Jump Scares and Red Herrings

“@BrownDerbyHistoricVids A little Hollywood? Okay” feels like the closest thing to a regular episode of the series to me. Chairman's company. This isn't a knock at all, other than the star rating; the show is just getting into a more consistent rhythm, and to me that means this episode lacks the surprises of previous weeks.

However, it speaks volumes in an episode where a bug enters Ron's phone through the charging port, which is mentioned in one line of dialogue by a strange sales rep and then never mentioned again. There's a creeping menace lurking underneath everything here, and it makes watching the show an unpleasant experience, even when there's no real threat of violence. In fact, most of this episode plays out as a series of misunderstandings and clarifications, and that may be this series' dominant way of introducing something suspenseful, but then undermining it one scene (or one episode, or five episodes) later.

Take the discovery that decides last week's highlight with the revelation that the man taking photos of Ron in his closet actually works for Mike Santini. He was supposedly sent here just to keep an eye on Ron and was supposed to send the photo to Mike, but he got the recording device numbers mixed up. This doesn't take away from the thrilling plot or the confrontation itself – the episode opens with an intense chase after the LT breaks out of the closet – but it does provide another blueprint for this show's regular horror subversions.

Of course, Ron can't forget what just happened. Each of these fears leaves an indelible imprint on his psyche, and it feels like they are starting to accumulate. Given the speed at which this man is moving, he may find himself locked in by the end. The LT scene is just the latest nightmare fuel, judging by his aggressive broom swipe to check the toilets in the middle of the night. LT may have been a “red herring” but the script makes Ron imagine the worst, including an attacker who would force him to kill his own family. These people exist, he points out to Barb, so an expensive security system makes sense.

In terms of actually investigating the conspiracy, Ron and Mike made some progress in this episode, traveling several layers deeper into Tekka's rabbit hole. Mike was apparently able to confirm that his employer, Jim X, paid $50,000 for Mike to scare Ron. (It looks like Mike would have to be pissed off that he only got a measly fraction of that amount to really be scary.) So Ron goes to the county clerk's office (using Douglas' name) and sees the name RBMG, Inc. in a document for an abandoned building he visited. Apparently the last person to look into the matter was a nefarious man named Steven Droyko – information that Ron manages to obtain through some good spy work.

A quick Google search explains that RBMG is short for Red Ball Market Global, a shady company whose website features a photo of a giant red ball from an abandoned office. There are photos and names of board members, including a woman named Rhonda who Mike calls great, but they lead nowhere. And when Ron calls RBMG's phone number, the (surprisingly catchy) music plays non-stop. “That's the problem with the world today,” Ron tells Mike over a beer. “People litter and it’s impossible to talk to anyone.” The theme of the show?

Aside from a drunken and angry post for National Business Solutions mentioning the RBMG board, the rest of Ron's successes this week involve Droyko being hunted down by Mike. The guy seems unstable, goes crazy and leaves as soon as they ask about Tekka. But Ron doesn't leave empty-handed, so he and Mike rush in and take some papers. In an eerie touch, they also encounter an old woman who supposedly died a couple of years ago: Droiko's mother, who is apparently playing dead because she owes her sister money.

Droyko explains this to Ron during an unannounced visit to Fisher Robey. He is willing to admit that he worked at Tecca for four days, removing parts from chairs and installing other parts. in the nude. He recognizes a photograph of Ken Tucker, the CFO of Red Ball Global, but has no further information to offer. Ron would return the papers to him when he was ready to chat further. However, soon after, Ron receives a security alert with a still from a horror movie showing a hooded figure wearing a hockey mask sitting in a Tekka chair outside the Trosper house, shaking his head maniacally. “Jason!” Ron exclaims in the final moments, just in case the scene fell too far on one side of the horror/comedy divide. I expect the horror to subside further once we understand the context.

Aside from missteps such as an intruder during a game, Ron still manages to keep his obsession with Tekka from completely infiltrating his work and home life, although there are signs of discord on both fronts. First, the decision not to include football at the Canton Mall is drawing some criticism and publicity, including from a former Cleveland Browns player who cried after hearing about it in the news. Ron wants to stick to his vision, but his boss Jeff and colleague Alon undermine him by proposing their own take on football. It's small, but Ron's ego is fragile – especially due to the need to live up to his father's legacy, a character trait that began right in his life. Detroiters. As Ron explains to Mike, his father was a great man and “the bridge is named after him.”

Ron's home life seems special in this episode Breaking Bad-esque: His wife is suspicious of his whereabouts and his son is playing pranks. When he sees Seth drinking outside on security camera, he arranges to meet at a café, where Seth explains, “I've discovered that if you don't actually drink too much, drinking is really fun.” According to him, when he is drunk, he tells jokes because they are funny, and not just to laugh. (He also occasionally drinks beer and watches Abbott and Costello, which really has nothing to do with shyness.) Ron doesn't even argue with Seth's logic, perhaps because he feels the same desire to simply be himself, rather than an idealized, hard-working family man projection of himself.

But Ron reveals one secret to keep another, using Seth's problem to avoid explaining his recent extracurricular activities to Barb – while completely breaking his agreement with Seth, which is a sign that Ron's attempts to hide are pushing him towards being a worse husband and a worse father. His recent absence had Barb wondering if he was escaping Fisher Robey's boredom by going on “Jeep Tours” again after seeing the box LT and Mike were tinkering with in the garage. In this absurd look at Breaking BadThis is an anti-hero drama, Ron's dark past has nothing to do with drugs, gambling or contract killings. He used to be obsessed with jeep tours.

Whenever I spend too much time writing about real-life character drama Chairman's companyor unraveling an increasingly convoluted plot, it starts to feel a little silly. Yes, it's a show with a clear vision and tone, but it's also just a chance for Tim Robinson and company to get silly, and that's still true in “@BrownDerbyHistoricVids A Little Hollywood? OK”. Look at the clerk who gets sent home to take a shower because apparently people can smell her. Or Douglas's extremely creepy “mistake party,” where people wear either yellow or green wristbands, depending on their comfort level with making mistakes. In an episode filled with theories and red herrings, it's these dazzling diversions that stick out the most in the mind.

• “You put the little guy in my closet?”

• Good line from a sales rep: “Oh, hell yeah. We're just stopping by to hang out, but it's always so nice to see you, Ron Trosper.”

• Ron reassures Barb about their spending, saying they'll soon have “a billion dollars.” Of course, Ron.

• Mike's anecdote about his ex-wife poisoning him with hundreds of “sexual stamina pills” raises a lot of questions, but at least we know the pills made him smell like duck.

• I think Ron would be concerned about Mike coming into direct contact with his son, but maybe he knows Seth is too easy-going to even question the guy.

• “I didn’t even need green. He made me take the green one and said, “What are you going to do? What mistake do you think you will make?”