Boss Recap: Episode 6 - "Spit"
By Michele Lenni in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 28, 2011 5:20PM
image via Starz website
The episode begins with Kane tapping one of his past confidants, a former officer in the Chicago Police Department, to do his bidding. They manage to get leverage on Dr. Gabriel Reyes using her brother's undocumented brutal murder of a young girl. As a result Dr. Reyes holds a second press conference recanting her statement where she implicated Kane as an accomplice in redacting vital information in her report where she directly linked the dumping of trichloroethylene at the O'Hare Airport expansion site and its direct relation to the cancer-ridden children of Bensenville. When Kane and Dr. Reyes retreat to closed doors after the press conference she promptly spits in his face.
As all of this is happening subplots to squash the reign of Mayor Kane begin to take flight. Alderman Ross meets with Kane's top adviser Ezra Stone to inform him of the intent to start impeachment proceedings. Ross notes that if Kane announces he will not start a campaign to run for another term they will not purse impeachment. However, in the wake of Dr. Reyes' second statement to the press this committee of Chicago Aldermen and fresh-faced gubernatorial candidate Ben Zajac decide they cannot pursue impeachment.
Instead Zajac agrees to withdraw from his candidacy for governor and begin a race against Kane for mayor, which he plans to announce in a week's time in front of City Hall. The only person in Kane's realm to know of Zajac's intentions is his mistress and Kane's aide Kitty O'Neil. In knowing this secret and dealing with the class action lawsuit from those who lay ill due to the chemical dumping in Bensenville, she begins to have serious doubts about Kane, his ethics and her servitude in his kingdom.
Kane does take a brief break from dealing with the scandal to visit his daughter Hannah Kane at the clinic where she works. It is there that he notices her close relationship with Darius, her drug-dealing boyfriend. Although Kane is not aware of Daruis' career choice he has a sense that he is not exactly an upstanding citizen. Kane reminds Hannah that he cannot, especially during a scandal, be compromised in any way. Darius is not exactly elated that Kane now has an inkling about their relationship, either. When Hannah goes to visit him on his turf he lets her know about feelings, during which a group of men chase both of them down in an all-out, drag-down shoot out. Both Darius and Hannah remain unharmed, and to celebrate their survival they fornicate in a stranger's home.
One member of the secret committee to destroy Kane that questions the validity of dethroning Kane is Alderman Mata. Mata meets in secret with Alderman Ross, the man who seems to be at the helm of the plan to dethrone Kane, and tells him of his doubts. All the while one of Kane's henchman is photographing their secret meeting. As a result of Mata's indecision Ross meets with Mata's abused right-hand man Ruiz, a construction contractor that has benefited from Mata's connections several times over. When Ross tells Ruiz that he will no longer have Mata's influence at his disposal he buries Mata alive quite literally in a bed of cement at one of his construction sites.
In order to help her husband Kane's wife Meredith arranges a meeting with one of her connections without Kane's knowledge. Kane walks into the meeting in their home very surprised and after slaps her across the face for going behind his back. It is in this moment she decides that her allegiance to her husband will no longer stand. Meredith meets with soon-to-be-former gubernatorial candidate Zajac and tells him that she will do what she can to insure Zajac becomes Chicago's new mayor.