Oliver's Proposal

Minion approaches Aria and knows her name. He confirms that she’s there to meet Charlie and motions for her to follow him, like he’s going to take her to him. And that’s an nasty scar there on your neck. Did you, perhaps, get sprayed with acid while trying to kill someone?

Oliver is running, frantic with trying to stop Charlie and Aria from meeting. Aria walks away with Minion just as Charlie arrives. Charlie is frustrated, but spots the 2 cups of coffee sitting on the bench, so he knows that she was just there. He looks around for Aria. Wow, this is a huge mall. Like 4 stories tall.

Aria and Minion arrive at a car and Minion tells her to please get in. Charlie is waiting. She asks where they’re going. His answer isn’t creepy or sinister at all. Minion answers that it’s somewhere quiet. She gets a call from Charlie, who demands to know where she is. It's already five minutes after. She realizes that the smiling, creepy man is *not* from Charlie. She tells Charlie that he’s called the wrong person and hangs up on him, which -- of course -- annoys him. She tells Minion that they should go and starts to climb into the car. Minion walks around and gets into the driver’s seat, but Aria takes off running instead. Although why she didn’t just run instead of first slamming the door to alert Minion, I don’t know. He gets out and chases after her.

Charlie angrily wonders what he’s supposed to think of this scenario? Luca suggests that she might just be toying with him. When Charlie asks what he means, Luca says, “You know, when you look at rich people sometimes, you just dislike them.” Charlie asks if Luca is one of those people who has this hate towards him? Luca swallows and says ‘no.’ Charlie wants to know why Luca hesitated.

Aria runs inside the mall and luckily comes across two security guards. Minion has to pull back.

The more they wait, the more agitated that Charlie gets. He calls Aria again and asks what she’s doing right now. Sounding like she’s running hard – Aria tells him not to move! She’ll be there in a minute! And hangs up on him. As she approaches where Charlie is waiting, Oliver hurries down the escalator to stop them from meeting.

A woman walks by who reminds Charlie of his mother – complete with ruby and diamond encrusted pendant. About to cry, Charlie takes off after the woman. Aria hears Luca yell after him and goes to follow. Charlie loses the woman in the parking garage, but gets the keys from Luca and takes off in the car after her. Aria sees him drive by and runs some more. Oliver gets into his own car.

Charlie drives – looking like a madman – after his mother. He chugs some more water. Aria is following him in a taxi – even though she doesn’t have enough money to pay for it. Lots of dramatic driving. Oliver is forced to stop because of a red light. Crazy dangerous driving from Charlie. I mean, the accident would have involved a lorry (box truck) and a semi. More water drinking. The license plate changes from 34 LOC 3377 (34A 3377) to 48 LOC 8899 (48Z 8899). Charlie shakes his head and rubs his eyes. It’s a different license plate.

Memory of Doc telling him about involuntary memory. Memories can come without voluntary recall. The problem is that old memories can get distorted. What he means is: the truth Charlie believed could not be real. Pictures of Charlie with his mom. This looks like a murder board, like they use to figure out who murderers are. One next to an article: with the headline: Famous Violinist Suicide. Aw, his Mother was well known. And they called what didn’t look like an accident in the flashback, a suicide. Not good. Another headline talks about C.mother’s car being found by the lake where she tragically died. And there’s a picture of young, smiling Charlie with his mother next to the car with a license plate LOC 4 Ga 3377 (AB 4 Z 3377). Which jeoul roughly translates to scales, or balance, and ga translates as the. I’m thinking there’s going to be a deeper meaning there.

Charlie decides to speed up so he can see the driver. As he drives by, it’s not even a woman in the car, but a guy with a ball cap. Charlie reels and suddenly stops his car in the middle of the street. The car behind him isn’t paying attention and rear-ends him. Luckily he was wearing his seatbelt. His airbag does not deploy. His spinning car almost gets hit by the semi and he ends up crashing into a fire hydrant. As he’s barely conscious, he wonders who’s doing this, as we see one of the staff at the house drugging his water. As he loses consciousness, he sees Aria’s face. Which doesn’t help things.

Memory of running with his mother and being chased by a herd of men – men who look like the ones from Charlie’s previous flashback. Charlie’s mother is wearing the pendant. It falls off and Charlie stops to get it. When he starts to run again, he trips and falls and ends up in the lake. C.mother runs after him and pushes him toward the surface so that he won’t drown. In doing so, she sacrifices herself. Wow, that made me tear up a bit.

Sitting next to Charlie in the hospital, Aria wonders what kind of dream he’s having, since he’s twitching and thrashing slightly. He grabs her hand tightly, even though he’s still asleep. She asks if he’s pretending to be asleep but he doesn’t react when she waves her hand in front of his face. She asks about her money, even though she knows it’s not the right time to ask since he was just in an accident. She tells him that if he feels awkward, she can just step out and he can just put it on the table. She won't talk about yesterday. He releases her hand – but I think it’s because the dream’s over. She tells him that she’s leaving for coffee and he better not try to take off. She pauses and tucks him in. As she looks at him, she says that he looks like a nice person.

Out at the coffee machine, she gets wrist grabbed by Oliver. Before she can protest, he holds up her money roll and says that he has what she wants. He can make her dreams come true. They should make a deal, Aria. I would be freaking out that someone I’ve never met before knows my name. She pulls at her wrist to free it, but Oliver’s got it tight. He tells her that she’ll get a lot of money. Money she can't even imagine. She asks who he is and he replies – a little psycho eyes going himself – that who is not important, but how. She tells him that she’s going to scream. He tells her to go ahead, but if she was going to do it, she would have done it earlier. He releases her wrist and says that with one deal, the rest of her life can change. What would she do, Aria?

Aria is considering it. Oliver tells her that the son of SJ’s CEO is getting married soon. And since she knows that the CEO’s son is Charlie, she knows that that’s who Oliver is talking about. She’s looking at pictures of Emma and Charlie. A lot of money is at hand. There's no reason to reject it, right? She looks at him and asks what happens to Emma, if she’s being Emma. Oliver says that Emma will die soon. He actually looks like that bothers him. Aria can’t believe that he wants to murder someone. He clarifies that it’s not like that. There was an accident. Aria gasps at the thought.

Oliver tells her that she can take time to think if she wants, but she shouldn't agonize over it too much. Just follow the very first thought she had after she heard his proposal. A pause and then Aria shakes her head. She stands and holds out the pictures to Oliver, saying that she doesn’t need time to think. She won't do it. No, she can't do it. Besides, this lady has a family too. How would she fool them? And if she’s caught, won't she go to prison? Oliver says that she won’t necessarily be caught. Aria isn’t persuaded and demands her money. Oliver holds up the money and says that it’s not hers but the Loan Shark’s money. He mentions how children carry on their parent's lives and burdens. Does she want to live like her parents the rest of her life? She grabs the roll of cash and tells him that she’s not going to do it, so don't follow her from now on. She’ll pretend they didn't have this talk.