Episode three of White House Plumbers, titled “Don’t Drink the Whiskey at Watergate,” opens with the breaking news on May 26, 1972, which is President Richard Nixon signing an agreement on nuclear weapons. The news is playing on a TV in Alfred C. Baldwin III’s (Zak Orth) hotel room. This is the night of the first attempted break-in of the Watergate Office Building. Baldwin is being the lookout for E. Howard Hunt played by Woody Harrelson, and G. Gordon Liddy, played by Justin Theroux. Baldwin is looking into the sixth floor of the Watergate Office Building and reporting back to Hunt and Liddy. As Baldwin looks into the sixth floor, Hunt, Liddy, and their accomplices try to find a way in.
Hunt has already thought of a way in, so he has decided to go in through the Watergate Hotel. The Watergate Office Building and the Watergate Hotel are both included in a complex of six buildings that are all interconnected. By going in through the hotel, they will avoid lobby security. Hunt surprises the group by booking a banquet room. The plan is to stay in the room being served dinner and then relieve the staff. After the staff leaves, Hunt and one of the accomplices, who is a locksmith, will hide in the beverage closet until the hotel security guard locks everything up. While they are hiding, Liddy and the other accomplices will go look for a way into George McGovern’s headquarters. Both Hunt and Liddy’s plans fail, and they begin planning for attempt number two.
Liddy comes up with a plan that is more risky for attempt number two. Liddy, Hunt, and their accomplices walk right into the Watergate Office Building and go straight up to the security guard. They all pretend they are there for a meeting with the Federal Reserve Office, and the security guard lets them in. Hunt signs them all under the name Fidel Castro. They leave James Mccord, played by Toby Huss, in the hallway to distract any other security guards that might be working. When the rest of the team reaches the door to the office they need to get into, the locksmith realizes he has the wrong tools, and they leave. Liddy is furious with the outcome and demands that the locksmith fly to Miami to get the right tools. The actions of Hunt and Liddy in this scene are very exact to both of their characters. Liddy’s plan is risky because, just like he’s shown in past episodes, he likes taking chances and hush-hush missions. Hunt not showing any signs of stress after these two failed attempts is not out of the ordinary for him. In his dynamic with Liddy, he is the structured one who always thinks ahead and has multiple plans.
The third attempt is almost a complete success, but only one out of three of the microphones they planted in the office worked. Hunt and Liddy are given orders to break-in a fourth time. Instead of going to Paris on a family vacation with his family, Hunt decides to stay and attempt another break-in, even though he told Liddy he was done with the whole operation. They fail again, and Hunt gives up; however, Liddy stays persistent and gets Hunt’s accomplices to do it for them. Baldwin alerts Hunt and Liddy that cops are in the Watergate Office with the team Hunt and Liddy sent in. Hunt, Liddy, and Baldwin pack up all their surveillance equipment and any evidence they could’ve potentially left behind. The team gets arrested while Hunt, Liddy, and Baldwin get away unscathed. Liddy refers to the team by calling them Cubans and says that the Cubans better keep their mouth shut. This reiterates the fact that to Hunt, the team is his friend, but to Liddy, they’re just a group of Cubans.
Rating: 5/10