On Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Season 1 Episode 8, “Hallidays,” Paula tries to continue her investigation from rock bottom. Rudy tries to crack Geri’s secret.
“Hallidays” kicks Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed into high gear immediately. The double attorney fiasco escalates the case to a much darker place than we’ve been led to believe, which is saying something considering how dark things already were.
Paula is up against a larger organization that, from the look of things, has their hands in every pot imaginable. They are incredibly capable of wriggling their way into places with little detection and will go to extreme lengths to do so.
By comparison, this almost makes Dennis’ presence feel like a comfort. They pose a much more threatening presence in the series while also justifying continuing the story beyond Dennis.
It could fall into a territory where it feels unnecessarily dragged out, but using Dennis as the face of the larger threat is a brilliant way to keep the audience guessing without feeling like a gimmick.
The full-on takeover also feels earned and well-placed. It’s not just crammed in without context; previous episodes alluded to Dennis answering to a higher-up. Now, we get three whole episodes to watch how they operate.
With the stakes higher than ever, “Hallidays” also opts to take the space for a couple of characters to have major moments of development.
In a rare display of softness, Karl bails Paula out of jail. The exchange is an excellent moment of restraint for a series that moves a mile a minute and it’s one of the best of the season.
So much of Paula and Karl’s depicted relationship is tumultuous and rooted in anger. It’s easy to forget they were once in love and they still care for one another. Johnson and Maslany play the moment beautifully, filling the confines of the car with every ounce of this couple’s complicated history.
Karl’s conflict over the entire custody battle pours out of him in this scene as well. He’s struggled with how hard they need to go on Paula. Now, he’s in an impossible situation, recognizing that Paula is in some sort of trouble while understanding that Hazel is not safe there and he needs to step in.
Johnson elevates Karl into a complicated figure. He functions as an antagonistic force in Paula’s life and for the sake of the series. However, Johnson allows us into the tough dilemma he grapples with and makes him a nuanced being.
Rudy also has a needed moment of development. His continued interest in the phone signals that he doesn’t want to fully abandon Paula, regardless of what he may have said on the last episode.
At his core, Rudy seems to be the one of the work trio the most forthcoming with the truth. He has no ulterior motives to helping Paula; he’s simply helping someone in need.
Meanwhile, his discovery of Geri’s book is a nice touch that will hopefully be explored fully as the season concludes. Their divergence in motivation adds a friction to their relationship that elevates them as characters beyond their silly sidekick status.
On the other hand, this episode unfortunately confirms that this series doesn’t know what to do with Dolly de Leon. Paula herself asks Detective Gonzalez, “What good are you?” and it unfortunately echoes the experience with the character.
When you have a performer as talented as de Leon at your disposal, it’s frustrating to watch her in such a passive role that’s only there to be a roadblock for the main character. Detective Gonzalez merely feels like she’s in the way, but not in an interesting cat-and-mouse dynamic like other thrillers have explored.
She’s underdeveloped and, as a result, de Leon doesn’t have much to latch onto, especially in a sea of characters that are dynamic or actively developing. Gonzalez remains stagnant in an ever-evolving series and hopefully her development catches up to the rest of the series.
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed has been solid up until this point. “Hallidays” just pushed it into “great” territory. With two episodes left, it seems like it could end with a major bang.
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed streams Wednesday on AppleTV.
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Adam Patla
Adam grew up less than 3 minutes away from a movie theater so he was always destined to love all things entertainment. He studied Broadcast & Cinematic Arts at Central Michigan University before working as a talent agent in the Chicago area until 2020. During lockdown he began discussing film and television on TikTok where he cultivated a platform of over 50,000 followers. He is currently a member of Chicago Indie Critics.