Episode 13

**Snow of London (Case 3.3)** is the thirteenth episode of the Great Pretender series. It is also the third episode in the third case.

## Summary

Edamame looks for Thomas and learns that he has a £2 million debt. Cynthia continues to recall her history with Thomas as after Thomas was discovered by James, he was assigned to make art forgeries for James, which earned James the nickname James Bond of the art world. While Thomas got a new studio and a well-paying job, that meant not seeing Cynthia for a long time. Edamame finds Thomas and asks him to meet Cynthia at the restaurant they last met each other to ask him to make a forgery of the Snow of London in exchange for paying off his debts. Meanwhile, Abby tells James that Laurent is an underground art dealer who sells the paintings he won to the mafia in order to convince him to attend the private auction the Snow of London is being sold at. After dinner, Edamame sees Thomas and finds out that he got himself into debt by quitting his painting jobs and taking out loans to buy all of his forgeries to keep them out of the public. Edamame hands Thomas a tin that contains a picture of a wedding ring he sketched for Cynthia to let him know that Cynthia still cares for him, as well as to convince him to take revenge against James for sending him down this path. The next day, Edamame presents Thomas with the Snow of London and asks him to create a forgery of it and completes it several days later.

## Plot

While looking for Thomas in a bar, Makoto is apprehended by three thugs.

Back at the hideout, Makoto discloses his awful experience to Cynthia and that Thomas is £2 million in debt. A flashback shows Cynthia and Thomas together talking about their bright futures ahead. The following day they meet James for the first time and he proposes that Thomas becomes a forger for him. Although no response is shown, Thomas agrees to the proposal, and because of it, he spends less and less time with Cynthia. In time, James gains the moniker of being the James Bond of the art world because of Thomas' work.

A special studio is rented out for Thomas by James so the forger can continue his work creating forgeries at a faster pace. James, however, notes that Cynthia is becoming a distraction to him and suggests that he get rid of her. Time passes by and Thomas has a more dapper look to him and he takes Cynthia out for dinner at a fancy restaurant. The two get into a heated argument and the two tacitly break up.

In the present time, the three thugs from the bar confront Thomas and before they beat him up, they're stopped by Makoto. He offers Thomas a job that would pay off his debts. But before all that, Thomas is set up on a date with Cynthia at the same restaurant where they broke up. Meanwhile, Abby informs James about everything she's found out about Laurent. Apparently he's an underground art dealer who resells all of the paintings that he acquires to the mafia. Hearin this, James chastises Laurent and praises Abby for her hard work.

Back to Cynthia and Thomas, she tries to hire the former forger to create a replica of the Snow of London painting. Thomas confesses that he's unable to since he's lost the talent to do so as he hasn't painted in years. Although Cynthia tries to coax Thomas into agreeing, he still refuses and rebukes Cynthia for becoming a con artist.

The following day, James accompanied by Abby confronts Laurent about his Snow of London painting. Laurent reveals that he's putting the painting up for auction at a private one and he invites James to it. That night, Makoto visits Thomas in his flat and sees all of the paintings he did of Cynthia back in the day. Thomas reveals that after seeing one of his forgeries in a museum, he cut ties with James and managed to buy back all of the forgeries he created. Which explains why he's in a £2 million debt crisis and created his resolve to never paint again. Makoto then hands Thomas a tin with a drawing of a wedding ring in it. It's because of this and a moving speech from Makoto on how Cynthia still has feelings for him, that Thomas paints a replica of Snow of London.

## Characters

* Makoto Edamura
* Laurent Thierry
* Abigail Jones
* Cynthia Moore
* Thomas Meyer
* James Coleman
* Kudo
* Shi-won Kim