Episode 1

**Los Angeles Connection (Case 1.1)** is the first episode of the Great Pretender series. It is also the first episode in the first case.

## Summary

Con artist Makoto "Edamame" Edamura successfully tricks a woman into buying an expensive water filtration system she really didn't need with help from his partner Kudo. Shortly afterward, the two try to con the French con man Laurent Thierry, but end up getting conned by him instead. With law enforcement in pursuit, Edamame runs away and spots Laurent in a taxi. He hitches a ride with Laurent to Haneda Airport and then catches a flight to Los Angeles. Laurent takes Edamame to Beverly Hills to meet up with famed movie producer and secret drug kingpin Eddie Cassano at his Beverly Hills mansion. He's also introduced to Laurent's partner Abigail "Abby" Jones. Abby, pretending to be a wannabe actress and hanger-on of Cassano's, is fed a drug in the form of a Japanese-style hard candy called Sakura Magic and feigns a drug-induced trance in order to convince Cassano to buy it from Laurent. Not pleased with the way Laurent has been using him, Edamame tries to run away, but is captured due to the tracking device that Laurent secretly placed on him. He is knocked unconscious by Abigail and regains consciousness only to find himself hanging from the Hollywood Sign.

## Plot

Makoto Edamura is the self-proclaimed “Best Con-Man in Japan”, but when a lost wallet switcheroo goes wrong, and the cops are at the door; Makoto leaves his buddy Kudo and happens to find the same foreigner who conned them out of 300,000 yen. Makoto should have known to try to con someone so slick-looking. Makoto secures a ticket to LAX to follow his new nemesis, a Frenchman named Laurent Thierry, and even joins him for a good long sit in L.A. traffic in his imported Peugeot RCZ. He’s not letting Laurent out of his sight until he gets his cash back, but Laurent has a big scam to pull in Hollywood and offers to let Makoto be his wingman. After buying him a suit at Mocy’s, they arrive at the mansion of a film producer with mob ties who just got out on bail. Laurent introduces Makoto as a pharmacological doctor from Japan. He then presents the “product” he’s willing to license for sale: “Sakura Magic”, a designer drug in the form of a piece of candy. He has Abby, one of the beautiful bikini-clad women by the pool try the drug out, and let’s just say it gets the job done. In a chaotically animated sequence, Abby ecstatically bounces off palm trees and loungers. The producer’s interest is piqued. Makoto takes one too and realizes that Laurent used him as a drug mule. Not only that, but Laurent has also been scamming Makoto since back in Tokyo. He never had the cash; Kudo has it and is making it rain back home. After escaping the producer’s house, he rushes Laurent, only to get kicked crane-style by Abby, the swim-suited woman who tried the drug. Turns out she’s on Laurent’s team and was merely putting on a very convincing act using her impressive athleticism. That’s when the episode ends at the beginning, with Makoto hanging upside-down from the “Y” in the Hollywood sign. I guess as a lesson that he’s not the top con dog in this town; that title goes to Laurent and Abby, who are clearly operating on another level.

## Characters

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

## Trivia

* The license plate numbers are 84-98 on the car near Edamura when he first meets Laurent, and 26-39 in the taxi Laurent and Edamura ride to the airport together.
* Laurent communicates in a mix of English and broken Japanese, while Makoto speaks in a mix of broken English and Japanese. About 10 minutes into the episode a graphic announces that the dialogue will switch to Japanese for “our convenience”.