Moonlight Episode Discussion - Ep 9: Fleur de Lis

[redwinter101]

She may have spoken softly, but she DID carry a big stick....

Sorry... historian-humor...

[GuardianAngel]

I apologize that this has taken me so long.

To continue.....


Mick has a new client in his office. A Mr. Haggins who hands Mick a picture of his wife, Tina, and tells him that he wants her followed. He wants to know where she goes and who she sees.



Mick wants to know why Haggins thinks his wife is cheating. He replies that he didn't say she was. Mick's not biting. He's been a PI for a long time. If a man has his wife followed, he thinks she's cheating. The client explains that he's given his wife a lot and in return he expects fidelity.



Lately his wife has been distant and secretive. If she were an employee, he would suspect that she were interviewing for another job. Mick points out that she's not an employee, she's his wife. Haggins says the principal is the same. I really dislike this guy and I think Mick does too.



He wants to know if his trophy wife is stepping out on him before his board of directors. And he wants someone with no ties to him to look into it. He throws an envelope onto the desk. It holds $25,000. There will be another $25,000 when he receives the audio/video proof he's looking for. Mick replies that he has the perfect photographer in mind (and WE know who that will be!). Haggins reminds Mick, in a rather threatening manner, that there are to be no leaks - the information is to be confidential. He asks Mick if that is clear. Mick replies "Crystal".



Haggins informs Mick of where his wife could be found that afternoon and prepares to leave. Mick stops him, saying he has one more question. It's obvious his client doesn't trust his wife. Mick wants to know if he loves her.



The reply is that he owns her and that's all Mick needs to know.



Okaaaaaaay. Not a warm and fuzzy kind of guy.


I got the distinct impression that if Mick did not need this case to keep Morgan occupied he would have told Mr. Haggins to go take a flying leap when he threatened him. I could be wrong. What do you think?

[helloeeze]

It just occurred to me that Mick's distaste for Mr. Haggins throughout this epi threw us off as an audience and makes us surprised when Haggins turns out to be the victim of a murder plot. Mick makes another misjudgment when he overhears the conversation incorrectly between the lovers. Mick just plain screws up in this episode over and over again, all the while being played by Coraline! He's still so cool though. It's amazing Mick can screw up in so many ways but we still see him as uber-sexy, tough and confident.

[redwinter101]

Mmm he IS just nasty - very convincingly so. I recognise the actor as someone I've seen in lots of things but not well enough to know his name (so I just checked imdb - Richard Cox). He was good - creepy and arrogant and just ugh. I'm sure I wasn't the only thinking it would hardly be a surprise if his wife were stepping out.

I think Mick probably would have taken the case anyway. $50k isn't to be sneezed at (and the job sounds pretty simple) - plus I think he might just have been looking forward to telling Haggans that he was a cuckold...

Red

[GuardianAngel]

I hadn't thought of that, Red. That is true - Mick might have been looking forward to proving the wife WAS cheating.

I think Mick's dislike of this client is what made it so easy for him (and us) to immediately think of him as the 'bad guy' and his wife as the 'victim'.

Mick does screw up a lot in this one. Maybe to prove that everything is not always what they seem?

[librarian_7]

And you know, Ihave to think if Mick is pulling down $50K for a simple "find out if my wife is cheating on me" cases, maybe him living in that obviously very expensive office/apartment suite, is not as much of a stretch as I used to think.

Lucky

[wpgrace]

And you know, Ihave to think if Mick is pulling down $50K for a simple "find out if my wife is cheating on me" cases, maybe him living in that obviously very expensive office/apartment suite, is not as much of a stretch as I used to think.

Good point, Lucky... I recall thinking the PI biz pays MUCH better than I had figured... when I rewatched this ep; I was paying NO attention WHATSOEVER to Mick's payday the first few times around...

Haggins is super creepy... but I do think that's the point. He's another counterpoint to Mick like that teen vamp was earlier on... someone who could kill his wife... right? He's like Mick's opposite... and in the end he really IS. He's creepy rather than cool, but he COULDN'T (or at least wasn't gonna) kill his wife.... while the supercool, super handsome vampire guy... DID kill his. Or at least tried.

BTW... he even has Mick's hairstyle... which he DOES NOT rock.

[allegrita]

Excellent point, Lucky! Although I think that the thoroughly unlikeable Haggans is especially fond of throwing money around, so I bet this is a huge job, monetarily speaking.

Mick does mess up multiple times in this episode, but boy, he sure looks good doing it. I agree with you, GA--the theme of this ep, in many ways, is that you can't believe your senses. Or even your very expensive, unidirectional microphone.

[GuardianAngel]

And you know, Ihave to think if Mick is pulling down $50K for a simple "find out if my wife is cheating on me" cases, maybe him living in that obviously very expensive office/apartment suite, is not as much of a stretch as I used to think.

Good point, Lucky... I recall thinking the PI biz pays MUCH better than I had figured... when I rewatched this ep; I was paying NO attention WHATSOEVER to Mick's payday the first few times around...

Haggins is super creepy... but I do think that's the point. He's another counterpoint to Mick like that teen vamp was earlier on... someone who could kill his wife... right? He's like Mick's opposite... and in the end he really IS. He's creepy rather than cool, but he COULDN'T (or at least wasn't gonna) kill his wife.... while the supercool, super handsome vampire guy... DID kill his. Or at least tried.

BTW... he even has Mick's hairstyle... which he DOES NOT rock.

Exactly, grace. This episode proves that you cannot make assumptions based on what you see. Mick IS a wife-killer. And yet he believes in love and that a wife has more value and rights than Haggins does. It's all so....complicated.

Alle, I have to agree, I don't think Mick makes this kind of money on all his cases. I doubt the parents of the call girl in AD had anywhere near that kind of money. Jumping way ahead here - but I bet he made LOTS of money playing bodyguard for Ms. Tierney Taylor.

[darlingcat]

This episode proves that you cannot make assumptions based on what you see. Mick IS a wife-killer. And yet he believes in love and that a wife has more value and rights than Haggins does. It's all so....complicated.

True, this episode is about deceptions, assumptions, and misconceptions. And Mick acting so out of character later on
But Mick's wife was "special". It is creepy to have an affair with your husband's son but Mrs. Haggans wasn't exactly going aroung kidnapping innocent little girls

[allegrita]

Ah... the wonderful, terrible moral ambiguity of Moonlight. One of the reasons I love it soooooooo much.

[redwinter101]

And as we'll find out later (sorry for jumping ahead) the lovely Tina has no qualms about adding PI-killing to sleeping with her stepson.

As someone said a little earlier, they really are ALL pretty hideous.

Red

[wpgrace]

And as we'll find out later (sorry for jumping ahead) the lovely Tina has no qualms about adding PI-killing to sleeping with her stepson.

As someone said a little earlier, they really are ALL pretty hideous.

Red

Including her clothes... for a "kept" trophy wife, she did not dress all that cool. I did not care for her clothes... not that she wore them all that much...

[coco]

One of the reasons I haven't watched this ep much is that NONE of the supporting characters really appealed to me. In every other episode there has always been at least one supporting character that could hold my attention besides the main four and this ep just did not do that for me. I didn't really care what happened to any of them.

[wpgrace]

I actually saw Richard Cox (as Red discovered for us, the actor who played elder Haggins...) on some other show this past season. I don't now recall what show... but he played a similar oily figure. And had the same bad hair... maybe that's something he's known for? ( I mean the character, not necessarily the hair...).

Tho this WAS one of my favorite eps. I've watched it a lot. Actually when it first aired, it was the only one I had on tivo for awhile... until I ordered all the back eps from Amazon and clogged up the family tivo eventually with 16 eps... and they're still there...