We wrapped up last week’s episode The sympathizer about a possible murder. But before Captain (Hoa Xunde) and Bon (Fred Nguyen Khan) kill Major Oahn (Phanxinê), they need to double-check a few things. Does the General (Toan Le) still want Major dead? Yeah, duh. The bigger question, however, is how Bon and Captain plan to commit murder without leaving any trace.
Captain commits an armed robbery, but Bon shrugs it off. Bon has to admit something: he wasn’t just a paratrooper in the war. He was actually in the F-6 program – which specialized in killing and torture – and never told Man (Don Nguyen) or Captain. The Captain is scared to hear this, but he is also relieved that he and Man are not the only ones harboring secrets.
But before they can kill Major, Captain and Man must come up with a solid plan that they can both agree on. The pair stalk the Major at work, where his wife visits him with their new twin babies Spinach (named after Popeye) and Broccoli (named after…literally just the vegetable). This really gives Captain a terrible feeling. He kills this new dad to cover his own ass. Nevertheless, Bon and Captain persist and visit the Major’s house to plan how they will sneak in and carry out the murder. They are caught scheming by the Major’s mother (Kieu Chinh), who invites them for tea and demands that they attend her upcoming birthday gala.
Later in the week, Captain realizes he’s being followed by Claude (Robert Downey Jr.), who totes around a small dog and poses as the “neighborhood homosexual” to keep his CIA agent secret. Claude says that if Bon and Captain are going to kill Major, they need proof beforehand. The captain agrees – and also cringes when Claude forces him to pick up his dog’s poop with a handkerchief.
There’s no big rush to kill Major anyway, since Man hasn’t responded to coded letters from Captain, who wants approval. Fortunately, Captain finds something he can use as evidence against Major. Major has met shady characters and worked on a small export company that sends expired American candy to Vietnam at low prices. The major hopes this will strengthen the Saigon market and destabilize the communist economy.
Captain says he wants to get in on the business, so the pair start working together. Major has really gone all in for his American dream, excited to celebrate the 4th of July. He buys Captain a bumper sticker with the American flag and encourages his new colleague to embrace American tradition; otherwise Captain will be stuck between two worlds forever. They have to assimilate.
Captain takes Sofia (Sandra Oh) – who is now officially his girlfriend – to the Major’s mother’s gala, which is being hosted by the General. The General already believes that Major is out to get him, having hired the General’s daughter (Vy Le) to perform an inappropriate series of songs to stir things up. Standing next to the stage is SoCal Congressman Ned Godwin (also Downey Jr.), who gives a speech in an attempt to impress the Vietnamese audience. “Communism never wins,” he shouts. “Capitalism will triumph!”
The idea of Independence Day greatly excites Captain, who suggests to Bon that the fireworks would be the perfect sound distraction against a gunshot. So on July 4, Captain and Bon staked out the Major’s house. Although the captain really struggles to kill the major, he eventually gets the job done with Bon’s help. It’s an epic fight scene, with Captain trying his best not to cry while the Major stumbles around with a gunshot wound to his hip. As if that weren’t traumatizing enough, when the Captain calls to tell General the news, the General asks the Captain to prepare a eulogy for Major’s funeral.
Captain finally gets word from Man. “Is it necessary?” The human asks, although Captain now thinks about this in the past tense: “Was it necessary?” The major’s death reminds Captain of the torture and murder of a communist ally of his in Vietnam more than a year ago. He is dealing with a trauma that he can no longer simply ignore.
Claude approaches Captain after the Major’s funeral, looking for the evidence Captain found. Although Captain has nothing but the illegal candy business, Claude says he actually found something: secret messages written on rice paper. ‘I think he suspects me. Should I kill him?’ reads one newspaper. These messages are the letters sent by Captain to Man, intercepted by the Major. Fortunately, Claude reads these as if the Major sent them. Captain will live to see another day.
Claude beams at their success and invites Captain to dinner with his friends. His friends all look the same – that’s because they’re all white menaces played by Robert Downey Jr., including Claude, Ned Godwin, Professor Hammer and a newcomer, film director Niko. Niko, who introduces himself by calling Captain a slur, wants to cast Captain in his upcoming adaptation of Hamlet set during the Vietnam War. This roundtable of racist RDJs is so disturbing – perhaps scarier than any horror movie.
This dinner, followed by a vaudeville-like performance by Claude with a naked woman, causes Captain a lot of stress. The Hamlet script reminds him of his parents. In America, everything is becoming too much to handle. Captain must break free from this two-sided life before he collapses under the weight of his identity.