The life of a con-artist is one of simultaneous social stimulation and crippling loneliness. You wouldn’t think that an occupation whose very backbone is forming connections with others and expediting the normal song and dance that goes with meeting someone new could be lonely, but the relationships built through a life of conning are artificial, built on nothing but air and false promises. They’re relationships solely made for a monetary benefit and ones that are easily discardable when the time comes, so while a con-artist might have the cycle through an inordinate amount of people in their life, rare is the person who sticks with them. In order for conning to be a less isolating experience, a con-artist has to find someone they trust and hold on to them for dear life.
On the next episode of Imposters, Maddie pieces together from Richard’s fawning over Max that her most trusted confidant in the world of conning was behind Sally’s disappearance. She initially gave Max the benefit of the doubt when it came to Sally because she knew how close they were and she didn’t want to believe the worst had happened to her friend, so the explanation that Sally managed to slip away and go on the lam was more than acceptable. However, Max betraying Sally by giving her up to The Doctor and Maddie by lying to her face about what happened shakes Maddie’s foundation, even moreso because it comes on top of finding out that Patrick was FBI; Maddie has had to become quite tough in order to make it in her world, but with Sally gone, Max a liar, and the one man she thought she could have something with working against her, she feels incredibly alone and without any kind of options. While Maddie sometimes got wistful for a life where she could simply be herself, she managed to get this far through fear of The Doctor and the comfort she received from Max and Sally, the only two consistently positive presences in her life and two people who understood the intricacies of a life of grifting. Without the latter, and feeling pinned down by both Patrick and her exes, Maddie will have to decide how to handle the immense pressure she’s under right now. Is she going to become even more ruthless, deliberate, and calculating in her decision-making, with the goal of getting out of the life once and for all should she be able to evade arrest? Or is she going to throw her sense of self-preservation out the window and make a series of reckless, impulsive decisions indicative of someone who doesn’t care whether she lives or dies?
Elsewhere on Imposters, Patrick tries to force Ezra to cooperate with the investigation into The Doctor, while Maddie struggles to keep her plan in tact the closer the wedding gets and Jules has an unexpected encounter that brings about a change in perspective.
Imposters airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on Bravo.
Could Maddie be worried that Richard would give her up like Max did Sally? Will Ezra wind up flipping against his friends or can he hold out against Patrick long enough to come up with a plan to save everybody? Is Richard’s sudden love of grifting going to make it harder for him to go back to normal once the current situation is resolved?
