‘Ten Percent’ Recap: ‘Episode 5’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Five of ‘Ten Percent’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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It is definitely safe to say, that mankind has quite the love/hate affair with good ol’ tough times. Because on the one hand, we fully understand that difficult days are a constant in life and that without them and the challenges they provide us with… we don’t grow and learn. But on the flip side of that, bad days are utterly annoying. Because they upend our lives and force us out of comfortable situations and of course, the lessons and perspective that they provide us with to help us grow, are painful in the moment. But regardless of the ups and downs tough times send our way, we eventually embrace their deeper meaning and find gratitude that we went through them.

If anything, the rollercoaster rides those dark days put us upon us, is top of mind today, largely because they came to the offices of Nightingale/Hart in the next episode of Ten Percent. For when we catch up with our favorite agents in this story, Kirsten has arrived from the new home office that lies across the pond and well… it takes little to no time for her to begin to enact great change around the office. Such as adding a supremely annoying assistant and expecting the team to stay late just because she does. Not to mention she’s all about doing shady things such as dumping ‘unproductive’ clients that don’t rake in the dough, and poaching big ones away from other agencies and of course… she makes it clear she expects results and that… put the team in a tizzy.

Because they were quickly afraid for their jobs and their livelihood and the arrival of this new boss and the wildly intense American way of doing business, put the group through tough times. The kind that saw Jonathan release Simon as a client to appease the boss and the kind that motivated Dan and Rebecca to poke around at the possibility of stealing Phoebe Dynevor away from her current agency. A move that was decried across the office and led to quite the surprise. But more on that in a moment. Because in the end, this rough patch gave Stella perspective. In that, this was still their turf and their office, and it was either stand up for what they believed in or acquiesce to a brat. Which of course, brought forth a powerhouse confrontation between Stella and Kirsten, one that put the brat in her place and brought peace and perspective to the rest of the office. 

But while it was lovely to see Stella push back and fascinating to see how tough times can sneak into other corners of Tinseltown… there was mention of a heck of a surprise in this tale and that came from Phoebe. Because after running into Dan and Rebecca and learning who they worked for… she asked for a meeting with Jonathan. A move that made it appear as though, the poaching would be complete, since it was revealed that Phoebe was eager to change agents. But instead, this was a wakeup call for Jonathan. Since she took the time to point out how he wrote her off back in the day and never gave her a chance and had he… he’d be sharing in her success and well… that was a fine way to remind him of how he's lost his way when it comes to his career, and how now might be the right time to refocus.

In the end, this was just a fascinating episode when all is said and done. Since it served to teach us a great deal about the characters and what this job means to them and how human and flawed, they are. Which is a brilliant stroke of storytelling for certain, since it allowed for the viewer to really connect with these agents and their plight and of course… all of these events, motivated us to count down the minutes (impatiently no less) until next week’s chapter in this wild journey. So, we can see exactly how the agents survive this season of change and the incredible stress that Kirsten and her strange way of doing business… has put upon them. Until next time.

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