Hot Tempered Harry on The Slap

The second installment on “The Slap” was about the slapper, Harry Apostolou. If you were on Harry’s side after the first episode, you probably weren’t by the end of this one. Harry’s got a pretty short fuse with the whole world. He manages to keep a lid on it with a couple of people during this installment but you can see that it is quite a struggle. Harry was, after all, born to be a warrior.

You can see that he intimidates both his wife, Sandi, and son, Rocco. He is violent with Sandi and while he tries to be gentle with Rocco, he is still pushing his tough guy agenda on the kid in a way that ends up getting the kid suspended from basketball for starting a fight. Harry also cheats on Sandi.

Cousin Hector talks Harry into apologizing to Hugo’s parents, Rosie and Gary Weshler, telling him he doesn’t even have to mean it — he just has to do it to prevent the whole thing from going any further. That backfires big time when Sandi refuses to accept Harry’s apology unless he says “I’m sorry.” Harry says it, twice in fact and then offers to pay for any costs the couple incurred. Well! This really sets Rosie off, and if you were on her side after the first episode, you probably weren’t after what happened next.

You can’t put a price tag on it because this is the type of thing that can scar a child for life, she protested.  Harry said the shakedown word and Rosie became more agitated. It culminated with Harry kicking his chair across the room and storming off.

Rosie and Gary had already been talking to detectives about the slap and were more or less being advised to drop it. With fresh ammunition in hand, they file another report and get Harry arrested. In their version of the second one, the chair was thrown AT Rosie.

Harry managed to behave himself in front of curmudgeonly judge, Benjamin Huston, and got out on $2,500 bail posted by Hector. Now he is bent on destroying Rosie and Gary.

Other stuff:

• Hugo is 5 years old.
• Harry’s house rocks.
• Connie gave a still very much in the dark Aisha notice at the clinic claiming to have too much on her plate with college applications. Connie texted an “I miss you” message to Hector who responded “Friends?”
• Harry discovered an employee theft of about $2K but didn’t fire the culprit, Mehmet, or let him explain why he did it. Instead, he told Mehmet he’d be working for free until he paid back every penny.
• Harry’s business is the Cambridge Carriage Company and “he is a highly regarded dealer in rare vehicles.” That’s what Harry’s lawyer told the judge.
• Anouk turned down Harry’s bribe of a new car if she’d be a witness on his side.
• The narration at the end didn’t do a thing to make us like Harry even one whit more but it does serve to make you dislike the show 10 whits less . After court, Harry’s confusion was gone and he was back on firm footing “in the America he understood, the one where you fought for everything you had, with everything you had and you won.” Harry “knew enough Greek history to understand that not all men were born to be warriors. He was. But some were born to be philosopher or saints,” and as Harry gazes at his sleeping son, Rocco, the narrator continued “and they needed to be protected from the Garys and Rosies and Hugos of this world.” Does anybody know if this stuff comes from the book?

Who played who in “Harry”

Zachary Quinto – Harry
Marin Ireland – Sandi
Owen Tanzer – Rocco
Thomas Sadoski – Gary
Melissa George – Rosie
Dylan Schombing – Hugo
Peter Sarsgaard – Hector
Thandie Newton – Aisha
Brian Cox – Manolis
Uma Thurman – Anouk
Makenzie Leigh – Connie
Khalid Alzouma – Adam
Ashley Aufderheide – Melissa
Ken Olin – Director
John Dreher – Mehmet
Chris Meyer – Jay Goldman
William Finkelstein – Judge Huston
Otoja Abit – Coach
Cliff Moylan – Detective Forester
Derek Michalak – Detective Mulrooney
Sofia Regan – Melody
David Iacono – Bryce
Bobby Kruger – Prosecutor
Tess Frazer – Pretty Girl
Noah Robbins – Lee
Curtis Schumaker – Court Officer