“I’m not saying it is the truth, I’m saying that is how the world sees it. Women like us are judged in a way that men never are. I know it’s a double-standard – let’s fucking use that double standard.” This is Serena Byrne in a meeting with Carla about strategy, as the arbitration hearing for the Duval-Henderson divorce nears. Serena is ever more pregnant, and Carla married Morgan as a single mother to Gabriel, now 16. Society holds the fact of these women’s respective careers against them, that they would dare wish to also be moms, something that same society never feels like asking a father, which they will use this as their arbitration argument. Morgan wasn’t a dad to Gabriel when they married, but in time, and while Carla was away for her film work, he became one to his stepson. Make the appointed arbitrator see this, and Taylor & Byrne gets the prenuptial agreement nullified over Gabriel’s well-being.
It’s a tactic that exposes and pushes against societal pressures, but it’s fair to ask where Gabriel actually exists within it. Last time on War on HBO, Carla had to be reminded of her son’s actual age by her assistant. And when she shows up at Gabriel’s elite prep school to take him for cheesecake, he cuts through her precocious niceties with a teen’s cruel foresight. “Why don’t you just tell me what you brought me here to tell me?” That she and Morgan are divorcing. That someone must have cheated. And she has no real answer for his anger, because she knows she’s been absent.
Gabe — that’s what Morgan calls him; they do seem to have a connection — decides he has his own role to play in this saga. In London, he barges into Cathcarts and confronts his stepdad, who tries to deflect but ultimately admits his infidelity. And feeling forgotten, like a pawn for his rich parents, Gabriel indulges in the act-out behavior of a rich child. He meets up with a wealthy wasteoid pal, Thibault (Benjamin Robinson), whose everyday is vast mansions, no supervision, yelling “Who gives a fuck?!” and blowing lines of MDMA. Gabe’s friend is also chock full of manosphere soundbites. Thibault –—that name! — is like the kids from The Shards gone end-of-days 21st century. “Marriage is a con,” Thibault declares; “My dad’s getting AI to design me an apocalypse bunker in New Zealand.”
It’s just a party Gabriel shouldn’t have been at. Typical teen behavior. But he inserts himself into the arbitration anyway. The hearing takes place at Taylor & Byrne, with the principals and legal teams from both sides present, and Serena opens with the argument she pitched to Carla. An argument, obviously, Cathcarts was prepared for, since their spy Johnny Warren told them all about it.
The bickering over the prenup’s validity is about to go Cathcarts’ way for yet another win when Morgan’s late-onset fatherhood reveals itself. He’s just finished bitterly arguing with Carla across the conference room table — “You’ve weaponized him!” — when Gabriel himself bangs on the glass — “You’re the one who cheated!” — and Morgan bolts out of the meeting to openly scold his stepson. Get back to your elite prep school, get back to your studies, if you don’t your headmaster will give me updates, etc. Parenting shit while Carla stays silent. The arbitration lawyer has a stern face as everyone in the room turns to her. “If you’re not his father,” she says, “You’re doing a mighty good impression.”
The prenuptial agreement has been invalidated in the face of this, the indication that Morgan actually might care more for Gabriel than Carla. This is going to lead down a dark trail of moneygrabbing, because Morgan immediately calls his Zephyr people to start moving his cash to where Carla can’t get at it. But at the same time, we’re catching all kinds of vibes surfacing between her and Johnny. There was a bit of this last episode, as well, their making eyes. But this time around, War makes it plain. Carla likes the idea of hurting Morgan — of getting her own win — by fucking someone and sending her cheating husband the photos. And that someone could very well be the lawyer/secret mole.
When Carla hears about Johnny’s girlfriend Bella and her social-climbing plans to attend a black tie dinner, she offers to purchase the tuxedo he does not own. (He lights her cigarette, notices her enormous ring.) And when Carla calls him for help with locating Gabriel, he immediately leaves Bella’s side, right on the cusp of the event’s doorstep, to drive around London looking for Thibault’s manse. As Carla and her son drive off in their chauffeured vehicle, Johnny takes the bus back to Bella’s flat, where he apologizes profusely for leaving her alone. Their makeup sex is hot, up against a pillar. But the entire time, Johnny the spy is thinking about Carla the actress.
Discovery for War Season 1 Episode 3 (“Chip off the Block”):
- “See you later, wankers.” Johnny’s running competition with the self-described menials out in the Taylor & Byrne bullpen — Molly Giordano (Emma Laird) and Saeed Masood (Shaheen Jafargholi) — is funny, catty, and bound to eventually blow something up in the law office. Molly and Saeed are the ones with a glass cupped against the window; they are the ones observing and cataloging. Prediction: one of these thirsty training associates will uncover Johnny’s double-agent status.
- War jams for Ep 3: Thandii with “Give Me A Smile” and “Rule One” from Kojey Radical featuring Bawo.
- And in a cruel challenge, Morgan offers some silvery rich guy wrist salad to a business associate. His point is that once you’re crazy loaded like him, there is little the not-crazy-loaded won’t do, “if they can get a slice.” So what kind of watch costs a million bucks? We couldn’t make out the brand on Morgan’s wrist, but the MSRP on an RM 27-04 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal from Richard Mille is $1.5mil US.
Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.