Rabbit Hole season 1 episodes 1 and 2 recap & review

Open Go TV / March 27, 2023 / Reviews

In the first two episodes of Rabbit Hole, John Weir, a corporate spy, gets framed for murder after orchestrating a job for a former partner. The first two episodes are now streaming on Paramount+.

Episode 1 recap: Pilot

John Weir, a corporate spy, visits the church to overcome paranoia. Apparently, he isn’t looking for forgiveness; he just needs someone to talk to.

The show goes back to three weeks ago. Weir is at a bar all alone. He pays the bartender a hefty amount of cash just to change the TV channel to sports. Moments later, a man named Barry Merril walks towards the TV and demands the channel be changed to a news channel.

Weir allows the bartender to change the channel. The news on TV talks about a study that suggests the drug for erectile dysfunction made by a company called Esper-Ethika is causing cancer. Barry Merril sells all of his stocks from Esper-Ethika upon learning that.

Weir, on the other hand, spends a night with a woman named Hailey Winton, whom he meets at the bar. In the morning, he discovers a camera inside a clock near their bed.

Weir deduces that a woman named Madi is planning to blackmail him. Hailey has no idea what Weir is talking about as he leaves, believing that she is part of this play.

On his way to his office, Weir notices a car that has been following him around. Once there, Agent Jo Madi greets him and accuses him of corporate espionage. She explains to him the case of Barry Merril.

It is then revealed that Weir staged everything around the broadcast of Esper-Ethika’s drug and made sure that the news and message reached Merril somehow. Merril sold his stock, and one of Weir’s clients benefited from it.

Weir denies being involved in this and says he is too busy. Weir and his team celebrate their success and discuss the more intricate details of their heist.

Later, Weir makes sure to attend his son’s performance and also meets his ex-wife. At night, he remembers his past and how his father was. The next day, he visits a company called Arda Analytics to meet the CEO, Miles Valence.

Valence has a job for Weir. Though their meeting is kept a secret, someone watches them through a camera. The job Valence has involves a company named Luxbrant, which is being investigated for using child labor.

Luxbrant has claimed that the allegations against them are engineered by their rival, Banomar Group, which is not true, but Weir’s team has to make it look like it’s true to have the investigation called off.

In order to do that, the CEO of Banomar Group, Dana Heinrich, and Edward Homm, the Treasury Department investigator, need to be seen together and clicked together. A picture will suggest that they are working together to take Luxbrant down.

Weir’s team orchestrates an elaborate plan. Though Dana and Homm haven’t met before, Weir’s team makes sure that they cross paths with each other. Weir’s team meddles with their schedule, their belongings, and the situation and clicks them together.

In the picture, it looks like Homm is handing Dana an envelope that has Banomar Group’s logo on it. Weir later delivers the pictures to Valence.

The next day, Weir continues to wonder who Hailey is. He looks for her online to learn more about her but fails to find out why or who might have placed a camera in their room.

Weir confronts Hailey up front and learns that Hailey approached him because she found him on a dating app. Weir doesn’t know that he has a dating profile. The news playing everywhere, suggesting that Weir has murdered Homm, catches everyone’s attention, including Hailey’s, who attacks Weir and escapes.

Weir runs to his office, and it seems like Valence has turned on them. Before Weir can enter his office’s building, his office blows up into pieces.

Weir then uses his deceptive skills to break into Arda Analytics’ building to meet Valence, who is visibly nervous. Valence says he has nothing to do with it. Valence asks for a timeout to answer a call.

Weir peaks into his laptop, in which a message reads, “DO IT. NOW.” Weir looks at Valence, who jumps straight from the building after giving Weir a calm look.

Weir manages to escape Arda Analytics’ building. He is now a suspect in the murder of Homm as well as Valence. Weir heads back to his childhood home, where he is keeping Homm hostage.

Episode 2 recap: At Any Given Moment

Weir waits outside a building for Hailey to show up. She is approached by two officers. Hailey assumes that they are here to question her about Weir, so she voluntarily agrees to go with them until she realizes that they are not taking her to a police car.

Hailey struggles to stop them from kidnapping her. Weir comes to the rescue and shouts out loud that these so-called cops are arresting someone innocent. The crowd gathers, allowing Weir and Hailey to escape.

Meanwhile, only the intern working for Weir survives the explosion at Weir’s office. The investigating officer, Rasche, doesn’t allow Madi on the scene, but she still finds her way around to talk to the intern.

Back at Weir’s childhood home, Weir attempts to interrogate Hailey to figure out who is after them. He asks her to explain the whole dating app thing. Upon digging, they conclude that Weir’s co-workers may have created the profile because he is lonely.

Hailey also meets Homm, who attempts to escape Weir’s childhood home. Weir decides to let Hailey go since nothing suggests that she is conspiring something, but she doesn’t want to go anymore. She feels that she is being targeted and would rather stay safe with Weir.

Weir continues to look for answers and corners Valence’s associate, Xander, to get some answers. Weir says he did everything that Valence asked. He kept his team in the dark and killed Homm for him.

When Xander says he shouldn’t have gotten caught, Weir claims that he is being set up. He inquires how he can get into Valence’s communications data.

Xander is afraid of someone, so he doesn’t want to confess anything. Xander still reveals that Weir can only access Valence’s communications data through his password or authenticator.

Weir then heads to the local police department to recover Valence’s authenticator from the evidence. He poses as a cop and wears a purse around his neck that looks like a badge, hoping no one inside will notice.

Weir manages to get the evidence out. He had also instructed his intern to come to the precinct. Madi follows the intern around, but Weir and the intern smoothly escape the precinct after locking the main door.

At the last moment, the intern turns on Weir. Hailey comes to Weir’s aid, and they both leave together with the authenticator. They head back to Weir’s childhood home, and it turns out that someone else is keeping Homm company, and the person is none other than Weir’s father.

Amidst all of the drama, flashback scenes reveal the downfall of Weir’s parents’ marriage and how his father committed suicide, but it seems like his father never died and may have only faked his death.

Review

Rabbit Hole wastes no time in making viewers familiar with the kind of adventure they will be witnessing. The tone is set, and Weir, played by Kiefer Sutherland, is introduced as a competent, confident, and clever spy.
There is nothing new about Weir. More or less, he feels like another intelligent lead character who is looking for answers. His dark past and the way he easily and swiftly fools people around him is what makes him interesting.
The show takes its time to establish what kind of job Weir is into, and once that part is done, it slowly integrates the main plot and surprises the viewers with its twists and turns.
The heists in the show are plain and simple yet so elaborate. A viewer is left wondering if heists like these are even possible and unnoticeable.
Paramount+ made a great decision by dropping two episodes altogether. The first episode hardly gives away anything to chase or look forward to. Yes, it leaves you with surprises, but at the same time, it all feels confusing.
Lastly, Rabbit Hole adds some unexpectedly funny sequences and bits that are quite amusing. Hailey and Weir’s banter and the fight between Weir and the intern are two of the scenes to look out for.