Wild Cards Season 1 Episode 10 Review: Romancing the Egg

Wild Cards Season 1 Episode 10, “Romancing the Egg,” pulls off a heartbreaking heist that leaves Ellis and Max with a cliffhanger that demands a second season.

Written by Marcus Robinson, James Thorpe, and Alexandra Zarowny and directed by Amanda Tapping, this season finale is equal parts action flick (No wonder The CW promoted it with a twist on the Ocean’s Eleven poster!) and romantic drama. 

“Romancing the Egg” is as slick and trope-filled as the nine episodes before it.

The editing is as sharp as the proverbial knives that wind up in people’s backs. 

From the teaser that picks up directly after the cliffhanger on Wild Cards Season 1 Episode 9, “Inside (Con)Man,” “Romancing the Egg” embraces the quick pace that kind of storytelling encourages. For example, the script signals how quickly Ellis and Max’s dynamic shifts after her husband’s arrival.

With the penultimate episode, Ellis and Max are finally in sync; they’re partners.

However, this season finale twists that one last time, with Max saying they “work together” when Ellis calls them “partners.” The distinction registers with all three parties in the room — and likely Ricky, who is just in the other room. 

Giacomo Gianniotti, specifically, plays that sequence so well because Ellis’s journey is visible in his expression. Ellis keeps his guard up around Olivier, but you can see him trying to figure out Max until she draws the line.

It’s unfortunate for Dewshane Williams that Olivier Laroche only appears on “Romancing the Egg” because, no matter his history with Max, it doesn’t hold a spark to the flame that Max has with Ellis now.

Gianniotti and Vanessa Morgan’s chemistry remains unmatched.

If Wild Cards wants Max and Olivier’s relationship to stand a chance, a few flashbacks would help. Instead, the bulk of their connection relies on Morgan’s performance when Max tells Ellis about how Max and Olivier fell in love. There’s a wistfulness to that story that emphasizes the whirlwind marriage.

While Max and Olivier’s romantic dynamic falls flat, “Romancing the Egg” bounces back with their relationship’s impact on George.

Wild Cards reveals previously believed to be minor details as season-long threads in Max’s two-year-long con to avenge her father. 

Max’s mansion hopping throughout the season comes into sharp focus as a tactic to lure her ex-husband back to her. Then, she can one-up Olivier after he saddled her father with the prison sentence Olivier should have served. Those clever throughlines make a Wild Cards rewatch all the more fun.

“Romancing the Egg” includes much smaller-scale callbacks, too, like Max mentioning the egg rolls from Wild Cards Season 1 Episode 1, “The Infinity Thief.” The references also veer sentimental, with Ellis remembering Max’s cover advice from Wild Cards Season 1 Episode 4, “Strangers on a Wave.”

Max even goes through some momentos, including the book from Wild Cards Season 1 Episode 6, “Dead of Night,” while packing her bag. It’s a sweet touch that even Ricky, who remains criminally underused on this show, notices.

All the while, the consultant drama leans into the broadcast TV of it all.

For instance, “Romancing the Egg” utilizes slow motion when Ellis scans Max’s body to heighten the undeniable tension between the pair. However, Wild Cards doesn’t need to do that because Gianniotti and Morgan have become incredible scene partners over the last nine episodes.

They make glances across a crowded room — during a heist, no less — tell stories.

That tension and the heist’s ticking clock make for some intense scenes, but the best parts of Ellis and Max’s dynamic come through the distrust and the betrayal.

“Romancing the Egg” picks at Max’s (justifiable) old wound from Wild Cards Season 1 Episode 5, “The Accountant of Monte Cristo,” when Ellis turns to Rachel. Then, it pulls the rug out from under Ellis after a season of him learning to trust Max as a person, not a con artist. It’s a wonderfully dramatic double-edged sword.

The payoff of these twists is excellent because of the work this season puts into these two characters — individually and as a unit. Wild Cards Season 1 Episode 8, “Eternal Sunshine of the Therapized Mind,” is nearly solely dedicated to that character work, and “Romancing the Egg” is better for it.

That honest connection makes their exchange in Act 5 emotionally resonate more than if Ellis and Max never saw through to the heart of the other. 

Ellis and Max agree that Max has Ellis’s back, which is what makes Ellis’s panic over Max’s disconnected phone number believable after everything.

“Romancing the Egg” reestablishes their partnership’s baseline, even having them speak through their love of Marc to express how much they’ll miss each other, to disrupt it with the ultimate con — the ultimate betrayal.

In turn, Wild Cards teases a new cat-and-mouse game for another season.

TV doesn’t always get the chance to end a season with a cliffhanger this juicy — Max knowing who killed Ellis’s brother — because shows are often canceled before they can ever continue the story. Wild Cards takes that jaw-dropping chance, and ideally, it will be able to pay it off in a second season.

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Wild Cards Season 1 is streaming on The CW’s website.

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