The Continental Season 1 Episode 2 Review: Loyalty to the Master

While navigating his grief, Winston Scott must make his move toward taking down Cormac O’Connor. The Continental Season 1 Episode 2, “Loyalty to the Master,” gives more insight into the cruelty and malice of Cormac while creating a more sympathetic character in Winston.

What continues to be great about this series is the attention to detail the writers take when creating scenarios within an already well-established world. There are callouts and easter eggs abound on this episode for diehard fans of the John Wick universe.

Overall, this episode works from a content standpoint, but I remain adamant about the length of these episodes being a bit too much.

Miles Has Connections Everywhere

The smartest thing Winston does after his brother is killed is go to the Dojo to find Miles and Lou. Not only is Winston in over his head if he intends to seek revenge — which he does — he lacks any level of contact within the criminal world of NYC.

This is where Miles is the perfect sidekick for this new plan to bring down Cormac. It’s a move that makes sense within the story, but also keeps the audience intrigued because Miles is a character we’ve never heard of before.

With Winston, we know he eventually comes to be the Manager of the Continental Hotel during John Wick’s time, so he’s a familiar face and story. However, Miles and his sister, Lou, are entirely new to us, which makes their continued involvement in the story that much more exciting.

Then, there is Miles’ contact within the Continental — a man by the name of Jenkins. It’s the first indication that Miles can help Winston find the manpower he needs to accomplish his goal. 

This man is a sharp-shooter who can’t be counted out as an asset because he knows the Continental Hotel like the back of his hand. Between his knowledge and the map Yen has produced, this gang of misfits might stand a chance against Cormac’s legion of followers.

It’s also interesting to see how certain elements of what we know to be true regarding the underworld of NYC during John Wick’s time came to be. For example, The Continental introduces us to Mazie, who is the Bowery Queen and as slithery as an eel when it comes to revealing herself to others.

It’s clear from the time frame that she is the predecessor to the Bowery King of John Wick’s day. We are alerted to this by the location of her “queendom” as well as the location where she has a private conversation with Winston. 

The Bowery organization has always been known for communicating via birds, and Mazie shows that by taking Winston to her bird stoop to discuss working with him. And while she doesn’t outright agree to fight alongside him, the implication that she will is very clear.

Diving into History to Perform Character Studies

One of the strongest things about The Continental is that the writers know how to do a perfect balance of character/world-building, violence/action, and overall plot development. This is executed perfectly throughout “Loyalty to the Master.”

From the start, we get a couple of important flashback sequences to clue us into deeper relationships of the characters that have been presented. First, there is the story of how Frankie and Winston started doing the dirty work for Cormac.

This establishes not only Winston’s motivations more clearly, but also his relationship with his older brother. The two had once been thick as thieves in order to survive, so it makes sense that he’d immediately dive back into this world after decades away.

It also gives credence to why he wants to take down Cormac so badly. There is more than just a revenge element there.

Winston has been manipulated and wronged by this man for most of his life. He needs the cycle of this man’s terror to end before anyone else becomes totally destroyed by him — namely Charon.

The other flashback that gives us more insights involves Yen and how she came to meet Frankie. This not only further establishes this character, who so far has been nothing more than a blip in the story, but also expands upon who Miles is.

Yen has survived being made into a suicide bomber by her husband, escaped a country at war, and now lost the one man she ever truly loved. She is far stronger than anyone can ever contemplate, and these flashes of her past prove that everyone on the team is underestimating her.

When it comes down to the final battle, Yen is going to prove especially useful. Who knows, she may be the difference between a loss and a win.

Stray Thoughts:

• Winston proving his guff to Mazie and her group and Yen grieving the loss of Frankie all while Without You by Harry Nilsson plays is a beautifully executed sequence
• It’s so great to see more of Katie McGrath as the Adjudicator — a well-established entity within the John Wick universe
• I’ll be interested to see how Charon ends up being loyal to Winston in the end, considering how close he is to Cormac
• It’s sad to lose Thomas, but it’s essential for Cormac to prove he’s willing to shed blood on Continental ground without just cause
• KD’s family was probably that family in the building the Scott brothers threw a Molotov cocktail into when they were kids

 

 

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The Continental airs Fridays on Peacock.

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