Remembrance of Taxis Past: Rake

FOX aired the last two episodes of Season 1 of “Rake” back to back on Saturday, April 5, and if they made any announcement about it, we missed it. But we didn’t miss the episodes, so here’s the recap of the first one: “A Man’s Best Friend.”

Philip Baker Hall guest-starred as ex-Governor Mitch Markham, who decided to endorse Scarlet Leon for District Attorney after a visit from her husband, Ben, and Keegan Deane. At first Markham didn’t want to help, but when Kee called Ben’s deceased father “a prick”, Markham said Kee was “the last honest man in Los Angeles” and got on board. To celebrate that and Kee bringing in a couple of “whales” as clients, Ben tells Kee to order something “fun.” He orders the Glendaruel ’64 but nobody tells him it costs $8,000 per glass.

How much help Markham was going to be to Scarlet remained to be seen when the ex-guv was charged with assaulting a Russian taxi driver with his cane. Markham had these two creepy-looking daughters, Ginny and Rachel, who looked like grown up versions of the two twins in “The Shining.” They finished each other’s sentences when they weren’t saying the same thing in unison. They wanted Kee to get their daddy to accept a diminished capacity plea.

Kee’s ex-wife, Maddy, had a few days off and was helping with Scarlet’s campaign when it came to light that Scarlet’s only running mate was not going to be the guy who liked to show up at her press conferences and take all his clothes off, but David Potter and acting mayor, Gloria Barzmann, was endorsing him.

Ben found out that Kee’s “Mikki” was David’s “Michaela” but Kee made him promise not to say a word about Mikki being a former prostitute because it would ruin her life. Maddy was enlisted to bring in Glenn Shepherd, an old college friend who became a crackerjack political consultant. This makes Keegan very mad so you know that Glenn was a rival for Maddy’s affections at one point. Then you find out that Glenn is a woman who makes a $1,000 bet with Kee that she will bang Maddy first.

Inflammatory campaigning soon begins. Scarlet, Maddy and Glen ask Ben if he knows anything about David’s girlfriend that they can use. Ben says no. Mikki’s conscience has been bothering her badly and she decides to go to David with the truth herself before it comes out and humilates him. When she gets home, it’s already front page news! At first, David thinks it is just a smear tactic, but he realizes by Mikki’s reaction that it is true and tells her to get out. But he stops her from leaving and withdraws from the contest.

Leanne runs into Linda from Human Resources at Leon & Associates, and confides her thoughts that Cindy, Kee’s “inside” assistant is a little closer to Kee than she ought to be. That gets Cindy shipped off to Mergers & Acquisitions and Leanne finally gets the desk and salary she covets, but more importantly, her immigration papers will be sponsored by the firm. Still, she is madder than a wet hen to learn that Kee never mentioned her name to Human Resources.

After learning that a neighbor took a video of him ranting and raving at a statue in his garden, Markham confesses to Kee that he doesn’t even remember the incident and wants to go along with diminished capacity, but Kee says he can’t (because that will really tank Scarlet’s bid). The ex-governor also confides his daughters’ bad motives to gain control of his foundation. Those two looked pretty crestfallen when Kee got their daddy off.

Ben confronted Robert Ebell about more financial irregularities that Randall, the junior accountant, came across that were even worse than the $8,000 per glass fun drinks. Ben demanded an explanation or he would have to call in the police.

When David finds out he is more popular with women than before because he gave the woman he loves another chance, he continues on the ballot for L.A.’s next District Attorney. Scarlet holds a press conference with Mitch Markham, who tells Keegan he is leaving everything to his housekeeper. David Ebell leaps off the building to his death right in front of everyone!

Next Episode: A Man’s Best Friend

Cast of Remembrance of Taxis Past:
Greg Kinnear – Keegan Deane
Miranda Otto – Maddy Deane
John Ortiz – Ben Leon
Necar Zadegan – Scarlet Leon
Bojana Novakovic – Mikki
David Harbour – David Potter
Kim Hawthorne – Gloria Barzmann
Tara Summers – Leanne Zander
David Gautreaux – Robert Ebell
Pamela Adlon – Glenn Shepherd
Philip Baker Hall – Mitch Markham
Kim Estes – Judge Terry Jameson
Alix Angelis – Ginny
Kris Angelis – Rachel
Garen Boyajian – Randall
Seth Coltan – Fairfax Freddy
Ilia Volok – Cab Driver
Ursula Burton – Linda Hirschberg
Gerald Webb – Prosecutor
Joe Thornton, Jr. – Manager
Holly Hannula – Reporter #1
Kristina Denton – Reporter #2