Nothing Is Real But The Girl
In 2006, Lorenzo and Julian were together, but the latter left his escort life to be with Michelle. It was clear that they were going to run away together, and someone killed Janet to stop that from happening. In Episode 4 of American Gigolo, we learn that someone killed Janet in order to stop her from running away with Lorenzo.
Julian is reluctant to take up an offer of 10 grand to sleepover a lady called Anne’s house and escort her to a high school reunion. Julian is uncomfortable with the idea of sleeping over someone else’s house, but he is more comfortable taking on a job that will allow him to see his friends at a reunification event.
Julian is flattered but refuses, instead heading up to sit outside Michelle’s house. Michele doesn’t come meet him though, instead she’s too busy haunted by the ghosts of her past and suffering bad dreams. Colin is still missing and presumably hiding out at the motel where we left him last week.
Michelle has been lying to Panish about leaving a picture of Julian at the crime scene. She’s been thinking about it over the course of the episode, but decides that she can’t do it and leaves him high and dry at the station. Panish instead takes matters into his own hands and decides to “talk on her bealf.”
Sunday shows up to question Isabelle about her inheritance. She’s taken aback by the luxury of the place she’s inherited, immediately asking about Olga’s prostitution business. Isabelle is quick to point out that she’s running a clean business now, and that Olga “pissed off a lot of people at the end.” ..
Sunday is not entirely convinced that Olga was murdered, but she leaves her business card in case anyone has any information about the crime. ..
Julian decides to reluctantly take up Anna’s offer after all. When a poor dog is run over and needs urgent surgery, he decides to make a big call and takes up his old role. This brings back painful memories of the past though, with Janet’s memory haunting him at every step of the way.
Julian slips into a suit and his escort persona and meets Anne. When they arrive at the front of the high school reunion, Anne gets cold feet and decides they should leave.
Julian’s mother rushes off into the desert to return but when she does, she lets Sunday in. Sunday takes all day to return but when she does, she lets Sunday in. The place is a complete mess and there’s some serious hoarding going on there too. Sunday snaps pictures, before sitting with Julian’s mother and gently taking a statement.
Julian’s mother tells him how her brother died, and how it has haunted her ever since. Sunday is invested in learning more about this dark past, and why it matters to Julian.
Anne is clearly unhinged after screwing around in a toilet stall together. They head out up into the hills, overlooking the gorgeous twinkling metropolis below.
Anne tells Julian that she killed someone back at school, a guy called Tom. She admits that she killed him, and her parents got her the best lawyers. Anne’s life went on; she was never punished. It’s clear that Anne wants to go to the reunion as a way of getting some sort of closure, but she wasn’t able to follow through with going inside. That is, until Julian helps talk her into going again.
Anne plucks up the courage and goes into the store alone. Julian takes his payslip and leaves. With the money, he heads back to the vet where he pays for the dog’s surgery. When Julian heads back home though, he finds Michelle there waiting for him. ..
The Episode Review
American Gigolo returns this week with a somewhat subdued and slower paced episode. There’s not much in the way of plot progression beyond Panish deciding to tell the police about Julian “from Michelle’s perspective” but instead we get a much more intimate episode honing in on both damaged people putting on a front for the public. Our perception of Anne to begin with is a wealthy and confident woman but in reality, she’s completely crushed and damaged from that horrific incident back when she was younger. ..
Julian is carrying a lot of scars too and seeing him use this as a source for good, giving Anne some encouraging words, is a nice way of framing his character as a sympathetic main character.
On Sunday, the New York Times investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia takes on a new dimension given that one of its reporters, Maggie Haberman, has a brother who is also a part of the Trump team.
This is a good character development chapter and the ending with Michelle showing up at the apartment is likely to kick this one up a gear next week.
