Was that unnecessarily complicated, or was it just me?
The plan to bring down the older Maguire and Connor started pretty straightforward, but in typical The Company You Keep fashion, things went off the rails, and suddenly everything got real confusing, and both Maguire and I weren’t sure what the hell was going on.
But The Company You Keep Season 1 Episode 10 ended much the same as the series began, with Charlie and Emma together, albeit in a slightly different way now.
As far as season finales go, this one was okay. There were things to like, and they mostly involved the quieter moments between some of the characters—namely, the stuff involving Charlie, Emma, and Daphne, which was really good.
But the big con, the one to get rid of the elder Maguire once and for all, was so convoluted that it went from fun to not so fun quickly.
Truth was at the center of this hour, and honestly, it’s the center of the whole show.
Emma was on high alert after the car bombing, and it didn’t help that her own agency was after her. And wasn’t that an interesting twist? Emma has dedicated her adult life to fighting the good fight with the CIA, but they turned on her with a quickness when she started poking her head around where they felt it didn’t belong.
Dalton Bridges and government shenanigans aside, it was more important for the CIA to try and get to Maguire, hoping he’d lead them to even bigger whales than it was to protect Emma.
Charlie: Why is your own agency following you?
Emma: Because they’d rather protect the Maguires than protect one of their own.
And that betrayal set Emma’s path for the rest of this hour.
The partnership between Charlie, Emma, and Daphne was tentative at best, but it worked mainly because for all the lying Charlie’s done, Emma and Daphne still trusted him, and they trusted his plan.
And the plan was straightforward at first. Get Maguire to implicate himself and get the FBI to swoop on in. But suddenly, Maguire was setting up Daphne, and Charlie was outing himself in front of a bunch of men with guns, and there were multiple trucks on a highway and a drone capturing it all.
For a man who assembled a giant criminal enterprise, Maguire wasn’t too smart in how he operated down the stretch. He trusted Connor, who has repeatedly shown him to be a hothead with daddy issues, to get rid of Emma, and after he botched that, he decided that he should also get rid of his daughter. Smart thinking!
And you know what, if no one else will say it, I will. Justice for Daphne!
Yes, she is a drug dealing criminal, but the show bent over backward to show us there was so much more behind the woman blackmailing the Nicolettis, and they succeeded. Maybe you didn’t want her to win in any tangible way, but I can’t imagine anyone was rooting for her to die, especially not by Connor’s hand.
She had a lot of issues, but she and Emma weren’t so different when you think about it.
They were both underestimated and undervalued, yet they still kept trying and trying to get that approval.
Daphne deserved better from her father, whom she was genuinely loyal to. He came into her life, and she just wanted him to see and accept her. But he was never willing to do so because no matter what kind of game he talked, it would always be about him.
You do what you gotta do. I just hope you see what this really is because it was never gonna be you. It was always only ever gonna be him. Truth hurts, doesn’t it?
Daphne [to Connor]
And she figured that out in the end, even if it had to be thrust in her face. On the other hand, Connor was never able to get that through his head.
Emma saving Daphne’s life was a cool full-circle moment for the ladies. No love was lost between these two, but Emma wasn’t going to let Daphne go out like that, and it wasn’t just because they were working together.
She understood Daphne and meant what she said about protecting her.
Emma always wanted to protect Charlie and raced back to the docks to do just that.
Charlie’s decision to tell the truth to Maguire confused the man more than anything because after getting duped once before, there was no way he would blindly believe anything that Charlie had to say.
And that worked to Charlie’s benefit perfectly because Maguire got erratic and confused, and he handed himself over to the FBI without Charlie even having to do much.
The shootout was stressful, and in all his planning, Charlie could not have accounted for Maguire taking off with Emma like he did. But luckily, he was outfitted with a bulletproof vest, and snippers were nearby, so things didn’t get too off track.
And just like that, Maguire was dead, and technically Charlie was free now.
Having long since squared up with Daphne and Maguire dead and Connor off in the wind, he was free now. Free from working with Emma and not beholden to anyone. That should have set up Charlie and Emma’s endgame montage, right?
Wrong! So very, very wrong.
It was only a matter of time before Charlie and Emma gave in to temptation again. And it came after they got a chance to talk a bit.
It was especially nice to hear Emma apologize and tell Charlie he wasn’t a bad guy. She had every right to be upset with him after finding out he wasn’t truthful with her, but she sometimes went out of her way to be cruel to mask her pain.
Charlie didn’t even need to hear the apology, having long since forgiven her, but he needed to hear her tell him that he was good.
That’s something he has struggled with all season. Meeting Emma and falling in love with her unlocked this whole new piece of himself, and he started questioning who he was and who he wanted to be.
Just knowing that he was enough for Emma and that she saw him and thought him good had to feel monumental for him in that moment.
I thought the two were fully on their way to a reunion once the dust settled, but they threw us the oldest cliché in the book: I love you, but it’s not enough.
Man, do I hate that, even if it makes sense in certain scenarios. Just because you love someone doesn’t mean you’re meant to be together.
You can love someone completely while recognizing that your relationship is unhealthy or that they don’t bring out the best part of you.
Charlie and Emma are on different sides of the line, and they don’t necessarily see things the same way, but they also do.
Charlie aspires to be Robin Hood, and Emma wants to bring down the bad guys, so their agendas are more aligned than not. So, what’s the actual problem here?
Once Emma quit her job, which good for her, it seemed like they had the perfect set-up to get them back together, but they still decided to play it coy, which doesn’t equally track. They were on opposite sides, and now they’re not, so what’s stopping them?
Emma’s decision to ditch the CIA and start her own little covert unit wasn’t something I ever saw coming, but once they turned on her, it was hard to see any way in which Emma working there would have made sense because we know that’s not Emma now.
She wouldn’t and couldn’t work for someone who didn’t value her and didn’t prioritize her life over a collar.
And finding out that in the end, Emma stole the money? Oh, she and Daphne were truly kindred spirits.
We need that season 2 renewal because there is still so much left to explore in this world. So, please give it to us!
The Notes I Kept
- David Hill lives! The best part of the episode was seeing his smiley face and his passion for doing the right thing. He is by far the best person on this show and must be protected.
- So after everything, Jenn actually WAS playing David. I did not like the sound of that phone call one bit.
- The plan to screw over Frankie was funnier than anything else, but Leo’s impassioned plea was heartfelt in an unexpected way. It was a little over the top, but it was meant to explain the Nicolettis, and I’m glad they saved it for that moment.
- Where did Daphne go? I’m still intrigued by that Charlie dynamic and would like to see more.
Let’s all cross our fingers that they get that renewal because there are still many different avenues to pursue. While waiting for that news, drop all your comments about the finale below!
And remember, you can always watch The Company You Keep online anytime via TV Fanatic!
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.