Two Can Play Recap Part 4: The Handyman and the Honey Trap

This Two Can Play recap part 4 runs up to chapter 100 of the web edition, with spoilers. Mature and harsh scenes are referenced only in general terms.

The billionaire handyman

Dominic promised to stay away for two weeks. He lasts one night. Sparrow suggests a disguise, and the next morning a bearded "handyman" with a toolbox rings Celeste's doorbell. Riley answers the door. Celeste leads him to her guest room and locks the door. Only then does he peel off the beard.

While Riley and Elizabeth try to break the door down with a hammer and a fire poker, Celeste and Dominic ignore them. Afterwards Celeste leaves the guest room looking deliberately suspicious and waves Dominic off: "Thank you so much for today. You really fixed everything that needed fixing." Elizabeth throws an ugly insult at her and phones Julian. Celeste's reply to the news that he'll divorce her: "Wonderful."

Julian works it out, then walks into a trap

Julian spent the night at a club after Celeste told him by text to stop disturbing her sleep. There he went off with a red-haired stranger who conveniently had access to a VIP room. He rushes home, sees the evidence and convinces himself it's staged. No smart woman, he reasons, would cheat that obviously. He calls Celeste's mother to play the worried husband.

Then Riley recognises the handyman online. It was Dominic Ford.

On his way to confront Sera, Julian receives a hidden-camera video of his night with the redhead. The demand is $50 million in Bitcoin within two hours. His fixer identifies her as Scarlett Vance of the Phantom Circle, a crew that charms and blackmails the rich. Julian raids their apartment with hired muscle, but they've already left. Scarlett calls to tell him the price has doubled: $100 million, ten minutes.

His only thought is that Celeste must never find out.

"It is time"

Julian's call to her mother is the last straw for Celeste. She tells Dominic she wants Julian and Sera to catch them in the act, the finale of their game. Dominic pauses a beat too long. He understands what she doesn't say: when the game ends, so does their arrangement.

"What wife?"

Sera leaves hospital to find no calls, no flowers and no Dominic. Then she sees the clip everyone is sharing. When reporters ask about his wife, Dominic replies: "So if any random person appears and claims to be my wife, that automatically makes me a married man?" The internet turns on her. She posts their marriage certificate, and the trolls quiet down.

Desperate, she goes to Helix and demands that Celeste reach Dominic through Veil's official line. Celeste calls on speaker, in front of Pat. Dominic answers: "What wife? When did I have a wife?" Then he hangs up.

The price of a meeting

Sera identifies the tattooed man standing beside Dominic in the gala photos as the owner of a club called The Den. It's Sparrow. She pays $200,000 just to be introduced. Presenting himself as a mere business associate, Sparrow demands a humiliating price in exchange for taking her to Dominic's 8 a.m. breakfast meeting. She pays it.

What we noticed

• Every character's scheme is now turning on them. Julian's affair produced the blackmail, and Sera's "Mrs. Ford" campaign produced a public denial.
• Sparrow's "deal" with Sera looks less like a favour than a trap set by Dominic's side.
• The story's clock is ticking on several fronts: the finale Celeste has planned, Julian's private investigator, Kingsley Duke inside Helix, and the unknown enemy who is after Dominic.

Previous: [Part 3](/posts/two-can-play-recap-part-3-playing-innocent) · Next: [Part 5](/posts/two-can-play-recap-part-5-caught-in-the-act).