ABC is off to a quick start with the debut of The Company You Keep, and the second episode continued to add intrigue to the Milo Ventimiglia and Catherine Haena Kim drama. There’s a natural interest in a narrative that places a con man and an undercover CIA agent in a romance where neither of them knows what the other does. After a strong start with its pilot episode, The Company You Keep didn’t miss a beat in adding more layers to this continually complicated relationship. While the first episode was set to establish these two characters and get them all in one place, the second installment sought to explain why this won’t be an easy journey for the two if they truly want to explore this relationship. With obstacles at every corner and a whole other private life from the other, the second episode demonstrated just how difficult the future of Charlie and Emma being together will be moving forward.

Emma’s Hesitancy to Get Back into a Relationship

Catherine Haena Kim as Emma in Season 1 Episode 2 of The Company You Keep
Image via ABC

Among the first scenes of Episode 2, Emma is seen talking with a coworker who congratulates her for dating “her rebound.” It’s at this moment that she begins to question whether her time with Charlie has been just that or if there’s something more, a theme that carries throughout the episode. Later on, another hiccup emerges when that same coworker informs her that once she goes on a second date with Charlie she has to report an external contact form and update her relationship status with the CIA. Again, the viewers see Emma dealing with this inner conflict, “It’s not a relationship… I don’t know what it is.” She eventually calls it a rebound in that same phone call, signifying that she’s putting some distance between her and Charlie as she begins to think about how this could really work once he starts asking about her job and family and that she’d be unable to ever be herself around him.

After seeing these two exude so much passion within the first half of the pilot, it makes sense that they’d eventually come back to reality as they figure out how they can make this work around their secretive lives. However, it doesn’t sting any less for the viewers who want to see these two follow through with their emotions. Emma isn’t the only one who put up some barriers early in this relationship as Charlie finds himself having a tougher time making this work, namely because of outside forces.

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Charlie’s Got an Expensive Problem to Fix

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Image via ABC

When it comes to what’s holding Charlie back, it’s made evident in this episode that obtaining the $10 million to pay back the drug syndicate led by Daphne (Felisha Terrell). Charlie and his family attempt to steal a necklace at an auction before eventually going to the necklace owner’s house and swiping it there, eventually extorting $500,000 to put a small dent in the debt. If the Nicoletti’s are only going to be able to get chunks at a time like this, it’s going to be a long time before Charlie has time to really pay attention to Emma. His struggles with time management is seen in this episode as he shows up late to a date, deals with trying to balance this relationship through texting while on a job, and struggles to really make a non-physical connection in the moments they do have together, likely because his mind is elsewhere.

Between Emma’s back-and-forth in her head about whether this is just a rebound or not and Charlie’s financial troubles, their relationship takes a back seat in Episode 2. The two have a few moments in this episode but only by way of sexual connection – both times in Charlie’s car – so it’s clear there’s something holding each person back. Emma even tells him after their second go-around that they don’t need to rush to put a label on this. As happened in the first episode with Charlie’s proclamation to her, one of the final moments see them hashing out what transpired with their awkward meetings earlier with Emma explaining that she’s not good at letting people in, “It feels like you can see through me and that’s scary.” It’s this one line that perfectly sums up what the viewers just saw unfold in the second episode, and explains why Emma and Charlie hit a speed bump after coming out of the gate so strongly. There are real feelings forming in this pair and each of them is aware of it, but they each understand how difficult and maybe devastating this would be for the other side of their life that the other is unaware about.

Will Things Get Better or Worse in the Interim?

Milo Ventimiglia as Charlie Nicoletti and Catherine Haena Kim as Emma Hill in Season 1 of The Company You Keep
Image via ABC

What this show is doing with its two leads is setting the stage for the eventual big reveal between Charlie and Emma. Both episodes have already exhibited how close they are to stumbling across one another during one of Charlie’s schemes, the latest seeing the two in Daphne’s room at the same time but for different reasons. There’s only so long before their private lives cost paths and when they do, it’s going to make for a fascinating storyline. How long this will go on, though, remains to be seen, but it’s likely to come at some point in the first season.

The most interesting part of this is how it’s all revealed because as this episode alluded to, Emma’s walls are slowly coming down. Her brother, David (Tim Chiou), had never been privy to his sister’s career until this episode when she explained to him what she really does after he asks for her help in his run for Senate re-elect. With Emma taking one step closer to opening her true self to those closest to her, the show is laying the seeds for what may ultimately come when these either one of these two or both of them realize there’s no way this relationship can ever blossom without being honest to the other.

The Company You Keep airs on Sunday nights on ABC and is available to stream on Hulu.