Notorious Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Missing
Jay Ruymann
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"Now I know I've got a heart because it's breaking."
The tin (wo)man has a heart! Notorious Season 1 Episode 5 centered majorly on Julia's reaction to Levi committing suicide in front of her in the most traumatic way possible for anyone to see.
Jake: I can't imagine what it would've been like to be there when he pulled that trigger.
Julia: I can't stop thinking about it.
Since the series began, we've been waiting for Julia to get knocked down a bit and realize some of the horrible things she does, especially when it comes to LHL and what she'll do to boost the show.
At what point would Julia cross line, and when would she come back and realize the fault in her producing? On this episode, she finally crossed that line.
Witnessing a man shoot himself and being spattered with his blood is likely one of the most traumatic moments of anyone's life, so naturally, Julia returned to work right afterward, trying to pretend nothing was wrong.
The most interesting thing about this development was seeing Julia so vulnerable and unfocused. Even when she realized her long-time boyfriend was cheating on her with prostitutes, she still managed to compartmentalize and put on a great show. Now, she couldn't even focus long enough to put the ideas for a show together.
(Let me pause my review to saw bravo to Piper Perabo. She's truly outstanding, and it's a damn shame that Notorious doesn't have the ratings to keep it going for years.)
Max: How are you holding up?
Julia: On the one hand, I saw a man shoot himself, but on the other, there wasn't much traffic this morning.
Even in the midst of this mess, Julia is still such a strong character, and she held herself together so well. The occasional humor offset the distant moments, but nobody was fooled.
What did we all think of Julia's new (potential) man? Personally, she could do better.
You can't date the man that's going to try to pin a woman's murder on your best friend. That's just like against the rules of feminism, Julia, and Jake is going to go down hard after that photo circulates.
The District Attorney has seen it, Oscar has seen it, it's not going to remain a secret that Jake was sleeping with Sarah (even if it only happened once). Forget Levi being guilty; Jake's motive could've been anger, jealousy, or anything to do with the fact that he was sleeping with a married woman.
The perception that he slept with his client's wife is already going to be downgrading enough to his reputation as a man and lawyer, but will being arrested for murder ruin his career? He has so much to lose, especially if it happens in public.
As for the other case, the pregnant surrogate's story was so, so sad. That woman (Doris, which happens to be way too close to the name Dolores as in Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter who was also evil) deserves to rot for what she's done. Selling children is disgusting, and yet, she was going to do it twice.
All for the cash. Tell the parents their surrogate miscarried, tell the surrogate that the parents bailed, then you screw them all over and get $200,000 to walk away and move to a new city under another ugly name.
What comes next for Notorious? The truth about Jake and Sarah came out very early, and the hunt for her murderer is not going to lighten up. Will Julia be able to recover, or will this leave a much deeper wound for her as both a person and news producer? Will she regulate herself in the newsroom?
You can watch Notorious online right here, and don't miss Notorious on Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC!
Jay Ruymann was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He retired in January 2018.
