ICYMI: The Consultant Season 1 Episode 1 Recap
The Consultant is a new dark comedy on Amazon Prime Starring Christoph Waltz. The 10-episode season released on February 24th, 2023.
Season 1 Ep 1 ‘Creator’ – Recap
The series opens with a group of young students taking a tour of CompWare. Elaine, the tour guide, leads the children through the office to meet Sang Woo, the prodigy CEO of CompWare. After leaving the kids with Sang, Elaine talks with Craig out in the bullpen. Suddenly, gunfire erupts from Sang’s office. The bullpen takes cover as Elaine and Craig rush into the office to discover Sang shot multiple times. One of the young students lowers a pistol as the other kids cower around him. The kid whimpers “I want my mommy.”
Craig wakes up at 2 am to play a violent video game. An article is open on his laptop about the boy who killed his CEO, “The devil made me do it”. He goes for a late-night jog to his office where he discovers Elaine taking down hidden cameras that Sang ordered to be put up.
Elaine and Craig sit and smoke a pipe as they share what they have planned next for their lives. They talk about the murder and if video games are to blame for what the kid did. They hear the front door open and rush to meet Regus Patoff, a mysterious man that wants to see Sang Woo… in the middle of the night.
Mr. Patoff requires assistance as he climbs the stairs in the lobby. Craig supports him as he ascends and explains that Mr. Sang hired him as a consultant to advise him on all business matters. As soon as Mr. Patoff reaches the top of the stairs, he resumes walking without any sign of weakness, confusing both Craig and Elaine. He strides into Sang’s former office (and crime scene) and makes himself at home. He gives a copy of his contract to Elaine to examine. Despite Elaine insisting CompWare has been shuttered, Mr. Patoff sets a staff meeting for the next morning.
Back in the lobby, Craig asks Elaine what the papers say. It details that Sang’s company now belongs to his mother that lives in Korea. It’s revealed that Elaine was Sang’s assistant and knew how he operated, but he never told Elaine about Regus Patoff. CompWare currently has no CEO so Regus Patoff has authority.
Craig wakes up the next morning. He rushes out the door to get to the staff meeting, giving his girlfriend a kiss.
At the office, Elaine confirms that everything Sang put in motion before his death is still in play. Mr. Patoff greets them from atop the stairs and gives a brief speech, saying they’re all valued for their work, then fires all remote staff that can’t meet in person within the hour.
Once Craig gets back to his desk, he looks up Regus Patoff’s name. Elaine is on the phone, she finds out her job prospect has been dashed. She meets with Patoff and explains that CompWare is a mobile app gaming company. He doesn’t understand the business concept. He comments on a peculiar smell and leans in to sniff Elaine’s neck. He determines that she is not the source of the smell.
At exactly one hour, Patoff locks the doors, preventing more remote workers from entering the building. A staff member in a wheelchair is incidentally locked out right as he locks the doors. Elaine tries to get Patoff to let her in. He refuses, citing that he gave each employee equal time to get back to the office, refusing to make exceptions.
Sang Woo’s name is scraped off the office window. Elaine comes to Craig to complain about Patoff. Craig insists they talk during lunch to avoid any suspicion.
At a taco truck, Craig tells Elaine that Regus Patoff doesn’t exist on the internet. They formulate a plan to find out when Patoff came into the office to sign the contract, which might invalidate the deal. Elaine can check the recordings of the hidden cameras.
When Elaine arrives back at the office, she sees Patoff introducing himself to staff one by one and sniffing their necks, allegedly to find the source of the unpleasant smell. She sneaks into Patoff’s office to inspect his contract secretly while he finishes his greet & sniff. She finds the date the contract was signed, March 24th, and a strange Russian business card as Patoff finally sniffs out the source of the rancid smell. When Patoff discovers her in his office, she plays it off as trying to scrub Sang’s blood stain from the window. Patoff recommends a sponge and soapy water.
Craig and Elaine access the server to view the March 24th footage. Elaine leaves to go wash Sang’s bloodstain off of Patoff’s window. On her way, she discovers that Patoff fired Ian “because he smelled bad.” Elaine is resolved to do something about it.
She walks in on Patoff playing one of CompWare’s mobile games, remarking on how a video game could drive a boy to kill someone. After cleaning the stain, Elaine confronts him about firing Ian. He asks her what she did for Sang. Elaine gives herself a title bump from assistant to ‘creative liaison’ but ensures Patoff that Sang counted on her. Patoff decides that Elaine will be responsible for Ian and his smell. If he smells Ian again, they’ll both be fired.
Elaine leaves a bucket and a sponge in Ian’s office. In the breakroom, Craig discovers Patoff was indeed at the offices on March 24th.
In the bathroom, on her phone, Elain discovers that the CEO on the business card she found in Patoff’s briefcase, is dead, beheaded in Moscow.
Ian is ashamed of himself as he gives himself a sponge bath.
Craig shares with Elaine that Patoff sat in the waiting room for nearly an hour, meaning Patoff didn’t have an appointment with Sang. The camera footage shows that Sang did sign a contract with Patoff. Elaine reveals that the beheaded CEO signed the same contract with Patoff a week before he was killed.
Surprisingly, at the end of Sang and Patoff’s meeting, Sang gets on his knees to give Patoff fellatio. Elaine and Craig look on with disgust, stating that Sang was asexual. Patoff looks directly at the hidden camera, seeming to know it was there. Craig and Elaine are left clueless as to what is going on or who Regus Patoff could be.
