Episode 4

**Los Angeles Connection (Case 1.4)** is the fourth episode of the Great Pretender series. It is also the fourth episode in the first case.

## Summary

Edamame has a dream of his childhood when he looked up to his father, lawyer Seiji Ozaki. With Edamame under Salazar's watch at all times and a week remaining until the lab is ready, Abby sneaks in at night so Edamame can take lessons from Laurent and a drug cook via videoconferencing and construct a plausible fake version of Sakura Magic to fool Cassano. The next day Edamame goes sightseeing with Salazar, visiting Grauman's Chinese Theater and attending a baseball game at Dodger Stadium, and finds out that Salazar has a son, living in foster care after the death of Salazar's wife, who he is missing a visit with because of Cassano's command that he entertain Edamame. At Edamame's behest, they pick Tom up and take him to a theme park so he can spend the day with his father. While using the restroom, Edamame is approached by Paula and Anderson. Paula tells him that she is well aware of the scheme and coerces him into acting as a mole to aid an FBI sting operation to arrest Laurent and Cassano, in exchange for which they will clear Edamame of wrongdoing and return him to Japan. Edamame discovers a hidden camera in his bedroom at Salazar's home, meaning his contact with Abby and Laurent has been found out. The next day, everybody convenes at Cassano's mansion for a party, unaware that there is a traitor among them, but to Edamame's relief, Cassano accuses his financial manager. Edamame confronts Salazar about the camera and asks him why he didn't expose him to Cassano, and Salazar explains that he became a gang lord and later Cassano's bodyguard out of a desire to rise above his poor upbringing and give his son a better life. Reminded of his own father's arrest on suspicion of aiding a human trafficking ring. This prompts Makoto to agree to cooperate with Paula and the FBI on the condition that they let Salazar go free.

## Plot

We see Makoto as a child in a courtroom with his mother Miki observe his father Seiji a defense attorney get a more lenient sentence for his client. Afterward, the family walks home and talks with each other. This entire scene turned out to be a dream Makoto had as he's awakened by Salazar to get up and get ready. Feeling groggy from the sappy dream he had, Makoto blames it on the room's decor that he's staying in.

Makoto with, Cassano, Abby, and Laurent, ride on a limo through the highway and back to the cider factory. There, construction workers renovate the place to build an exact replica of Makoto's old lab to create the Sakura Magic drug. After witnessing the place being built and that Cassano expedited the work to be complete in a single week. Cassano then orders Salazar to entertain him by showing him around LA for the week. With Makoto cautious of their predicament, Laurent gives a vague reassurance to Makoto asking him if he knows how to cook. Meanwhile, Paula concocts a plan with Anderson on how they're going to infiltrate the cider plant by making Makoto a double agent.

That night, Abigail infiltrates Salazar's home and awakens the sleeping, Makoto. She hands Makoto a tablet where a video of Laurent and another individual named Ed show him how to cook a pseudo-Sakura Magic. Although Makoto is vehemently against doing this, Abigail calls him a hypocrite for getting himself in a situation that he got himself into.

The next day, Makoto spends a day with Salazar. They first look at the Hollywood imprints by the Grauman's Chinese Theater and then they attend a baseball game at Dodger Stadium. Seeing a little girl enjoy a baseball game with her parents, Makoto asks Salazar about his wife and kid. A tad unnerved by the question, he answers that his wife died in an accident and he sees his son every Sunday. Upon learning that it was that very same day, at Makoto's behest, they go visit his son named Tom and they enjoy the day together at a local theme park. Sometime after they experience the roller coaster ride, they go over to the gacha machine area and use one of the machines called "Gangs vs. FBI". To Tom's dismay, he gets a gang figurine and wishes that the figurines featured a bodyguard figurine like his father. So, Makoto trades Tom his figurine for his own Mifune figurine and then uses the urinal. There, he's accosted by Anderson and a couple of his men. Soon Paula appears before Makoto and offers him a deal to have him act as a double agent to help them arrest both Laurent and Cassano. If he agrees to this deal his record expunged and he'll return to Japan without any trouble and she gives him a pair of rigged glasses as part of the deal. Reconvening with Tom, Makoto talks with the child who says he enjoyed the day so far. Admittedly, Tom wishes that he could have fun with his father as they did that day every day.

After they drop Tom off at his foster home, Makoto is met by Abigail again in his room. She tosses him a phone with Laurent on the other line on video. Laurent informs Makoto that the renovations to the drug factory are nearly complete. Furthermore, the F.B.I. are making a move as well and it's being headed by a woman named Paula Dickens. While Makoto prepares himself the next morning, he finds out that a teddy bear in the room is really rigged with a camera. At Cassano's mansion, he throws a sushi part for Makoto, and during it, Cassano reveals that a traitor is in the midst. Although Makoto believes that he's been found out, it's the accountant Sapata who's the traitor and is "properly" reprimanded.

That night back at Salazar's house, Makoto confronts Salazar over the camera and demands to know why he didn't rat him out for being a fake. Salazar's reason is mainly due to the fact that he wants to culminate enough money to allow his son to lead a good honest life and get into college. Unimpressed by Salazar's reason and motive, he recalls when he found out that his father was arrested on suspicion of aiding a human trafficking ring. In his room, Makoto activates the bugged glasses and gets in contact with Paula and agrees to her terms, but with a single condition. That is to allow Salazar to go free when the arrests are made.

## Characters

* Makoto Edamura
* Seiji Ozaki
* Miki Edamura
* Abigail Jones
* Eddie Cassano
* Salazar
* Anderson
* Tom
* Paula
* Sapata