The Escape Wheel
In Episode 5 of American Gigolo, Michelle arrives at Julian’s place. It is awkward, especially when Michelle points out about the pictures and how she wanted Colin to know who his father was. His real father that is. Julian is shocked as he realizes he has a son. Michelle tries to explain her reasoning. Apparently she tried to tell Julian a long time ago, but for Julian this is personal. He never had a father himself and believes he’d be a bad influence on Colin. ..
Michelle is enlisting the help of Colin’s friends to try and find him. He has been missing for a few days and there have been flyers all over town asking for information on his whereabouts. It is possible that the motel worker who has been hiding Colin is responsible. ..
Julian heads off to see Lorenzo, asking for his advice on how to find his child. He basically reiterates what Michelle said, telling him that he needs to get out there and find his son. That’s enough motivation for him, as Julian traces Colin’s steps from the Costello Motel. Whilst there, he notices the Missing Person poster and realizes that Colin is actually 15. He’s shocked that Michelle didn’t tell him sooner. ..
Penelope is in the middle of a panic attack. Julian, her old friend from when they were both students, comes to her aid. He admits he’s looking for his son and the two of them start to chat. Penelope is very relaxed and tells Julian it will be okay. However, Panish is also out there looking for Julian and he’s not getting any better.
Detective Sunday rounds out this trifecta of people searching, with her showing up at Julian’s apartment. She finds Michelle there, and there’s a lovely framed shot of Sunday at the door and Michelle in the mirror which is worth pointing out. Anyway, Michelle agrees to go with her but gets changed in private beforehand. Sunday though, snaps pictures in her absence. Detective Sunday then asks Julian if he knows where his phone is and he says no. Detective Sunday asks Julian if he knows where his phone is and he says no. Detective Sunday then asks Michelle if she knows where his phone is and she says no. Detective Sunday then asks Julian if he has seen or had contact with anyone who might have had access to his phone recently, to which he responds that he has not had any contact with anyone since Saturday night. Detective Sunday then asks Michelle if she has seen or had contact with anyone who might have had access to his phone recently, to which she responds that she has not had any contact with anyone since Saturday night. Detective Sunday concludes that either Julian or Michelle may have taken Julian’s phone and decides to speak to them both about it separately. ..
Michelle admits that she and Colin were in the motel room when his lover was killed, and that Julian knows about this too. Unfortunately, this doesn’t fly with the police, who are fed a paid witness from Panish to incriminate Julian and claim that he was in the room.
Julian is on the run from Panish’s men, who have kidnapped Shannonhouse. He’s quickly losing steam, and he knows he won’t make it much further without help. He turns to a friend for help - Colin - but when Colin arrives at the motel, he’s bundled into a car and taken away. Julian can’t believe it - Panish would never do something like this to his own man! He tries to chase after the car but they speed off before he can catch up. What could be going on here?
At the same time, Sunday brings in Richard Stratton after ringing him about Colin. She points out Michelle’s extra-curricular activities with Julian and promises to find Colin. Off the back of this, Richard confronts Panish about Michelle’s affair and the secrets he’s been keeping. As a result, he forces him out the house.
Unfortunately, the police show up and arrest Julian.
The Episode Review
Julian is arrested again, and right off the back of him finding out the truth about Colin too. This reveal is certainly surprising but it’s a lovely way of tying all these different story threads together. There’s a nice ebb and flow to a lot of this now and you can see all the separate plotlines come together in a consistent manner.
Although a few of these episodes could have been beefed up a bit, there’s enough to enjoy with this one and if you’ve been following this over the weeks, you’ll undoubtedly be intrigued to see where this one goes next. Will Julian get out of prison? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out!
