Let’s go live inside Johnny the Mole’s headspace, as he listens to Molly and Saeed trace back the forensic evidence of his subterfuge. We’ve already been in there. We know what worm-y moves he made. So we recognize his brain madly spinning a way out of getting fingered for his perfidy, even as his eyes stay even. His colleagues are freaking out: The Testarossa File, Carla Duval’s misaligned asset list being entered into the official record; this could end their careers. But Johnny does what’s good for Johnny, at least for now. He lets it ride. Maybe there is still a way he can escape blame, and a noose tightening around his own legal career. Because our understanding of how this guy is wired is that he’s played things right to the dark edge before, and managed to slip free of the rope.
It’s Episode 6 of War on HBO, and we’re two days out from court in the Duval-Henderson divorce. Budgie will be facing Cathcarts’ lead barrister, the formidable Baroness Prudence Winfield (Archie Panjabi), and at Taylor & Byrne, she wants all truths, lies, even mistakes added to her notes. With the clock running down, Molly decides she must report the discrepancy they can’t figure, and she emails Serena Byrne directly. “Our internal comms finding its way to Cathcarts might not be accidental — “I think we may have a mole in the office” — which sets Serena and Nick on a dig. Who could it be? Johnny’s commitment and work ethic on the case keeps him above suspicion. But Saeed, who isn’t lying about being the mole, still sounds like he is, because he’s terrible at playing it smooth.
At Cathcarts, David Schill is leaving Johnny’s frenzied texts on read. He’s freaking out, too, because he senses any revelation of the mole’s insertion could sink him and his chances for partner. David and his wife are also dealing with a personal crisis in their infant son, born a month premature, struggling to breathe on his own. So it’s safe to say he’s distracted. But when he speaks angrily with St. John Smallwood that the firm won’t be able to hang him without tarnishing their 200-year-old sterling reputation, the ever-droll senior man just fixes him with a “Yes, we can, if need be” look. Goddamn, Smallwood is such a delicious prick in this show.
Speaking of being left on read, that’s what Morgan did to Flora when she texted him. But this time around, when she texts again, wanting to explain that she liked being with him despite the setup, he calls Flora back to tell her off. He references the 2005-2006 UK News of the World phone hacking scandal — “Is that what this is?” — and ends the call. Which is interesting, this being added to the media landscape as it exists in War, because Sienna Miller was a victim of it in real life.
What if Johnny found hard evidence of the honeytrap in Carla’s phone? Her own texts with Flora? With court looming, that dirt could outweigh the mole drama. He leaves bed with his girlfriend Bella to be like a boyfriend to Carla, finagling a search of her phone even as she puts her head on his shoulder, offers another round in the bedroom, and says “You’re one of the only people I can trust.” Even though he’s becoming a bigger and bigger asshole, it’s impressive how Johnny the Spy’s eyes remain level as the sides he’s playing keep mounting.
“I confess…” or, no he doesn’t. With nothing from Carla’s phone to send Cathcarts, and no more misdirections to be made, Johnny emails the rival firm and tells them everything. As Saeed. What a dick! The junior associate who did nothing wrong is hauled out of Taylor & Byrne by security, and with the mole issue seemingly settled, everyone prepares for the Duval-Henderson divorce’s first day in court.
Which is where we think this molehill will finally become a mountain. Everyone from both sides have arrived at the courthouse. Serena is walking with Johnny, and she reflects on Saeed’s removal, how the details proved out a scoundrel in their midst. And Johnny, the real scoundrel in their midst, confidently drops on his boss a Keanu Reeves quote. “The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.” Does she know who said that?
“Yes,” Serena says, turning to consider Johnny. There is a sudden sharpness to her look as she literally stands at the courtroom door. She does know who said that. It was David Schill, who first dropped the quote on her back at the start of this whole thing. And now her trusted young associate is referencing the same? Hmmm. As he is left standing alone in the entrance hall, Johnny’s headspace crowds again. Did he just fuck himself, after all the smooth skating he did to un-fuck himself? Holy mole-y. This first day in court is gonna be a doozy.
Discovery for War Season 1 Episode 6 (“The Simple Act of Paying Attention”):
- After he turned down Michael Ancker’s Zephyr buyout offer, Morgan turned to his advisors to ask how he, the CEO, got ambushed in his own office. Sell to an oligarch parasite? Step down from his own company? “[Ancker’s] whole business is to spread bile, active hate.” But the buyout might still happen, depending on what occurs in court, because Morgan’s people are looking out for their own payday.
- Johnny’s worm-y mind? War ensures we hear the music that might as well be playing in there. It’s The Lovebirds with “Devil Song” – “The devil is in my head…”
- And we couldn’t find a source for the Keanu Reeves quote that this episode of War is titled after, and hinges on. But leave it to the internet to transform “The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way” into a screeching tableau of Live Laugh Love-style inspirational quotables, for public speakers who don’t want to write their own intros.
Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.
