Caught up to ep 6 of Great Pretender this morning. Have to say the show is still fun and I love Abby, but I'm getting a little tired of the "Laurent had everyone in his pocket" twist. Granted this is a show about con-artists but not only is it getting repetitive, it just seems like the show is kind of shooting itself in the foot by presenting emotionally sincere moments (like Edamura finally resolving to leave a life of crime and find happiness in an honest job) only to immediately undercut them by revealing he was just playing to Laurent's tune the whole time.

At this point it almost feels like Edamura is in an abusive relationship with Laurent, where he continually tries to get away from this guy he knows is bad for him but keeps getting dragged back in. Heck, Laurent's machinations this episode was basically textbook gaslighting, since he convinces Edamura to doubt pretty much his whole life over the last four months (thinking he was working his way up in an honest job when he was just getting secretly recruited by Laurent to have skills that look passably enough like a real mechanic's) to get Edamura to join him again. That's the kind of thing that can give someone a mental disorder.

The show seemingly wants us to view Laurent as a loveable rogue type character, but honestly he feels more like a weird creep, and I don't get why he's even so obsessed with Edamura in the first place. I hope somewhere along the line we get a genuinely honest character who if not beats Laurent at least wipes that smug smirk off his face for a while.