We first see Milo Ventimiglia’s character, Charlie Nicoletti, practicing sleight of hand in front of a mirror. Suddenly, we’re in an empty warehouse next to Baltimore Harbor.
Charlie is there to meet the Irish gangster Brendan Maguire (Timothy V. Murphy), who wants to buy the warehouse for his illegal activities.
But Maguire’s advisor, Daphne Finch, played by Felisha Terrell, is not sure about the deal. She doesn’t understand why Charlie wants his $10 million payment to be in cryptocurrency instead of cash.
Daphne has good reason to worry. The FBI comes as soon as Charlie is paid. Maguire and his crew run away, and Charlie seems to be arrested.
However, the fake FBI team is made up of Charlie’s sister Birdie (Sarah Wayne Callie), father Leo (William Fichtner), mother Fran (Polly Draper), and girlfriend Tina (Bridget Regan). Charlie had never even owned the warehouse.
Then we meet Emma Hill, played by Catherine Haena Kim. She is a CIA agent working undercover who is telling her bosses that she is getting close to the leader of the biggest drug ring in the country. Even so, not everything is going her way. She finds her boyfriend cheating on her at a hotel.
Charlie’s world is also about to come crashing down. A few hours later, Charlie finds out that Tina stole the $10 million and left town after he told her to meet him at a hotel for a romantic night to celebrate their heist. Now, everyone in the family is broke, and the Maguire crime unit is looking for them.
Charlie decides to go to the hotel bar and drink away his sadness. He meets Emma there. Charlie is impressed by how quickly she figured out that the man who was hitting on her was married, had a child, and had just come back from Hawaii.
They become close because both of them have recently had their hearts broken and have become suspicious of relationships. They also fire their guns. Quite a few shots.
When their jobs are brought up, they both lie. He says that he is a yoga teacher. She acts like a beauty queen who became a rocket scientist.
When it’s time to pay the bill, Charlie puts it in the room and leaves quickly, even though it’s clear that he likes her. She has to go after him. They start kissing passionately, but then they both realize they’re hungry and order room service instead of having sex.
Both Charlie and Emma look like sheep the next morning. He has a lot of missed calls and messages from his family to deal with.
He invites Emma to stay with him because he doesn’t want to deal with the problem just yet. Now they can have sex. Plus, they spend all day and night together, which makes their bond and love grow stronger. They finally go their separate ways after 36 hours.
Pastor Evan Earl is the next person Charlie sets his sights on (Doug Savant). He runs one of the most successful churches on the East Coast. He also helps some of Washington’s most powerful people hide their money so he can use their power.
The best part of The Company You Keep is when the Nicolettis get close to Earl. Over a smooth montage, we see Leo and Fran make a distraction and steal a keycard, Birdie break into a control room, and Charlie steals Earl’s phone, downloads all the necessary information, and makes sure Earl doesn’t notice.
This is how the Nicolettis find out that Earl will be at a pricey gala. Charlie is very surprised to see that Emma is there. She is there with her own family, which includes her mother Grace (Freda For Shen), her father Joseph (James Saito), a former governor, and her brother David (Tim Chiou), a senator.
Birdie, who is keeping an eye on Earl, is annoyed that Charlie can’t help but go over to Emma. Birdie tells Charlie that his ex-girlfriend stole from him, which is why they have to do this crime.
Charlie says he can’t go out with Emma again when she asks him. Soon after, Birdie and Charlie follow Earl and tell him they are there to pick up the money that has been laundered. They then drive away without a hitch with the money in their hands.
At the same time, Emma’s work has called her away from the gala. Maguire is the head of the drug ring she wants to catch. They found him on his private plane and went to get him right before it took off.
Maguire is easy to catch, but Daphne gets away. Emma gives chase for a short time in her car, but she is stopped when another car crashes into her side.
Charlie counts the money they stole from Earl back at the family bar. Charlie gives his parents enough money so that they can retire in Mexico, as they had planned to do before.
But they say “no.” After Charlie went to prison for them, they’re all going to work together to steal as much money as they can so that Birdie, her deaf daughter (Shaylee Mansfield), and Charlie can build the lives they want.
Charlie, who has always been a romantic, goes to see Emma again. He tells her that his family is complicated, but he’s afraid to tell her too much because he thinks she’ll run away.
Even though he’s only known Emma for 36 hours, he says he knows her. He can’t stop thinking about her and really wants to go on a date with her. They kiss, and then she asks him to come inside.
Again, it doesn’t take long for Charlie’s life to fall apart. When he gets back to the bar, Daphne has the rest of the Nicolettis held hostage.
She doesn’t just want the $10 million back; she also wants an extra $5 million to get Brendan out of jail. As Daphne leaves, Charlie realizes that he will have to do a lot of bad things to get the $15 million he needs to keep his family safe.
The pilot episode of The Company You Keep is very entertaining and sets up a lot of conflict and mystery. More than that, the chemistry between Ventimiglia and Kim is electric, the script is funny, and the show has a smooth pace and attractive visual style that should make it one of the most entertaining new shows of the year.
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