Hey Good Looking Recap: Rake

Keegan Deane gets in a mess of trouble over the Mayor’s death, even landing in jail, but gets some help from a very unexpected source in “Hey Good Looking” (Rake: S1 E9 3/21/14). Kate Burton guest stars as Holly Phillips, an artist who paints in blood, also accused of murder. Leanne and Cindy find out about each other and both Ben and Kee are a little thrown off by Scarlet’s reaction to the murder accusation against Kee.

The episode opens with Keegan and Gloria, the mayor’s widow, just finishing up some Afternoon Delight in the mayor’s office, on his desk. Kee pumps Gloria for information on the cause of death but she does not want to talk about it. The best he can get out of her is that Marcus Barzmann was under a lot of stress. Kee deduces that could have led to a massive coronary and goes off to see Debbie at a cockfight to place a bet on it. Even though Victor has told Debbie not to accept any more bets from Kee, she allows him to bet $5K with 10 to 1 odds and invites him to bet on the chickens. He declines.

At Ben’s firm, he finds out about Holly Phillips being accused of her husband’s murder which was initially ruled a suicide. Holly looks a lot older than her husband did but they were the same age. There is no proof that she committed the murder yet her prior attorney wanted her to take a plea deal. Holly warns Kee that she wants an acquittal so unless he wants to get fired, he better not offer any plea deals.

As Holly leaves, Leanne shows up and hears him say his assistant Cindy will show Holly out. Keegan mollifes Leanne with some money and car vouchers and says Cindy is a temp and quite possibly a lesbian. He sends Leanne off on a mission to find the anti-aging doctor that Holly said her husband went to.

Bruce, meantime, is still giving Kee’s ex-wife, Maddy, a problem. She arrives home from grocery shopping to find Bruce doing Brazilian fight dancing in her front yard. Bruce says he is trying to prove he will never abandon her unlike Kee. She tells him she is the one who threw Kee out. Maddy calls Kee and asks for his help with Bruce’s stalkerish activities.

After opening arguments in Holly’s case, two uniforms ask Keegan to come down to the station, informing him he is now a person of interest in the Mayor’s murder. Kee laughs it off but the next morning, it’s all over the media, even the Chinese language newspapers, and a throng of reporters are at his residence. Some are even going through the garbage. People start throwing candy bars and other things at Kee after this, calling him a murderer. Kee goes over to Maddy and gets rid of Bruce and asks if he can stay with her a few days to avoid the media.

David and Mikki have their first major disagreement and, wouldn’t you know, it’s over Keegan. David thinks it’s just too good to be true that Keegan has been implicated in the Mayor’s murder. He deserves it because he is a liar and a self-serving sociopath. Mikki says lying does not make someone a bad person and insists Kee would not murder anyone. David picks up on the familiar use of the nickname but Mikki explains it away with some lying of her own about cousin Angus.

After establishing that Kee has no alibi for the night Marcus Barzmann died, Bernie Michaels proceeds with his revenge plans for his own prior disgrace. Even though Kee won’t say he was in bed with Gloria at the time, he expects her to be able to get him off the hook, but Michaels knew about their affair and threatens Gloria with a co-conspirator charge. There will be no help from that corner. David Potter shows up at the jail after Kee is locked up and explains how he learned that the Mayor was “a gasper.” A thorough IRS examination revealed the 38-inch waisted Mayor was buying 72-inch belts from a shop in the Valley, specializing in things like auto-eroticism accessories. David says he would really love to see Keegan locked up but not for something he didn’t do, and besides, “Michaela” has a soft spot for him. So far, Keegan has not slipped up by using her nickname in conversations with David.

Ben gets Kee out of a jail by threatening a lawsuit for unlawful arrest. That leaves Kee free to get Holly Phillips acquitted by impressing upon the jury that, without proof, they cannot convict her, even though he now knows that she is really guilty. Leanne’s reconnaissance with the anti-aging doctor proved Holly was really the patient. She was sick of waking up next to “Dorian Gray.” Her husband was furious because he liked her to look old. It got him admiration as “the hot young guy who stays with the old lady because he loves her,” while he slept around with younger women (including Cindy’s roommate).

Under pressure from Ben to take a stand for Kee’s innocence, Scarlett gets Gloria to come over where Kee confronts her about not helping him. They cook up a scheme that will benefit both of them enormously. Gloria takes over her husband’s job as acting Mayor and discredits Bernie Michaels as a rogue ex-cop who went off the deep end. He is shipped off for psychiatric evaluation while Gloria announces that the cause of the Mayor’s death was a massive coronary. More money for Kee to pay off his debts with. After collecting from Debbie (less what he owes for interest, rent and padlocks for garbage cans), Kee cannot resist betting on The Sky is Falling, a chicken Debbie says is guaranteed to lose against Mother Mercy. But Kee likes the Chicken Little story and bets on Sky, then watches in dismay as Mother Mercy shows no mercy.

Next Week: The Little Black Book belonging to Jules, Mikki’s former pimp, poses a big problem for Ben.

Cast of Hey Good Looking:
Greg Kinnear – Keegan Deane
Miranda Otto – Maddy Deane
John Ortiz – Ben Leon
Necar Zadegan – Scarlet Leon
Emjay Anthony – Adam Leon
Bojana Novakovic – Mikki
David Harbour – David Potter
Kim Hawthorne – Gloria Barzmann
Tara Summers – Leanne Zander
Jeffrey Nordling: Bruce Mangan
Bill Smitrovich – Chief Bernie Michaels
Kelly Frye – Cindy
Kate Burton – Holly Phillips
Sonny Mario Ayon – Squirrel
Antonio D. Charity – Sanders
Kelly Frye – Cindy Beck
David Harbour – David Potter
Elizabeth Ho – Debbie Lee
Mae Hi – Mrs. Wu
Maria Quiban – News Reporter
Rodney J. Hobbs – Reporter Dan
Sarah-Jane Dalby – Reporter Susie
Karen Lew – Jury Foreman
J. Anthony McCarthy – Bailiff
Reece Rios – ADA Andrew Wallace
Marco Sanchez – Dr. Oliver Kelly
Danny Vasquez – Police Officer #1
Katelyn Statton – Crying Young Woman
Jessica Pohly – Female Pedestrian
Scott Wilder – Bike Rider
Eva Simone Fisher – Stranger