Where does Coltrane’s crew buy such wonderful masks? In Episode 2 of Nemesis, they robbed three jewelry stores while wearing what looked like collapsed disco ball balaclavas on their heads. Here in Episode 3, while returning the Patek Phillippe to its original owner, and just for a little menacing emphasis, they wear masks emblazoned with the guy’s own face. 

Giving back the pricey watch by force gets it out of the police department spotlight. If the mansion owner from Episode 1 calls it a “misplaced family heirloom,” nothing more, nothing less, they can’t continue an investigation into how and why it was stolen. It keeps the heat off Coltrane’s crew. And with the whole weird masks thing, it is also an effective fear tactic. We’re seeing more and more examples of this, how Trane seems to be designing the steps for new dances in his head. Whenever Isaiah Stiles gets close, he spins him away.

It’s the same with the investigation. Stiles had cops watching Stro, Deon, and Choi. But a quick Signal message between members of the crew – “Eyes up, clocked 12 on my crib” – and the detectives were instead led to their wives’ offices, their children’s schools, their own homes. This kind of opposition research was included in Charlie’s latest packet of intel for Coltrane. And he used it to send Stiles and his team a message. Don’t fuck with us, we know where you live. 

Isaiah has kept his promise to Candace, put on the new black suit she bought him, and appeared at the gallery for the Baldwin Hills charity gala. He doesn’t necessarily dig that Malik Jacobs (Jeff Pierre), the district attorney of Los Angeles and his college competition for Candace’s affections, is receiving an award for Black excellence. But he grins and lets slide Malik’s comments like “You want all the results but only half the work.” (It’s good to keep the DA in his corner, no matter how much they hated each other at USC.) What Stiles has less patience for at the event is being introduced to his work nemesis, the guy who shot his old partner, by his own wife. “I want you to meet my friend from the planning committee and her husband,” Candace says to Isaiah, and Ebony turns around with Coltrane. Worlds collide!

At this point, neither Candace nor Ebony have any idea that Isaiah and Coltrane are circling each other. The men don’t let on, either, and instead repair to the bar, where Trane buys them both double Añejos. (To Isaiah’s annoyance, Trane also says Wilder Holdings is the event’s key sponsor.) It’s a war of words, though no one’s pulling triggers on anything specific. Coltrane waxes about being like Prometheus, “bringer of fire,” and how a straight arrow detective like Stiles is washed because he’s just a rule obeyer. A real man, Trane says, follows his own code, which as a line sounds lifted straight from his criminal father’s journals. (Ella, Coltrane’s sister, told us about those last episode.) It’s a great scene for all the swirling danger it suggests, just out of frame from cop and robber. It also ends with Stiles getting the upper hand, because he saves Trane’s tequila tumbler with its fresh set of prints. 

We have said that Charlie is Coltrane’s boss in this crime life. Ebony’s older sister has the leakers inside the police department, all of the crucial on-the-job intelligence, and underworld contacts for fences. But as it turns out, Charlie has a boss, too. At a rooftop lunch meeting with Andrei (Shahar Isaac), an Armenian gangster in love with designer drugs, he pitches her on a new job. High-risk, high-reward. Ten million in cash. Coltrane and his crew need to do it. She’s thinking no, what with cops making TV news pronouncements about catching them. And she considers her sister, who really wants to cash out of all this criming. But Andrei threatens Charlie, and with a snap of his fingers, every other restaurant guest stands up and walks out. “When me and my family bring you a job, you work that shit like it’s your last job.” For all her confidence and bold leather shoulder pads, Charlie is shaken by the meeting with Andrei.

Outside the charity ball, Isaiah is prepared to follow Coltrane wherever he goes next. With the fingerprints from the glass, he is convinced he can link him to trace DNA evidence recovered from the jewelry heist. But again, Trane is two steps ahead. Dancing his own steps. He never even goes home, and instead tells Ebony about the Stiles cop connection. He has her call Charlie. And he says he’ll take the ten-million-dollar heist. “I thought we were too hot, but now that I talked to him, this is the time for us to do one more big job, then start the next chapter of our motherfucking lives.” 

And there is one more big reason why for Coltrane and Ebony, the juice is worth the squeeze. If they pull off this biggest and most dangerous of jobs, it could finally provide the financial stake to move them completely into a legitimate ledger. But a payday in the millions will also buy a whole lot of furniture for a nursery. Ebony is pregnant.

Cops & Robbers for Episode 3 of Nemesis (“Têt-à-Têt”):

• Talk about a mood setter. As Coltrane cases his next target, Episode 3 of Nemesis closes with “Let God Sort Em Out/Chandeliers” by Clipse, Nas, Pusha T & Malice.

• While Isaiah is re-obsessed over his case against Trane, he’s dismayed to see Malik Jacobs drive Candace home. No wonder Stiles is still stuck watching Martin reruns in the garage cottage.

• We also learn that while Isaiah and Candace live in Baldwin Hills, Coltrane and Ebony live in View Park. This ends up being a status play between Trane and Isaiah. But what about the other house this episode mentions? Charlie says she purchased a brand new home for Ebony, in a gated community with ocean views. Trane isn’t mentioned. “I want you to have it, just in case. You need a plan, and a man is not a plan.”

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.