‘Ten Percent’ Recap: ‘Episode 4’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of ‘Ten Percent’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
​
One thing that fans of the delightful Sundance Now comedy, Ten Percent, can agree upon… is that this series definitely knows how to surprise its audience. For this is a show that appeared as though it was going to focus solely upon the life of times of agents in the entertainment industry, and pepper in some laughs along the way as we watched them navigate wild career choices from their clients, and tough contracts from wacky studio executives. But it quickly shifted gears and added a little drama to the mix, courtesy of the great loss that Nightingale/Hart suffered via the loss of Richard Hart, and even that… had gravity and power. Since it allowed for us to really get to know these characters on a more fundamental level.
​
But since this series knows how to keep us on our toes, the surprises just keep coming with this story, since the next episode in this saga, opted to give us the best of both worlds. Since it featured a grand look at the business once again in a fascinating and funny manner… while offering up more of that heart that we are quickly coming to love and it accomplished all this, by having the team split up for a bit. Rebecca and Dan for instance, had to spend their time in this episode on set to help two of their clients, because Himesh Patel and Emma Corrin were having major trouble with an intimate scene in their latest picture. Which left our agents believing that something had gone very wrong with the intimacy coordinator on set.

However, once they arrived, they quickly came to realize… that wasn’t the issue at all. In fact, the problem at hand was that Himesh and Emma were super close friends, the kind that are inseparable and rarely have romantic chemistry and well… acting in a sex scene together, was comparable in their minds to brothers kissing sisters and that led to them continuously flubbing their lines and intimate moments on set. A move that also led to the first job lost for Zoe since she was scheduled to be in this same movie, but her scene had to be cut because of this tomfoolery, and well… seeing Zoe get tossed like that, motivated Dan to spit some truth to the stars. In that, it was obvious they were in love and resisting their feelings, and made stupid excuses to avoid them, and the time had come to quit that crap, and get to work and see where love takes them. So, they did, and the show went on.

Yet while that segment alone could have carried this episode through and through, there was mention of the fact that more character driven moments were present here as well and that was handled through Jonathan’s journey in this tale. Because he came to learn that his deal with the American agency, once again left him holding the bag as the second in command and well, being faced with that and the fallout from the team over the decision he made… left him beside himself. To the point where he briefly entertained an offer to go to a rival agency as its head, all because he couldn’t reconcile how wrong things had gone. But thankfully… he remembered that his father taught him better than that, and he stayed with the firm, to ride out the storm and face the rotten fruits of his labor and this was… a powerful and realistic sequence for certain. One that taught us a lot about Jonathan’s character.

In the end however, this was just… another satisfying episode of this utterly delightful tale. One that truly did surprise us by giving us the best of both worlds this time around with major thematic concepts, all while staying true to what makes this story great… the comedy. Because everything that happened on set was hilarious, and the little moments between Misha and a very jealous Julia at the firm, added levity to Jonathan’s plight and well, once again… we are left hungry for more. For the new boss is coming and the agents still have tons of work to get done for their clients and it will be fascinating to see how everyone handles a weird new era for Nightingale/Hart when the new boss explains their vision for the future of the firm. Until next time.  

---