The Preparation
Episode 2 of Inhuman Resources starts with Alain visiting Charles and discussing the potential candidates as they look through the current important employees in the company. They narrow it down to Florence Ancelin, Jean-Marie Gueneau, Clementine Haddad and Paul Cousin. Alain then meets with Albert Karminski who has experience with hostage taking situations as he used to work with the police. He lies and explains that he is writing a novel and wants to learn about it. Karminski agrees and they both agree on the sum of 25,000 euros. Next, Alain meets with Gregory to asks for a loan and vaguely explains that he needs the money to pay someone to get a job. Gregory is reluctant as it is illegal and tells him he would need collateral assets. However, Alain insists and suggests he becomes his guarantor. Gregory refuses then suggests that he should take a holiday. This angers Alain who head-butts him violently before leaving. Desperate, he visits Mathilde next to ask her for a loan and suggests that she gives him the money she and Gregory saved for their future mortgage. He spins the same lie about the job opportunity and promises to pay her back in 3 months as this is when they are looking to buy their place. She reluctantly accepts but he rushes her, knowing that Gregory is trying to reach her. Later in the day, he returns home to his wife and Mathilde who has now found out what he did to her husband. Nicole angrily confronts her husband about his actions but Alain tries to defend himself, mentioning how he had no other choice but to get the job. After paying Karminski, the latter comes to Alain’s flat to show him methods the hostage takers will take while Alexandre speaks to the directors and tells them that they will have to nominate a new person in charge of the Beauvais factory very soon as things are getting difficult. Meanwhile, Bertrand takes Alexandre to meet with the team who will be in charge of the hostage taking; Fontana at the head and his associates Yasmine and Antoine. They discuss the future plan and explain that they will set everything up the day before to make sure no one escape. Back home, Nicole finds out about the staged hostage taking and confronts Alain about it. He downplays it and tells her that it is not a big deal since it will get him the job, assuring her that it is for the best. The next day, Lucie confronts her father again about his behaviour and what he did in court and to Gregory. After finding out what the money is for, she tries to convince him that it is a bad idea and illegal given it’s using violence against employees. While meeting with Karminski again, Alain talks about using personal information against the candidates during the hostage taking. We then see Charles following Florence at night to a psychiatric clinic while Alain follows Clementine the next day, secretly meeting her lover. In the evening, Alain returns home and promises his wife that things will soon get back to normal. He then starts working on finding out who Clementine’s lover is. After seeking Charles’ help, they find out that he is Eric Martens who works for the rival company. While Alain meets with Karminski again, Nicole decides to talk to Charles as she is worried about her husband. He pretends to not really know anything about what Alain is doing and the money he had to pay to get the job. She returns home, shocked to find the two practicing with guns. Angry, she throws Karminski out and tells Alain it is getting out of hand. However, he tells her he is ready to do anything in his power to get the job and as he starts acting volatile again, she leaves the flat. Realizing that he is starting to lose his family, Alain first tries calling Nicole and claims that he will stop everything then tries contacting his daughters to no avail. In the evening, he speaks to Charles who still thinks things should go back to normal after the hostage taking and that he will be the most prepared out of all the recruiters. Alain receives a letter from his court case from Auto fix saying that three employees are now ready to testify against him. Suddenly, Olenska Zbikowski from the company comes to warn him that one of the recruiters, Constance Rivet, will be the one hired instead of him and that he has no chance as it is someone Bertrand is close to. He asks why they even bothered to ask him so she explains that they had to make sure they didn’t discriminate against his age. She in turn has been dismissed so she’s decided to warn all the candidates. The episode ends with a determined and even more desperate Alain calling Karminski, asking for a weapon. The second chapter of Inhuman Resources carries on building up the tension as we see the desperation and stress pushing Alain to the extreme. His character reminds me a little of Walter White in Breaking Bad as he is throwing away ethics and is set to take the criminal route to sort his life out and provide for his family. The episode also ends with a cliffhanger as Alain finds out that he has been played just like the other candidates. However, he has prepared a lot for the role and as we learn that he will probably head to the interview with a gun, it promises to be very thrilling and another edge-of-your-seat installment to follow.
