Episode 2

**Los Angeles Connection (Case 1.2)** is the second episode of the Great Pretender series. It is also the second episode in the first case.

## Summary

Edamame recalls the events that led him to become a con man. Struggling to find work due to his father's criminal past, he got a job as a salesman for Kudo's company to support his ailing mother, only to find that the company has been engaging in consumer fraud without his knowledge. The police did not believe he didn't know about the scam, and Edamame was sent to prison. After being released on parole, Edamame's criminal record prevented him from getting a new job, and his mother passed away. With no other way of making a living, Edamame approaches Kudou offering to partner with him and become Japan's greatest con man. In the present, after Laurent and Abigail cut Edamame down from the Hollywood sign, Laurent explains that Sakura Magic is fake and he is using its rumored existence to scam Cassano. That night, Laurent meets with Cassano and makes a deal to sell a huge batch of Sakura Magic to him. Not pleased with his role in this scheme, Edamame walks out and reflects while holding a gashapon figure of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who he considers to be the greatest con man in history, after being harshly criticized by Abby. Two days later, Edamame greets Laurent and Abby at Cassano's mansion with a renewed sense of confidence.

## Plot

When Abby cuts Makoto down from the HOLLYWOOD sign, he falls quite a ways and gets knocked out, which is the perfect opportunity to get into his backstory. “Edamame” the con man used to be clean as a whistle, you see. All he wanted to do was make his bedridden mom proud, but he was hired by a company that turned out to be perpetrating consumer fraud. He just thought they were selling a quality health tea product.

The fuzz raids the office and he’s arrested with everyone else. No one believes he was unaware that a crime was being committed, thanks to the age-old adage “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. Because his father was a convicted criminal, he’s suspected of simply following in ol’ dad’s footsteps. He goes away for eighteen months and his mom passes away. But since everyone in the world assumes the worst of him, the only thing to do is lean into the skid.

The newly conscious Makoto has a luxurious seaside lunch as Laurent explains that after spreading rumors of a hot new drug; Eddie Cassano wanted to meet the Japanese researcher who designed it. He hired the water filter lady he scammed as well as Kudou and his old crew to basically put Makoto through his con artist paces, and he passed with flying colors. He also knows Makoto’s past and considers it an added bonus that beneath the hardened con man one is an innocent, pure-hearted mama’s boy.

That night, Laurent leaves Makoto at his swanky pad with Abby to keep an eye on him. Convinced that the plan will go south and they’ll all be killed, Makoto tries to sneak out, but Abby puts him in a body lock. Despite this, Makoto is able to pick a bent gold medal from her pocket. She ultimately lets him go, believing him useless as long as he doesn’t want to be there, and warning him Cassano’s men will be watching both him and the airport.

Makoto ends up getting one over on both Abby and Laurent, as they assume they’ve lost him and have to start over at square one; only for Cassano to tell them Makoto’s already there and closed the deal for double the original price. It stung when Laurent said there were no good con artists in Japan, especially when he believes Hideyoshi Toyotomi. The man who rose from a peasant background to unify the country, to be the greatest con artist in history.

## Characters

* Abigail Jones
* Eddie Cassano
* Laurent Thierry
* Makoto Edamura
* Miki Edamura
* Kudo
* Shi-won Kim
* Salazar