI and got them killed. That’s pretty fricking huge – no wonder they hate each other. Walt tells McKenzie that he knows she had another brother who was killed in the line of duty, says he was a hero. Arroyo comes along and looks a touch jealous that Walt and McKenzie are talking. He suggests that there’s a way to get to Esten, that there’s a club he often goes to, maybe Walt could meet him there and find something they can use against him. Walt accepts but is interrupted by a call from Ag, she’s just got out of hospital after her loser boyfriend hit her and need a ride.

Walt takes her back to his place and it’s obvious how much he cares for his baby sister, especially given their messed up family situation – drugged out mom and dad is a mobbed up loser – he wants her to have a better life now than they did growing up. He lets her stay at his place (corner apartment, punch bag hanging in one corner – god do we get to see him boxing because *heart eyes*?)

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As he is leaving Ag asks him not to hurt her boyfriend. So Walt promptly kicks the loser’s ass and arrests him for possession. Walt pockets the heroin he had on him and Owen later guesses what he has planned – to plant it on Esten so they can arrest him and pressure him – and tells him he would be a shitty cop if he did that. Walt admits to his partner that he’s been skipping his therapy sessions after the shooting and Owen isn’t happy, he gives Walt a bit of a lecture – the cold case they are meant to be working, the victim was murdered the morning of 9/11 and Owen wants to solve it for when the widow calls on the anniversary this year.

Walt goes to the club and you have never seen anyone walk into a club looking sexier than Walter Clark in this moment.

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A woman grabs Walt and shoves him into a private booth, shoves her tongue down his throat (none of us are judging her for that) and then gives him some info on Esten and the kind of guy he is. She’s a reporter and she’s looking for a scoop. Walt tells her that Esten is a person of interest connected to the case they are looking at but that she can’t use his name. She agrees and then he goes to find Esten. Esten isn’t happy to see Walt and Walt isn’t thrilled either, gets right up in Esten’s face – seems the street kid doesn’t like the stuck up rich boy. They get broken up by a bouncer and Walt leaves, but he’s pick-pocketed Esten’s coat check slip. He rifles Esten’s jacket for his keys and then heads for his home and breaks in.

Next morning Owen walks out of his home to find Walt waiting for him, with Danishes.

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Seriously, who do I have to pay to get Theo James outside my house bearing pastries in the morning? (I also wouldn’t say no to breakfast in bed…. hehe). They take a ride out to a gun store in Jersey and find out that Esten bought ammo there. Walt slips up and uses information he only knows from his little B&E adventure and Owen is furious. All this information is now useless and if it gets out how Walt got it then Esten will walk. Owen tells Walt to go home and talk to NO-ONE… right as he sees the front page of the paper in a vending machine across the street. Esten’s picture and Walt’s right alongside it.

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Seems like the reporter screwed Walt.

He confronts her and she says she kept his name out of it, it had to have been one of the editors on a tip from someone else, someone who doesn’t like him. Now, I can come up with a half dozen names straight off the bat but one of them is all lit up with the bells and whistles and that is one Christian Arroyo.

Back at the precinct Walt is amazed to see Esten in custody, Owen says that an anonymous tip sent McKenzie and Arroyo to the gun store and they got the right information to arrest Esten. Walt doesn’t understand how Owen could let Arroyo get the arrest and the credit given their history and Owen gives Walt a bit of schooling. The victim had a family, and they don’t give a damn about Owen’s beef with Arroyo, all they care about is justice.

McKenzie has a go at Arroyo for selling Walt out to the press, they have a little talk and is it me or do these two seem a little bit closer than just partners?

After the lieutenant tells Walt he’s in the crap for the news story he suggests he talk to his union rep. Walt meets Owen (who also happens to be that rep) at the firing range. Owen is worried about his new partner and tells him the parable of the two dogs. He’s concerned because of Walt freezing up at the raid before and asks if he has fired his gun since the shooting. Walt says no and tells him he is fine. Owen doesn’t believe him so Walt proves it.

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Guess that “pistol specialist” pin on his uniform back at the start wasn’t for nothing.

Flash forward to 7 years in the future again and the reporter asks Walt if at that point he had any idea how bad things would get between Arroyo and Owen, about the murder-suicide, the precinct shootout…

Walt says he had no idea – next question.

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And that’s it.

For a pilot they sure covered a hell of a lot of ground, but nothing felt forced to me. They also set up a hell of a lot in the flash-forwards, especially right at the end there with those questions… I mean, Owen and Arroyo getting into it sounds bad but a murder-suicide and a shootout at the precinct?! Bloody hell!

That’s it for this Theo Tuesday. If you’ve seen the show, what did you guys think of the pilot? I’d love to hear your views. If you haven’t seen it before, I hope maybe this recap has encouraged you to check out the series.

 

All screencaps courtesy of screencapped.net

Theo James

About author(s)

Clare Hemsworth

Hey, I'm Clare, aka Ciara or C. My current fandoms are RWBY and The Last Kingdom along with a bunch of other stuff I tend to let build up and then binge! I'm a keen, albeit amateur, cosplayer and love attending cons in various cosplays. I'm also the resident comic book girl around these parts, especially small press comics, so if you've got an indie book you want reviewed, I'm your gal! When I'm not doing the fangirl thing I am a keen long-distance hiker, having completed Te Araroa in New Zealand and The Pacific Crest Trail on the West Coast of the US.