What is The Company You Keep about?
ABC has just premiered a new crime show called The Company You Keep. While it’s just two episodes so far, the storyline promises a fun turn of crime show and a unique romance as well. The great cast highlights the series and the plotlines look to keep fans going too.
The series focuses on Charlie Nicoletti (Milo Ventimiglia), who is a top-notch con man from a family of con artists. He works with his father, Leo (Wiliam Fichtner), mother Fran (Polly Draper), and sister Birdie (Sarah Wayne Callies), with the family running a bar as the cover to their cons. The opening scene has them pulling off a nice one on a criminal gang aided by Charlie’s fiance Tina (Bridget Regan).
The family reconvenes at the bar to celebrate and get ready to deposit their 10 million dollar winnings. But when he looks for the data disk of the money, Charlie only finds Tina’s engagement ring, and her phone is shut off. Too late, Charlie realizes that Tina was playing him all along, stealing the money and leaving the family in debt to some very bad people.
Meanwhile, CIA officer Emma Hill (Catherine Heana Kim) is handling a case looking into a possible terrorist organization. She’s distracted when she discovers her own boyfriend has been cheating on her. This affects Emma, who’s the “black sheep” of her political dynasty family, as her brother David (Tim Chiou) is running for Senator as their parents Joseph (James Saito) and Grace (Freda Foh Shen) are more interested in the family name.
A heartbroken Charlie and Emma meet by chance at a hotel bar and soon share stories of their romantic woes. It’s not long before the flirting becomes serious and they spend a passionate weekend together before going their separate ways.
Things take a turn when the Nicolettis run a con that involves Emma’s family and a corrupt church pastor. Charlie and Emma continue to banter as each is unaware of who the other is. However, the family finds themselves in debt to Daphne Finch (Felisha Terrell), who works for Brendan Maguire, the mobster they ripped off. She threatens the family to start working off their debt with scams on behalf of Maguire or they’re all dead. What Charlie doesn’t realize is Emma is also investigating Daphne, as it’s only a matter of time before their paths cross again.
Why The Company You Keep should be watched
While there have been only two episodes, the series already has a fun vibe to it. Ventimiglia and Kim have great chemistry as these are two people whose lives are full of secrets, each thinking the other is the only honest thing in their lives. That they’re both hiding the truth from each other while unknowingly working on opposite sides adds to the fun.
The con games are well done and have good character bits, such as the revelation that Leo is suffering from the beginnings of dementia and wants to put together a last nest egg for the family. The family has a code of honor in only targeting criminals and keeping viewers guessing what their game is. They also have to handle Daphne with the revelation that she’s Maguire’s daughter, trying to prove herself.
The series is laying in longer plotlines of Emma suspecting the Maguires are up to something big while her family is hiding some sort of secret of their own. The real fun is watching Charlie and Emma carry on their steamy romance and wonder how long before they find out the truth about each other.
While it’s started slow, The Company You Keep is building itself into what could be a sleeper series for ABC and a fun one for crime show fans who like a little romance too.
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