The Van Gogh Job - Recap
At the roller palace in Willamette City, the African-American Charlie Lawson watches the skaters as a man in a suit comes up to him. Charlie talks about how the palace was quite a place in the 40s and that the Wurlitzer on the balcony would shake the rafters. The man flashes his badge and asks Charlie where a valuable painting is and warns him that looting from the battlefield is a serious crime. Charlie insists he’s never looted anything and says that the man’s badge is a fake. The man admits he’s a fake but warns Charlie that his employer won’t rest of until he gets the painting. Once the man leaves, Charlie collapses from a heart attack.
Nate meets with Owen Wallace, a former co-worker at IYS who was fired. Owen explains that he was fired for dereliction of duties because he has spent years chasing a missing Van Gogh, Painter on the Road to Tarascon. He found letters from Conrad Becker, a Nazi soldier who was stationed at a German museum the night it was firebombed. Becker’s unit was in France in 1944 and he was killed by U.S. troops. Charlie took the painting and has refused to talk to Owen or anyone else. When Nate points out that he’s not in the art-recovery business, Owen says that there are rich men that want the painting and don’t care how they get it.
Nate sends Sophie and Alec to the hospital and meets with Eliot and Sophie at headquarters. Both Sophie and Nate have been hunting the painting for years. Nate tells them about Owen’s theory and Sophie notes that it is currently worth $100,000,000. The finder’s fee is 10% and Eliot that a lot of men will do anything to get $10 million.
At the hospital, Parker and Hardison are undercover. She assures Charlie that he’s safe and promises not to let anything happen to him. Hardison has checked the records and confirmed that Charlie left the country in 1945 and never came back. He calls to report to Nate and the others that Charlie has returned to Willamette City, his hometown, for the first time since 1945. Nate figures that the painting is hidden somewhere there and leaves with Eliot and Sophie.
At the hospital, Nate and Sophie try to convince Charlie to turn over the painting, but he insists that he can take care of himself. Parker refuses to leave and Charlie agrees to only tell her what they want to know. She worries to Nate that she’s not a people person and he just tells her to listen. Meanwhile, Eliot poses as a gas inspector and goes to Charlie’s childhood home and convinces the current owner, Martha, to let him in. Martha tells him that there’s a mold inspector in the back. Eliot discovers that it’s a treasure-hunter, Frank. Frank attacks him with a collapsible baton and Eliot drives him off with a Nerf bat. When he asks Martha if there’s anything in the house to indicate its age, Martha says that she found some artwork.
Charlie tells Parker that everything started at the roller palace. He met Dorothy Ross, the daughter of Alfred Ross, a lumber baron who owned half the town. Dorothy took lessons on the Wurlitzer and they became friends. As they talked, Charlie realized that she wanted to go out into the world but was ultimately just as trapped as he was.
Eliot tells Nate that Willamette City is crawling with treasure hunters and that they can’t let Charlie out of the hospital. Martha shows him the painting of the Eiffel Tower.
Charlie tells Parker that Dorothy always wanted to go to Paris, and her father arranged for her to have French lessons.
At the roller palace, Charlie soon learned French thanks to Dorothy teaching him. It turns out that he’s better than her thanks to his ear for languages. Charlie suggests that they go to France together and she agrees. Alfred come in and Dorothy claims that Charlie was helping her find her book. Her father escorts her away.
Charlie note that a black man making romantic overtures to a white woman wouldn’t go over in Willamette City in 1942.
Alfred’s foreman, Lewis, attacks Charlie with some of his men. The sheriff interrupts them and sends Lewis packing, and then warns Charlie that he’s playing with fire. He warns that he’s going off to war and that his deputies won’t protect Charlie. Charlie wonders what to do and the sheriff admits that he’ll have to find that out for himself. When Dorothy came to the place a few days later, she discovers that Charlie has enlisted in the Army.
In France, Charlie drives a supply truck and uses his French to trade for food and wine. His squad are on patrol clearing out pockets of Germans after D-Day. As they pull over, Private McClusky asks for more ammo. A French woman approaches them but the lieutenant in command can’t understand her since they lost their translator. Charlie realizes that she’s warning them about the Germans and tells everyone to get down. A German sniper opens fire on them, and Charlie and McClusky take refuge behind the truck. Charlie spots the sniper, grabs a rifle, and shoots him dead. He then goes to the sniper’s position and confirms that he’s alone. Charlie searches the man and finds his personal bag, and then quickly hides it away as the lieutenant comes up.
While Sophie and Nate wait, Alec confirms that Dorothy died three years ago and spent her entire life in town playing the Wurlitzer. Sophie goes to see her only daughter, Mrs. Porter.
Charlie discovers that the lieutenant has nominated McClusky for a Bronze Star for his first kill. He confronts the lieutenant and reminds him that he killed the German sniper. The lieutenant warns that Army policy is to refuse to give any Negro a medal. Charlie goes back to his truck and reads the sniper’s letters, which reveal that he saved the Van Gogh from the museum during the bombing. The German soldier, Becker, was going to sell the painting and provide for his family for the rest of their lives. Charlie checks out the sniper’s tent and finds the Van Gogh, and plans to sell it to get Dorothy.
Sophie talks to Mrs. Porter who explains that Dorothy did everything she could to keep anyone from tearing down the roller palace. Mrs. Porter explains that her aunt, Cecilia, taught Dorothy how to play the Wurlitzer.
Dorothy skates while Cecilia tried to teach her to play. They’re interrupted when Charlie enters the roller palace and asks to see her alone.
Hardison calls Mrs. Porter and claims to be checking on false charges on her credit card. When she goes to get it, Sophie searches the house and finds a hidden safe deposit key. Hardison assures them that the painting could fit in a deposit box. Nate sends Sophie and Hardison to check out the bank while Eliot secures the perimeter.
Charlie asks Dorothy to come with him after they sell the painting to finance their travels. She agrees and he tells her that they’ll leave the town the next night when everyone is at the roller palace. Dorothy believes that Cecilia will help them and Charlie tells her they can do it. As Charlie leaves, the sheriff sees him. He meets with his wife, Cecilia, who admits that she’s homesick for London. Her husband says that they’ll have to work on that.
Hardison gives a cell phone to Eliot and goes inside with Sophie. They identify themselves as FDIC inspectors and tell him that his bank has failed a preliminary stress test. The manager wants to call their superior to confirm their credentials. Eliot takes the call but is interrupted when another treasure-hunter, Randal, walks by. Randal owes $27,000 and Eliot attacks him. Sophie and Hardison listen in on the earbud while the manager is on hold.
Charlie explains that they couldn’t leave town in Alfred’s car, so they had to sneak out while everyone was at the palace.
Alfred assures his daughter that she’ll be fine. When she goes to practice, Alfred tells Lewis to find Charlie.
Charlie goes to the tracks and times the scheduled trains.
Dorothy begins playing the Wurlitzer as the show begins. Cecilia takes her place and Dorothy goes to find Charlie.
Alfred and his men find Charlie in the woods. The lumber baron thanks Charlie for his service but takes offense and tells Lewis and the others to put him in his place. Alfred asks Charlie what his plans are for his daughter.
Dorothy tries to run out the back and discovers the door is locked. The sheriff arrives and tells her that whatever she is dragging Cecilia into ends now. Dorothy tells him that Charlie is in danger and asks for his help.
When Charlie refuses to answer, Alfred tells Lewis and his men to kill him. Charlie admits that he and Dorothy were going to Canada and stole Alfred’s car keys. He invites them to take it out and they find a grenade. Charlie runs off and the men realize that the grenade is a dud.
Charlie meets Dorothy at the railroad tracks. Lewis and his men close in but the sheriff shoots and drives them off. The couple runs to the train but Dorothy warns that Alfred will hurt Charlie and bring her back. She tells her lover that Willamette City is her home and she can’t bear to leave it. Charlie gives her the painting and asks her to keep it safe for him, kisses her, and boards the train as it passes.
Charlie admits that it’s the last time he ever saw Dorothy. A crying Parker asks why he gave away the painting and Charlie figures that maybe it was cursed. He came back to Willamette City to see Dorothy but a couple of years too late. Charlie doesn’t know where the painting is and doesn’t think that it matters.
Sophie and Hardison go through the deposit box and find $70,000. They figure that Dorothy sold the painting, but Nate says that he knows where it is and tells Eliot to meet him at the roller palace. The caretaker shows them the organ and Nate realizes that one of the Wurlitzer pipes is broken. Eliot climbs up and hands the pipe to Nate. Inside is the Van Gogh. Owen and two thugs arrive and Owen demands the painting at gunpoint. He refuses to leave without it and Nate mentions the curse, and then says that’s why he’s disposing of it. As he sets it on fire, Eliot drops down and knocks out the two thugs. Owen discovers that Nate burned a fake painting and watches as he and Eliot walk away.
Charlie agrees to turn the painting over to the Boston Museum of Art. Nate figures that once Charlie described Dorothy, he realized that she remained loyal to Charlie and the town. She kept the painting safe, watching over it as she played the organ. The $70,000 were the tips she saved over the years for when Charlie came back. Charlie admits that he felt cheated when he came back and wondered how Dorothy would have felt about him, but says that now he knows. As they go, Sophie points out that Nate can’t know for sure if that’s the real story, but he says it’s the best story. Meanwhile, Charlie tells Parker to realize what she has and not let it go until too late. She smiles and takes Hardison’s hand as they leave.
Share this article with your friends
Nate meets with Owen Wallace, a former co-worker at IYS who was fired. Owen explains that he was fired for dereliction of duties because he has spent years chasing a missing Van Gogh, Painter on the Road to Tarascon. He found letters from Conrad Becker, a Nazi soldier who was stationed at a German museum the night it was firebombed. Becker’s unit was in France in 1944 and he was killed by U.S. troops. Charlie took the painting and has refused to talk to Owen or anyone else. When Nate points out that he’s not in the art-recovery business, Owen says that there are rich men that want the painting and don’t care how they get it.
Nate sends Sophie and Alec to the hospital and meets with Eliot and Sophie at headquarters. Both Sophie and Nate have been hunting the painting for years. Nate tells them about Owen’s theory and Sophie notes that it is currently worth $100,000,000. The finder’s fee is 10% and Eliot that a lot of men will do anything to get $10 million.
At the hospital, Parker and Hardison are undercover. She assures Charlie that he’s safe and promises not to let anything happen to him. Hardison has checked the records and confirmed that Charlie left the country in 1945 and never came back. He calls to report to Nate and the others that Charlie has returned to Willamette City, his hometown, for the first time since 1945. Nate figures that the painting is hidden somewhere there and leaves with Eliot and Sophie.
At the hospital, Nate and Sophie try to convince Charlie to turn over the painting, but he insists that he can take care of himself. Parker refuses to leave and Charlie agrees to only tell her what they want to know. She worries to Nate that she’s not a people person and he just tells her to listen. Meanwhile, Eliot poses as a gas inspector and goes to Charlie’s childhood home and convinces the current owner, Martha, to let him in. Martha tells him that there’s a mold inspector in the back. Eliot discovers that it’s a treasure-hunter, Frank. Frank attacks him with a collapsible baton and Eliot drives him off with a Nerf bat. When he asks Martha if there’s anything in the house to indicate its age, Martha says that she found some artwork.
Charlie tells Parker that everything started at the roller palace. He met Dorothy Ross, the daughter of Alfred Ross, a lumber baron who owned half the town. Dorothy took lessons on the Wurlitzer and they became friends. As they talked, Charlie realized that she wanted to go out into the world but was ultimately just as trapped as he was.
Eliot tells Nate that Willamette City is crawling with treasure hunters and that they can’t let Charlie out of the hospital. Martha shows him the painting of the Eiffel Tower.
Charlie tells Parker that Dorothy always wanted to go to Paris, and her father arranged for her to have French lessons.
At the roller palace, Charlie soon learned French thanks to Dorothy teaching him. It turns out that he’s better than her thanks to his ear for languages. Charlie suggests that they go to France together and she agrees. Alfred come in and Dorothy claims that Charlie was helping her find her book. Her father escorts her away.
Charlie note that a black man making romantic overtures to a white woman wouldn’t go over in Willamette City in 1942.
Alfred’s foreman, Lewis, attacks Charlie with some of his men. The sheriff interrupts them and sends Lewis packing, and then warns Charlie that he’s playing with fire. He warns that he’s going off to war and that his deputies won’t protect Charlie. Charlie wonders what to do and the sheriff admits that he’ll have to find that out for himself. When Dorothy came to the place a few days later, she discovers that Charlie has enlisted in the Army.
In France, Charlie drives a supply truck and uses his French to trade for food and wine. His squad are on patrol clearing out pockets of Germans after D-Day. As they pull over, Private McClusky asks for more ammo. A French woman approaches them but the lieutenant in command can’t understand her since they lost their translator. Charlie realizes that she’s warning them about the Germans and tells everyone to get down. A German sniper opens fire on them, and Charlie and McClusky take refuge behind the truck. Charlie spots the sniper, grabs a rifle, and shoots him dead. He then goes to the sniper’s position and confirms that he’s alone. Charlie searches the man and finds his personal bag, and then quickly hides it away as the lieutenant comes up.
While Sophie and Nate wait, Alec confirms that Dorothy died three years ago and spent her entire life in town playing the Wurlitzer. Sophie goes to see her only daughter, Mrs. Porter.
Charlie discovers that the lieutenant has nominated McClusky for a Bronze Star for his first kill. He confronts the lieutenant and reminds him that he killed the German sniper. The lieutenant warns that Army policy is to refuse to give any Negro a medal. Charlie goes back to his truck and reads the sniper’s letters, which reveal that he saved the Van Gogh from the museum during the bombing. The German soldier, Becker, was going to sell the painting and provide for his family for the rest of their lives. Charlie checks out the sniper’s tent and finds the Van Gogh, and plans to sell it to get Dorothy.
Sophie talks to Mrs. Porter who explains that Dorothy did everything she could to keep anyone from tearing down the roller palace. Mrs. Porter explains that her aunt, Cecilia, taught Dorothy how to play the Wurlitzer.
Dorothy skates while Cecilia tried to teach her to play. They’re interrupted when Charlie enters the roller palace and asks to see her alone.
Hardison calls Mrs. Porter and claims to be checking on false charges on her credit card. When she goes to get it, Sophie searches the house and finds a hidden safe deposit key. Hardison assures them that the painting could fit in a deposit box. Nate sends Sophie and Hardison to check out the bank while Eliot secures the perimeter.
Charlie asks Dorothy to come with him after they sell the painting to finance their travels. She agrees and he tells her that they’ll leave the town the next night when everyone is at the roller palace. Dorothy believes that Cecilia will help them and Charlie tells her they can do it. As Charlie leaves, the sheriff sees him. He meets with his wife, Cecilia, who admits that she’s homesick for London. Her husband says that they’ll have to work on that.
Hardison gives a cell phone to Eliot and goes inside with Sophie. They identify themselves as FDIC inspectors and tell him that his bank has failed a preliminary stress test. The manager wants to call their superior to confirm their credentials. Eliot takes the call but is interrupted when another treasure-hunter, Randal, walks by. Randal owes $27,000 and Eliot attacks him. Sophie and Hardison listen in on the earbud while the manager is on hold.
Charlie explains that they couldn’t leave town in Alfred’s car, so they had to sneak out while everyone was at the palace.
Alfred assures his daughter that she’ll be fine. When she goes to practice, Alfred tells Lewis to find Charlie.
Charlie goes to the tracks and times the scheduled trains.
Dorothy begins playing the Wurlitzer as the show begins. Cecilia takes her place and Dorothy goes to find Charlie.
Alfred and his men find Charlie in the woods. The lumber baron thanks Charlie for his service but takes offense and tells Lewis and the others to put him in his place. Alfred asks Charlie what his plans are for his daughter.
Dorothy tries to run out the back and discovers the door is locked. The sheriff arrives and tells her that whatever she is dragging Cecilia into ends now. Dorothy tells him that Charlie is in danger and asks for his help.
When Charlie refuses to answer, Alfred tells Lewis and his men to kill him. Charlie admits that he and Dorothy were going to Canada and stole Alfred’s car keys. He invites them to take it out and they find a grenade. Charlie runs off and the men realize that the grenade is a dud.
Charlie meets Dorothy at the railroad tracks. Lewis and his men close in but the sheriff shoots and drives them off. The couple runs to the train but Dorothy warns that Alfred will hurt Charlie and bring her back. She tells her lover that Willamette City is her home and she can’t bear to leave it. Charlie gives her the painting and asks her to keep it safe for him, kisses her, and boards the train as it passes.
Charlie admits that it’s the last time he ever saw Dorothy. A crying Parker asks why he gave away the painting and Charlie figures that maybe it was cursed. He came back to Willamette City to see Dorothy but a couple of years too late. Charlie doesn’t know where the painting is and doesn’t think that it matters.
Sophie and Hardison go through the deposit box and find $70,000. They figure that Dorothy sold the painting, but Nate says that he knows where it is and tells Eliot to meet him at the roller palace. The caretaker shows them the organ and Nate realizes that one of the Wurlitzer pipes is broken. Eliot climbs up and hands the pipe to Nate. Inside is the Van Gogh. Owen and two thugs arrive and Owen demands the painting at gunpoint. He refuses to leave without it and Nate mentions the curse, and then says that’s why he’s disposing of it. As he sets it on fire, Eliot drops down and knocks out the two thugs. Owen discovers that Nate burned a fake painting and watches as he and Eliot walk away.
Charlie agrees to turn the painting over to the Boston Museum of Art. Nate figures that once Charlie described Dorothy, he realized that she remained loyal to Charlie and the town. She kept the painting safe, watching over it as she played the organ. The $70,000 were the tips she saved over the years for when Charlie came back. Charlie admits that he felt cheated when he came back and wondered how Dorothy would have felt about him, but says that now he knows. As they go, Sophie points out that Nate can’t know for sure if that’s the real story, but he says it’s the best story. Meanwhile, Charlie tells Parker to realize what she has and not let it go until too late. She smiles and takes Hardison’s hand as they leave.
Share this article with your friends
Awake Creator Explains The Ending Of The Finale And Where The Show Would Have Gone In Season 2
Fans have now had two days to digest the events..
Saturday Night Live: Sudeikis, Samberg Might Not Exit
Saturday's season finale of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Mick Jagger, saw the..
WWE Monday Night Raw Expanding To Three Hours Permanently
Professional Wrestling. It's the "sport" that millions of people watch,..
Info Center | Contact | Advertise | TOS |
Privacy | Copyright | RSS | Banners | Writers Wanted