Summary
The pilot of Loot hits a home run with excellent writing, and Maya Rudolph delivers a brilliant performance.
This recap of Apple TV+ series Loot season 1, episode 1 contains spoilers.
If you ask me, nobody delivers at a high level with each of their shows more than Apple TV+ does. Today, I kick off my series of recaps on their next show, Loot. The series stars Maya Rudolph as billionaire Molly Novak who is living a dream life until her husband betrays her. Let’s dive into the Pilot of Loot.
Loot season 1, episode 1 recap
We get a quick introduction to Molly Novak (Rudolph) and her man Don (Adam Scott, he is in this?), who is on a boat heading to her MASSIVE ship. It is her 45th birthday, and she is met by some compliments from Nicholas (Joel Kimm Booster) and a drink on the boat. Of course, everything mentioned early in the episode is MONEY, and it is a running theme to appease Molly. We see Molly turn around to talk to Don a few times only to see him look down at his phone, which doesn’t make Molly too happy.
Next, we see Molly getting pampered by getting her hair and makeup done for the party. Don is going around the party to welcome everyone with his spunky, loud self. He finds Molly and pulls her away from the party to talk to her, and Molly mentions that she wants to have dinner alone with Don for her birthday. He mentions he has to go to Sweden and can’t do it, and she follows with wanting to go with him. Don is inquiring why she is the way she is, and Molly misses the early days of their relationship when they did everything together.
Was she even born when we graduated college?
Molly walks away and finds Haley in Don’s closet, looking for a tie for him to replace the one he had on. Molly wants to know how she knows where his ties are, and Haley replies, “I thought he was going to talk to you?” Welp, Molly storms out of the room and confronts Don, who is currently giving a speech about how Seal will perform a birthday song for her about his affair. SHE GOES OFF on Don.
Molly hilariously storms away to get into a car where it is a stick shift, and she doesn’t know how to drive it. She backs into a tree, but she gets it straight and has a little breakdown in the car. Then, we transition into the news covering her eight months later, taking HALF of Don’s money in the divorce because there was no prenup.
How is Molly handling the divorce? She is partying all over the place with Nicholas, but ultimately is a coping mechanism to hide how depressed and hurt she really is. One morning Molly gets up and decides to share her feelings with Nicholas. She blames herself, tries to figure out why it happened, what she did wrong, and basically everything we all go through post-breakup. As she sits and sulks, a phone call comes in from a charity started with Don, they ask her to come into the office for an important meeting and she does.
Can I stop to mention how much I LOVED the soundtrack of the pilot? It was banger after banger after banger.
Upon her arrival, she is met with a warm welcome from several different people. First, Molly meets with Sofia (Michaela Rodriguez) and tells her that they have a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Sofia also informs her that her actions directly reflect the foundation. Next, Molly says she will no longer have any issues being in the spotlight for the wrong things.
The ending
It looks as if Sofia’s words had an impact on Molly. When she got home, she threw away a wide variety of things causing her to make bad decisions. The following day, we see Molly meet Sofia at the office to ride to the ceremony together. Sofia makes Arthur (Nat Faxon) ride with Molly.
The ride to the ceremony between Molly and Arthur starts a little awkward but turns for the better. Molly hears Arthur talk about the struggles he went through post-divorce, and it makes a light bulb go off in her head. At the beginning of the car ride, I was unsure of the point of him riding with her, but it turned out to be a well-written little moment here. I liked it.
Molly got Nicholas to inform everyone she would be at the ceremony and many more people showed up to help the cause. However, Sofia is scared because Molly mentions she is going to speak. The speech goes HORRIBLY because Molly decided to give out a luxury handbag full of goodies while preaching from a rich woman’s standpoint. The news stations are having a field day with the event.
A very upset Sofia sits down with Molly to let her know she wants her nowhere near the foundation. We all know Molly is trying to fill a hole from her divorce, but here is the moment I have been waiting for, Molly delivers a speech about finding herself. Throughout this entire episode, Rudolph has been playing that quick-witted, funny person we all love, but that serious moment sealed the deal with her in this role of Molly. I needed it as a viewer to emotionally connect with her character.
I often talk about how a pilot needs to hit a home run on every level to ensure that the viewer wants to come back for more. I believe Loot does just that. It sets the tone early with a sprinkle of comedy and ends with the much needed serious aspect of the show. We are looking at the perfect dramedy after episode one.
What did you think of the Apple TV+ series Loot season 1, episode 1? Comment below.
