‘American Auto’ Recap: ‘Hack’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

AMERICAN AUTO -- "Hack" Episode 208 -- Pictured: (l-r) Ana Gasteyer as Katherine, Humphrey Ker as Elliot -- (Photo by: Greg Gayne/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 208 of ‘American Auto’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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If there is one particular word that no one wants to see associated with a news report about a big company, it would be… hacked. Simply because that means the story in question is about to discuss how another big company saw its data be stolen with impunity, and anyone that dealt with that company from a customer standpoint… now has to worry about their user data and their identity. Which is a story that we see more often these days on the news in this cyber age. But what we don’t think about all that often when it comes to those stories, is how the employees at the source of the breach deal with the reality that their secure servers have been hit and well, to continue to properly explore the corporate world, the next episode of American Auto opted to examine just that.
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For ‘Hack’ is a story that saw the Payne Motors servers indeed be slammed by hackers and yes, there was a compromise. As to the extent of the damage? Well, IT needed a little while to assess that, which… basically put the office out of commission for most of the day. Since the internet was down, keycards were disabled, and that allowed… for the story to just have a little fun with the staff and let them slip into some silly shenanigans. Such as Wesley’s desperate flex about his Bitcoin fortune. One that was on the brink in this story. Because for some reason, Wesley put his entire fortune on a powerful portable drive that featured heavy security, the kind that would wipe his fortune clear if the password was entered wrong and of course… Wesley forgot the password, and that led to some amazing comedy for certain.

All because Dori and Cyrus tried to help Wesley to no avail, leaving his money in limbo probably forever, which was wild… since that was seventy million that Wesley was worried about. And while Cyrus and Dori dealt with that, Sadie and Jack found themselves trapped on the testing floor. Because the signal down there was awful and the doors were locked, and thanks to an impromptu weather testing session, a result of trying to open the bay door… they were stuck in the car and just had to hang out and pass the time and maybe, just maybe… rekindle a romance. But while their down time was hilarious, as was hearing Wesley cluck like a chicken… that doesn’t exactly give us the hard impact of a hack on a major company. But it was there, and it was handled by Katherine’s journey in this story. Because while she got the good news that customer data was protected in the attack… she also got the bad news that her data… was not.

Which meant the hackers were prepared to send out every bit of compromising information about her if she didn’t pay. Including all the naughty photos she and her husband had taken to spice up their marriage. Which led to great conflict between Katherine and Elliot because she wanted to pay the ransom, and he wanted to follow company standards, which prevented that. A move that really pushed them to the brink, until Katherine found out how land a patsy to do it, making everything right in the world of Payne Motors again. But this did inform us, that there is great stress and worry on the corporate side as well when a hack happens. Because they know that trouble is coming if customer data is compromised and, they are in many ways… helpless, and in this instance at least, a corporate officer finally came to understand how scary a hack can be.

All of which made, for a fun and thoughtful episode. One that let the actors just let loose through and through, and really put their comedic skills on display, all while teaching us about the stress of the hack and how far reaching it can be. Plus, it also taught us a lot about the folly of putting condiments on our privates, since we now know that mustard… stains. But that aside, you simply cannot go wrong with a story that found a way to teach and entertain in this manner. And now that the world of Payne Motors is secure once again, it will be a real treat to see what unique exploration of the corporate world this show has in store for us, come next week when we return to the C-Suite for more shenanigans. Until then.

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