House of Lies – The Runner Stumbles

• Title: House of Lies – The Runner Stumbles
• tv.com: link

Just how far Marty (Don Cheadle) will go for a client is put to the test when he uncovers evidence of U.S National Bank’s, Galweather Stern’s newest high profile client, role in a criminal cover-up of racial discrimination of ghetto loans aimed exclusively at non-white clients. With the discovery Marty finally understands why the boss’ (Michael McDonald) second in command (Lisa Edelstein) pushed so hard for Marty to get their business, even over the objections of Marty’s new boss (Bess Armstrong).

In the episode’s B-story Jeannie (Kristen Bell) goes into panic damage control mode with the Pod when an ex-boyfriend begins posts the couple’s poorly-shot sex tape online. Although initially considered that her teammates will never let the matter rest, Jeannie becomes even angrier with how quickly they loose interest, especially with how happy they were to discover the existence of the tape in the first place.

Using the circumstances to blackmail the head of U.S. National into funding Marty’s new agency, Marty agrees to stay on the account and sets the Pod into searching for loopholes and a fall guy to keep the blame off of Marty’s new business partner. With the client over a barrel and giving Marty the opportunity to say fuck you to Galweather, all he has to do is handle the press conference, lie through his teeth and praise his new business partner’s stance on racial equality and sell another piece of his soul.

Marty uses the situation to his advantage and gets the initial chunk of financing to begin his own firm, but Jeannie is concerned over the lasting effects of a lie so big Marty struggled to sell it at the press conference. The title of the episode comes from as much Marty’s choice as the odd note on which the episode ends as a frustrated Marty is pulled over by two police offers for jogging while black and beaten after calling them on it. This sequence is obviously laying groundwork for future episodes, but it comes out of nowhere (which I’m sure was the point) and felt out of place here.