Season one episode two of White House Plumbers, “Please Destroy This, Huh?” begins on June 25th, 1971, then jumps to January 7th, 1972. On January 7th, 1972, in Miami, E. Howard Hunt played by Woody Harrelson, and G. Gordy Liddy played by Justin Theroux, sit across the table from two prostitutes having a conversation about Hunt’s past work experience. Liddy eggs Hunt on, trying to get him to impress the prostitutes. It’s not a hundred percent clear if Hunt is telling the truth about his story because, in the first episode, we established that sometimes he likes to lie about his job to impress random women. Whether he is lying or not doesn’t matter, though, because the prostitutes are only pretending to be interested in order to get paid.
The episode continues with Hunt and Liddy at the campaign office for Richard Nixon, setting up Liddy’s new office. The scene cuts to Lakewood Country Club, where Hunt and his wife Dorothy, played by Lena Headey, are members. Hunt and his wife Dorothy are joined for dinner by Liddy and his wife Frances, played by Judy Greer. The couples sit at the table enjoying their dinners and discussing business when Liddy spots Hunt’s daughter and son from across the way. Hunt and Dorothy wave over their children, not realizing that both of them are intoxicated. Hunt and Dorothy’s daughter, Lisa, played by Zoe Levin, and son, St. John, played by Liam James, quickly talk to Liddy and Frances and then excuse themselves.
As the couples are enjoying their evening, a man grabs Hunt’s attention to deal with an incident happening with his daughter Lisa. Lisa is causing a scene because she believes she heard a club member make a racist remark to a black employee. Hunt demands that Lisa apologize, and we are reminded that to Hunt, appearance matters more than doing what is morally right. He tells Lisa that she has embarrassed him and that the next day is going to be very important for him. Lisa leaves the club and heads home with a disappointed look on her face.
The next morning, on January 27th, 1972, Hunt and Liddy met with John Mitchell, who is the head of the committee to re-elect Richard Nixon, to propose their propaganda starter, which they call Project Gemstone or Project Sapphire. Their idea is to use Democrats as sources of information through blackmail. Their plan is to stage a party with prostitutes on a yacht and capture photos of them posing as unfaithful housewives for the Democrats. Hunt and Liddy go on and on with different strategies named after gemstones, and they all get shut down. Hunt and Liddy were expecting to receive one million dollars for their best idea; however, they went home with nothing but the feeling of defeat.
Dita Beard, played by Kathleen Turner, is the next challenge this duo will face. Dita Beard is a lobbyist who disclosed in a newspaper that she spoke with John Mitchell about arrangements for settling a case. The case included a payoff for a pledge by ITT for up to 400,000 dollars for the upcoming GOP Convention, also known as the Republican National Convention. Liddy and Hunt try to put their brains together and figure out a way to stop this scandal over the phone. Liddy is in the office and tries to go offer his and Hunt’s services to solve the scandal.
Hunt and Liddy are assigned to find Dita Beard and get her out of town. Liddy suggests that when they find her, they should kill her, which is his answer to everything, but Hunt tells him they can’t do that. Hunt’s reasoning was that it would make the whole scandal seem a lot more suspicious. Instead, Liddy goes to Dita’s house in disguise and poses as an attorney. Dita tries to flirt with Liddy, and Liddy doesn’t partake in the first flirt, but he does succeed in getting her to revoke her statement and get her out of town. This comes as a bit of a shock, considering Liddy usually does not appear to be someone who works well independently.
Overall, episode two continues the ongoing theme of the show, which is deciding whether or not you find yourself rooting for the morally gray main characters. Both Hunt and Liddy come across as cold and are not emotionally supportive of their loved ones. They both seem to value appearance more than integrity. They are both willing to do things they know are wrong if it means getting a leg up in their careers. Something that is important to mention is that they both show no potential for character development anytime soon.
Rating: 4.5/10