The Vermont Victim & The Bakersfield Hustle

Cult movie legend M Emmett Walsh plays a character that is supposed to be hated by the audience because the characters seem to hate him, but it's not really understood why. Maybe I'm just a fan of the actor, who could make otherwise shallow characters entertaining. And yet he's much too old now to matter either way, and looks pretty bad (but compared to the dying Ricky Jay as the Van Helsing of Con Artists, he's Channing Tatum).

Either way, this is the best episode so far despite only taking place in two locations, for the most part, and another character is revealed, a female art forger who's "spirituality" takes the place of Maggie's New Age "aura" hippie from the previous season. They're both like Glenda the Good Witch, immune to the wicked world in which they're equally a part of... or were once.

Meanwhile, Julia remains the best character this time around. Even Taylor is fumbling with a lackluster storyline of helping a middle aged woman with her druggie teenage daughter which borders on an Afternoon Special.

But this is a different kind of season. It's as if they figure we know the characters enough to let them slow down. And that they do.

Emmett Walsh! +1 Star.

Audrey goes to look for Carly. And finds her own dad. While Lizzie and Pete work on their con, Julia finds work at a bar. Julia also finds Hickey, who is a centerpiece in Marius' latest plot to get back a painting that was stolen from a 'client'.

I really liked the end sequence with Audrey and Carly. +1 Star

7/10.

The Hickey character is for me one of the best since Vince. She sees straight through Marius providing further insight to how he works people and his internal conflicts. Sees Julia as well, a beloved force in the show. This season focuses more on character development while somehow increasing the complexity and volume of cons and chaos. Characters like Hickey succeeds in both being interesting herself and giving us more view into the characters we've grown to love for 2 seasons.

This season isn't all that great so far. Hopefully it picks up but I'm struggling to get through episodes

What are we watching anymore? This episode introduces a host of new (and I hope temporary) characters, all of whom have personalities and appearances that caricaturized. Their involvement in the general plot line (if there is even one to be had in this god awful of a season so far) is hard to justify. You have go still give all of these characters, and even the regulars, credit for playing their part with so much conviction. But what the writers probably couldn't sense is that these performances don't translate to an intriguing story. The series is now as dithering and contrived as you can make it, and it's asking a lot from loyal viewers from S1 and S2 to have to carry on to see this through the end.