Wonder Man S01E07 Review: Secrets Revealed

Wonder Man S01E07 Review: Kathy Friedman

Yeah, again, while this isn't really a typical superhero show, I do find myself quite invested in the acting storyline for Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery. I do still think that the two episodes in the middle could've been cut with little fanfare and would've done the show wonders in terms of pacing and focus. But that's besides the point. 

After the trials and tribulations of the callbacks on the previous episode, Von Kovak has offered Simon and Trevor the roles that they want. And we do spend a chunk of this episode showing the two of them enjoying stardom and the Hollywood life, and Von Kovak's team is even receptive to Simon's extremely in-depth reading of scripts and character. It's probably an underappreciated part of this episode that I truly love, where instead of yelling at Simon for being so hyperfocused and autistic about the character that he is supposed to embody, Von Kovak instead entertains him fully and goes into a discussion about maybe rethinking the main theme of the movie. 

Trevor is also basically become Simon's sidekick, even being allowed to sit in on important business deals and making decisions for him -- with one decision in this episode turning down a Netflix role for Simon. 

The titular 'Kathy Friedman' shows up, however, and she is a harsh, biting Hollywood journalist. Friedman is a journalist that has been so scathing and biting on her pieces on other Hollywood stars that they have essentially become character assassination. For whatever reason, they decide to go through with it, and Simon bends over backwards to change his behaviour on set and learn about the crew and whatnot. That isn't super interesting, to be fair. More interesting, however, is the revelation that Kathy Friedman has interviewed Simon's family -- people who we've seen earlier in the show. Simon panics, but as we find out one by one, neither Simon's mother, his ex-girlfriend, or even the asshole brother Eric sold Simon out. Eric in fact gives nothing but glowing accounts of Simon, which actually tracks -- Eric's problem with Simon in this show has been that Simon's wasting his life, and now that he's actually doing something with his unconventional career choice, Eric's fully on his side. 

Unfortunately for Trevor, however, it is him that Kathy digs up dirt on. While Trevor has been nothing but transparent about his whole gig as the Mandarin back in the events of Iron Man 3, he has been keeping on a lid the fact that he got arrested in the airport by Damage Control. Now I feel that there is a world where Trevor could've kept his cool and tried to at least charm his way out of that, but Trevor ends up blowing up on Kathy, walks out of the interview... and this finally gets gears in Simon's brain clicking. Particularly the stuff about Kathy talking about a 'plea deal'. 

Simon confronts Trevor, and Trevor is torn between his actual initial meeting as someone sent to betray Simon and his newfound friendship with Simon. He ends up confessing and blabbering all about his deal with Damage Control, and this causes Simon to simply... walk out of the trailer. As we've seen before, Simon loses control over his ill-defined powers (in the show, at least, I know Wonder Man's deal in the comics) and blows up the thankfully empty movie set of Wonder Man. End episode. 

This is a great break-up that the show has been building up to. And I do like how it was presented to us, how everything seems to be going well. There was even a sense that Trevor has gained enough pull with his situation next to Simon that he could do what he wanted -- finish filming this movie with his new best friend -- before having to deal with Damage Control. But conflict inevitably arises, and I do like that it's Trevor that ends up being the crack between the two characters. I also love that Simon actually gets closure with so many things in his life here. His method as an actor is validated, his brother and ex-girlfriend actually sees good in him, and everything seems to be on the up-and-up until the one person he keeps closest to him ends up betraying him. Great conflict setup, and it builds things up nicely for the finale.