Welcome back gumshoes! It’s time to take another spin through Rip City, for the new episode of Stumptown, “November Surprise.” In this episode, we get some good old fashioned escapism from the madness of our day-to-day newscycle as Dex deals helps out a client with an, uh… an election.
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Ok. Yeah, I bummed myself out. Anyways, here’s five thoughts on Stumptown’s “November Surprise,” spoilers below.
1. Be You, Be True, Be Portland
I was somewhat looking forward to not watching the Democratic debates tonight, so of course this episode starts off with a political ad. I swear I came this close to switching the episode off and walking off into the ocean. Blessedly this episode mostly steered clear of directly referencing our current climate, with only one passing (and admittedly funny) reference to Kellyanne Conway.
The welcome guest star Eliza Coupe from the tragically departed Happy Endings plays our Conway surrogate, a cutthroat campaign manager who hires Dex to dig into her candidate’s opponent: Councilman Dan Gibson, a charming gay politician who preaches a progressive campaign. But does the Councilman have some dark secrets in his closet?
It’s a smart set-up for the episode, one that directly pits Dex’s monetary needs against the moral code the show has been depicting since its pilot. Dex has always seemed like a PI with a heart of gold, an avenging angel for the oppressed, but this is a job, one that requires her to get down and dirty and do some things that aren’t for the greater good. Can Dex survive as a private investigator if she’s held back by pesky things like “morals” and “human decency?”
2. The Ice is Thawing
After a couple episodes of Dex and Grey being on the outs, this episode has things starting to get back to normal. There are, however, still some points of tension. Dex is clearly jealous of Grey’s new girlfriend, Liz, and Grey doesn’t approve of Dex’s current job attempting to tear down a seemingly good man to make a quick buck. While they bicker occasionally, in the background they prepare for their upcoming Thanksgiving dinner, which will surely feature all of their conflicts coming to light, right?
This all works thanks to Cobie Smulders and Jake Johnson’s chemistry–Stumptown’s greatest asset–and some genuinely good writing that pits the events of the episode at odds with their relationship. Grey is struggling to build his relationship with Liz, who is having trouble trusting him after a previous bad boyfriend experience.* While he tries to prioritize both Liz and Dex’s needs, Dex bristles at Liz’s presence for…reasons.
3. The Dirt
As of course happens with Dex, her case digs up some complicated questions. Back when Congressman Gibson was a closeted college professor, he had an affair with a student that ended–or so he thought–without consequence. Dex, however, finds the former student gave birth to Gibson’s son, which is a problem given that Gibson’s campaign is built on openness and, uh, knowing yourself, meaning that I guess his campaign would fall apart if people knew that at one point he was in the closet? The logic of this is weak at best and downright disastrous at worst, but ultimately it doesn’t matter because both Dex and the episode are less concerned with Gibson than they are about his son.
The kid’s mother kept him a secret for his own protection, and Dex is then faced with a moral quandary: expose the kid and take the huge payout, or switch sides and do damage control? With Dex it’s pretty obvious which side she’s going to choose, so if you’ve been paying attention at all this isn’t a surprise. Plus, the plot doesn’t have many twists and turns left after this point. Yet still this is an engaging episode, one that uses its hook well to dig into the central heart of Dex as a character. It makes me wish we had more episodes like this before the major Grey heist plot to further establish Dex’s worldview and her dynamic with Grey, but it’s a strong entry in the series all the same.
4. Drop Out
Dex chooses not to sell the information, but she gets her bonus anyways when the boy’s mother’s brother sells out his family for the payout. Dex has to scramble, but she manages to prevail by appealing to Councilman Dan’s sense of goodness. He agrees to drop out of the race to protect his son, ruining his career but saving his new family.
Continued belowDex is shaken by the experience, but we’re left with her setting herself on a good path. She has her morals intact, and even if she might have been the cause of trouble in the first place she has continued to look out for the little guy in her pursuit of stability. Class solidarity, represent.
5. The…End?
The much hyped Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving happens with…four minutes of screentime? Stumptown has a nasty habit of tying up its loose ends in one single button of a scene, and this episode is no exception. The whole group comes together (Liz and Detective Hoffman included), Dex and Grey trade some slight barbs about each other, and then everyone sits down for a happy dinner.
It’s a good tee-up for a future episode, I suppose, although I continue to be annoyed that Dex seems to hate Liz for literally no reason beyond her existing. Dex can be a mess, and it would track for me if she was awkward around Liz or unsure of what to do with her, but this is the only time we’ve seen her being openly hostile to someone who doesn’t deserve it.
But that’s a future episode’s problem. I look forward to Stumptown trapping Dex and Liz in a hostage situation where they have to work together to escape, with the shared experience causing them to become best friends. No, I haven’t already written that as fanfiction, why do you ask?
*(The Bad Boyfriend Experience is a solid band name.)
