Goliath season 2, episode 5 recap: ‘Who’s Gabriel’

The last episode of Goliath left us on a cliffhanger: Will Roman do the right thing by turning on Tom and Danny and becoming a witness for Billy?

As the fifth episode of this season of Goliath begins, we’re treated to a story about a little boy and a little girl in Mexico. It’s accompanied by animation featuring child-like drawings.

The little boy and little girl were friends. When the little girl’s parents were gunned down, she went to live with the little boy in his family’s castle on a hill.

But the girl was still very sad about the loss of her parents so the boy gave her a toy to comfort her. The drawing of this toy looks exactly like the one we saw nestled in Marisol’s glove compartment at the end of episode four.

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One day, a mean boy took the girl’s toy away. So the little boy beat the other boy to a bloody pulp and got the toy back for the girl, making her feel safe with him.

When the girl grew up, she decided to move to the United States. She went to Los Angeles. But she kept the toy, which reminds her of the boy and still comforts her.

Back in live-action, the character played by David Cross is putting a bag of money in a locker in a locker room at the gym.

In a parking lot that night, Billy and Prosecutor Rashad are waiting for Roman. Roman is watching them from a distance in a parked car. He’s hesitant to get out. Then he gets a text message. He buckles up and drives away.

Later at a diner, Billy, Patty, and Agent Clayton are meeting. Billy wants to help compelling Roman to testify. Clayton says he can’t help because the situation has become part of a larger investigation. But if he comes across something that can help them, he’ll pass it along.

The next day at Marisol’s campaign headquarters in Goliath, Denise is volunteering at the front desk. A man with a hook for a hand comes in. It’s the man who works for Gabriel and kidnapped Tom from the gym a few episodes ago.

He says he’s there to speak to Marisol but doesn’t have an appointment. Marisol notices him from her office. She comes out to tell him she won’t speak to him without an appointment. He insists his boss needs him to talk to Marisol today but Marisol refuses.

Roman arrives home to find Billy talking to his wife. Roman escorts Billy outside. He tells Billy to leave him alone. Then he admits he messed up and needs Billy’s help. Billy wants to go with him to see the prosecutor. When Roman protests that he doesn’t want to, Billy convinces him. As they walk to Billy’s car, Danny watches unnoticed from his vehicle.

Tom has taken Brittany out on his boat. She kisses him but he doesn’t look happy. He tries to explain things don’t work for him like they do for regular people. Brittany says she gets it. Tom asks if he can show her something.

Tom takes her downstairs. He tells her about how his sister lost her leg when she was 12 to a staph infection. He was nine at the time. The first morning she was home from the hospital, his mother tried to make things seem normal.

He uses a keypad to let them into the kitchen where he kept the two women who were murdered in the previous episode. Things are set up exactly the way they were when he was a child.

He tells Brittany that as he watched his mother help his sister with her prosthetic that morning, he realized his sister would exclusively have his mother’s love from then on. Instead of making him resentful, though, Tom got off on the idea. His therapist later diagnosed him with eroticized childhood trauma.

Brittany asks if she can sit in the wheelchair in the kitchen that marks where his sister sat that morning. She takes off her pants, tucks her left leg under her, and lotions her knee.

Later, Tom and Brittany are in the bunk beds in the bedroom. Tom asks if it’s weird if he’s thinking about being with her. Brittany doesn’t think so. She understands him. She invites him to the bottom bunk where she’s lying.

He asks her to sleep over but she says she can’t. She has to go to the office and finish up some paperwork. Tom asks what happened. Brittany says Billy thinks Julio will be out soon because he found someone willing to testify on Julio’s behalf. Tom’s alarmed but tries to cover it up.

That night, Billy and Roman meet Rashad at the parking lot. Roman tells Rashad that Garcia committed the murders, not Julio. He won’t say anymore unless he gets a guarantee that he and his family will be put into witness protection and he will get immunity.

Rashad can’t believe it. He’s prosecuting an innocent kid. He punches Roman. Rashad agrees to put a cop on Roman to keep him safe but that’s it. Danny has followed them to the parking lot and overheard the whole exchange.

Marisol is waiting for Billy at his hotel. He finally shows up. He apologizes for not calling and for being a jerk. But Marisol clarifies that she was worried, not mad.

Danny knocks on the door at Roman’s house. Roman takes him outside to talk. Danny checks that Roman got all the information about his payment. Roman says he’s not feeling well and tries to go back in the house. Danny asks if there’s anything else wrong. When Roman denies it, Danny reluctantly leaves.

Patty meets Agent Clayton for a date. She lays out their entire relationship and how it will all go wrong.

After she’s done with her monologue, Clayton asks her to dance with him. He promises to leave her alone if she’ll give him one dance. As they sway to the music, she starts to have fun.

The next day, Billy, Patty, and Prosecutor Rashad meet with Judge Wallace in her chambers. Billy has a motion to dismiss the charges but Rashad isn’t ready yet. Wallace promises that as soon as Rashad is, the motion will be put on the books. In the meantime, Rashad agrees to put Julio in protective custody over the weekend.

Billy and Patty go to see Julio. They give him the good news. Julio is thrilled.

Tom meets Danny at a basketball court. Tom apologizes for beating him with the racket in the prior episode and injuring his knee.

He asks who Danny thinks is flipping on them in Julio’s case. Danny feigns ignorance. Then he guesses that maybe it’s Marisol. Tom scoffs at the idea. He thinks maybe it’s one of Danny’s friends.

Danny protests that it couldn’t be one of his friends and mentions Roman specifically. Tom argues that Roman had been stressed out so maybe he could be the guy. Tom warns Danny that things are getting serious and they really need to figure out who’s turning on them. Danny agrees but doesn’t give Roman up.

At a mayoral debate in Goliath, Marisol gets a question about defending Julio even as her poll numbers have dropped. Marisol explains her position and convincingly connects it to her platform.

After the debate, Tom finds Marisol backstage. He tells her that Billy’s found someone to flip on them and the whole sordid conspiracy around the murders is about to come out. Given the circumstances, their options are limited, so it’s time for Marisol to stop supporting Julio.

Elena, Marisol’s campaign manager is waiting by her car. She hears a ringing in the glove box and picks up the phone Marisol keeps there. It’s Gabriel on the other end of the line. He cordially introduces himself and asks Elena to give Marisol a message: when was the last time she prayed? Then he hangs up.

Marisol walks up to Elena who tells her everyone has Marisol winning the debate and her poll numbers are up. Then Elena asks Marisol who Gabriel is. She gives Marisol his message. Marisol fires Elena in Goliath.

Afterward, Marisol goes to see Julio. Julio invites her to the welcome home party his girlfriend is throwing for him when he gets out of jail. Marisol tells him he didn’t deserve any of what happened to him, and Julio thanks her.

Roman and his family are in a hotel room. His wife wants an explanation but Roman won’t give her any details.

As Danny drives, he calls Tom and admits that Roman is the one who’s flipping on them. Tom tells him to take care of it. Danny protests that Roman’s his best friend but Tom insists.

The next morning, Marisol and Billy have breakfast at a beachside restaurant. Marisol asks him to come away with her for a night. He asks where they’re going but she says it’s a surprise.

A car drives them to a house where Gabriel is waiting to greet them.

Next: Goliath season 2, episode 6 recap: ‘Two CInderellas'

So Gabriel and Marisol are practically brother and sister — no wonder she’s connected to his cartel. That connection runs deep. It looks like Billy may be in big trouble. We’ll see just how much trouble on the next episode of Goliath!

The recap for the next episode of the season will be out soon. And you can stream Goliath in its entirety on Amazon Prime.