Warning: Spoilers for The Company You Keep episode 1ABC’s The Company You Keep has the right ingredients to make it a hit. The dramedy follows Milo Ventimiglia’s Charlie Nicoletti, who has grown up in a con artist family. He meets Catherine Haena Kim’s Emma Hill at a hotel bar, and they spend 36 hours together. She’s a CIA agent and comes from a political family. Despite Charlie and Emma actually telling each other what they do on the first night, they both think they are joking. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Milo Ventimiglia is known for his roles in This is Us and Gilmore Girls, but Catherine Haena Kim is less widely known. She’s probably most recognizable from Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner. More recently, she guest starred on nine episodes of FBI. Catherine makes quite an impression in The Company You Keep episode 1, which could make her a household name.
Milo Ventimiglia’s Con-Man Charlie Is Already Stealing Hearts
It’s no secret that most viewers tuned in to The Company You Keep episode 1 because of Milo Ventimiglia. The actor didn’t disappoint. He was as charming as ever. He’s got an even more bad boy persona than he did as Jess Mariano in Gilmore Girls. But unlike Jess, he has a soft spot for family. He would do anything for his family, which he already has. They don’t explicitly say what it was for or how long he was in jail, but he was locked up for a crime his family committed.
Charlie is also a romantic at heart. While his fiancée in the opening scene cons him and steals the score from that job, he quickly falls for another woman, Emma Hill. Charlie’s looking at photos they took during their time together. He also goes to her house and tells her he can’t stop thinking about her. In real life, this is stalker-like behavior, but on TV, when it’s Milo Ventimiglia, it’s hard not to fall for his character.
Milo Ventimiglia & Catherine Haena Kim Have Incredible Chemistry
It’s not just Milo Ventimiglia that’s making this a steamy show. His chemistry with Catherine Haena Kim is the other component. While his fiance ran off with the money, her boyfriend cheated on her for three months. They are both in the right place at the right time, and their comments about relationships are so relatable and funny that it draws them to each other. Neither was looking for something serious, but those steamy scenes are making viewers root for them, despite it being such a bad idea. It's those long glances they give each other and the passionate kisses that make them a sexy couple.
These characters also complement each other. But, of course, that has a lot to do with the families they come from. Charlie is trying to keep his family afloat with the one thing he’s good at, crime, and she’s trying to live up to her family's unrealistic standards. She’s actually living up well as a CIA agent, but it’s not a job she can tell anyone about, much like Charlie. The Company You Keep episode 1 only gives a glimpse at her doing her job, but she seems pretty good at it too.
The Company You Keep’s When Will They Find Out Trope Is Exciting
Charlie being a con artist and her being a CIA agent already spells disaster, but Charlie is also wrapped up in her drug case, and neither of them knows it yet. The first on-screen con Charlie and his family does is with Patrick Maguire (Timothy V. Murphy). It turns out Emma has been tracking him down. She finds video footage of his deal with Charlie, but it only shows the back of Charlie’s head. Her team takes Patrick into custody at the end of episode 1. This leaves his right-hand-woman, Daphne Finch (Felisha Terrell), who Emma is also tracking.
Daphne tracked down Charlie’s family and wants the money back with interest. It will be hard for Emma not to figure out what Charlie is doing if he transfers her money. Eventually, Emma will catch Charlie in the act, and the whole relationship will be torn apart, like most romantic comedies or, in this case, a romantic con. But if it plays out like that, something will also bring them back together.
While it’s an easy trope, wondering when and how Charlie and Emma will discover their real lives is exciting. It’s fun for the viewer to know something the characters do not. Conversations can mean different things to the viewers than to the couple. There will undoubtedly be close calls having fans hold their breath. But, of course, The Company You Keep writers must keep them in the dark for as long as possible.