Pan Am: Kate Mixes Business with Pleasure

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

As a long-time ER fan, I was looking forward to seeing Goran Visnjic on Pan Am. We got a little glimpse of him in the preview video that circulated on Friday, and he'll return to the show next week as well. The episode didn't have the gorgeous on-location-type images that we've seen in the past, but the glamor of the 60s continues to shine through. My big disappointment this week? Hardly any Colette OR Maggie. another small gripe? The timeline was a bit rough this week... I had to rewind in parts to be sure what day it was. Can't win them all, though.

Pan Am "One Coin in a Fountain" (S01E05): Ted offers to help Laura get to a meeting in Harlem. She tells him the story of walking out on her wedding, having no money, and pawning the engagement ring. [interesting... I guess I hadn't thought about the fact that nobody really knows Laura's background... right?] Since it had been 60 days, it got sold, and Laura has hunter down the buyer. Laura offers the guy an extra $50, but he wants a few extra hundred, which she doesn't have. Laura blames Ted for the deal falling through, though she finds out later that he traded his Rolex for the ring. [why did he keep that from her for so long??]. This allows Laura to take a taxi to Greg's to return the ring so that she can finally close things.

At work, the crew is flying to London, then Monte Carlo. Kate asks Laura if she is enjoying living with Maggie, but she gets a quick answer. A passenger in a fur coat heads into the cockpit and distracts the pilots for a bit, flirting with Dean. The passenger is joined by her "boss" (an airline executive) on the plane, and Kate meets Niko. She needs to collect the fingerprint of the woman who will gamble with Niko. Once they land in London, Maggie flirts with Niko, but Kate takes center stage when she offers a round of billiards. [I'm not sure that we needed the London scenes at all... but maybe the trips were historically New York - London - Monte Carlo so they had to throw it in?]

courtesy of Pan Am on Facebook

In Monte Carlo, Dean is enticed by the passenger from the plane, and climbs into her vehicle, later hanging out with her in a park. But he almost gets caught when he's reaching into the airline executive's car to find a missing key, which the woman had already grabbed. [because, in case you didn't catch on, the girl is personally involved with the airline executive.] That evening, Kate lies to Niko to get invited along. [not a shining moment, but I liked how the French passively gave her the information she needed, LoL.] After a while, the Soviet woman arrives, but she's wearing elbow-length gloves, making fingerprints tricky. Kate spills red wine on the woman's gloves so she must remove them... and when she puts down a glass, Kate stuffs it into her purse. [meh. I thought that was clumsy.] Kate continues flirting with Niko, and they end up back at the billiard tables and later in bed.

Back in New York, Kate is still with Niko. And, we find out that Kate might not be getting paid for her work. [so is it more like blackmail? a sense of pride? why would you risk so much?]