Below are episode 5 and 6 recaps from the ABC website. As I've mentioned previously, I'm not sure where else they can go with this show. Woman in peril must pay off her husband's /brother's debt and save her family. She is being menaced by a mafia boss who may have a non-purient interest in her. The heroine mysteriously possesses badass skills even though she's a housewife. I do like all the actors (especially Radha Mitchell) but I think this would be better suited as a Lifetime movie. Several sites are reporting the show is near cancellation due to low ratings.
Dear Red Widow,
If you don't see me again, I'm in the Witness Protection Program. Don't come looking for me. Let's just cherish the time we had together.
Affectionately Yours,
GMonster
PS Let me know if you find a show with a better script.
Episode 5: "The Recorder"-
Marta a wire to a meeting with Schiller, whose dad, Lazlo, advises him that slave labor is never trustworthy. James lets Marta know that she needs to get her new boss to open up if she wants a new life. Andrei is ticked when he learns that Evan was chatting with the feds. He has no tolerance for rats. Marta knows this from a brutal experience from her childhood involving her Uncle Pasha. As for the situation with Schiller, Marta is brought to a meeting with some people interested in buying guns. Her expert marksmanship proves that the firearms are of a very high quality.
On the home front, Marta catches Gabriel having sex with a girl in his bedroom. It’s beyond unacceptable to her. Andrei has a chat with his grandson about respecting his mother’s home. Irwin is still hanging out there. He’s taunting Luther about how he’s always had a crush on his sister. He’s also in charge of taking care of the kids while Marta attends a dinner with Schiller. All personal items are confiscated including the hairclip Marta is wearing. It happens to be the item that contained the recording device she’s using to bring down Schiller.
Schiller and Marta meet with a woman named Alexandra. The two ladies speak Russian before Schiller interrupts with a business proposition. Alexandra doesn’t seem interested until Marta mentions that she has a private marina that’s off the radar and prime for imports. Alexandra checks out Marta’s operation. She’s impressed by the plan to make shipments with her three charter boats. Alexandra also warns that Schiller has feelings for Marta, who will be the one who is solely responsible for her shipment. James lets Marta know that she’s now in cahoots with two major crime lords.
Gabriel’s girlfriend entices him into trying ecstasy. The girl swallows both pills while they kiss. Gabriel calls 911 when she starts freaking out on him. Marta orders him to update the girl’s parents. In other family news, Boris is having bad dreams. He’s also afraid about doing Show & Tell at school. The other kids will think he’s weird if they know his father was shot. Actually, the opposite is true. The class perks up once Boris blurts out the story about how a guy on motorcycle gunned down his dad.
Mike is having a rough time of it lately. He’s deep in debt and high on drugs. Marta fires him from working with her and Dina boots him out. Mike isn’t the only one having marriage problems. James visits Kat at her home to have a chat about what Marta is doing. They both have issues happening regarding their marriage. James has a wife who is an addict and Kat has a husband who wonders what secrets she’s hiding from him. These two tortured souls end up sharing a kiss that’s witnessed by Natalie.
Schiller says he has Marta to thank for getting Alexandra to agree to do business for him. He feels see is being too helpful. Marta strips down to her bra and panties to prove to him that she’s not wearing a wire. She promises that she’s not a rat. Schiller orders her to get dressed and get out. Later, Marta learns that James kissed Kat. She informs the fed that she’s done with him. The wire she was wearing was actually hidden in her bra. She’s through taking chances. She’ll handle things on her own. That could be dangerous, as Lazlo says to his son that he’ll have to kill Marta eventually.
After his classroom experience, Boris is the big little man on campus. All the kids in his school want to be his pal. They are very excited to take a ride on his mom’s boat. Gabriel notices there’s a problem as they try to leave the dock. Something is caught on the line. Gabriel pulls the rope out of the water to see that there’s a large case attached to its end. Marta orders him to cut it loose. She knows exactly what it is. It’s the missing cocaine that her dead husband hid just before he was killed. It’s reason she’s in the predicament she’s in now.
Episode 6 "The Captive"-
Marta lets her family know that she found Schiller’s cocaine. She’s not about to tell Irwin where it’s at. Marta also mentions her meeting with Alexandra. Andrei sees this as an opportunity to form an alliance to take down Schiller. That’s not anything Marta wants to do. She only wants out of the life. That won’t be easy now that Schiller is tearing apart her boats to make room for their cargo runs. Marta convinces him to leave the boat with the cocaine hidden underneath alone for the time being.
Natalie hasn’t been acting herself lately. She skips school and has been tagging buildings with images of the person who shot her dad. Marta recognizes the place where her daughter left the graffiti. She finds Natalie’s cell phone with a cracked screen amongst the debris. Natalie is nowhere to be found. That’s because she’s been kidnapped. A high-strung man snorting some blow has her bound to a post in a cheap motel room.
Irwin desperately searches for the cocaine at Marta’s house. He also sweet talks Felicity so that he can finally have sex with her. Irwin drops her off when he learns that Natalie is missing. It’s all hands on deck at Marta’s house. Even Mike shows up to help with the search. Marta wants Irwin to head down to the marina to prep for the dry run Schiller wants to do very soon. Gabriel lets his uncle know about the bins he found tied to boat. Irwin realizes it must be the cocaine. He just needs to keep Schiller’s man, Vincent, at bay.
Marta’s worst fears come true when she gets a text. It’s a ransom demand--$500,000 in exchange for Natalie’s life. Andrei vows he’ll get the money and find her daughter. That’s not good enough for Marta. She calls Schiller, who gives her a device to track the money and tracks the phone from where the ransom text was made. At the motel room, the cokehead kidnapper becomes more and more erratic after a masked accomplice shows up. Natalie recognizes the voice of this second abductor. It’s her Uncle Mike.
Marta waits at the predetermined location with the ransom money, but the kidnapper is a no-show. Schiller has identified him a lowlife named Kurt Bowman. He sends along a photo. Marta wants her dad to find this man. She has no idea that Mike is the mastermind of the operation. Mike explains to Natalie why he’s doing what he’s doing. He also lets her know the truth about what her family is and how he believes Schiller killed her dad because he thought he stole from him. He didn’t. Mike also recalls how her mom and dad both knew they were meant for each other. Natalie now knows that the Petrov side of her family is part of the mob.
Luther shakes down lowlifes on the streets in an effort to find Kurt Bowman. The guy is MIA, but one punk says there another kidnapper involved. Based on the description, Marta realizes it’s Mike. She has Dina place a call to her estranged husband. She doesn’t want to believe this is true, but Mike slips up. He claims he was checking out a hospital that had closed down a year ago. Once Marta is sure that it’s Mike, she places a call to Schiller to track him down. Marta wants to deal with him herself. Natalie promises Mike that she won’t let her grandfather kill him.
The cokehead kidnapper returns while Mike is out of the motel room. He’s looking to hurt Natalie. Mike returns in time to wrestle the knife away. He’s cutting Natalie loose when Marta, Andrei and Luther burst into the room. Mike thinks he’s a dead man. Marta promises her daughter that her uncle will live, but she tells Mike that he is dead to their family. At home, Natalie tells her mom that she knows who her family is. She doesn’t want that life. Neither does Marta. She promises she’ll get them both out. Schiller shows up at her house to say they’ve dealt with Kurt Bowman. Marta says that Mike has been dealt with, too.
Out at the Marina, Vincent finds the stash of cocaine. He wants to partner with Irwin in a side business to sell the stuff. Irwin later tells Mike that he needs him to cut the coke. He brings him inside the boat where Andrei and Luther are waiting. Gabriel is there, too. Everyone takes turns brutally beating Mike. For Gabriel, this is his first time being involved in this sort of business—the family business.
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