Ballers: “Heads Will Roll” — July 12, 2015
Ballers HBO: Heads Will Roll
Last week on Ballers, a trip on the high seas made for some serious scandal and more than a bit of drama. The boat’s still rockin this week says Special Contributor Ralph S., who takes the latest episode out for a spin.
We find Spencer Strasmore waking up from another dream which actually looks more like a flashback. It appears to be the same dream he had in the first episode of Ballers in which he relives an extremely brutal hit; the short sequence leaves you wondering if the other guy ever got up in real life cause he was just sprawled out in the dream.
Spencer wakes up to find Tracy Leggett getting dressed for work, guess they’re an item again. She mentions that she knows about Spencer’s dream as well because of the way he tossed, turned and shook the bed. Tracy sees that Spencer is having problems and calls him on it. She suggests that he go see a neurologist and he agrees — after she has to ‘persuade’ him by saying that if he doesn’t see the doctor she will break the story that Ricky Jerret has being doing the horizontal mambo with his teammate Alonzo’s mom.
At the doctor’s office, after some conversation about some of the hits that Spencer has taken on the field, the neurologist suggests that Spencer have an MRI done to see if he has any concussive damage to his brain. Spencer reluctantly agrees but just before it’s his turn to get his frontal lobe radiated his phone rings. It seems there’s yet another issue that has come up involving his favorite high-profile client. The MRI will have to wait.
The new day also finds Joe Krutel waking up as well — on a table at his boss’s multi-million dollar yacht after the party he and Spencer threw there the night before. With the yacht a mess, the captain says that Joe and his friends have to vacate the premises because Anderson wants to take the family out for an afternoon cruise. Joe’s friends, two pretty young women left over from last night, they tell him that they have plans of their own that include the yacht. They’ve invited friends to come onboard and they too want to cruise the day away. Another bunch of pretty young women arrive with two professional ball players, Victor Cruz and Lamar Wesley, in tow. Recognizing the lucrative opportunity that has been presented to him, Joe orders the captain to fire up the old tub and get underway. When the captain protests, mentioning Anderson, Joe slaps a big wad of cash into the guy’s hand and tells him, “I don’t give a shit if Somali pirates have seized the fuckin’ boat, just do as I say.” And with that they’re off. After what appears to be a full morning of boating, bikinis, bare asses and financial advice, the boats pulls back into the dock and we find Old Man Anderson and his family waiting on shore in a state of high agitation. Joe tries to break the ice with his boss by rolling off the boat with Victor Cruz and presenting him and a new potential client. Yeah, guess we’ll find out how well that went over in episodes to come.
So it seems that things may be calming down for our man Ricky. After what appears to be a good day on the practice field Ricky and Alonzo Cooley (Antoine Harris) have a little chat where Ricky apologizes to Alonzo about sexin’ it up with Alonzo’s mom, Kara. Alonzo assures Ricky that it’s all good and that there are no hard feelings. The Dolphins’ general manager, Larry Seifert, approaches Ricky about how things are going and Ricky tells him it’s all cool. Seifert tells Ricky to come talk to him anytime a problem arises. We don’t have to wait long for a problem to arise as Ricky finds that his white Ferrari is missing. One guess as to who’s behind the car getting ‘jacked’. Alonzo rides by and gives Ricky the finger and then drives off. So Ricky finds himself in Seifert’s office quite a bit sooner than expected. While not going into great detail about the problem, Ricky does let on to Seifert that he and Alonzo have some issues. Seifert advises Ricky to try out a mantra to help control his rage. Take deep breaths, he tells Ricky, and keep repeating, “I am bigger than my problems”. It seems to help. Ricky leaves Seifert’s office feeling cool, calm and collected and with the location of his Ferrari. When he pulls up to the vacant lot where the car is, Ricky finds that his Ferrari’s up on blocks — no tires. As the scene ends we’re not sure that this is gonna be a problem that Ricky can be bigger then. When you fuck with a man’s ride, especially a Ferrari, retribution is to be expected.
It seems that life is also dealing Charles Greane some complicated cards these days. He’s having breakfast with his wife Julie and her sister when his phone blows up with a bunch of text messages. It seems that Charles may have himself a sexy stalker, a busty beauty with a fine, brown frame named Sammi Seems she saw him at the party and wants to get to know him better. She’s even sending him sexting photos of her various body parts as an enticement while he’s at the breakfast table. Trying to be cool Charles kisses his wife goodbye and leaves for work in a hurry. On the phone at work, Charles tells Ricky about what’s going on and adds that he has no intention of cheating on his wife, who he knows has an instinct about these things. Ricky not only tells Charles that he should go do some hangin’ and bangin’ with this babe but that he, Ricky, is the one who gave her Charles’ phone number after Charles left the party. Ain’t Ricky just the definition of a true friend. Charles gives in and calls Sammi on the phone but then wastes no time in telling her that he’s married. She responds by saying that he should be able to have friends. She thens sends him another photo and tells him she’s only five miles away and all alone except for her vibrator that she’s just renamed ‘Chuck’. When Charles tells her he can’t take her up on her offer she replies, “Once a player, always a player.” Charles asks her not to call him again and hangs up.In the drive home, you can just see that Charles is mulling the situation over in his mind. He slows down as he rolls up to his house and sees Julie unloading groceries from the car. Apparently she doesn’t see him and he speeds up and drives on by. This should make for some tense situations later on, sense it seems that Charles is not the kind who can hide a guilty conscience.
Jason Antolotti has a sit down with his client Vernon Littlefield, Spencer and Vernon’s ever-present counselari Reggie who’s now sporting a neck brace after his little tiff with Spencer at the party — talk about dramatic effect. Superagent Jason lays out the Cowboys first offer, but says he wants to get Vernon a better deal. Vernon and Reggie counter by saying that they have plans for Vernon’s money that includes getting Vernon’s mom a dream house and helping out their community by financing a wing for the children’s hospital. Reggie then pulls out their final number, $101 million. Spencer laughs and implies that Reggie’s delusional. Reggie lays down an ultimatum, get Vernon this deal or they’ll find somebody who can. After a contentious phone conversation with the Cowboys’ representative, Hal, Jason manages to get what he thinks is a very good deal for Vernon, $71 million over five years but Vernon and Reggie aren’t having it. When Jason tells Spencer this Spencer says he’ll handle Vernon, which he does by reading Vernon and Reggie the riot act. When Reggie says that they should be able to get even more money, Spencer blows him off and tells Vernon that if he gets hurt he won’t get a red cent. Vernon declares that he won’t get hurt and Spencer just says that he’s heard that before. When Vernon won’t agree to reconsider his terms Spencer turns his back on him. Telling Vernon that he’s making a mistake and saying that once Vernon repays him the $300,000 they are done, Spencer walks off into the night.
So there we have it. Ricky’s about to blow up, Charles is about to screw up, and Spencer’s definitely fed up. Round five is coming up!
Ballers airs Sundays at 10 pm on HBO
